Kandó, Kálmán

Born July 10, 1869, in Pest; died Jan. 13, 1931, in Budapest. Hungarian electrical engineer; corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1927).

Kandó graduated from the Technical University of Budapest in 1892. While taking an active part in the electrification of Italian railroads, he introduced the three-phase system of electric traction (1902–15). He invented the group driving gear for electric locomotives known as the kandó triangle (1905). In 1917 he developed a synchronous phase converter, and in 1923 he constructed a new type of electric locomotive with three-phase induction motors connected to a kandó phase converter, which derives its power from single-phase contact mains. Part of the Hungarian railroad from Budapest to Hegyeshalom (160 km) was electrified in 1934 using his system.