How it began
Jozef Karol Hell (1713 to 1789) was principal mine mechanic in the Banská Štiavnica ore district, then in the Kingdom of Hungary and now in Slovakia. He had studied under Samuel Mikovíny. In 1749 he built his first water-pillar pumping machine at the Leopold shaft to pump water out of the mine. Between 1749 and 1768 he built at least eight machines of this kind.
How it works
The machine was a pump for mine water that worked from the pressure of a column of water about 90 meters high. The first machine at the Leopold shaft initially raised water from a depth of 212 meters and later from as deep as 275 meters. The Slovak stamp issue of 1999 calls it a water-pillar, water-pump machine.
What changed first
According to the director of the Slovak Mining Museum, Hell's machines contributed a great deal to the golden age of mining in the Banská Štiavnica district. They helped make the district one of the most important centers of silver mining, science, technology and education in Europe in the second half of the 18th century.
What lasted
The machines ranked among the best mine water-pumping technology in the world in the second half of the 18th century. Hell also proposed the construction of the reservoirs known as tajchy around the town. Slovakia marked the engine as a technical monument on a postage stamp in 1999, and Hell is honored in both Slovakia and Hungary.
