Josip Belušić
In the small village of Županići near Labin, on March 13, 1847, Josip Belušić was born. He was a teacher and inventor, and his path to success began in the classrooms of Pazin and Koper. After finishing high school, he enrolled in studies in Vienna. After completing his studies in Vienna, he began his career as a mathematics and maritime teacher in Herceg Novi (today’s Montenegro).
That school soon closed its doors to students, but Belušić continued to work devotedly with children at the school in Koper. He taught mathematics, physics and technical practice, as an expert in technical sciences, and he was also an excellent connoisseur of languages, which he proved by imparting knowledge to children in as many as three languages, Italian, Slovenian and Croatian.
What Josip Belušić is most famous for today is his invention, an electric speedometer, which he called “Velocimeter”. In 1887, he presented his invention to citizens and journalists for the first time, and in a very interesting way.
He installed a speedometer in the carriage to demonstrate how it worked. This device not only measured speed, but also recorded the number of passengers and the time when they entered and left the carriage, so that in addition to being a speedometer, it is also used as a tachograph and a taximeter.
Journalists who then had the opportunity to witness the operation of the world’s first electric speedometer were delighted with the precision of Belušić’s invention, and Belušić continued to work on additional details and improve his device in order to present it to the general public in a perfect performance.
Belušić presented his invention to the public only one year after the world’s first car was produced.
He patented his invention in Vienna under the name “Automatic monitoring device for rental vehicles”, and the original patent is still kept in the State Archives in Vienna. His invention was so successful that it was exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889, where it attracted great attention.
With this, a Croat, a native of a small Istrian town, became the father of measuring devices that are still an indispensable part of various types of vehicles, from personal vehicles to those used by professional drivers, and forever changed the way we travel and record information in traffic.
In 1890, Paris, the capital of France, announced a competition for a solution to the problem of urban transport, and it was the Croatian invention, the speedometer, that was chosen among 129 submitted solutions.
His device not only precisely measured the distance, but also counted the number of passengers in the carriage, as well as the driving time, as well as the stopping of the vehicle, thus ensuring accurate supervision of the coachman’s work. A year later, the first hundred devices were installed in Parisian carriages.
How good and significant his invention was for its time can be seen from the fact that the French Academy of our inventor praised and awarded him with a diploma and a gold medal, and he also became an honorary member.
The original of Josip Belušić’s patent is kept in Vienna, where the patent was also filed in 1888, a copy of the original can be found on the website of the US Patent Office, and another copy of the original, very faithfully copied with all the preserved details of this, for that time, innovative mechanism is also in the Zagreb Police Museum.
In addition to a rich and successful scientific career, Josip Belušić also found time to create a large family, as he had eight children with his wife.