HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Fegyver- és Gépgyártó Részvénytársaság ("Arms and Machine Manufacturing Company"), known as FÉG, is a Hungarian industrial conglomerate founded on 24 February 1891 in Csepel (now part of
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
). The company came under the ownership of MPF Industry Group in 2010. It was an important arms manufacturing company before
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Since the acquisition, FÉG is one of the biggest exporters of HVAC products to the international markets in the East-Central European heating device industry. Throughout its history it was renamed several times for various reasons; to Fémáru, Fegyver- és Gépgyár ("Metalware, Arms and Machine Factory") in 1935, to Lámpagyár ("Lamp Factory") in 1946, to Fegyver- és Gázkészülékgyár ("Arms and Gas Equipment Factory") in 1965. Decades later, in post-communist times it was renamed as FÉGARMY Fegyvergyártó Kft. ("FÉGARMY Arms Factory Ltd.").


1891-2004

On February 24, 1891, the legal predecessor of the Fegyver és Gépgyár (FÉG) was founded in Budapest. In the beginning the company produced rifles and pistols for the Austro-Hungarian Army and also exported its products for foreign armies. However, to further increase its revenue, the company also produced pistols and rifles for civilian use on a large scale. The company became an important arms manufacturer in the country, but it also produced gas equipment, water heaters, lamps, various boilers for steam engines, steam hammers for the steel industry, and miscellaneous metalware. CEO Oszkár Epperlein recognized the growing importance of ICE engines in industrial machinery which may eventually make steam engines obsolete in the near future, thus the company made efforts for manufacturing of industrial ICE engines. The production of
Diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...
s started in 1899, when the Hungarian engineer Oszkár Epperlein (1844-1903) and Jenő Böszörményi (1872 - 1957) bought the patent rights of Diesel engines for the FÉG company from
Rudolf Diesel Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (, ; 18 March 1858 – 29 September 1913) was a German inventor and mechanical engineer who invented the Diesel engine, which burns Diesel fuel; both are named after him. Early life and education Diesel was born on 1 ...
. (Diesel was a colle classmate The production of the Arms Factory increased dramatically between 1914 and 1917. They produced repeating rifles and self-loading pistols in the hundreds of thousands, and millions of cartridges. Through its history it always fulfilled a crucial role in supplying the Honvédség with
small arms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...
, this company also manufactured and exported a variety of semi-automatic pistols and rifles, including the Frommer Stop, P9M, P9RC and the PJK-9HP models (copies of the famous
Browning Hi-Power The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, semi-automatic pistol available in the 9×19mm Parabellum and .40 S&W calibers. It was based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at FN Herstal. ...
) and the FÉG PA-63 (a Walther PP/PPK clone in 9×18mm Makarov), but currently only self-loading pistols (P9L, P9M, P9R, etc.) and break-barrel
air rifles An air gun or airgun is a gun that uses energy from compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurized and then released to propel and accelerate projectiles, similar to the principle of the primitive blowgun. This is in contr ...
(LG 427, LG 527). In Hungary, the company is also famous for its
starting pistol A starting pistol or starter pistol is a blank handgun or, more recently, an electronic toy gun or device with a button connected to a sound system that is fired to start track and field races as well as some competitive swimming races. Tradit ...
s, for example the GRP-9, as well as manufacturing most of the propane water boilers and heaters found in Hungarian houses.


2004-present

After 2004 many of its traditional export markets were put under embargo and this caused the company to stop its activity connected to the defence industry. At the end of 2010, FÉG almost went bankrupt when HUF 1.7 billion of funds disappeared from the company. MPF Industry Group made an important investment to rescue the company and restarted the production. Since MPF Industry Group's reorganization, FÉG is one of the biggest East-Central European HVAC manufacturers.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fegyver- es Gepgyar Manufacturing companies based in Budapest Privately held companies of Hungary Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning companies Manufacturing companies established in 1891 Hungarian brands Manufacturing companies of Austria-Hungary 1891 establishments in Hungary