József Galamb
| József Galamb | |
|---|---|
|
József Galamb (Joseph A. Galamb) | |
| Born |
3 February 1881 Makó, Austria-Hungary[1] |
| Died |
4 December 1955 (aged 74) Detroit, United States |
| Nationality | Hungarian |
| Fields | Mechanical engineer |
| Known for | Model T |
József Galamb (English: Joseph A. Galamb) (3 February 1881 - 4 December 1955) was a Hungarian-American mechanical engineer.[1]
Galamb finished his education at the Budapest Industrial Technology Engineering Course (the predecessor of the present-day Óbuda University Bánki Donát Politechnical College) in 1899.[1] After receiving his diploma in mechanical engineering he worked at the Steel Engineering Factory in Diósgyőr as a draftsman. He next served one year in military service.[1] He worked at the Hungarian Automobile Co., where he won a postgraduate scholarship to Germany.[2] After the navy he went to see the world — Vienna, Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen.[1] In 1903 he worked in many German cities as a skilled worker, he got the best education at Adler in Frankfurt.[2] He was hired to assemble automotive engines in a process in which each engine was built completely by one man.[1] When he learned of the 1904 American Auto World Fair in St. Louis, he used his savings to travel to America by ship in October 1903.[1][2] After two months in New York, he found employment as a toolmaker at the Westinghouse Corporation in Pittsburgh.[1][2] Although he planned to go back to Germany in 1904, instead he joined the Stearns Automobile Company in Cleveland as a carburetor maker.[3]
Galamb applied for work at the Silent Northern plant, the Cadillac plant and the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant.[3] All three offered him work within three hours.[3] He joined the Ford Motor Company (twenty-four years old at that time) as a designer in December 1905.[3] The Ford Motor Company had 300 employees at the time assembling the Ford Model A from purchased parts.[3] Subsequent to redesigning the cooling system for the Model N, he became the chief designer of the company,[2] and devised many of the parts of the famous Model T. He was one of the co-developers of the assembly line in 1913. From 1915 he worked on the Fordson tractor design. In 1921 he founded a scholarship for the poor students of his native town who wished to take up higher education at trade school. During World War I he was busy designing military hardware, e. g. anti-submarine detection systems. He visited Hungary many times, lecturing at the Association of Hungarian Engineers and Architects. During World War II on Ford's suggestion, he designed a small six-cylinder car, which was completed in 1942. On doctor's orders he retired from active work in 1944.
His influence played a role in the Ford V8 and Eifel being assembled in Hungary from 1935.[4] He died in 1955 in Detroit.