Emil Kolben: The Czech Nikola Tesla (Part 4)

While on a Jewish vacation with KRC in Central Europe, we don’t just focus on the places we go to. We also put emphasis on the stories of people who have made their mark  in the history of the region. When travelling with us, one such story you will come across is the one of Emil Kolben.

More Years Of Prosperity

In 1921, the company was merged with the First Bohemian-Moravian Machine Factory in Prague and the company was renamed Českomoravská-Kolben. Emil Kolben--after being removed from the EAS management in 1919--was appointed Director of Electrical Engineering. In 1922, the company entered into a technical cooperation agreement with the American Westinghouse. In 1923 the company develops a project of the thermal power plant in Ervnice and in the next year starts working on a railway electrification project. Two years later, he delivered the first electric locomotives.

In 1927 another merger took place. The Czech-Moravian-Kolben-Daněk (ČKD) was founded by the Strojírna Joint Stock Company, formerly Breitfeld, Daněk and Co. Emil Kolben became CEO. At the time of its biggest boom, it had 12,000 employees and had a very wide assortment in line with the periodic slogan “We can make everything from a pin to locomotive”. In 1930, the company even started the production of aircraft and in 1932 it had a significant share in the electrification of Slovakia. Since 1935, the company supplied tanks and in 1936 the first trolley buses for Prague were created.

In light of his accomplishments, Kolben said this on his 75th birthday:

“Armed with extensive knowledge and experience in all heavy-current electrical engineering sectors and keeping pace with the state-of-the-art advancement in the manufacture of electrical machinery and equipment, I thought in August 1896 that I would give my rich knowledge and experience to the service of my Czech homeland.

There were only a few smaller electrotechnical productions in Austria at that time, and only at an early stage of development. It seemed to me best to set up a modern electrotechnical factory in the middle of a large industrial area, in the traditional office of highly developed engineering: in Prague.

This was the result of the factory which became the basis of today's largest Czechoslovak electrotechnical enterprise.”

The End Of Emil

Since autumn 1938, during the growing Anti-Semitic sentiments cultivated by the Nazis, many people have suggested that Kolben emigrate. But he refused, as he was a proud Czech-Jewish patriot. His son Hanuš and younger daughter Lilly and his families did not want to leave their father. Only the older Greta and his family emigrated to England in May 1939.

After the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was established by the Nazis, Kolben had to leave ČKD due to his Jewish heritage. He had to sell his shares in Káblovka and the Electrical Insulation Company. In August 1940, his wife Malvina died. In 1942, his son-in-law Vilém Lieder-Kolben and two grandchildren were arrested and deported. On June 6, 1943, Emil Kolben and his son Hanuš and grandson Jindřich were deported to the concentration camp of Terezín.

Kolben was already at the age of 80.

Although the Protectorate Government had requested an exception for him, it was not granted. Emil Kolben died on July 3, 1943, at the age of 80, in the Podmokel Barracks in the Terezín Ghetto. According to the testimony of his son Jindřich, he had, besides a few personal belongings, a briefcase with 180 shares of the ČKD company.

Strančice is still home to Kolben's birth house and the local synagogue – now without a community – where the Kolben family prayed for generations. A metro stop in Prague is named in honour of Emil Kolben. It is the “Kolbenova” metro station in Vysočany, on the “yellow” B line. His bust is at the foyer of the metro stop. The street in Vysočany, which runs along the area where Kolben's factory was standing, was renamed to Kolbenova in 1989 already. According to the information on the Prague 9 site, a memorial to commemorate Emil Kolben is going to be built.

Emil Kolben was without a doubt the most influential, successful and unequalled of Czech inventors, whose fame is – or at least should be – international. While on a kosher tour through Prague, do not forget to learn about this fascinating story. For if it was not for him, the Czech Republic might not be enjoying the prosperity it has today!

Here are the 3 Parts of the article:
Emil Kolben: The Czech Nikola Tesla  (Part 1)
Emil Kolben: The Czech Nikola Tesla  (Part 2)
Emil Kolben: The Czech Nikola Tesla  (Part 3)

Emil Kolben: The Czech Nikola Tesla (Part 3)

While on a Jewish vacation with KRC in Central Europe, we don’t just focus on the places we go to. We also put emphasis on the stories of people who have made their mark  in the history of the region. When travelling with us, one such story you will come across is the one of Emil Kolben.

Emil’s Expansion

At the time of Kolben's return to Bohemia, a large investment was planned in Prague - the construction of a municipal power plant. As in America, there has been much debate between DC and AC supporters. Frantisek Krizik, "Czech Edison", promoted the DC system, while professors Domalíp and Puluj recommended a three-phase system.

 Kolben took part in this discussion, and he won with his company in the competition announced in 1898. Early in the same year 1898, Gerben's daughter was born to Kolben, and four years later, daughter Lilly. Soon they moved to the so-called Red Villa in Hradešínská Street in Vinohrady.

Kolben's firm grew rapidly. Within three years, the number of employees rose from the original 25 to 400. Originally, it supplied mainly motors, generators and crane drives. In 1898 the company with the support of Živnostenská banka became a joint stock company and since 1899 it has been named Electrotechnická akciová společnost, formerly Kolben et al. He added modeling, foundry, forge, and a power plant.

