The Hungarian inventor who revolutionised car designs

Szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu presents us with the story of Pál Járay, who was decades ahead of his time, thus changing the car manufacturing scene forever.

The way cars look was ever changing in the first decades after the first vehicle appeared on the roads. The design we see today is the fruit of years’ of long work, but as they became easier on the eye, they also became more comfortable and, most importantly, safer.

Streamlined car-bodies played a crucial role in the progress of cars, yet not many know that a Hungarian man – whose revolutionary thinking changed everything car-related – invented this.

Pál Járay was born in 1889, in Vienna, to Hungarian-Jewish parents. He began his career as an airplane-developer, and during WWI, he was inspecting the hydrodynamics of zeppelins at Luftschiffbau Zeppelin. In 1920, Járay chartered the new zeppelin design: it had the smallest drag, it had a rounded front and tapered back. Thanks to him, the operational costs of zeppelins was reduced by almost half.

After this, he became interested in cars, achieving the same levels of greatness in car development as well. In 1921, he chartered a car design too: the streamlined automobile. According to his idea, the perfect car has a raked windscreen, the wheels are right below the car-body and the passenger compartment is drop shaped.

In the beginning, manufacturing companies were indifferent to his idea, but he eventually made his breakthrough in the second half of the 1920’s. It was first at Chrysler Airflow that Járay’s designs were implemented. Thereafter came the Tatra 77, and later Audi, Bugatti, Voisin, Adler and Maybach used his plans, too. The Volkswagen Beetle is an excellent example of his designs.

Thanks to Járay, race cars started breaking speed records: because of the streamlined car body, the drag was reduced, thus speed grew and consume decreased. Another benefit of this design is the lack of the slip-stream left behind by cars, thus they don’t kick up that much mud or dust.

According to some research, the Járay-design’s drag is the smallest. The achievements of the Hungarian designer are still being taught and put to use, even though nowadays the classical streamline is going out of fashion.

Ce: bm

Source: szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu