KAPLAN, Viktor

After studying civil engineering at the Technical University of Vienna, K. was in 1901 employed at the →Ganz & Co. factory for the manufacture of engines in Leobersdorf. Two years later he moved to the German Technical University in Brno to conduct research at the Institute of civil engineering, kinematics and mechanics.
K. received his PhD. in 1908. After habilitation he became private lecturer in the field of water turbines. Later he became head of the Department of the theory and design of hydraulic machines and was finally in 1913 elected associate professor and five years later a full professor. Knowing that the propellers and Francis turbines of that time were unsuitable, K. was trying to find a solution to produce electricity from large river streams with only a moderate incline, so he developed an entirely new type of turbine in a small turbine laboratory at the German Technical University in Brno. First, he reduced the friction by reducing the number of blades and narrowing the profile. Later he designed blades that could be switched during operation and thus adapted to changing downstream conditions.
K. patented his main inventions between 1912 and 1914: water turbine with adjustable rotor blades which combine radial and axial features. In the machine the rotor was on a vertical shaft and could be adjusted to suit any rate of water flow.
The company which invested in the development of the Francis turbines, was in dispute with K. over the invention rights. Because of these events and the outbreak of World War I, the practical application of the Kaplan turbine was delayed until 1918, when it was built at the Brno Storek factory and was put into operation one year later at the spinning mill in Velm (Lower Austria). Today it is located in the Technical Museum in Vienna. License agreements for the manufacture of Kaplan turbines, with a company that belonged to an international consortium in 1920s allowed the global distribution of these devices.
Due to the constant modifications and difficult disputes over patents K. fell ill in 1922. Apart from that, the Kaplan turbines encountered some quantitative problems and caused him more stress. With the help of his student (and later his first assistant Jaroslav Slavik) and licensing companies, mainly the Swedish Verkstads from Kristinehamn, K. survived those critical moments. The number of waterworks using the new Kaplan turbines rapidly increased, among them were the hydroelectric stations in Loučná, Rapotín and Kroměříž, Goriza and the Lilla Edet waterworks in Switzerland.
The Prague Technical University granted K. an honorary doctorate in 1926. Five years later he left the Technical University and moved to the Rochuspoint estate in Austria, where he died after prolonged illness on the 23rd August 1934.