"The grandfather of Russian aviation"
Dzhevetsky's submarine at the Central Naval Museum in St. Petersburg. Photo by N. Mikhailov
Warsaw to us and Vilna
Send your greetings;
The land was abundant -
There is no order.
«History the state of the Russian ... "by the Russian poet Alexei Tolstoy, written in 1868.
Send your greetings;
The land was abundant -
There is no order.
«History the state of the Russian ... "by the Russian poet Alexei Tolstoy, written in 1868.
Significant people of Russian history. For those who often visit VO, it is noticeable that, in addition to smart people, there are also those who first of all pay attention not to the content of the texts, but to the author's surname, as if it had been nailed to him at birth. They especially dislike surnames that end in "iy". Once "iy" means necessarily a Pole or a Jew, and it remains to be seen which is worse. But, actually, why is it bad? Didn't they take the most active part in the creation of the USSR? And haven't they made a huge contribution to the science and technology of Russia? It is hardly worth citing the biographies of all these people, as well as their roots, starting with V.I. Ulyanov and his other associates. This topic is separate and very broad. Let's talk better about people of science and famous Russian inventors. For example, such as Stefan Karlovich Dzhevetsky (1843-1938), who made a very worthy contribution to the history of Russian science and technology. But who was born ... in a family of Poles, and it would be okay there are some peasants or shoemakers, because there is no - in a family that belonged to an old Polish family. A family that owned large estates in the Volyn province, had a luxurious dacha with an orchard in Odessa near the Small Fountain, houses in Warsaw, etc. etc. In a word, they were not poor people at all, but very rich. And, perhaps, that is why most of their time the Drzewiecki family spent not just anywhere, but in Paris. And young Stefan was brought up and schooled at home, and his family did not spare money for his teachers.
That's just home, even if very good education in Europe then for a successful career was no longer enough. But it was not at all so easy to enter one of the higher educational institutions in France: it was required to have a bachelor's degree. True, there was little behind this loud name. In fact, it was an analogue of our Russian ... certificate of maturity. And in order to get it, young Stephen was assigned to the senior class of one of the best and most prestigious lyceums in Paris, which, terrible to say, belonged to the Jesuit Order. But it was not a spiritual institution, but a civil one. But on the other hand, there was severe discipline. And young Stephen was a great mischievous person, so the Jesuit fathers often had to curb his willfulness and mischief by flogging.
It is interesting how at that time the exam for a bachelor's degree was being held at the University of Paris. The professors sat in a row at one long table, and the candidates answered them in turn, eventually getting a mark in their certificate. In case of an unsatisfactory answer, even from one of them, the examiner was not allowed to further answers and did not receive a certificate. But if he answered everyone, then the last professor immediately gave him a certificate. Such a "conveyor system" was convenient, since at that time in Paris for the exam ... 2500 - 3000 candidates could come in one day. Drzewiecki got 20 points in all subjects! Highest mark! An incident in the history of the Lyceum is almost unprecedented. However, the holy fathers immediately "poured a tub of water" on his parents, offering to take their child out of the lyceum, since extraordinary abilities are good, but he did not do anything for a whole year, and by his example he may have a bad influence on other students. They, they say, will begin to imitate him, but they do not have his abilities, as a result, their school will be completely ruined.
That is why Drzewiecki did not get into the special math class of the Jesuit Lyceum, but he went to study at the Central Engineering School, which could be equated with our Russian Institute of Technology. Moreover, he studied there together with Eiffel - the future creator of the famous Parisian tower.
Having received his education, he took up inventions, on which he spent very significant sums of money. But he rarely took patents. He was interested in the process of creativity itself, and not in its result. Well, his talent is at least evidenced by the fact that even Eiffel himself, having received worldwide recognition as an engineer, built his Paris laboratory not just anywhere, but next to ... as a neighbor, he can always get valuable advice or free consultation from him.
At the World Exhibition in Vienna in 1873, Drzewiecki owned a whole stand, so he presented so many devices and devices designed by him. And then it happened that the brother of Tsar Alexander II, Konstantin Nikolaevich, at that time was the governor of the Kingdom of Poland and had many young adjutants in his person who belonged to the best Polish surnames. Young Drzewiecki was then 20 years old, and he was well educated, cheerful, witty, well into the high society of Warsaw, so he easily made friends with many of them and ... was introduced to the Grand Duke by them. Konstantin came to his stand and most of all admired the automatic course recorder, which was connected to the compass and log, and automatically plotted the path of the ship on the map.
