Pest Roller Mill ltd

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 economic role of the capital. In fact, the growth of the population led to a greater demand for foodstuffs, including cereals. The succession of steam mills had the advantage of being steam-driven, allowing them to be sited freely without the need for water or wind. In terms of transport, however, the proximity of the Danube was essential.

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 Pesti József Hengermalom Részvénytársulat was unique in Hungary in its time in two respects. On the one hand, it was the first commercial mill based on steam power, and on the other hand, it was the first enterprise to be established in the form of a joint-stock company.

Count István Széchenyi also participated in the foundation of the joint-stock company. At the beginning of 1836, he contacted Baron János Pulzer, the boss of the Holzhammer company in Bolzano, to make a partial contribution to the establishment of the rolling mill. Széchenyi raised the other part of the capital needed for the founding of the mill through contributions from wealthy citizens of Pest. In addition, he secured the support of the Emperor Joseph, who provided a lower land price for the establishment of the rolling mill. He also gave his name to the joint-stock company. The foundation took place on 28 December 1838, with the Swiss company Holzhammer I. A. and six merchants from Pest, two industrialists and five aristocrats playing a leading role.

In parallel with the rebuilding of the town after the flood, the mill was built by 1841 on the area bounded by the present-day Balassi Bálint, Stollár Béla, Falk Miksa and Balaton streets. It became operational on 15 September 1841, the same year. In 1850 the steam engine building burnt down completely, and in 1851 the foundry was destroyed by fire. The foundry was not restored because there was insufficient insurance cover. To this end, insurance bonds with guaranteed interest rates were issued instead of a bank loan. A new mill was built in 1867 to replace the old one, one of the advantages of which was that it was more modern than the previous one. The old mill building burnt down again in 1888, so production only continued in the new mill building. At that time, the mill was already exporting its products to Europe, Asia, Africa, India, Brazil and Arabia; it was able to grind 2 400 metric tons of grain per day. The fall in the share price is also generally linked to the early slump in the milling industry, which can be explained by the fact that credit was less readily available at this time, leading to the accumulation of reserves. The drive to increase this may have further reduced the profits of the companies at the time.

At the turn of the century, the mill was in serious financial difficulties. At an extraordinary general meeting in 1906, several board members resigned from the mill. In that year, Konrád Buchard took over the post of director and took back the position of general manager. The crisis was linked to the fact that, in addition to the previous losses, production had been extremely poor in 1905. This was compounded by the problem that Kálmán Rajner had accumulated extremely large losses during his operation. The company had to sever its links with the Váci Hengermalom Részvénytársaság, which had been a subsidiary of the company since 1893.

At the same time, the mill had to be relocated due to the "growth" of the capital. In 1911, for urban planning reasons, the new mill building was also demolished and the new one was built in Lágymányos.

Over the next decade, the company was able to sort out its earlier financial problems, and under the leadership of Konrád Burchard, it was able to grow. But when Burchard died on 2 July 1916, the fate of the rolling mill was sealed. After his death, the company continued to operate independently for 10 years, when, due to financial problems, it was merged into the First Budapest Steam Mill Joint Stock Company on 24 April 1926.

Literature

György Antal Diószegi 2010: Count Széchenyi and the Greeks of Pest in the spirit of "Homeland and Progress". Honismeret (38) 39-42.

Csaba Domonkos:The first steam mill in Pest started a significant industrial development - József Hengermalom started its operation 180 years ago, Pestbuda.hu, https://pestbuda.hu/cikk/20210922_az_elso_pesti_gozmalom_jelentos_ipari_fejlodest_inditott_el_180_eve_kezdte_meg_mukodeset_a_jozsef_hengermalom

Judit Klement 2010: Steam Mills on the Danube. Budapest.

Judit Klement 2012:Domestic entrepreneurs in the golden age. Entrepreneurs of the Budapest Steam Mill Industry in the Second Half of the 19th Century. Budapest.

Great Hungarian Compass 1873-1926.

Press material 1873-1926.

Zénó Terplán 1991:The role of István Széchenyi in the foundation of the Hungarian mechanical engineering industry. Hungarian Science (98. New stream 36.) 1000-1011.

Gyula Viszota 1910: Széchenyi and the rolling mill of Pest. Budapest.

Date of foundation: 1839

Termination time not set

Founders: count István Széchenyi, Holzhammer I. A. company, six wholesalers from Pest, two industrialists, five aristocrats

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Main activity: milling industry

Main products are not set

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Author: Róbert Szabó