2026First Slovene Inventors with Patents - Miniature Sheet

Stanko Bloudek – locking device for railway freight goods (1926)
Creativity, like innovation, is an important driver of economic and social development. For this reason, Slovenia’s Intellectual Property Office combines its core mission of protecting intellectual property rights with efforts to preserve and disseminate knowledge of Slovenia’s technical heritage. It has therefore decided to highlight the achievements of a number of Slovene inventors who obtained patents for their inventions and left a profound mark on Slovene science, helping to create Slovenia’s technical heritage with inventions that are known around the world. STANKO BLOUDEK (1890–1959) was an aviation pioneer and aircraft designer. He developed and built a glider and several powered aircraft, and was also a sports official and patron. He ran his own industrial company. In 1934 he designed the prototype of the first Slovene motor car, the Triglav. Among his many inventions was a locking device for railway goods wagons. In Planica, drawing on his knowledge of aerodynamics, he constructed what was at the time one of the largest ski jumps in the world, on which jumpers progressed from ski jumping to ski flying. He was also a permanent member of the International Olympic Committee, a multiple Slovene champion in figure skating, a national discus champion, an all-round sportsman and the designer, builder and co-funder of the football pitch, tennis court, swimming pool, ice rink and athletics track of the Ilirija sports club in Ljubljana. Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Slovenia Patent: locking device for railway goods wagons (1926)