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1 Voisin, Gabriel
SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace[br]b. 5 February 1880 Belleville-sur-Saône, Franced. 25 December 1973 Ozenay, France[br]French manufacturer of aeroplanes in the early years of aviation.[br]Gabriel Voisin was one of a group of aviation pioneers working in France c. 1905. One of the leaders of this group was a rich lawyer-sportsman, Ernest Archdeacon. For a number of years they had been building gliders based on those of the Wright brothers. Archdeacon's glider of 1904 was flown by Voisin, who went on to assist in the design and manufacture of gliders for Archdeacon and Louis Blériot, including successful float-gliders. Gabriel Voisin was joined by his brother Charles in 1905 and they set up the first commercial aircraft factory. As the Voisins had limited funds, they had to seek customers who could afford to indulge in the fashionable hobby of flying. One was Santos- Dumont, who commissioned Voisin to build his "14 bis" aeroplane in 1906.Early in 1907 the Voisins built their first powered aeroplane, but it was not a success.Later that year they completed a biplane for a Paris sculptor, Léon Delagrange, and another for Henri Farman. The basic Voisin was a biplane with the engine behind the pilot and a "pusher" propeller. Pitching was controlled by biplane elevators forward of the pilot and rudders were fitted to the box kite tail, but there was no control of roll.Improvements were gradually introduced by the Voisins and their customers, such as Farman. Incidentally, to flatter their clients the Voisins often named the aircraft after them, thus causing some confusion to historians. Many Voisins were built up until 1910, when the company's fortunes sank. Competition was growing, the factory was flooded, and Charles left. Gabriel started again, building robust biplanes of steel construction. Voisin bombers were widely used during the First World War, and a subsidiary factory was built in Russia.In August 1917, Voisin sold his business when the French Air Ministry decided that Voisin aeroplanes were obsolete and that the factory should be turned over to the building of engines. After the war he started another business making prefabricated houses, and then turned to manufacturing motor cars. From 1919 to 1939 his company produced various models, mainly for the luxury end of the market but also including a few sports and racing cars. In the early 1950s he designed a small two-seater, which was built by the Biscuter company in Spain. The Voisin company finally closed in 1958.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsChevalier de la Légion d'honneur 1909. Académie des Sciences Gold Medal 1909.Bibliography1961, Mes dix milles cerfs-volants, France; repub. 1963 as Men, Women and 10,000 Kites, London (autobiography; an eminent reviewer said, "it contains so many demonstrable absurdities, untruths and misleading statements, that one does not know how much of the rest one can believe").1962, Mes Mille et un voitures, France (covers his cars).Further ReadingC.H.Gibbs-Smith, 1965, The Invention of the Aeroplane 1799–1909, London (includes an account of Voisin's contribution to aviation and a list of his early aircraft).Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War I, London; reprinted 1990 (provides details of Voisin's 1914–18 aircraft).E.Chadeau, 1987, L'Industrie aéronautique en France 1900–1950, de Blériot à Dassault, Paris.G.N.Georgano, 1968, Encyclopedia of Motor Cars 1885 to the Present, New York (includes brief descriptions of Voisin's cars).JDS -
2 Farman, Henri
SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace[br]b. 26 May 1874 Paris, Franced. 17 July 1958 Paris, France[br]French aeroplane designer who modified Voisin biplanes and later, with his brother Maurice (b. 21 March 1877 Paris, France; d. 26 February 1964 Paris, France), created a major aircraft-manufacturing company.[br]The parents of Henri and Maurice Farman were British subjects living in Paris, but their sons lived all their lives in France and became French citizens. As young men, both became involved in cycle and automobile racing. Henri (or Henry—he used both versions) turned his attention to aviation in 1907 when he bought a biplane from Gabriel Voisin. Within a short time he had established himself as one of the leading pilots in Europe, with many record-breaking flights to his credit. Farman modified the Voisin with his own improvements, including ailerons, and then in 1909 he designed the first Farman biplane. This became the most popular biplane in Europe from the autumn of 1909 until well into 1911 and is one of the classic aeroplanes of history. Meanwhile, Maurice Farman had also begun to design and build biplanes; his first design of 1909 was not a great success but from it evolved two robust biplanes nicknamed the "Longhorn" and the "Shorthorn", so called because of their undercarriage skids. In 1912 the brothers joined forces and set up a very large factory at Billancourt. The "Longhorn" and "Shorthorn" became the standard training aircraft in France and Britain during the early years of the First World War. The Farman brothers went on to produce a number of other wartime designs, including a large bomber. After the war the Farmans produced a series of large airliners which played a key role in establishing France as a major airline operator. Most famous of these was the Goliath, a twin-engined biplane capable of carrying up to twelve passengers. This was produced from 1918 to 1929 and was used by many airlines, including the Farman Line. The brothers retired when their company was nationalized in 1937.[br]Bibliography1910, The Aviator's Companion, London (with his brother Dick Farman).Further ReadingM.Farman, 1901, 3,000 kilomètres en ballon, Paris (an account of several balloon flights from 1894 to 1900).J.Liron, 1984, Les Avions Farman, Paris (provides comprehensive descriptions of all Farman aircraft).Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War I, 1990, London (reprint) (gives details of all early Farman aircraft).J.Stroud, 1966, European Aircraft since 1910, London (provides details about Farman air-liners).JDS -
3 Aerospace
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Caproni, Giovanni BattistaDassault, MarcelGiffard, Baptiste Henry JacquesJohnson, Clarence LeonardKorolov, Sergei PavlovichSopwith, Sir Thomas Octave MurdochTsiolkovsky, Konstantin Eduardovich -
4 Blériot, Louis
SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace[br]b. 1 July 1872 Cambrai, Franced. 2 August 1936 Paris, France[br]French aircraft manufacturer and pilot who in 1909 made the first flight across the English Channel in an aeroplane.[br]Having made a fortune with his patented automobile lamp, Blériot started experimenting with model aircraft in about 1900. He tried a flapping-wing layout which, surprisingly, did fly, but a full-size version was a failure. Blériot tried out a wide variety of designs: a biplane float-glider built with Gabriel Voisin; a powered float-plane with ellipsoidal biplane wings; a canard (tail-first) monoplane; a tandem monoplane; and in 1907 a monoplane of conventional layout. This last was not an immediate success, but it led to the Type XI in which Blériot made history by flying from France to England on 25 July 1909.Without a doubt, Blériot was an accomplished pilot and a successful manufacturer of aircraft, but he sometimes employed others as designers (a fact not made known at the time). It is now accepted that much of the credit for the design of the Type XI should go to Raymond Saulnier, who later made his name with the Morane-Saulnier Company.Blériot-Aéronautique became one of the leading manufacturers of aircraft and by the outbreak of war in 1914 some eight hundred aircraft had been produced. By 1918, aircraft were being built at the rate of eighteen per day. The Blériot company continued to produce aircraft until it was nationalized in 1937.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsCommandeur de la Légion d'honneur. Daily Mail £1,000 prize for the first cross-Channel aeroplane flight.Further ReadingC.H.Gibbs-Smith, 1965, The Invention of the Aeroplane 1799–1909, London (contains a list of all Blériot's early aircraft).J.Stroud, 1966, European Transport Aircraft since 1920, London (for information about Blériot's later aircraft).For information relating to the cross-Channel flight, see: C.Fontaine, 1913, Comment Blériota traversé la, Manche, Paris.T.D.Crouch, 1982, Blériot XI, the Story of a Classic Aircraft, Washington, DC: National Air \& Space Museum.JDS -