Kolben’s Continuous Success

In 1900, the company produced its first locomotive and built a complete power plant in Holešovice. At the World Exhibition in Paris it won the gold medal for a thousandth alternator. In the following year, production of steam cylinders and turbines was commenced. A year later, two alternators with a diameter of 7 meters were produced for the London power plant. In 1907, EAS concluded a contract with Ringhoffer plant to build a Praga plant.

By 1910, EAS had supplied around 10,000 electrical machines and equipment for 70 large power plants, including substations, not only in Europe but even in Tasmania. In 1912, EAS equipped the hydroelectric power plant at Stvanice in Prague. On the basis of licensing arrangements and personal relationships with Oerlikon, in 1910, the Austrian-Hungarian Railways offered electrification of the Prague node with a 10 kV 16 Hz system (1/3 of the 48 Hz frequency used at that time). This offer has remained unanswered.

In 1919 Schwechater Kabelwerke GmbH established a branch in Vysočany. One of its shareholder was Kolben. In 1921 the company was relocated to Hostivař and Kolben took over the majority stake. This is how the Prague Cable House, s. R., with the trademark PRAKAB, later Kablo Hostivař, was established.

Kolben was not just a successful entrepreneur. He was also the owner of a large intellectual property-- the license for which was purchased by major electrotechnical companies. In addition, he wrote many works on heavy-current electrotechnics and its introduction into practice. In 1896 he published his article Turning in the Mechanical Industry by Developing Electrical Engineering. His treatise on the influence of silicon on the electrical and magnetic properties of iron from 1909 is still up to date.

Kolben also received a social award. In 1908, The German engineering school in Prague awarded him an honorary doctorate. Emperor Franz Joseph I awarded him the Order of the Iron Crown.  In 1911, his former boss, T. Edison, visited Prague at the invitation of Emil Kolben. In 1912 he became chairman of the Land Union of Engineering Industry in the Czech Kingdom and in 1919 a member of the Czechoslovak State Trade Council.

Such was the prosperity in Emil Kolben’s life. His achievements have a big influence in Czech Jewish history and beyond that you can see when you go on a kosher tour to the country.

However, all things must come to an end—even Emil Kolben’s successful life--as we will discover in Part 4.

Emil Kolben: The Czech Nikola Tesla  (Part 1)
Emil Kolben: The Czech Nikola Tesla  (Part 2)
Emil Kolben: The Czech Nikola Tesla  (Part 4)

Emil Kolben: The Czech Nikola Tesla (Part 2)

While on a Jewish vacation with KRC in Central Europe, we don’t just focus on the places we go to. We also put emphasis on the stories of people who have made their mark  in the history of the region. When travelling with us, one such story you will come across is the one of Emil Kolben.

This is Part 2 of our study into the life of Emil Kolben. 

Education and Edison

Emil Kolben graduated from a higher grammar school in Malá Strana then studied electrical engineering and machinery at the German Technical University of Prague. He graduated with honors in 1887. After a one-year practice he received Gerstner's travel scholarship of 1,200 gold for two years from the provincial committee. This allowed him to study abroad. He first became acquainted with some industrial companies in Europe. In 1888, he and his wife Malvina (1863-1940) sailed off to the United States, where they stayed for the next five years.

He first made a study trip across the United States, but soon received a job at Thomas Alva Edison’s “Edison Machine Company” in Schenectady, NY, which is the predecessor of today's General Electric. Later, he became Edison's direct collaborator in the development laboratories in Orange, New Jersey. He was appointed chief engineer once he proved himself there.

Tesla and Returning Home

In 1889, Nikola Tesla invited him to test multiphase electro motors at his laboratories in the Tesla Electric Company in New York. This experience greatly contributed to Kolben's focus on the use of alternating current and thus to his lifetime success. Kolben and Tesla had a similar style of work. They both worked systematically on the basis of scientific knowledge and theory at that time, while self-taught Edison was more intuitive.

Unlike Tesla, however, Kolben broke off with Edison on good terms. And their friendship later helped Kolben to build his vast business contacts.

His return to Europe was influenced by his wife, who never felt at home in America.

After returning to Europe, Kolben worked as the chief engineer in the Swiss company Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (Stroirina Oerlikon), developing generators and AC motors from 1892-1896. Its field was the transmission of energy by a high-voltage system. The correctness of Tesla's ideas was proven on the 125-km long lead from Laufen to Frankfurt. In Oerlikon, he also met Behn-Eschenburger, later inventor of a single-phase commutator engine, and other excellent electrotechnics (Dobrowolski, Arnold, Fischer-Hinnen).

In 1895 while living and working in Switzerland, the Kolbens were blessed with their first son, Hanuš.

Emil Kolben House

In 1896 Kolben and his family returned to Bohemia and settled in Villa Fleissnerka in the Vysočany district of Prague. On 29 October, Kolben founded a company with several silent associates, the most important of which was Karel Bondy, a Jewish investor. The factory was named “Kolben & Co.” and was designed by Kolben himself based on his experience from both Europe and America. He created a rationally structured factory with modern equipment for economical production.

Kolben’s life is quite colourful, isn’t it? But we shall learn even more in Part 3. For the first part, check here: Emil Kolben: The Czech Nikola Tesla  (Part 1)


To read the rest of the article:
Emil Kolben: The Czech Nikola Tesla  (Part 3)
Emil Kolben: The Czech Nikola Tesla  (Part 4)