"Szikra" Hungarian match factories ltd
Budaörs Bleyer Jakab Museum of Local History
When it comes to the history of match making, who hasn't heard of János Irinyi, the inventor of the noiseless and safe match? However, he was not the only one to have a monopoly on match production, which was also the business of several factories before and after him. The first matches, long before Irinyi, were extremely flammable, and the Hungarian inventor was credited with creating a match that would only ignite if it came into contact with another surface, but match-making was still extremely harmful to health at the time because of the use of white phosphorus.
Irinyi founded his first match factory in Hungary in 1839 in Pest, employing an average of 50-60 people, and selling his matches for 25 garas per 5,000 pieces, compared to the price of 35 garas in Vienna at the time. From that time until the turn of the century, match factories were run throughout the country, mainly by individual entrepreneurs with their own capital, always located in places where wood processing and the market for the finished product were well developed.
Market concentration started around the turn of the century, when foreign capital appeared within the industry, and the Budafok, Timisoara and Győr match factories were established. They founded the Hungarian Matchmakers' Sales Office in 1904, which at that time also had matchmaking operations in Besztercebánya, Eszek and Rózsahegy. A further stage in the convergence of economic interests came in 1915, when the Austrian Solo concern acquired significant interests in Hungarian match factories, according to the literature, creating Szikra Magyar Gyújtógyárak Rt. According to other sources, Szikra, in addition to foreign capital, bought the First Chemical Match Factory of Lipót Pálfi and his son-in-law in Szeged, Vesuvius Hungarian Match Factory Ltd. and the First Match, Car Match and Chemical Factory Ltd. in Timisoara through Szegedi Gyujtógyár Rt.
The new group of companies, under the authority of the Anglo-Hungarian Bank, started technological developments with a capital of K 2 000 000, which led to the bankruptcy of several small match factories. It was probably around this time that the technology from Jönköping in Sweden, which is still used for matches today, was introduced into domestic production. The idea is not to create phosphorus-based matches, but to ignite the matches only on the ignition surface of the matchbox and to contain enough chemical substances that are not harmful to human health in such quantities.
The members of the Szikra board of directors were Márk Rotter, Dr. Aurél Dobay, Róbert Czerweny, Dr. Ernő Fürth, Zsigmond Szana, Simon Krausz, Ignác Meisner, Viktor Czerweny and Nándor Leu, and the factories were located in Szeged, Timisoara and Győr. In 1928, the Swedish STAB (Svenska Tándstick Aktiebolaget) group acquired a majority stake in Szikra, which in 1929 consolidated 10 match factories in Hungary, then concentrated their activities first in 4 and later in 3 factories: in Budafok, Kecskemét and Szeged.
The Swedish acquisition of influence in 1928 took place with the knowledge and support of the Hungarian government, as under the terms of the contract of 16 May 1928 STAB granted Hungary a loan of 36 million dollars and in return acquired the exclusive right to produce and sell matches in Hungary for 50 years. From that date, the company's share capital was P12 000 000. The Swedes closed down the following match factories in Hungary: Albertfalva, Kiskunfélegyháza, Baja, Pesterzsébet, Tokaj, Szombathely and Gyula. At the same time, a poplar experimental plant was established in Martonpuszta, where domestic experts were engaged in poplar breeding, the primary raw material for matches.
Sparkle has been very profitable at home, especially after it became a monopoly. While it was heavily loss-making during the First World War (a loss of K643 982 in 1916), its profits averaged P200 000 in the 1920s, rising to the P400 000 range from 1929 and then to the P800 000 range by the dawn of the Second World War.
Nationalisation finally caught up with the company in 1949, which first continued to operate as the Gyufaipari Association, then in April 1952 the match factories within it became independent, only to be merged again in 1954 under the name Gyufaipari Vállalat, with its headquarters in Budafok. In 1959 the Kecskemét factory closed down. The remaining company, with sites in Budafok and Szeged, was reorganised in 1989 as Magyar Általános Gyufaipari Kft., with a group capacity of 730 million boxes of matches.
Sources:
Compass 1915-1942
Tóth, Sándor László (2002) From the history of match making. In. Association of Technical and Natural Science Associations, Committee on the History of Science and Technology, Budapest. 99-104.
