(April 20, 1871 – February 5, 1922) |
Slavoljub Eduard Penkala (April 20, 1871 – February 5, 1922) was a naturalized Croatian engineer and inventor of Polish-Dutch ethnicity from the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia in Austria-Hungary and later the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
 He became renowned for further development of the mechanical pencil (1906)[1] – then called an "automatic pencil" – and the first solid-ink fountain pen (1907)[2]. Collaborating with an entrepreneur by the name of Edmund Moster, he started the Penkala-Moster Company and built a pen-and-pencil factory that was one of the biggest in the world at the time. This company, now called TOZ-Penkala, still exists today. TOZ stands for "Tvornica olovaka Zagreb," which means "Zagreb pencil factory." |
He also constructed the first Croatian two-seat aeroplane in 1909 (Penkala's aeroplane, nicknamed Leptir (Butterfly) was 11 metres long, had a 11 metres wingspan, weight of 330 kg, had a 25hp engine and a maximum speed of 57kph), which Dragutin Novak, the first Croatian graduated pilot, used for his first flight. He constructed and invented many other products and devices, and held a total of 80 patents.
S. Penkala with version of Leptir (Butterfly)
 Pilots and mechanics with first version of the Leptir |  Second version of Leptir (Butterfly), as the aeroplane was nicknamed |
Penkala also invented the first hotwater bottle, vacuum-flask, detergenta, rotating toothbrush, pen clip-holder, vhich enabled pens to be secured in the pocket, railway car brkes, anodic batteries, the ksilolite preparation against parasites in railway sleepers, the flow-meter device for liquids, pressure gauge, dynamometer, ebonite plastic mass used for manufacture of gramophone records, special microphones and listening devices, tens of chemical preparations and mechanical devices. He patented over 80 inventions. He calculated turbines and propellers for helicopters. While studying the airflow over an wingfoil, he found a new lift source, and in 1908 made his first design of a hoovercraft. He graduated chemistry in Dresden in 1898. He was "Higher Banski measures superviser" ( Ban was the elected ruler of Croatia since the death of the last ing of Croatian origin in 1097). His amateur aeroplane workshop was in his vestibule, at No. 17 King Tomislav Square (then Emperor Franz Jozef Square, later (1904) he built the first hangar in Crnomereca, at then military practicing field, ad so opened the first airfield in Croatia. He died in Zagreb from pneumonia, at his creative peak, in 51st year of his life.
Among his patented inventions were:
* a hot water bottle – his first patented invention, the "Termofor"
* a type of bluing detergent
* a rail-car brake
* an anode battery
He also founded another company called the Elevator Chemical Manufacturing Company, which produced various chemicals such as detergents, sealing wax, and "Radium Vinovica", a patent-medicine-like product that was billed as curing rheumatism.
Penkala died in Zagreb at the age of 51, after catching pneumonia on a business trip
* a hot water bottle – his first patented invention, the "Termofor"
* a type of bluing detergent
* a rail-car brake
* an anode battery
He also founded another company called the Elevator Chemical Manufacturing Company, which produced various chemicals such as detergents, sealing wax, and "Radium Vinovica", a patent-medicine-like product that was billed as curing rheumatism.
Penkala died in Zagreb at the age of 51, after catching pneumonia on a business trip
