Recent from talks
Ganz Works
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Ganz Works
The Ganz Machinery Works Holding is a Hungarian holding company. Its products are related to rail transport, power generation, and water supply, among other industries.
The original Ganz Works or Ganz (Hungarian: Ganz vállalatok or Ganz Művek, Ganz companies, formerly Ganz and Partner Iron Mill and Machine Factory) operated between 1845 and 1949 in Budapest, Hungary. It was named after Ábrahám Ganz, the founder and manager of the company. Ganz is probably best known for the manufacture of tramcars, but was also a pioneer in the application of three-phase alternating current to electric railways.
Ganz also made ships (through its Ganz Danubius division), bridge steel structures (Ganz Acélszerkezet) and high-voltage equipment (Ganz Transelektro). In the early 20th century the company experienced its heyday and became the third-largest industrial enterprise in the Kingdom of Hungary after the Manfréd Weiss Steel and Metal Works and the MÁVAG company.
Since 1989, various parts of Ganz have been taken over by other companies.
The company was founded by Ábrahám Ganz in 1844. He was invited to Pest, Hungary, by Count István Széchenyi and became the casting master at the Roller Mill Plant (referred to as Hengermalom in Hungarian). In 1854 he began manufacturing hard cast railroad wheels in his own plant founded in 1844. The management of the steam mill paid a share of the profit to Ganz. This enabled him to buy, in 1844, land and a house for 4500 Forints in Víziváros, Buda castle district. Abraham Ganz built his own foundry on this site and started to work there with seven assistants. They made mostly casting products for the needs of the people of the city.[3] In 1845, he bought the neighbouring site and expanded his foundry with a cupola furnace. He gave his brother, Henrik a job as a clerk, because of the growing administration work. He made a profit in the first year, and his factory grew, even though he had not yet engaged in mass production. In 1846, at the third Hungarian Industrywork Exhibition (Magyar Iparmű Kiállítás), he introduced his stoves to the public. He won the silver medal of the exhibition committee and the bronze medaille from Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary.
During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 the foundry made ten cannons and many cannonballs for the Hungarian army. Because of this, the Military Court of Austria impeached him. He got seven weeks in prison as penalty, but because of his Swiss citizenship he was acquitted of the charge.[3]
Ganz recognized that, to develop his factory, he had to make products that were mass-produced. In 1846 the Pest-Vác railway line was built. At that time, European foundries made wrought iron rims for spoked wagon wheels by pouring the casts in shapes in sand, and leaving them to cool down. He successfully developed a railway wheel casting technology; it was the new method of "crust-casting" to produce cheap yet sturdy iron railway wheels, which greatly contributed to the rapid railway development in Central Europe. 86,074 pieces of hard cast wheels had been sold to 59 European railway companies until 1866. Consequently, this factory played an important role in building the infrastructure of the Hungarian Kingdom and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.[citation needed] At this time the agricultural machines, steam locomotives, pumps and the railway carriages were the main products. At the beginning of the 20th century, 60 to 80% of the factory's products were sold for export.
After the death of Abraham Ganz, the heirs entrusted the management of the factory to his direct colleagues at Ganz Művek: Antal Eichleter, Ulrik Keller and Andreas Mechwart, which then took the name Ganz & Co. The Ganz family sold the company, which consisted of five departments, and in April 1869 it was transformed into a joint-stock company, and continued its operations under the name of "Ganz és Társa vasontöde és Gépgyár Rt." (Ganz & Partners Iron Foundry and Machine Factory Co.) The technical director was András Mechwart, under whose direction Ganz became one of the most important groups of machine building companies in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy after 1869.
Hub AI
Ganz Works AI simulator
(@Ganz Works_simulator)
Ganz Works
The Ganz Machinery Works Holding is a Hungarian holding company. Its products are related to rail transport, power generation, and water supply, among other industries.
The original Ganz Works or Ganz (Hungarian: Ganz vállalatok or Ganz Művek, Ganz companies, formerly Ganz and Partner Iron Mill and Machine Factory) operated between 1845 and 1949 in Budapest, Hungary. It was named after Ábrahám Ganz, the founder and manager of the company. Ganz is probably best known for the manufacture of tramcars, but was also a pioneer in the application of three-phase alternating current to electric railways.
Ganz also made ships (through its Ganz Danubius division), bridge steel structures (Ganz Acélszerkezet) and high-voltage equipment (Ganz Transelektro). In the early 20th century the company experienced its heyday and became the third-largest industrial enterprise in the Kingdom of Hungary after the Manfréd Weiss Steel and Metal Works and the MÁVAG company.
Since 1989, various parts of Ganz have been taken over by other companies.
The company was founded by Ábrahám Ganz in 1844. He was invited to Pest, Hungary, by Count István Széchenyi and became the casting master at the Roller Mill Plant (referred to as Hengermalom in Hungarian). In 1854 he began manufacturing hard cast railroad wheels in his own plant founded in 1844. The management of the steam mill paid a share of the profit to Ganz. This enabled him to buy, in 1844, land and a house for 4500 Forints in Víziváros, Buda castle district. Abraham Ganz built his own foundry on this site and started to work there with seven assistants. They made mostly casting products for the needs of the people of the city.[3] In 1845, he bought the neighbouring site and expanded his foundry with a cupola furnace. He gave his brother, Henrik a job as a clerk, because of the growing administration work. He made a profit in the first year, and his factory grew, even though he had not yet engaged in mass production. In 1846, at the third Hungarian Industrywork Exhibition (Magyar Iparmű Kiállítás), he introduced his stoves to the public. He won the silver medal of the exhibition committee and the bronze medaille from Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary.
During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 the foundry made ten cannons and many cannonballs for the Hungarian army. Because of this, the Military Court of Austria impeached him. He got seven weeks in prison as penalty, but because of his Swiss citizenship he was acquitted of the charge.[3]
Ganz recognized that, to develop his factory, he had to make products that were mass-produced. In 1846 the Pest-Vác railway line was built. At that time, European foundries made wrought iron rims for spoked wagon wheels by pouring the casts in shapes in sand, and leaving them to cool down. He successfully developed a railway wheel casting technology; it was the new method of "crust-casting" to produce cheap yet sturdy iron railway wheels, which greatly contributed to the rapid railway development in Central Europe. 86,074 pieces of hard cast wheels had been sold to 59 European railway companies until 1866. Consequently, this factory played an important role in building the infrastructure of the Hungarian Kingdom and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.[citation needed] At this time the agricultural machines, steam locomotives, pumps and the railway carriages were the main products. At the beginning of the 20th century, 60 to 80% of the factory's products were sold for export.
After the death of Abraham Ganz, the heirs entrusted the management of the factory to his direct colleagues at Ganz Művek: Antal Eichleter, Ulrik Keller and Andreas Mechwart, which then took the name Ganz & Co. The Ganz family sold the company, which consisted of five departments, and in April 1869 it was transformed into a joint-stock company, and continued its operations under the name of "Ganz és Társa vasontöde és Gépgyár Rt." (Ganz & Partners Iron Foundry and Machine Factory Co.) The technical director was András Mechwart, under whose direction Ganz became one of the most important groups of machine building companies in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy after 1869.
Recent media