Erzsébet Steam Mill Society

The history of the steam mills is intertwined with the history of the capital: although the steam mills were established before the unification of Buda, Pest and Óbuda in 1873, their development was influenced by the development of the capital and its economic role. The establishment of the steam mills was made possible by the favourable transport conditions created by the Danube steamship and the agricultural boom in the middle of the century, which resulted from the urbanisation of European cities. Population growth led to a greater demand for grain, which meant that there was also an adequate outlet for it. The succession of steam mills had the advantage of being steam-driven, allowing them to be sited freely, as they did not need water or wind to operate. However, the steam engine required a considerable amount of water to operate the steam mills, which is why they were built close to the Danube.

The so-called "high milling" method, which was widespread in Hungary, was as follows: the grain was first taken from the warehouse to the mill, where it was cleaned of major impurities and the husk in the milling machine. The task of the 'tarar' was to clean the wheat grain before it went to the wheat classifier, which was able to sift out the defective grains. The thresher was responsible for filtering out the kernels and the brushing machine for removing the dust. The last operation before milling was conditioning, during which water equivalent to 2-3% of the weight of the wheat grains was added to the wheat. This was followed by a resting period and then the cleaned wheat was subjected to repeated crushing to obtain a fine flour. To obtain a larger grain size, it was milled into flour using roller mills or roller pairs.

The Elizabeth Steam Mill Company building was completed by 1868. The founding of the company was largely the work of crop merchants (B. A. Weiss, I. Baumgarten, Frigyes Harkányi (Koppély) Harkányi, Adam Adler and his son, Lajos Herzfelder, Károly Kohner), bankers (József Hajós) and industrialists (Emil Neuschloss, Ágoston Barber).

In 1880 the company bought the steam mill in Timisoara and had it rebuilt and modernised during the summer. By 1881, the American competition was having an effect: both the Budapest and Timisoara mills reduced their grinding to prevent the accumulation of flour stocks. In 1895, the mill acquired the Pannonia mill by merger from the Pannonia Steam Mill Company, which had been founded in 1862. In 1896 the mill was exporting not only to Europe but also to America, Asia and Africa. The mill's importance is demonstrated by the fact that the company's share price rose almost continuously for almost half a decade from the mid-1880s:

• 218 Ft
• 282,5 Ft
• 285,5 Ft
• 371,5 Ft
• 464 Ft
• 490 Ft

In 1903, there was a sharp drop in interest for Hungarian flour in Austria, while in Western Europe (England) the demand for cheaper American flour increased the most. This led to a reduction in production, as in the following year, when exports to Bohemia and Moravia were less profitable than in previous years. In 1906 a workers' strike disrupted normal operations. In 1907 the poor wheat production in the Banat region made it difficult to run a profitable business.

According to a decision of a general assembly in December 1908, the association participated in the establishment of a joint-stock company together with the Timisoara First Milling Company Rieger G. and Partners of Timisoara. In the autumn, due to the conversion work in the Elizabeth Mill, production was only carried out in the Pannonia Mill, and the title of the joint-stock company was changed.

The new company was in charge of the business of the Timisoara branch mill from 1 January 1909. At the same time, in 1909, as a consolation, some improvements were made to the mill: the steam engine was rebuilt, a new boiler house was built and new equipment (elevator, silo, flour store, conveyor bridges) was installed.

At the beginning of the next decade, poor cereal yields were an additional problem compared to the previous period. By 1910, this had reached the point where foreign wheat was needed to meet the wheat requirements of the domestic milling industry. This was compounded by a workers' strike which paralysed the mill for five weeks. This may have played a part in the First Budapest Steam Mill Joint-Stock Company's even closer relationship with the company in 1911. The vast majority of the shares were then in the hands of the joint stock company. At the same time, the Timisoara Steam Mill, as a branch of the Elizabeth Steam Mill, sold all its shares to the company Rieger G. and Partners. In 1913, the difficulties were even greater than before. The mill was forced not only to limit its operations but also to shut down completely for a time. The main problem was that the restriction took place after the harvest, the most profitable period for the business, which had never been seen before.

The fate of the mill was sealed by a fire on 19 September 1914. The mill building burnt down along with the adjacent scouring shed and bag store, although two-thirds of the entire plant survived. Due to the outbreak of the First World War, the construction of the new mill building was delayed for a long time, and the company could only take over the Buda mill of the First Budapest Steam Mill, which had been ceded in exchange, on 1 October 1916. In the meantime, the wheat allocated centrally to the mill was being milled by other mills.

Economic difficulties also determined the later period of the mill's operation. As a result, on 24 April 1926 it was merged into the First Budapest Steam Mill Joint Stock Company.

Sources

Erzsébet Gőzmalom Részvénytársaság. Online website: http://remlac.hu/angyalfold_htk/13angyalfold_htk__cimekszerint/garamutca4/garamutca4.html. Last download date: 14 November 2024.

Hungarian Statistical Yearbook 1906. 14. New stream, Budapest, 1907. 197.

Painting Hirschlerek. Online website: https://sites.google.com/site/hirschlercsalad/malmozo-hirschlerek. Last download date: 1 December 2024.

Great Hungarian Compass 1875-1926.

Press material 1875-1926.

Vilmos Sándor (1959) The development of the Budapest milling industry, 1839-1880.Studies on the Past of Budapest 13. 315-422.

Date of foundation: 1868

Date of cessation: 1926

Founders: B. A. Weiss, I. Baumgarten, Frigyes Harkányi (Koppély), Ádám Adler and son, Lajos Herzfelder, Károly Kohner, József Hajós, Emil Neuschloss and Ágoston Barber

Securities issued:

Decisive leaders:

Main activity: cereal milling (wheat, barley, rye)

Main products are not set

Seats:

Locations are not set

Main milestones are not set

Author: Róbert Szabó