John George Hardy
of the Vacuum Brake Co, 7 Hohenstaufengasse, Vienna.
1914 Obituary [1]
JOHN GEORGE HARDY was born at Sotteville, near Rouen, on 23rd February 1851, being the son of Stephenson's pupil, J. Hardy, head of the locomotive repair works of the Chemins-de-fer de 1'Ouest.
His elementary education was received in France, and in 1860 he went to Vienna with his father who had entered the Austrian railroad service.
After attending the Technical High School he became engineer on the Austrian Southern Railway until 1878, when he was appointed continental manager of the Vacuum Brake Co., of London. Having devoted much attention to the vacuum brake brought out by his father, he invented the automatic one-chamber vacuum brake, for which he was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Exhibition in 1879.
In 1886 he left the service of the Vacuum Brake Co., and entered the firm of Paget and Moeller, which dealt principally with patents. Having a wide knowledge of this subject, he was appointed a member of the Commission appointed by the Austrian Minister of Commerce to investigate the reform of the Patent Law, and for his labours in this connexion he was nominated Knight of the Order of Francis Joseph by the Emperor of Austria.
He was also greatly interested in the subject of the protection of industrial property, and was a representative for Austria on the Committee of the International Association for the Protection of Industrial Property.
Outside his professional work he devoted himself to Art, and was held in great respect by Vienna Artists.
His death took place in Vienna on 22nd February 1914, at the age of sixty-three.
He was elected a Member of this Institution in 1883; he was also a Member of the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents and of the Societe des Ingenieurs Civils de France.