Talk:Slavoljub Eduard Penkala

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[edit] Inventions, "anode battery"

As of this date, the link About Penkala is dead. I've added a related one of the same title, reachable from the old site.

Mine (at least) does not repeat the "Anode battery" claim. "Anode battery" is at least an unusual expression, since all (electrical) batteries have anodes. He may have invented an improved design for "Anode, battery" (i.e., "Anode suitable for battery"). Research needed. Only Google hit for

Slavoljub Penkala battery anode

is WP or this which includes "His most famous inventions are: anode batteries,detergents, laundress blue, insecticides, rotating tooth-brush, mechanic pencil...(he made more than 80 inventions). "

It does not seem likely that all these patents were the first inventions in their categories, as the article Slavoljub Penkala suggests.

IMO a Croatian-speaking editor with some technical background could probably come up with more reliable research than i could using these fair-to-bad translations into English.

I added a sentence

He was associated with "Radium Vinovica", a patent-medicine-like product, presumably either misleadingly named or dangerous quackery.

which research could hopefully improve markedly upon. --Jerzy 20:21, 2003 Dec 4 (UTC)

"Anode battery" is valid but outdated term. It refers to battery-powered valve technology, where you have a low voltage, high current (sort of, very much variation) heater battery and a high voltage, low corrent anode battery. Look at this remarkable low power valve hearing aid [1], it has a 22.5V anode battery and a 1.5V heater battery. --Pjacobi

[edit] Fountain pen patent

The sentence

On May 31, 1907, he obtained Patent no. 193717 DRP etc. for world’s first fountain pen using solid ink.

from About Penkala seems to me prima-facie evidence of error, and i have changed the phrase

and the first fountain pen (1907).

accordingly.

[edit] Origin

Penkala was Polish [...]He was born in 1871 in the Czech Republic, but is of Polish origin.[...] http://www.croatica.net/en/magazin/reportaze/default.asp?id=5

Actually it seems to be a wee bit different... "Penkala was born on 20 April 1871 in Liptovsky St Mikulas (today in the Slovak Republic), to a Polish father and a Dutch mother."[2] --Shallot

[edit] Cleanup

Jerzy said on Wikipedia:Cleanup[3]: Slavoljub Penkala: copy ed; changing name doesn't naturalize; all batteries have anodes, so WTH is an "anode battery"?, etc.

Joy said: removed pointless/wrong listing of Slavoljub Penkala, intricate suboptimally explained details belong to the talk page and not here

I'll also note that the name change was an indicator of the naturalization because despite the fact he had Slavic background, he used Slavoljub (meaning loves Slavs to be almost literal :) after his move to Croatia which had previously experienced romantic nationalism, so it was in the spirit of the whole pan-Slavist idea that Penkala started to identify with his new homeland. Dunno, at least that's what we were taught at school. It would probably have been easier if he had changed the name to "Hrvoje"... :) --Joy [shallot] 12:10, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)