Marcel Kiepach

Who was Marcel Kiepach?

Marcel Kiepach was a Croatian inventor. The works and inventions of this child prodigy belong to the areas of electronics, magnetism, acoustics, transmission of sound signals, and transformers.

Marcel was born in Križevci as a descendant of the noble family Kiepach, which came to Križevci in the early 19th century and became influential in the town. He studied economics in Berlin and electrical engineering in Charlottenburg.

In Berlin on March 16, 1910, as a boy of sixteen, Marcel patented a maritime compass that indicates north regardless of the presence of iron or magnetic forces. He patented an improved version in London on December 20, 1911. This second version was a remote maritime compass device, consisting of ampermeters as the indicating instruments located in different parts of the ship, resistant to magnetic forces or magnetic masses in their vicinity.

In France, he patented a dynamo for vehicle lighting. It was an electric generator combined with the mechanical drive of the vehicle itself. His "small transformer" for low voltage was widely implemented according to the "Kiepach-Weiland System". He also patented a power switch. He was active in various other areas of mechanics and electronics. He held correspondence with famous world scientists and inventors.