{{short description|Hungarian-American mechanical engineer}} {{Hungarian name|Galamb József}} {{use dmy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox scientist |name = József Galamb |image = Galamb József.jpg |image_size = |caption = Galamb {{circa|1927}} |birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1881|2|3}} |birth_place = Makó, Austria-Hungary<ref name=Ford/> |death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1955|12|4|1881|2|3}} |death_place = Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |field = Mechanical engineer |work_institutions = |alma_mater = |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = Model T |author_abbrev_bot = |author_abbrev_zoo = |influences = |influenced = |prizes = |religion = |footnotes = |signature = }}
'''József Galamb''' ({{langx|en|Joseph A. Galamb}}; 3 February 1881 – 4 December 1955) was a Hungarian mechanical engineer,<ref name=Ford>{{cite book|last=Ford Richardson|first=Bryan|title=Henry's lieutenants|publisher=Wayne State University Press|year=1993|pages=123|isbn=978-0-8143-3213-9}}</ref> most known as main-engineer<ref>{{cite web | url=https://ceautoclassic.eu/the-110-year-old-ford-model-t-and-the-hungarians-who-made-it-a-success/ | title=The 110-year-old Ford Model T and the Hungarians who made it a success | CEAutoClassic | date=24 October 2018 }}</ref> for designing the Ford Model T.
Born in the town of Makó in 1881, Galamb finished his education at the Budapest Industrial Technology Engineering Course (the predecessor of the present-day Óbuda University Bánki Donát Politechnical College) in 1899.<ref name=Ford/> After receiving his diploma in mechanical engineering he worked at the Steel Engineering Factory in Diósgyőr as a draftsman. He next served one year in military service.<ref name=Ford/> He worked at the Hungarian Automobile Co., where he won a postgraduate scholarship to Germany.<ref name=Patent>{{cite web|title=Galamb József (1881 - 1955)|url=http://www.mszh.hu/feltalalok/galamb.html|work=Hungarian Patent Office|language=hu|access-date=5 December 2007|archive-date=4 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304144453/http://www.mszh.hu/feltalalok/galamb.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> After the navy he went to see the world – Vienna, Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen.<ref name=Ford/> In 1903, he worked in many German cities as a skilled worker, he got the best education at Adler in Frankfurt.<ref name=Patent/> He was hired to assemble automotive engines in a process in which each engine was built completely by one man.<ref name=Ford/> When he learned of the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, he used his savings to travel to America by ship in October 1903.<ref name=Ford/><ref name=Patent/> After two months in New York, he found employment as a toolmaker at the Westinghouse Corporation in Pittsburgh.<ref name=Ford/><ref name=Patent/> Although he planned to go back to Germany in 1904, instead he joined the Stearns Automobile Company in Cleveland as a carburetor maker.<ref name="Ford Richardson, p. 124">Ford Richardson, p. 124</ref>
Galamb applied for work at the Silent Northern plant, the reorganized Ford-Cadillac plant and the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant.<ref name="Ford Richardson, p. 124"/> All three offered him work within three hours.<ref name="Ford Richardson, p. 124"/> He joined the Ford Motor Company (twenty-four years old at that time) as a designer in December 1905.<ref name="Ford Richardson, p. 124"/> The Ford Motor Company had 300 employees at the time assembling the Ford Model A from purchased parts.<ref name="Ford Richardson, p. 124"/> Subsequent to redesigning the cooling system for the Model N, he became the chief designer of the company,<ref name=Patent/> and devised many of the parts of the famous Model T. From 1915, he worked on the Fordson tractor design. In 1921, he founded a scholarship for the poor students of his native town who wished to take up higher education at trade school. During World War I he was busy designing military hardware, e. g. anti-submarine detection systems. He visited Hungary many times, lecturing at the Association of Hungarian Engineers and Architects. During World War II on Ford's suggestion, he designed a small six-cylinder car, which was completed in 1942. On doctor's orders, he retired from active work in 1944.
His influence played a role in the Ford V8 and Eifel being assembled in Hungary from 1935.<ref>[http://totalcar.hu/magazin/szerelem/galamb/ His bio at a Hungarian autosite] in Hungarian</ref> He died in 1955 in Detroit.
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Galamb, Jozsef}} Category:1881 births Category:1955 deaths Category:People from Makó Category:Hungarian Calvinist and Reformed Christians Category:20th-century Hungarian inventors Category:Hungarian automotive engineers Category:American automotive engineers Category:Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States Category:American automotive pioneers Category:20th-century American inventors