Ottó Bláthy

Ottó Titusz Bláthy (1860 to 1939) was a Hungarian electrical engineer and the co-inventor of the modern electric transformer, the voltage regulator, the AC watt-hour meter, the turbo generator and the motor capacitor for the single-phase AC motor. He began inventing at the Ganz Works in 1883, where he taught himself electrotechnics and used the Maxwell equations to devise a practical method of sizing magnetic coils. After seeing the Gaulard and Gibbs secondary generator at the 1884 Turin exhibition he worked with Miksa Déri and Károly Zipernowsky on closed magnetic circuits, and in 1885 the three Ganz engineers produced the ZBD transformer, whose core form and shell form designs are still used. These transformers were 3.4 times more efficient than the open-core devices they replaced and, used in parallel-connected distribution, made electric power for lighting in homes and public spaces technically and economically feasible. Bláthy also patented the AC watt-hour meter in 1889, known as the Bláthy meter, and helped design the Tivoli power plant, whose six water turbines ran in parallel with older steam generators.