5 Fabre, Henri
SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace[br]b. 29 November 1882 Marseilles, Franced. June 1984 France[br]French engineer, designer of the first seaplane, in which he made the first flight from water.[br]After obtaining a degree in engineering, Fabre specialized in hydrodynamics. Around 1904 he developed an interest in flying and followed the progress of early French aviators such as Archdeacon, Voisin and Blériot who were experimenting with float-gliders. Fabre carried out many experiments during the following years, including airflow tests on various surfaces and hydrodynamic tests on different designs for floats. He also built a propeller-driven motor car to develop the most efficient design for a propeller. In 1909 he built his first "hydro-aeroplane", but it failed to fly. By March 1910 he built a new float plane which was very different from contemporary French aeroplanes. It was a tail-first (canard) monoplane and had unusual Warren girder spars exposed to the airstream. The engine was a conventional Gnome rotary mounted at the rear of the machine. On 28 March 1910 Fabre, who had no previous experience of flying, decided he was ready to test his hydro-aeroplane. First he made several straight runs to test the planing properties of his three floats, then he made several short hops. In the afternoon Fabre took off from the harbour at La Mède near Marseille before official witnesses: he was able to claim the first flight by a powered seaplane. His hydro-aeroplane is preserved in the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace in Paris.Despite several accidents, Fabre continued to improve his design and in October of 1910 Glenn Curtiss, the American designer, visited Fabre to compare notes. A year later Curtiss built the first of his many successful seaplanes. Fabre did not continue as an aircraft designer, but he went on to design and manufacture floats for other people.[br]Bibliography1980, J'ai vu naître l'aviation, Grenoble (autobiography).JDS -
6 Levavasseur, Léon
[br]b. 8 January 1863 Cherbourg, Franced. 26 February 1922 Puteaux, France[br]French designer of Antoinette aeroplanes and engines.[br]Léon Levavasseur was an artist who became an electrical engineer and in 1902 Technical Director of a firm called Société Antoinette, headed by Jules Gastambide (Antoinette being the name of Gastambide's daughter). Levavasseur's first aeroplane, built in 1903, was a bird-like machine which did not fly. The engine showed promise, however, and Levavasseur developed it for use in motor boats from 1904. In 1906 he produced two Antoinette aero-engines, one of 24 hp (18 kW) and the other 50 hp (37 kW), which were used by Alberto Santos-Dumont and several other early designers. In February 1908 Levavasseur produced a tractor (propeller at the front) monoplane, the Gastambide- Mengin I, for two of his colleagues. Flown by a mechanic, this managed several short hops before it crash-landed. It was rebuilt and improved to become the Antoinette II and later in the year became the first monoplane to complete a circular flight. Levavasseur then went on to produce a series of Antoinette monoplanes which, with the monoplanes of Louis Blériot, challenged the pusher biplanes of Voisin and Farman. The rivalry between the Antoinettes and Blériots made headlines in 1909 when they were being prepared to win the Daily Mail prize for the first flight across the English Channel. Hubert Latham took off in his Antoinette on 19 July 1909, but his engine failed and he had to be rescued from the sea. On 25 July Louis Blériot took off in his Blériot No. XI and won both the prize and worldwide acclaim. In 1911 Latham flew his Antoinette across the Golden Gate at San Francisco. The same year Levavasseur built a revolutionary streamlined three-seater monoplane with cantilever wings (no wire bracing), but this Monobloc Antoinette failed; with it the line of Antoinettes came to an end.[br]Further ReadingC.H.Gibbs-Smith, 1965, The Invention of the Aeroplane 1799–1909, London (provides details of the Antoinette monoplanes).F.Peyrey, 1909, Les Oiseaux artificiels, Paris (a contemporary account of the early machines).JDS -
7 Santos-Dumont, Alberto
SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace[br]b. 20 July 1873 Cabangu, Rocha Dias, Brazild. 23 July 1932 d. Santos, Sâo Paulo, Brazil[br]Brazilian pioneer in airship and aeroplane flights.[br]Alberto Santos-Dumont, the son of a wealthy Brazilian coffee planter, was sent to Paris to study engineering but developed a passion for flying. After several balloon flights he turned his attention to powered airships. His first small airship, powered by a motorcycle engine, flew in 1898. A series of airships followed and his flights over Paris—and his narrow escapes—generated much public interest. A large cash prize had been offered for the first person to fly from Saint-Cloud around the Eiffel Tower and back inside thirty minutes. Santos-Dumont made two attempts in his airship No. 5, but engine failures caused him to crash, once in a tree and once on a hotel roof. Undismayed, he prepared airship No. 6 and on 19 October 1901 he set out and rounded the Tower, only to suffer yet another engine failure. This time he managed to restart the engine and claim the prize. This flight created a sensation in Paris and beyond. Santos-Dumont continued to create news with a series of airship exploits, and by 1906 he had built a total of fourteen airships. In 1904 Santos-Dumont visited the United States and met Octave Chanute, who described to him the achievements of the Wright brothers. On his return to Paris he set about designing an aeroplane which was unlike any other aeroplane of the period. It had box-kite-like wings and tail, and flew tail-first (a canard) powered by an Antoinette engine at the rear. It was built for him by Gabriel Voisin and was known as the "14 bis" because it was air-tested suspended beneath airship No. 14. It made its first free take-off on 13 September 1906, and then a series of short hops, including one of 220 m (720 ft) which won Santos-Dumont an Aero-Club prize and recognition for the first aeroplane flight in Europe; indeed, it was the first officially witnessed aeroplane flight in the world. Santos-Dumont's most successful aeroplane was his No. 20 of 1909, known as the Demoiselle: a tiny machine popular with sporting pilots. About this time, however, Santos-Dumont became ill and had to abandon his aeronautical activities. Although he had not made any great technical breakthroughs, Santos-Dumont had played a major role in arousing public interest in flying.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsAéro Club de France Grand Prix de l'Aéronautique 1901. Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur 1904.Bibliography1904, Dans l'air, Paris; 1904, pub. as My Airships (repub. 1973, New York: Dover).Further ReadingPeter Wykeham, 1962, Santos-Dumont, A Study in Obsession, London.F.H.da Costa, c. 1971, Alberto Santos-Dumont, O Pai da Aviaçāo; pub. in English asAlberto Santos Dumont, Father of Aviation, Rio de Janeiro.JDS -
8 Séguin, Louis
[br]b. 1869d. 1918[br]French co-designer, with his brother Laurent Séguin (b. 1883 Rhône, France; d. 1944), of the extremely successful Gnome rotary engines.[br]Most early aero-engines were adaptations of automobile engines, but Louis Séguin and his brother Laurent set out to produce a genuine aero-engine. They decided to build a "rotary" engine in which the crankshaft remained stationary and the cylinders rotated: the propeller was attached to the cylinders. The idea was not new, for rotary engines had been proposed by engineers from James Watt to Samuel P. Langley, rival of the Wright brothers. (An engine with stationary cylinders and a rotating crankshaftplus-propeller is classed as a "radial".) Louis Séguin formed the Société des Moteurs Gnome in 1906 to build stationary industrial engines. Laurent joined him to develop a lightweight engine specifically for aeronautical use. They built a fivecylinder air-cooled radial engine in 1908 and then a prototype seven-cylinder rotary engine. Later