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117-532: Alberto Santos-Dumont , self-stylised as Alberto Santos=Dumont , (20 July 1873 – 23 July 1932) was a Brazilian aeronaut , sportsman, inventor, and one of the few people to have contributed significantly to the early development of both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air aircraft. The heir of a wealthy family of coffee producers, he dedicated himself to aeronautical study and experimentation in Paris, where he spent most of his adult life. He designed, built, and flew

234-411: A pusher configuration , which, being mounted at the back, ran the risk of igniting any escaping gas. A fan pump and valve designed by Spencer replaced any lost gas with air, to prevent the envelope from deforming. A further safety feature was that in the event of a catastrophic failure of the envelope, Spencer claimed that it was designed to collapse into the shape of a parachute. The completed airship

351-439: A "student of little diligence, or rather, not at all studious for 'theories', but of admirable practical and mechanical talent and, since then, revealing himself in everything, of inventive genius", but who was later described by Agnor as someone focused on aviation from when "...'explosion engines' began to succeed." In 1897, independent and heir to an immense fortune which he invested in the development of his projects, applied in

468-587: A defence tool against submarines. In July 1902, after the creation of the Aeroclub of the US, Santos-Dumont announced a series of flights in American territory. These did not take place, confusing the media and American public opinion. He left New York in late 1902, without having made any flights, and the American public did not consider his inventions to be practical. At the beginning of the 20th century, Santos-Dumont

585-577: A flight from the Aero-Club de France airfield in Saint-Cloud to the Eiffel Tower and back in 30 minutes. It used the extended envelope of No. 4, from which a triangular gondola made of pine was suspended. Other innovations included the use of piano wire to suspend the gondola, reducing drag, and the use of water ballast tanks. It was powered by a 12 hp, 4-cylinder air-cooled engine driving

702-482: A flight when he cut his fingers on the guide-rope; around that time French aeronauts started a smear campaign against Santos-Dumont. On 8 May, trying for the prize again, he crashed his aircraft into the Hotel Trocadero; the balloon exploded and was completely destroyed, but he escaped unscathed and publicly tested the engine to show its reliability. The accident was caused by one of the automatic valves having

819-570: A flight with an electric motor in a closed circuit in a project abandoned by the French Army, and by the Brazilian Júlio César Ribeiro de Sousa  [ pt ] , without success. Public demonstrations, such as those performed by Santos-Dumont, were important in the sceptical academic environment. Due to the weight of electric motors, Santos-Dumont chose the internal combustion engine. In initial tests, he hoisted

936-409: A gallery around the base of the balloon rather than the hanging basket of the first, unmanned design, which brought the paper closer to the fire. On their free flight, De Rozier and d'Arlandes took buckets of water and sponges to douse these fires as they arose. On the other hand, the manned design of Charles was essentially modern. As a result of these exploits, the hot air balloon became known as

1053-435: A given weight by the application of power to the resistance of air." He identified the four vector forces that influence an aircraft: thrust , lift , drag and weight and distinguished stability and control in his designs. He developed the modern conventional form of the fixed-wing aeroplane having a stabilising tail with both horizontal and vertical surfaces, flying gliders both unmanned and manned. He introduced

1170-424: A great love for mechanical things, and like all those who have or think they have a vocation, I cultivated mine with care and passion. I always played at imagining and building little mechanical devices, which entertained me and earned me high regard in the family. My greatest joy was taking care of my father's mechanical installations. That was my department, which made me very proud. At the age of seven Santos-Dumont

1287-698: A hero and met the President of Brazil , Rodrigues Alves , at the Catete Palace . When asked why he did not fly in Brazil, Santos-Dumont justified himself that it was because he could not "...count on the help of his mechanics, and much less on a hydrogen production plant like he had in France." He returned to Paris on 12 October. In 1904 he was nominated as a Knight of the Legion of Honour of France, and published

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1404-472: A history of flying: all his five siblings were also aeronauts, with Arthur and Percival the more well-known; his father Charles Green Spencer pioneered gliding and founded the balloon factory C.G. Spencer & Sons in London; and his grandfather Edward had flown balloons with Charles Green since 1836. On 15 September 1898, Stanley piloted a hydrogen balloon for the meteorologist Arthur Berson in what

1521-529: A plumbing system to connect my installation to the illuminating gas pipelines. Santos-Dumont had a large hangar built at the Saint-Cloud site, large enough to hold No. 3 when completely filled, as well as the equipment to make the hydrogen gas. This hangar, completed on 15 June 1900, was 30 metres long, 7 metres wide, and 11 metres high. It was no longer intended to house No. 3, which had been abandoned, but No. 4, completed on 1 August 1900. With No. 3 he broke

