150TH ANNIVERSARY OF DONÁT BÁNKI'S BIRTH
Date of issue: 5 June 2009
Donát Bánki (Bakonybánk, 6 June 1859 – Budapest, 1 August 1922) was an engineer, inventor, professor and corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
He obtained his degree in mechanical engineering at the Budapest Technical University and then found a position in industry as a design engineer (at the State Railways Machine Works, then the Ganz factory). He was an assistant at the Department of Applied Mechanics at the Technical University in 1879-80 and from 1899 until his death professor specializing in the structures of hydromachines, compressors and gas turbines.
His work was closely connected with that of János Csonka, and together they developed the Bánki-Csonka engine by 1890, which became an internationally competitive product of the Ganz factory. On 11 February 1893 they patented the petrol injection carburettor, ahead of Wilhelm Maybach, who is generally considered to be the pioneer abroad. In 1894 Bánki patented the first high pressure combustion engine, which deservedly won world repute in its own age as it cooled the explosive mixture with water sprayed into the cylinder, thus increasing the efficiency of the engine to an unhoped for extent. (The principle of both the increased compression and water injection first clarified by Bánki was used later as well although the appearance of the Diesel engine a few years later hindered the spread of the Bánki engine.) The Bánki turbine invented in 1917 opened up new paths in the development of small-scale hydroelectric power stations. In 1918 he drew up a large-scale plan for the use of hydroelectric power at Vaskapu on the Danube.
In his writings he was mainly concerned with the theory of gas engines, steam turbines and the structural principles of hydromachines. He was one of the authors of the Pallas Encyclopaedia from 1893.
After his death his water turbine (1926) won a special award from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and several educational institutions bear his name, as does the asteroid 131763 Donátbánki. In 1955 the Scientific Society of Mechanical Engineering founded a three-tier technical distinction to be awarded annually in his honour. Source: http://hu.wikipedia.org
In the stamp design the portrait of Donát Bánki is shown together with some of his inventions. The first day cover employs a montage of his inventions and the main motifs on the special postmark are the indispensible tools of an engineer/inventor, the compass and the ruler.
SO
Order code: 2009150010011 (stamp) - 2009150060012 (FDC)
Date of issue: 5 June 2009
Printed by Állami Nyomda
Designed by Zsolt Vidák
Perforated size: 45 x 29.16 mm, 50 stamps per sheet
300,000 copies of the stamp have been issued.
More information: philately@posta.hu
