Ganz, Ábrahám

About 160 years ago Ábrahám Ganz, a Swiss foundryman, founded an iron foundry in Buda, the western side of the later Budapest, which gave birth to the later world-famous Ganz Works.

In 1834, Ganz set out on his travels and worked in various towns and factories in Europe. He started his travels at the age of 20and arrived to Pest in the August of 1841 where he participated in the installation of the Pesti Hengermalom Társulat steam mill (Pest Rolling Mill Association) founded by count István Széchenyi, and he became the "senior foundryman" in the steam mill foundry within a short time. Later, he undertook the management of the foundry and the machine repair workshop within the rolling mill

The foundry business made him a profit; thus, his savings enabled Ganz to make himself independent in 1844 and to buy a plot of land and a house (today a museum). Within a short time, he obtained a casting license for the Ganz Iron Foundry.

In 1846, Ganz recognised, that in order to make his company successful, he needed products that could be manufactured in mass and the important business potential in the domestic manufacture of hard cast railway carriage wheels. First in Europe, Ganz produced railway carriage wheels using hard casting technology (called chill-casting today) successfully since 1853. His improved procedure by adding antimony mass was patented in 1856. The several patents granted up to 1867 marked his consistent development. Between 1853-67, the factory sold 100 000 chilled iron railway wheels and more than 6 000 crossing points to 59 railway companies. The number of employees at the Ganz factory in 1867 it was 371.

The product range of the foundry was expanded to include heavy components of bridges. By using the hard casting technology, Ganz manufactured rolling mills for milling cereals that were more wear resistant. With this product, the factory under the leadership of András Mechwart had results famous worldwide.

Ábrahám Ganz visited a number of European countries up to 1866. He participated in a number of exhibitions. Products of the factory received the following awards: 3 bronze medals of the Paris World's Fair, bronze medal of the London World's Fair in 1862, silver medal of the Industrial Exhibition of Switzerland in 1867.

Under his name a growing industrial group

evolved in the next one and half century.

Ganz Iron Foundry Museum

The original iron foundry founded by Ábrahám Ganz operated until 1964 when the factory located in the city centre was closed and with the preserved equipment of the chill casting was transformed into a museum.
This is the only foundry in Central Europe preserved as a monument. The museum hall is Hungary's only remaining building with shed-roof mounted on Howe-type wooden grid structure.

hard casting technology (chill-casting)
Metal casting is a mechanical process of shaping a substance by pouring molten metal into a cavity or die from which the molded substance takes its shape. With a lower silicon content and faster cooling, the carbon in white cast iron precipitates out of the melt as cementit, rather than graphite, inhibiting plastic deformation through the ferrite matrix, offering hardness at the expense of toughness. It is almost impossible to cool thick castings fast enough to solidify the whole melt as white cast iron. However, rapid cooling can be applied to solidify a shell of white cast iron, after which the core mass cools more slowly resulting grey cast iron. The produced casting, called a "chilled casting", has the benefits of a hard surface and a tougher interior.

improved procedure by adding antimony
Ganz wrote: "To create perfectly hard casting, so called chilled iron casting, we use antimony. We grind antimony until it turns into fine powder, and make paint or mass of it. We spread it all over the inner side of the casting form, then after it dried, we combine the forms. Finally we heat it to 100 Celsius, and cast the iron into the form. As a result, at the places where we used antimony, after hardening we get a layer as hard as glass. The thickness of the layer could be 2,3 or 4 millimeters, depending on the thickness of the antimony layer used. That is why I found antimony the best material to create perfect chilled iron…" (Source URL: http://www.joszerencset.hu/eletrajz/ganz_eng.htm