Washington: Google Doodle marks 141st birthday of Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, a Croatian engineer and inventor of Polish and Dutch ethnicity.
Early Life
Eduard Penkala, born on 20 April 1871 in Liptovský Mikuláš (in what is now Slovakia), to Polish Franjo Penkala and Dutch Maria Penkala. He studied at the University of Vienna and Technische Universität Dresden, graduating from the latter in 1898 and going on to earn a doctorate in organic chemistry. He then moved with his wife and family to Zagreb and subsequently added “Slavoljub” (the equivalent of slavophile) to his name, becoming a naturalized Croat.
Fame For Engineering
His name came to flashlight after furthering development of the mechanical pencil (1906), also called an “automatic pencil”, and the first solid-ink fountain pen (1907).
Partnering with an entrepreneur Edmund Moster, he launched the Penkala-Moster Company to develop a pen-and-pencil factory, the biggest at that time. The same company is now working with name Zagreb pencil factory.
He also developed first Croatian two-seater plane in 1909, which Dragutin Novak, the first Croatian pilot, used for his first flight. He constructed and invented many other products and devices, and managed a list of 80 patents.
Major Inventions
a hot water bottle – his first patented invention, the “Termofor”
a type of bluing detergent
a rail-car brake
an anode battery
Founder of another company the Elevator Chemical Manufacturing Company, he also contributed for production of various chemicals such as detergents, sealing wax, and “Radium Vinovica”, a patent-medicine-like product that was billed as curing rheumatism.
Death
Engineering genius Eduard died on 5 February 1922 in Zagreb at the age of 51, after suffering from pneumonia.
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