in the year the Gnome Oméga rotary, developing 50 hp (37 kW), was produced. This was test-flown in a Voisin biplane during June 1909. The Gnome was much lighter than its conventional rivals and surprisingly reliable in view of the technical problems of supplying rotating cylinders with the petrol-air mixture and a spark to ignite it. It was an instant success.Gnomes were mass-produced for use during the First World War. Both sides built and flew rotary engines, which were improved over the years until, by 1917, their size had grown to such an extent that a further increase was not practicable. The gyroscopic effects of a large rotating engine became a serious handicap to manoeuvrability, and the technical problems inherent in a rotary engine were accentuated.[br]Bibliography1912, L'Aérophile 20(4) (Louis Séguin's description of the Gnome).Further ReadingC.F.Taylor, 1971, "Aircraft Propulsion", Smithsonian Annals of Flight 1(4) (an account of the evolution of aircraft piston engines).A.Nahum, 1987, the Rotary Aero-Engine, London.JDS
См. также в других словарях:
voisin — voisin, ine [ vwazɛ̃, in ] adj. et n. • 1180; lat. pop. °vecinus, de vicinus 1 ♦ Qui est à une distance relativement petite. ⇒ proche, rapproché. États voisins. « Les jeunes gens des villages les plus voisins » (Flaubert). Maisons voisines. Qui… … Encyclopédie Universelle
voisin — voisin, ine (voi zin, zi n ) adj. 1° Qui est proche, qui demeure près de. Nation voisine. • Pour rendre vos États plus voisins l un de l autre, L Euphrate bornera son empire et le vôtre, RAC. Bérén. III, 1. • Fusses tu par de là les… … Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré
voisin — VOISIN, [vois]ine. adj. Qui est proche, qui est auprés, qui demeure auprés. Nous ne sçaurions estre plus voisins. le Curé voisin. l Evesque le plus voisin. dans les lieux voisins. la maison voisine. les terres voisines de la forest, de la riviere … Dictionnaire de l'Académie française
Voisin — is a French surname meaning neighbour .*Avions Voisin, a French automobile designed by Gabriel Voisin *Catherine Monvoisin, known as La Voisin (1640 1680), was a French sorceress, and one of the chief personages in the famous affaire des poisons… … Wikipedia
VOISIN (G. et C.) — VOISIN GABRIEL (1880 1973) & CHARLES (1882 1912) Ingénieur français, Gabriel Voisin (né à Belleville sur Saône et mort à Ozenay, Saône et Loire), exploite à Lyon, avec son frère Charles (né à Lyon et mort dans un accident d’automobile à Corselles … Encyclopédie Universelle
voisin — Voisin, Accolens, Accola, Vicinus. Voisin qui est à la gauche, Interior vicinus. Voisin tenant et aboutissant, Conterminus. Voisin qui a sa terre joignant à la mienne, Confinis meus. Voisins qui ont les maisons les uns aupres des autres, Paroeci … Thresor de la langue françoyse
Voisin — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Claire Voisin (* ?), französische Mathematikerin Gabriel Voisin (1880–1973), französischer Flugzeug und Automobilkonstrukteur Jean Claude Voisin (* 1949), französischer Kunsthistoriker … Deutsch Wikipedia
Voisin — [vwa zɛ̃], Gabriel, französischer Flugpionier, * Belleville sur Saône (Département Rhône) 5. 2. 1880, ✝ Ozenay (Département Saône et Loire) 25. 12. 1973; unternahm 1905 Gleitflüge im Motorbootschlepp über der Seine, konstruierte ab 1906… … Universal-Lexikon
Voisin — Beaucoup de hameaux portent ou ont porté ce nom, qui correspond au catalan veïnat : groupe de deux ou trois maisons à l écart du village. Le patronyme désigne celui qui est originaire d un semblable hameau. Il peut cependant correspondre parfois… … Noms de famille
Voisin — (spr. Woasäng), 1) Joseph de V., aus einer angesehenen Familie zu Bordeaux gebürtig; er war Senator zu Bordeaux, später Geistlicher u. starb als Prediger bei dem Prinzen von Conti 1685. V. ist Herausgeber des Pugio fidei, von Raimondo Martini,… … Pierer's Universal-Lexikon
VOISIN — FRANCE (see also List of Individuals) 20.5.1821 Versailles/F 17.3.1918 Paris/F François Philippe Voisin was educated at Ecole X and at Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées. After his work for the Suez Canal, he returned to France and was finally a… … Hydraulicians in Europe 1800-2000