Founded in 1915
Date of cessation: 1949
Founders are not set
Securities issued:
| "Szikra" Hungarian gypsum factories r.-t. |
Decisive leaders:
1920-1927 | Gustáv Kálmán |
1928-1936 | Dr. Ernő Fürth |
1937-1938 | Sándor Fleissig |
1939- | Dr. Andor Iklódy-Szabó |
Main activity: match making
Main products are not set
Seats are not configured
Locations are not set
Main milestones are not set
Author: by Dr. Márton Pelles
Founded in 1915
Founders are not set
Decisive leaders:
1920-1927 | Gustáv Kálmán |
1928-1936 | Dr. Ernő Fürth |
1937-1938 | Sándor Fleissig |
1939- | Dr. Andor Iklódy-Szabó |
Main activity: match making
Main products are not set
Seats are not configured
Locations are not set
Main milestones are not set
Author: by Dr. Márton Pelles
"Szikra" Hungarian match factories ltd
Budaörs Bleyer Jakab Museum of Local History
When it comes to the history of match making, who hasn't heard of János Irinyi, the inventor of the noiseless and safe match? However, he was not the only one to have a monopoly on match production, which was also the business of several factories before and after him. The first matches, long before Irinyi, were extremely flammable, and the Hungarian inventor was credited with creating a match that would only ignite if it came into contact with another surface, but match-making was still extremely harmful to health at the time because of the use of white phosphorus.
Irinyi founded his first match factory in Hungary in 1839 in Pest, employing an average of 50-60 people, and selling his matches for 25 garas per 5,000 pieces, compared to the price of 35 garas in Vienna at the time. From that time until the turn of the century, match factories were run throughout the country, mainly by individual entrepreneurs with their own capital, always located in places where wood processing and the market for the finished product were well developed.
Market concentration started around the turn of the century, when foreign capital appeared within the industry, and the Budafok, Timisoara and Győr match factories were established. They founded the Hungarian Matchmakers' Sales Office in 1904, which at that time also had matchmaking operations in Besztercebánya, Eszek and Rózsahegy. A further stage in the convergence of economic interests came in 1915, when the Austrian Solo concern acquired significant interests in Hungarian match factories, according to the literature, creating Szikra Magyar Gyújtógyárak Rt. According to other sources, Szikra, in addition to foreign capital, bought the First Chemical Match Factory of Lipót Pálfi and his son-in-law in Szeged, Vesuvius Hungarian Match Factory Ltd. and the First Match, Car Match and Chemical Factory Ltd. in Timisoara through Szegedi Gyujtógyár Rt.
The new group of companies, under the authority of the Anglo-Hungarian Bank, started technological developments with a capital of K 2 000 000, which led to the bankruptcy of several small match factories. It was probably around this time that the technology from Jönköping in Sweden, which is still used for matches today, was introduced into domestic production. The idea is not to create phosphorus-based matches, but to ignite the matches only on the ignition surface of the matchbox and to contain enough chemical substances that are not harmful to human health in such quantities.
The members of the Szikra board of directors were Márk Rotter, Dr. Aurél Dobay, Róbert Czerweny, Dr. Ernő Fürth, Zsigmond Szana, Simon Krausz, Ignác Meisner, Viktor Czerweny and Nándor Leu, and the factories were located in Szeged, Timisoara and Győr. In 1928, the Swedish STAB (Svenska Tándstick Aktiebolaget) group acquired a majority stake in Szikra, which in 1929 consolidated 10 match factories in Hungary, then concentrated their activities first in 4 and later in 3 factories: in Budafok, Kecskemét and Szeged.
The Swedish acquisition of influence in 1928 took place with the knowledge and support of the Hungarian government, as under the terms of the contract of 16 May 1928 STAB granted Hungary a loan of 36 million dollars and in return acquired the exclusive right to produce and sell matches in Hungary for 50 years. From that date, the company's share capital was P12 000 000. The Swedes closed down the following match factories in Hungary: Albertfalva, Kiskunfélegyháza, Baja, Pesterzsébet, Tokaj, Szombathely and Gyula. At the same time, a poplar experimental plant was established in Martonpuszta, where domestic experts were engaged in poplar breeding, the primary raw material for matches.
Sparkle has been very profitable at home, especially after it became a monopoly. While it was heavily loss-making during the First World War (a loss of K643 982 in 1916), its profits averaged P200 000 in the 1920s, rising to the P400 000 range from 1929 and then to the P800 000 range by the dawn of the Second World War.
Nationalisation finally caught up with the company in 1949, which first continued to operate as the Gyufaipari Association, then in April 1952 the match factories within it became independent, only to be merged again in 1954 under the name Gyufaipari Vállalat, with its headquarters in Budafok. In 1959 the Kecskemét factory closed down. The remaining company, with sites in Budafok and Szeged, was reorganised in 1989 as Magyar Általános Gyufaipari Kft., with a group capacity of 730 million boxes of matches.
Sources:
Compass 1915-1942
Tóth, Sándor László (2002) From the history of match making. In. Association of Technical and Natural Science Associations, Committee on the History of Science and Technology, Budapest. 99-104.