KUFFNER, Karol
* 28. 7. 1847, Břeclav, Czech Republic
† 12. 12. 1924, Vienna, Austria
Inventor, sugar manufacturer
K. studied chemistry at the Technical University in Vienna and the Agricultural University in Mosonmagyaróvár. After studying, he worked as the director of beet sugar factory in Sládkovičovo for more than 55 years. In these decades he contributed significantly to the technical development of production of beet sugar.
In early 1890s he, among other things, designed a sieve for the sugar cane, which separates the fiber from the beet syrup. In 1911 he patented his universal apparatus for white beet processing. An agricultural research institute was established in Sládkovičovo under his leadership. The institute was engaged in plant anatomy and stockbreeding.
K. was also one of the founders of sugar factory in Trenčianska Tepla, a co-owner of Hernals and Ottakring breweries in Vienna and a board member of state brewery in Budapest. From 1920 on he was the chairman of the Slovak association of sugar producers and had many other functions: vice-chairman of Sugar beet growers association in Prague, vice president of the Agricultural Association of landowners and leaseholders in the Slovak Republic, vice-president of the Central Association of Czechoslovak industrials in Bratislava, vice president of the Bratislava Stock Exchange, deputy director of joint-stock company Ignác K. and Jakub K. in Vienna and President of the Credit Bank AG in Galanta.
K. is considered a reformer and pioneer of the sugar beet industry in Slovakia.
