Viktor Czerweny from Arland

Viktor Czerweny von Arland (born March 14, 1877 in Deutschlandsberg , † September 27, 1956 in Graz ) was an Austrian inventor and industrialist. He is considered to be the inventor of the Czerweny automatic match machine, through which the entire family achieved world fame.

childhood and education

Viktor Czerweny was born on March 14, 1877 in Deutschlandsberg as the first son of the industrialist Franz Czerweny and his wife, Marianne Pojatzi. He completed the local compulsory school and graduated with honors from the Landesoberrealschule in Graz in 1895. This was followed by a year of military service with the 3rd Corps Artillery Regiment in Graz, after which he began studying to become a construction technician. In 1898 he took the 1st state examination, which he passed "with distinction".

Professional background

For study purposes, after his state examination, Czerweny traveled to Egypt and Italy from 1899 to 1900 to study architecture and visual arts . Due to personnel changes in his father's ignition goods factory, however, he was brought back to Deutschlandsberg before the end of his studies, where he joined the company on July 21, 1901 as a civil servant. On December 24, 1901, he took over the position of authorized signatory. In 1903 he became the director of the Deutschlandsberg plant of the newly founded SOLO-Zündwaren- und Wichsefabriken AG.

In his work for the plant, Czerweny profited to a great extent from his structural engineering knowledge. Under him, the company began a period of technical modernization and expansion. The new buildings of the light and power center, the Sweden wing, the peeling plant and the large magazine sprang from his initiative. The introduction of automatic machine operation and the establishment of an in-house sawmill can also be traced back to his work. In 1909, the central management appointed him director of the Stainzer factory. In 1910 he was given overall supervision of the Graz plant and in 1911 for the Gorizia plant. In 1912 he went to North America as the group's envoy, whereupon previous exports quadrupled.

During the First World War, Czerweny kept the company going despite the lack of manpower and adequate materials. On December 31, 1920, Czerweny resigned from managing the factories in Deutschlandsberg and Stainz.

In 1939 Viktor Czerweny von Arland acquired the majority of the shares in the Graz-Andritz-based paper and cellulose factory Karl Kranz and took over its chairmanship. In doing so, he followed in the footsteps of his grandfather Florian Pojatzi , who, in addition to the production of matches, was also involved in various paper mills for the production of special papers for the packaging of matches.

Social and political work

In addition to his professional activity, Viktor Czerweny devoted a large part of his time to public life. From 1907 he was involved in the local council and the district committee. In 1910 he was appointed representative of the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Culture and Education at the Deutschlandsberg advanced training school, and from 1911 he was a member of the savings bank committee. From 1917 he was a member of the board of trustees of the state welfare office for returning warriors of the state of Styria and the district commission for the fight against tuberculosis. From 1920 he was also chairman of the workers' accident insurance institution for Styria and Carinthia. In 1917 he was awarded the title of engineer for his work.

Inventions

Viktor Czerweny and his brother Robert (1878–1962) had already started developing their first match automat as early as 1898, thereby demonstrating a real pioneering spirit. The first test model of the Czerweny automatic machine can be viewed today in the Vienna Technical Museum. A second test model was completed in 1905. It was in service in Stainz for several years. However, due to its small size, it could only produce 200,000 pieces of wood an hour.

The fourth machine built by Gildemeister was also installed in Stainz in 1908. It achieved an output of 375,000 pieces of wood per hour and remained in operation until 1927. Another construction was made in 1909 by Union AG in Augsburg. It produced 500,000 pieces of wood an hour, weighed around 180,000 kg and cost 50,000 gold crowns (approx. 250,000 euros).

In 1912 the technology was so well developed and developed in all important points so that machine no. 23 was able to find its way into production as an operationally reliable instrument. The installation of the machine went hand in hand with the changeover from phosphorus production, which is now prohibited by a law of July 13, 1909, to Swedish production. At that time the hourly output of the machines was 800,000 sticks.

After only small changes had been made over the years and the war almost brought construction work to a standstill, decisive progress was made in 1916. The creation of the needleless insertion has significantly increased the machine's performance. Thanks to this innovation, older, retrofitted models could also produce up to a million pieces of wood per hour. There was a world patent for the new machine, whose inventor Viktor Czerweny is considered to be, but in whose development his brother Robert also played a major role. It was built in large numbers and was used all over the world.

literature

L. Reichenwallner: Chronicle of the Deutschlandsberg factory, the "SOLO" Zündwaren u. chem. Factories A.-G. Vienna. D. Landsberg 1930.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Technisches Museum Wien, archive (personal folder)
2. ↑ L. Reichenwallner: Chronicle of the Deutschlandsberg factory ..., 1930, p. 69
3. ↑ L. Reichenwallner: Chronicle of the Deutschlandsberg factory ..., 1930, p. 63
4. ↑ L. Reichenwallner: Chronicle of the Deutschlandsberg factory ..., 1930, p. 70
5. ^ Family history of the Viktor line
6. ↑ L. Reichenwallner: Chronicle of the Deutschlandsberg factory ..., 1930, p. 71
7. ↑ Family history on website
8. ↑ L. Reichenwallner: Chronicle of the Deutschlandsberg factory ..., 1930, p. 205
9. ↑ Calculation according to table
10. ^ L. Reichenwallner: Chronicle of the Deutschlandsberg factory ..., 1930, p. 132f