GALAMB, József
* 1. 2. 1881, Makó, Hungary
† 4. 12. 1955, Detroit, USA
Mechanical engineer, automotive designer
G. attended professional college of wood science and metallurgy in Szeged and later a state industrial school in Budapest. After finishing school he worked at the Steel Engineering Factory in Diósgyőr as a draftsman and then the automobile company in Odmezővásárhely. He acquired his first knowledge of engine manufacturing at the Hungarian Automobile Co. in Arad. After that he moved to Germany, where he worked as a professional worker in the various factories, including the automobile and motorcycle manufacturer Adler in Frankfurt am Main. When he heard about American Auto World Fair in St. Louis in 1904, he used his savings to travel to America. In order to earn his living, he found a job in the cardboard factory in New York and then found employment as a toolmaker at the Westinghouse Corporation in Pittsburgh and in 1904 again at a car factory in St. Louis. In 1905 he joined the then little known Ford Motor Company in Detroit as a designer. After Henry Ford saw G.’s constructions, he became the chief designer of the company and devised many parts of the famous Ford model T. Between 1913 and 1927 Ford produced 15 million Tin Lizzy cars. G. retired in 1944.
