The origins of the enamel factory in Fiľakovo date back to 1906, when the financier Pavel Barok founded the company Barok and Co. (Barok a spol.) based on the initiative of the machinist Adam Meszároš. Its official name was Füleki Edényasajtoló és zománcozó müvek, Bark, Mészáros és társai and it focused on the production and enamelling of pots and pans. The construction began in the very same year and in 1908, its first products were made and it was employing 250 workers.
The factory was 10 000 m2 of built-up area, of which 7 000 m2 was taken up by a two-storey factory building. On the ground floor there were machines, a plumbing shop, and a press shop, and on the first floor there were warehouses for raw pots and pans. A foundry was completed in 1911 and a new zinc and tile works were built in 1912. At that time, 700 employees were working there. During the First World War, the production switched to accommodate the demand for military goods. After the war in 1921, the factory changed name to the Fiľakovo Factory for Enamelware, Metal Goods and Foundry (Fiľakovská továreň na smaltované nádobí, kovové zboží a zlévárna). In 1927, it was bought by the SFINX company and adopted a new name Fiľakovo Factory for Enamelled Goods SFINX, Praha (Fiľakovská továreň na smaltovaný tovar SFINX, a. s. Praha). The factory started manufacturing the Sfinx and Gamma stoves, kitchen machines, scales, and decorated containers. In the early 1930s, the number of employees increased to 1 400. The production also expanded to include chromeware, water fittings, bathroom stoves, galvanised baths, as well as gas and steam fittings.
In 1938, a fire struck the factory, destroying up to 70% of the plant. The two-storey buildings were never repaired after, and the one-storey ones were covered with a sawtooth roof. In the interwar period, an apprenticeship school, a factory kitchen, a rooming house, a reconstructed electroplating shop and a grinding shop were added. In 1945 and 1947 there were two other fires in which the tile works, shearing shop, press shop and enamel warehouse burnt down and the last of the original two-storey buildings were destroyed. A warehouse was built in its place a year later. The number of employees at that time was 2 400. In 1939, the factory was incorporated into the Magyar Királyi Állami Vas - acél és gépgyárak and given the name Füleki zománc-edény - Fémárúgyár és Vasöntöde. In 1946, the Slovak Enamel and Ironware Works, national enterprise (Slovenské závody na smaltovaný a železný tovar, n. p.) was established, to which the Fiľakovo plant was incorporated.
Immediately after the Second World War, a tool shop hall, a moulding shop, a cupola and the buildings for the production of kitchen machines were built. The enamelling and moulding hall was rebuilt and put into operation in 1956. In 1966 the reconstruction of the foundry was completed. In the second half of the 1960s, the reconstruction of the plant began, and the production capacity was increased to a total of 30 000 m2 of built-up area. The reconstruction was completed at the end of the 1970s. The company was called Kovosmalt Fiľakovo, national enterprise and later it was a state enterprise until 1992. After that, several limited liability companies were created in its place. In 1990, the company was employing circa 2 660 people. Today the factory operates under the name Thorma and focuses on the production of boilers.
Bibliography:
DRENKO, Jozef a Ján KÁLOSI. Fiľakovo 1246-1996. Fiľakovo: Mest. úrad, 1996. ISBN 80-967576-9-5.
DRENKO, Jozef. Kapitoly z dejín Fiľakova 2: Fiľakovo mesto. Lučenec: Reg0ionálné kultúrne stredisko, 1993. ISBN 8085155044.
RÚČKA, Viliam a BECHER, Ján. Kovosmalt Fíľakovo, národný podnik, nositeľ Radu práce: výrobca varných a vykurovacích zariadení: 1906 - 1981. Martin: Osveta, 1981.
