THE HISTORY OF TUNGSRAM 1896-1945 - MEK

TUNGSRAMTHE ROLE OF THE EGGER FAMILY IN ESTABLISHINGTHE ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY IN HUNGARYOn 1 August, 1896 the United Incandescent Lamps andElectrical Co. (Egyesult Izzolampa es Villamossagi Rt.)was established as a joint venture of the HungarianCommercial Bank of Pest (Pesti Magyar KereskedelmiBank) and the Egger brothers. For decades the companywas known home and abroad by and large by thisname with some irrelevant — and temporary — modificationsmeaning nothing for readers. Therefore wehave chosen from the variation in question the use ofthe present new and short name of the company, the"TUNGSRAM", this initial letter coinage, otherwisethe trademark of the company since 1909. This is theexcuse of the transfer of this name into the past, andalso the title of this study: The History of TUNGSRAM.In effect, the United Incandescent... or according tothe above the TUNGSRAM secured the financial backingof the bankers for the industry in which membersof the Egger family had been actively involved forseveral decades through various enterprises aimed atfounding and developing the electrical industry inHungary.We know very little of the Eggers' background. Itseems certain that they were of Hungarian stock. Thereis evidence showing that Bernat Bela Egger, who wasthe first in the family to get involved in the electricalindustry, had been born in Gyongyos, although othersources suggest Obuda. In any case, he must havebeen still very young when he founded the factory inVienna, known as "Telegraphen-Bauanstalt", producingtelegraph equipment as early as 1862. (1)In 1872 Bernat Egger, encouraged both by the successof his Viennese firm and the spreading use of telegraphsin Hungary, decided to set up a workshop inBudapest specialized in repairing telegraph equipment.The workshop that was located at 9 DorottyaStreet, 5th District, employed eight workers at first. (2)The enterprise immediately proved prosperous, andwithin a few years its work-force multiplied.On 31 December, 1874 Bernat Egger, "Viennese industrialistproducing telegraph equipment", was givenpermission from the 5th District to set up his ownbusiness, (3) and subsequently, on 4September, 1876,he had his branch of telegraph equipment workshoplisted in the trade registry of Budapest. (4) On 1January, 1882 Telegraphen-Bauansalt of Vienna wastransformed into a public company under the newname Austro-Hungarian Electrical Lighting and PowerTransmission Factory, with the engineer Janos Kremenetzky,Bernat Egger, Jakab Egger, Henrik EggerVienna-, and David Egger Budapest residents asfounding members. Within a year Janos Krementzkyleft the firm and went on to found his own electricalcompany. (5)The Viennese public company gave continuous supportto its Budapest branch that, beside carrying outtelegraph repair work, also made pneumatic bells,telegraph equipment, electrical indicators, and had theexclusive right to produce the Berliner-type microphone.The first telephone manufactured in the Budapestworkshop came out in 1884. (6)In 1883 the company signed on Jozsef Pinter astechnical director, who later proved to be a great assetwhen first the Egger factories and then theTUNGSRAM were on their way to become largecorporations.In 1895 the company, that was known for short asEgger B. esTarsa (B. Egger& Co.), had great success inthe national trade exhibition of Budapest with itspavilon showing electrical appliances.Egger B. & Co. together with "Ganz" (another factory