ZVONÍČEK, Jan
* 21. 11. 1865, Týnište above Orlicí, Czech Republic
† 26. 1. 1926, Prague, Czech Republic
Mechanical engineer
After completing nonclassical modern grammar school in Hradec Králové, Z. enrolled to study mechanical engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague. After graduation he worked in the company called »První česko-moravská továrna na stroje v Praze » (The first Czech-Moravian machine factory in Prague). In 1902 when he had already been a chief engineer of the factory he was invited to the professorship in the Department of Mechanical Engineering II at Czech Technical University in Brno. In 1906/07 he was the Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering and in 1909/10 the Rector of college. He was also a member of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Masaryk academy of labour and of the Czechoslovakia's society for normalization. From 1912 onwards he taught as a professor at the Czech Technical University in Prague. Here, as well as in Brno, he arranged a hardware laboratory. As a designer of machinery in the factory he developed a new type of steam engine - valve steam engine with superheated steam. Vapor control system was also patented in 1897 and later used on all machines in the factory. This patent was taken over by many foreign companies. While lecturing in Brno, he designed the mixed type radial steam turbine, which represented the only original invention in the Czech Republic. The Czech-Moravian machinery factory built Z.'s maximum steam turbine with 3000 kW power for the power plant in Holešovice.