By the power given to him from above, he immediately appointed Drzewiecki an advisory member of the Technical Committee, put the salary of 500 rubles a month, that is, the salary of a colonel of the tsarist army, and proposed to implement the invention for the needs of the Russian fleet!
The device was made and even tested on the gunboat Otliv, but it came out cumbersome and complicated.
But before he had time to correct it, the Russian-Turkish war began in the spring of 1877, and Drzewiecki went to the navy as a volunteer and was enlisted in the crew of the steamer Vesta. While on it, on July 24, 1877, he took part in the famous battle between Vesta and the Turkish battleship Fehti Bulland. The Russian ship lost almost half of its crew in it, but forced the enemy ship to retreat. Since Drzewiecki was not an officer, he was awarded the soldier's St. George Cross, of which he was very proud.
Stefan Karlovich Dzhevetsky with the St.George Cross
Being in the navy was the impetus for the birth of the idea of an ultra-small submarine with a foot-drive propulsion system. And then there were several months of work and ... a finished roll of drawings. They promised to make the boat at the Odessa mechanical plant of the company "Gulie-Blanchard". But the inventor did not have enough money to build it. But the good glory runs, and the thin one lies. The Dzhevetskys were well known in Odessa, so the famous philanthropist, merchant and banker, Greek by origin, Fedor Rodokanaki (1797-1882) decided to help with the construction of the boat. As a result, the "Russian nautilus of Polish-Greek origin" swayed on the Black Sea waves.
Diagram of the device of the submarine Drzewiecki
The boat was shown to Vice Admiral of the Black Sea Fleet Nikolai Arkas (1816-1881) and demonstrated in action: Drzewiecki blew up a barge at anchor with a mine. The admiral was completely delighted and immediately reported a miracleweapons to Petersburg. The boat turned out, however, quite small: 5 m in length, and less than 2 m in height. Pedal screw drive. The lower part of the submarine's hull was occupied by a ballast tank, above which there was a pedal drive and a reservoir for compressed air under a pressure of 100-200 atmospheres. It was blown through the water ballast during the ascent of the boat and the crew breathed it under the water. Water was drawn into the ballast tank by gravity through the valve, and through it, during the ascent, the water from the tank was removed. There was enough air for breathing underwater for 20 minutes. The armament of the boat consisted of two pop-up mines, connected by a cable, which covered the bottom of the ship with a horseshoe when surfacing. The mine was connected to the boat with a rubberized cable. Having placed a mine, the boat retreated to a safe distance and blew it up, sending an electric current through it.
Boat tests at the Gatchina pond
Paradoxically, it is a fact that it was not the sailors who became interested in Drzewiecki's submarine, but the Military Engineering Department, where they considered that such a submarine would be perfect for protecting coastal and island fortresses. It was proposed to transfer the boat to St. Petersburg, and there experts from the Engineering Department suggested to Drzewiecki to increase the crew by two more people, so that they would pedal, and the commander would not be distracted by this. The enlarged boat was already 6 meters long, and its displacement was 11,5 tons. The heir to the throne, the future emperor Alexander III (1845-1894), also wished to inspect the boat.
The deckhouse of a boat with eight observation devices. Photo by N. Mikhailov
The boat was transported to Gatchina and lowered into the Silver Lake, the water in which was very clean and transparent. He knew that Alexander loved his wife very much, quiet family joys, and that she also loved them, and also ... loved orchids. Therefore, when the Grand Duke and his wife sailed on a boat on the lake, Dzhevetsky several times passed under them on his ship, and when he approached the shore, where the crowned couple was already there, he moored at the pier on which they stood, and getting out, handed Maria Fedorovna a beautiful bouquet of orchids with the words: "This is Neptune's tribute to your highness." The young princess was only a woman and was overjoyed. And the heir, in turn, seeing the joy of his beloved wife, first thanked the inventor for a long time, and then actively encouraged him to order 50 such boats at once, and even pay 100 rubles (for that time and Russia, the amount is simply monstrous).
