LÖWY

AUSTRIA (see also List of Individuals)

\

12.1.1884 Wien/A - 21.1.1956 Upper Darby PA/USA

\

Robert Löwy graduated from the Vienna Technical University as a mechanical engineer in 1906 and there also obtained the PhD degree in 1909. He was a Member of the Austrian Association of Engineers and Architects from 1907. He spent the first years as an assistant to Artur Budau (1856-1923) and in 1910 moved to Budapest, from where he returned in 1914 to participate in World War I. Löwy started with Leobersdorfer Maschinenfabrik LMF in the early 1920s, where he had a position similar to that of Othmar Schnyder (1904-1974) and might have suffered from similar problems as essentially an engineer that loved science but had to contribute to the wealth of his firm. The LMF exists still today, yet without tracks to Löwy, who emigrated to the USA in 1939.

\

Löwy's interest - starting with his PhD thesis and continuing all throughout his career - was the hydraulics of unsteady flow related to hydraulic machinery and penstocks. During his Vienna years, he worked on the design and the improvement of turbines directed to hydropower generation. Once at the Leobersdorfer Maschinenfabrik, he turned more to hydraulic machinery such as gates and mechanical elements to control hydropower stations. Austria as other Alpine countries developed hydropower schemes significantly after World War I, first because there was a large increase of electricity consumption and second because national projects would reduce unemployment around 1930. Löwy is known for his 1928 book on the unsteady flow features in pressurized pipelines, a typical topic of that time. Later, he turned to large projects of the Austrian Railways Company which electrified parts of its net.

\

_{Löwy, R. (1908). Der Reguliervorgang bei modernen indirekt wirkenden hydraulischen Turbinenregulatoren. Elektrotechnik und Maschinenbau 26(10): 195-201; 26(11): 220-226.}

_{Löwy, R. (1908). Die Strömung im Laufrad einer Francisturbine. Zeitschrift für das gesamte Turbinenwesen 5(9): 133-135; 5(10): 153-156; 5(11): 172-175.}

_{Löwy, R. (1914). Zur Theorie der diskontinuierlichen Strömungen. Zeitschrift für das gesamte Turbinenwesen 11(6): 81-84; 11(7): 99-104; 11(8): 118-120.}

_{Löwy, R. (1925). Neuerungen an Abschlussorganen von Turbinenanlagen. Elektrotechnik und Maschinenbau 43(43): 841-846.}

_{Löwy, R. (1928). Druckschwankungen in Druckrohrleitungen. Springer: Wien.}

_{Löwy, R. (1930). Die Doppelregulierung von Peltonrädern. Wasserkraft-Jahrbuch 1930: 316-344. Schärf, T.E. (2006). Robert Löwy. Personal communication. Jüdische Gemeinde: Baden/Wien.}