THE HISTORY OF TUNGSRAM 1896-1945 - MEK

*">• ^:61 TUNGSRAMetc., must be developed according to qualitative, quantitativeand economic considerations parallel withother tasks.6. Beside setting down the major guidelines, themanagement must possess the appropriate flexibilitywhich will allow the company to follow the changes inthe international market, both as far as technology andquality are concerned. Production must follow theresults of research and develepment more closely. Thegap between research and industry must narrow downand a development department suitable for designingand introducing production technologies must becreated. The independence of all the managerial andproduction units must be increased without limitingthe chief executive officer's sole responsibility in makingthe final decision. (Lipot Aschner would not agreeto giving that up anyway.)7. Social institutions must be established to bind to thefactory the work-force necessary to maintain the highstandard of production. (Recreation centre, canteen,swimming pool, sport clubs, etc.)The Work and the Results of the ResearchLaboratoryin the late 1920s — as we have already pointed out —there was a worldwide attempt to improve the qualityof incandescent lamps and to produce new types oflightsources. The fact that the most important licensesin the light source industry were about to expireinspired the research and development teams andhelped the emergence of new companies outside thecartel. "The history of the incandescent lamp industryclearly indicates that the best protection against these(new companies) are the patents which improve thequality of the lamps to such an extent that a lamp ofpoorer quality could not compete against these in spiteof the lower price. Therefore, we must help the technicalprogress of incandescent lamps with real, revolutionaryinventions, rather than simply rely on themethods of step-wise refinement" — Imre Brodywrote these words in a report prepared for LipotAsxhner on 14th June, 1932, in which he appealed formore support to his ongoing experiments.In 1930 the Research Laboratory was moved to its new,two-storey building which then met the requirementsof the times. The library of the research centre wassituated in the building, as were the labs and theworkshops necessary to the research work. Accordingto a report in 1933, the sections of the Laboratorywhich dealt with incandescent lamps employedapproximately 40 people. Five of them were engineers,but there were another three engineers workingon the improvement of incandescent lamps in thefactory. Three engineers were employed in the patentdepartment and two worked in quality control. Ourreaders might be amused to learn that Imre Brody atone time also looked afterthe library of the Laboratory.In 1936 certain changes took place in the managementof the Research Laboratory. That was the time whenIgnac Pfeifer, at the age of 69, retired andTUNGSRAM'S choice of replacement fell on ZoltanBay, the 36 years old physicist of the University ofSzeged. Not only did TUNGSRAM offer him the topposition in the Laboratory with higher income andbetter research conditions, but also, it donated 300,000Koronas to Technical University of Budapest in orderto set up a department for him, hence foundingCentral-East Europe's first Nuclear Physics Department.In 1944, following Lipot Aschner's deportation,Zoltan Bay became TUNGSRAM'S technical manager.While in Szeged, Zoltan Bay belonged to the circle ofAlbert Szent-Gyorgyi. A staunch anti-fascist with progressiveviews, he did much for the persecuted people,hiding them in the final days of the war, until he wasforced to go underground himself. Zoltan Bay immigratedto the United States in 1948. The ResearchLaboratory's staff was enlarged in the 1930s: that waswhen Tibor Szasz, Pal Tury, Gyorgy Tarjan, Imre Patai,Tivadar Millner and others joined the institution.a) The GK-tungsten iAs we have pointed out earlier,*the gas-filled (nitrogenfilled)coiled filament lamps invented by Langmuir-"^•-