MARCUS, Siegfried

Born as the third son of Rosa and a merchant and head of the Malchiner Jewish community, Liepmann M., Siegfried learnt the mechanical trade and attended trade school in Berlin. After finishing school he was employed at Berlins’ electrical engineering company Siemens & Halske and in 1847/48, together with Werner Siemens, built the first telegraph system on the continent. He invented a telegraph relay, for which the Saxony provincial government allocated an award of 1000 thalers. With experience and knowledge M. came to Vienna in 1852, where he was initially employed by mechanics Karl Eduard Kraft, but also worked at the Mechanical institute in Erdberg. For three years he worked as a mechanic at St. Joseph’s Academy and as an assistant in the chemical laboratory of physiologist Karl Ludwig.
In 1860 he founded his own workshop, which was initially called the Institute for manufacture of telegraphs, and was later renamed into a factory for mechanical and electrical equipment. M. was active in every field of inventions. In 1856 he presented the instrument for displaying traffic signs to the Imperial Academy of Sciences. This antigraph simplified the earlier complex process of transferring original lithographic and engraver's images on stone or metal plates. In addition to the privileges which he received for the improved safety valves on steam boilers (1857) and improvements in machine for threading screws (1857), M. worked mainly on electrotechnical inventions. He also acquired the Austrian privileges for Mors relay, the pointer telegraph, telegraphic apparatus and field telegraph. Improvements and innovations of electric lamps and bulbs, about which he corresponded with Werner Siemens, define M. as pioneer of the science of lighting.
The invention of a new thermal pillar (1865) is regarded as a substantial progress in the exploitation of electricity and the Academy awarded him with 2500 guilders. Together with Bela Egger he constructed an electric lamp, which in 1879 attracted attention of the professional public, because it was used for lighting the railway wagons. His constructions of ignition devices were also of great importance. His carburettors were powered by a simple and inexpensive coal gas. M. equipped the engines with his ignition and gasification devices. In 1888 it became known in Vienna that M. in 1870 constructed an internal combustion engine with a high-magnetic-electric ignition, having an apparatus for the carbonization of atmospheric air (the privilege from 1864 and 1866), and was offered for installation in road vehicles. The photos of an internal combustion engine were published in 1904.
The original photo, preserved till today, was signed by the inventor, who added the attribution: „Petroleum (petrol) (motor) for road vehicle drive fitted with suspension to neutralize the shock of explosions - constructor: Siegfr. Marcus 1870“. In 1898 a photograph of the so-called „The first Marcus Car“ was published for the first time. He removed rear wheels of the manual handcart and placed the engine flywheel there. In order to get a motor vehicle in the drive, it was necessary to raise power beam and the wheels off the ground. Due to the poor control, it was necessary to steer the vehicle manually with the front swivel base. Direct responses to the test drive or contemporary newspaper articles about test driving M’s motor vehicle are not known. Indications of M’s test drives became public only in later years (1890, 1898 and 1904). The letter correspondence from 1901 shows that M. was driving its vehicle already in 1870s. The vehicle itself is not preserved. There is a photograph, which documents M's complete commitment to motorization of vehicle with internal combustion engine and which bears his signature. „Motor vehicle, constructed by Siegfr. Marcus Vienna 3. Sep. 1870 - photographed by Löwy’s assistant Jaffé“. This vehicle is the first one powered by gasoline. In addition to the 1870 internal combustion engine and a motor vehicle, Johann →Radinger also mentioned M's engine in his report from the 1873 World’s Fair. From 1887 on he was designing a four-cycle engine with an aerosol carburettor and magnetic self-powered intermittent ignition (Austrian privilege in 1882, German national patent in 1884). Petrol car, now known as the „Second Marcus Car“ was first shown publicly at the joint exhibition of automotive manufacturers of Austria in 1898. The same year the Austrian Automobile Club bought a car for 100 guilders. At the time M. used the first low voltage ignition of the magneto type for the ignition of mixture of petrol and air. A one-cylinder four-stroke engine for this car was in the end built in 1888 in Brno near Adamov by Märky, Bromoskovský and Schulz. The exact dating is difficult, because M. received privileges for each motor design individually and not for the entire car at a time. In addition to modern records and written sources available from machine factory in Adamovo, the design drawing from January 1889 represents the first description of this vehicle. According to the mentioned design a four-wheel car powered by gasoline was produced. The first car powered by gasoline made in Austria and the first motor vehicle with a four-stroke engine and magnetic low voltage ignition are today in the ownership of the Austrian automobile and motorcycle touring club and displayed in Vienna's Technical Museum.
For the time in his life, M. received 38 Austrian privileges, as well as numerous foreign patents, he was nurturing relationship with the Emperor and was a member of the Austrian Electrotechnical Association and Austrian Society of Engineers and Architects. He had two daughters with his life companion Eleonor Baresch (1842-1919).