Propeller and rudder. Photo by N. Mikhailov
And in less than a year, all 50 boats were manufactured and accepted by the Military Engineering Department, although this speed was a matter of chance. The fact is that extraordinary measures were taken in relation to the boat. Like the legendary Captain Nemo Jules Verne, all the details of the boat were ordered from different manufacturers, and the drawings were also drawn up in different measurement systems. As a result, it turned out that all the drawings of the hull parts were sent to the Nevsky Plant, where the unique self-taught master Pyotr Akindinovich Titov (1843-1894) worked. He was not too lazy to draw them on the same scale and put everything together. Drzewiecki, having arrived to receive the order and seeing the finished hull of the boat, just gasped: "It's a secret!" As a result, thanks to Titov's ingenuity, the boats were built very quickly, and with such quality that they served for many years without leaks.
Part of a piston engine from a Drzewiecki submarine. It was used during the submersion and ascent of the boat. Photo by N. Mikhailov
For the first time in the world, the air regeneration system was also installed on the Dzhevetsky boat. A special air pump, acting from the propeller shaft, pumped air through a container with sodium hydroxide solution, in which it was purified from carbon dioxide. From time to time, oxygen from a cylinder was added to the boat. 16 boats were left in Kronstadt, 30 were sent to the Black Sea, one boat was placed at the disposal of the Engineering Department.
The beginning of scuba diving, thus, was good in Russia, and it would have been developed and developed, but ... it did not work out. Once again, Russia, having made a leap, then calmly rested on its laurels instead of continuing the work begun, and then hastily began to catch up.
Diagram of a boat with an electric motor
Meanwhile, in 1884, Drzewiecki, at his own expense, installed one-horsepower electric motors on two boats, powered by rechargeable batteries. During the tests on the Neva, one boat was sailing against the current at a speed of 4 knots. And these were again the very first submarines in the world powered by electric motors. And then Drzewiecki also invented lattice torpedo tubes, which were located not inside the hull of the boat, but outside, and then they stood on many domestic boats, in particular, on boats such as "Shark" and "Panther".
Submarines Drzewiecki of various designs in the "Encyclopedia" Brockhaus and Efron. Between 1890 and 1907
As for pedal boats, it is clear that they became obsolete very quickly and were eventually decommissioned, and their hulls were used as buoys.
S.K. Drzewiecki - bracing double monoplane-tandem with a pusher propeller, transitional to the "duck" scheme. The aircraft was built in 1912 in France, was demonstrated at the Paris Exhibition, and did not show positive results in flight. Later, a more powerful engine was installed on it, but he was no longer able to fly.
Then Drzewiecki got carried away aviation and in 1885-1891. published several works devoted to flight in the air: "On air resistance as applied to the flight of birds and airplanes" (1885), "Airplanes in nature. Experience of a new theory of flight "(1887)," Theoretical solution to the problem of soaring birds "(1891). In 1892, he developed a theory that made it possible to calculate propellers for airplanes with great success, which was later used by N.E. Zhukovsky. Well, Drzewiecki himself did not limit himself to one theory and built a plant for the production of ... propellers of his own design. At a congress of aeronautics in Paris in 1889, he gave a presentation on advantageous angles of attack of the wing. Finally, he wrote a treatise, The General Theory of Screws, which won an award from the French Academy of Sciences in 1920.
S.K. Drzewiecki at the Paris Exhibition
Finally, in 1912, Drzewiecki himself built an airplane of a very unusual design, with two pairs of wings - front and rear - with a pushing rear propeller and a 70 hp engine. The rear wing was stationary and without ailerons, but with small vertical rudders at the ends. A 1/10 life-size model airplane was blown in an air tube in the Eiffel laboratory. Accordingly, the front fenders had a smaller area and played the role of elevators and rolls. For this control system, Drzewiecki received two patents at once in 1909 and 1910. For these inventions and theoretical work in the field, he was elected a member of the Paris Aeronautical Society and chairman of the VII (aeronautical) department of the Russian Imperial Technical Society. And not without reason Academician A.N. Krylov, noting his merits in the development of aviation, called him “grandfather of Russian aviation».
PS The author and the site administration would like to thank N. Mikhailov for the photographs he prepared for this material.
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