Van Marken, 25 years old and just graduated, was an ingenious entrepreneur. Established close to the source – the Polytechnic school – he selected the best people to use the best techniques in his companies. He always employed the most brilliant technicians for the application of steam and electricity in new production processes. One of these technicians working for Van Marken was his cousin F.G. Waller, PhD, an expert in combustion techniques for the generation of steam. He was the inventor of the Waller instrument: a flue gas collector that could keep the combustion process under control. A second boffin discovered by Van Marken was H. Tutein Nolthenius, an expert in electrical engineering at the Calvé oil factory. Together with these two employees, Van Marken established the Bureau voor Economische Stoomproductie on 3 September 1892.