BLÁTHY, Otto Titusz
* 11. 8. 1860, Tata, Hungary
† 26. 9. 1939, Budapest, Hungary
electrotechnician
B. studied at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Technical College in Vienna. In 1883, he assumed a post at the electrotechnical department of the →Ganz factory in Budapest. The wattmeter he constructed there in 1884 was important for the spread of electrical energy as a commodity, since this meter enabled the immediate measurements of electricity consumption. Even more important was the invention of a transformer, with which alternating current could be connected and guided. He invented this together with Károly →Zipernowsky and Miksa →Déri (patent in 1885). On the basis of this invention, the →Ganz company built numerous power plants all over the world (the first power plant in Tivoli near Rome, 1886). Due to B.'s turbogenerators, the →Ganz company developed into one of the more important electrotechnical companies. B. received over 100 patents in his lifetime, and became a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1927. He ended his career as the director-general of →Ganz & Co.
