Technikatörténeti szemle 27. (2005-06)

Gyűjteményi ismertetések - Kovács Ottó: A Láng Gépgyár cégtörténeti negatívlemez anyag az Országos Műszaki Múzeum Fényképgyűjteményéban

OTTÓ KOVÁCS: NEGATIVE PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATES FROM THE HISTORY OF THE LÁNG MACHINE FACTORY AS PRESERVED IN THE COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE HUNGARIAN MUSEUM FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Our knowledge of the Láng Machine Factory's 50-year-old history is deepened by the photographic material obtained as present from the Alstom Power Hungária Share Company, the factory's legal successor. The description given in the paper on the history of the Láng Machine Factory's products is exclusively based on data obtained from the photos to be found in the Collection of Photographs of the Hungarian Museum for Science and Technology. The glass negatives that remained and were processed after sorting out the material destroyed or of no use in research, amounts to about one half of the original collection. However, with the help of the remaining contact copies the collection can be reconstructed in its completeness. The main groups of the collection contain data about the products of the years 1898-1933 and 1934-1949. In our collection the latter years are represented in a greater number. In order to illustrate the permanent increase in products, product history requires further division. The production profile of the Láng Machine Factory expanded permanently, in agreement with the requests of the age. The world economic crisis meant the beginning of a new period in the production profile. Besides going on with manufacturing steam engines, turbines, machines and engines, and repairing those manufactured until 1929, the production of equipment for the alcohol and food industries, of tools for the petrol chemistry, of printing machines, kettles and - to a lesser extent - machine tools for the locksmiths' industry, of consumer goods and machines ordered by the army, started at that time. The collection contains duplications of letters expressing thanks and satisfaction of the firms that had ordered the products. They furnish data on the buyers of the Láng Machine Factory's products as well as on the sites where, in Europe and outside the continent, the machines have been used. The collection's catalogue can be found at the Hungarian Museum for Science and Technology. The present paper wants to complete the data of historical research into the Láng Machine Factory and its products as well as to arouse the interest in, and help further research.