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Henri Giffard

The navigable balloon created by Giffard in 1852
A model of the Giffard Airship at the London Science Museum.

Henri Giffard (1825-1882) was a French engineer.

Giffard invented the injector and the powered airship with a steam engine weighing over 180 kg (400 lb); it was the world's first passenger-carrying airship (known as a Dirigible).[1] Both practical and steerable, the hydrogen-filled airship was equipped with a 3 hp steam engine that drove a propeller. The engine was fitted with a downward pointing funnel. The exhaust stream was mixed in with the combustion gases and it was hoped by these means to stop sparks rising up to the gas bag; he also installed a vertical rudder.

On 24 September 1852 Giffard made the first powered and controlled flight travelling 27 km from Paris to Trappes.[2] The wind was too strong to allow him to make way against it, so he was unable to return to the start.[2] However he was able to make turns and circles, proving that a powered airship could be steered and controlled.

Giffard was granted a patent for the injector on 8 May, 1858. Unusually, he had the thoroughly worked out the theory of this invention before making any experimental instrument, having explained the idea in 1850. Others had worked on using jets, particularly Bourdon who patented a very similar device in 1857. [3]


In response to his declining eyesight, Giffard committed suicide in 1882,[4] leaving his estate to the nation for humanitarian and scientific purposes. His name is one of the 72 names on the Eiffel tower.

References

  1. ^ Jules Henri Giffard, http://www.century-of-flight.net/Aviation%20history/to%20reality/Jules%20Henri%20Giffard.htm, retrieved 2009-05-09 
  2. ^ a b Science Museum - Home - The Giffard Airship, 1852., Science Museum 
  3. ^ Kneass, Strickland L. (2004) [1894]. Practice and Theory of the Injector. New York: Wiley. ISBN 1-55918-306-3. 
  4. ^ Day, Lance; McNeil, Ian (1996), "Giffard, Baptiste Henri Jacques (Henri)", Biographical dictionary of the history of technology, Taylor & Francis, pp. 285-286, ISBN 9780415060424, http://books.google.com/books?id=UuigWMLVriMC&pg=PA286&lpg=PA286&source=bl&ots=SZF66boYMQ&sig=zmTKg_EETxGtK_s5ShYyX3Ege9g&hl=en&ei=_ZtBSoSGFsqLtgeSjLGhCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1, retrieved June 24, 2009 

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