Penkala was born on 20 April 1871 in Liptovsky St. Mikulas, to a Polish father and a Dutch mother. As a young boy he already showed great interest in solving technical problems and was always repairing something at home in his own small workshop. He attended the University of Vienna and Technische Universität Dresden, graduating from the later in 1898 and going on to earn a doctorate in organic chemistry.
Inventions Automatic pencil He became renowned for further development of the mechanical pencil (1906) - then called an "automatic pencil". That was an instant success in domestic and foreign markets. "Penkalomania" spread around the world. This company, now called TOZ Penkala, still exists today. Penkala Monoplane The 1910 Penkala Biplane also called the Butterfly was the first aircraft to fly in Croatia.The first flight occurred on 22 June 1910 with pilot Dragutin Novak, the first Croatian pilot.
A hot water bottle His other inventions
His first patented invention, the "Termofor”.
modern conventional hot water bottles were patented in 1903 and are manufactured in natural rubber or PVC
an anode battery
electric toothbrush
bug spray Krepax
Penkala died in Zagreb at the age of 50 after catching pneumonia on a business trip. He was buried at the Mirogoj Cemetery.
Ivan Lupis-Vukić
Ivan Vukić, known as Ioannem Blasium Ignatium Lupis or Giovanni Biagio Luppis or Ivan Luppis. He was born Jannuary 28th. 1813. in Rijeka and died Jannuary 11th. 1875. in Torriggia. He was naval officer of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. He was Commander of the Austrian Frigate "Venus". He invented and built a torpedo in 1860. As a result of the successful invention in 1873, a torpedo factory "Whitehead & Co." was based in Rijeka (before the Torpedo factory).
Ivan Vukić has come up with a plan to create ship destruction equipment ("small boat without any crew") controlled from the mainland, and activated by an enemy strike ship. After several models (prototypes), he built a "boat" (1 m length) to the thread and bolt (as a propulsion mechanism), and he had 2 helmets and was controlled by "long sighs from the land".
He attended Naval Military School in Venice, after which he worked professionally on naval ships. He started as the cadet and retired as a captain of the frigate in 1861. His career also had some war experience. He participated in the blockade of Venice in 1848/49. and in the war against Sardinia as Captain Frigate. Since he or his friends have left any written material on the idea of constructing a torpedo, one can not say much about it. It is assumed that guarding along the Dalmatian coast, in fear of the Garibaldi invasion, needed a means of effective defense of the city. He constructed the invention he named Salvacosta, meaning the Coast Guard. He presented it to the Ministry of War, but nearly every one of his ideas were rejected by the military council. After his retirement in 1861, he began the real work on developing this weapon. Mayor of Rijeka, Giovanni de Ciotta met Lupis with British engineer Robert Whitehead, who joined forces (1864.) for further training Lupis's invention. Whitehead admitted to him as authoring work (though it was modified and subtly processed the original "Coast Guard").
Two years they worked on improving the prototype, and in 1866 they presented it to the public - it was an underwater torpedo engine with compressed air and automatic steering for the depth and the ultimate direction of movement. It had a diameter of 355 mm, it was 3.35m long, weighing 136kg, and it contained 8 kg of explosives. After this experiment, the project was finally given green light by the State Commission for further examination and improvement at the expense of the state. With a special contract the Navy committed to pay 200.000 forints to the inventors for the purpose of using the invention. Shortly after, the torpedo license was requested by 19 countries. Lupis withdrew from work in 1874 and left Rijeka, and died in 1875.