1638-458: A popular site for balloon ascents. The envelope of the airship measured some 75 feet (23 m) in length and had a capacity of 20,000 cubic feet (570 m ) of hydrogen . The gondola was an open framework of bamboo poles, on which was mounted a 3.5-horsepower (2.6 kW) Simms petrol engine . There was only space for a single person. The engine drove a wooden propeller which worked in tractor configuration ; previous airships had used

1755-628: A propeller, On 13 April the Santos-Dumont Prize was created. It was similar to the Deutsch Prize, but had no time limit. On 13 July 1901, After some experimental outings, Santos-Dumont competed with No. 5 in the Deutsch Award for the first time. It completed the required course, but exceeded the time limit for the race by ten minutes. At that time, he met Princess Imperial Isabel , after an accident. On 29 July he aborted

1872-677: A racing airship, was tested in Neuilly (France) in May 1904. The following month the aircraft was sabotaged in an exhibition organised in St. Louis , United States, when a person who was never identified made four 1-metre cuts in the balloon which, because it was folded, resulted in forty-eight cuts in the envelope, when it was in New York Customs. On this trip, he also met the Wright brothers . No. 8

1989-589: A rudder, leading to the first 3-axis surface-controlled aeroplane in 1903. However, because their 12 horsepower engine could only provide two-thirds of the thrust required for takeoff on a rail of practical size, their takeoffs were aided by headwinds near Kitty Hawk and a catapult in Ohio, and without any official observers. Lilienthal's death due to a stall led the Wright brothers to place the elevator in front, which helped prevent stalls but made stable flight difficult until

2106-485: A similar demonstration of a hydrogen balloon. Charles and two craftsmen, the Robert brothers, developed a gas-tight material of rubberised silk for the envelope. The hydrogen gas was to be generated by chemical reaction during the filling process. The Montgolfier designs had several shortcomings, not least the need for dry weather and a tendency for sparks from the fire to set light to the paper balloon. The manned design had

2223-523: A weakened spring, which allowed the escape of gas. After offering his own 21 cubic metre balloon which was under construction – and being politely refused – Henri Deutsch said, "I'm afraid the experiments will not be conclusive. Mr Santos-Dumont's balloon will always be at the mercy of the wind, and is therefore not the kind of aircraft we dream of." Santos-Dumont crashed his No. 6 at the Longchamps racetrack on 19 September 1901. On 19 October 1901, with

2340-426: Is a branch of dynamics called aerodynamics , which deals with the motion of air and the way that it interacts with objects in motion, such as an aircraft. Attempts to fly without any real aeronautical understanding have been made from the earliest times, typically by constructing wings and jumping from a tower with crippling or lethal results. Wiser investigators sought to gain some rational understanding through

2457-607: Is considered to be the first air plane in series production, making the Maschinenfabrik Otto Lilienthal in Berlin the first air plane production company in the world. Otto Lilienthal is often referred to as either the "father of aviation" or "father of flight". Other important investigators included Horatio Phillips . Aeronautics may be divided into three main branches, Aviation , Aeronautical science and Aeronautical engineering . Aviation

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2574-418: Is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction . Rocket engines push rockets forwards simply by throwing their exhaust backwards extremely fast. Rockets for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th-century China . Significant scientific, interplanetary and industrial use did not occur until the 20th century, when rocketry

2691-421: Is the art or practice of aeronautics. Historically aviation meant only heavier-than-air flight, but nowadays it includes flying in balloons and airships. Aeronautical engineering covers the design and construction of aircraft, including how they are powered, how they are used and how they are controlled for safe operation. A major part of aeronautical engineering is aerodynamics , the science of passing through

2808-597: The Oiseau de proie —"bird of prey") at the Bagatelle Gamefield in Paris, taking off unassisted by an external launch system. On 12 November in front of a crowd, he flew 220 metres at a height of six metres. These were the first heavier-than-air flights certified by the Aeroclub of France , the first such flights officially witnessed by an aeronautics recordkeeping body, and the first of their kind recognised by

2925-519: The Brazil and the Amérique . Brazil first flew on 4 July 1898, and was the smallest aircraft built at the time – inflated with hydrogen, it covered 113 metres in a silk envelope of 6 metres in diameter, weighing 27.5 kg without the crewman and made more than 200 flights. According to biographer Gondin da Fonseca  [ pt ] , he was influenced to create his first balloon after racing at

3042-540: The Eiffel Tower , by himself flying around the dome of Saint Paul's Cathedral in the City of London . The airship set off from Crystal Palace at 16:15, watched by a crowd of cheering spectators. Travelling at an altitude of up to 300 feet (91 m), it soon became apparent that central London had become obscured by mist, so Spencer headed west, making a low pass near Clapham Common , causing "intense astonishment among

3159-787: The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale . Santos-Dumont is a national hero in Brazil, where it is popularly held that he preceded the Wright brothers in demonstrating a practical aeroplane . Numerous roads, plazas, schools, monuments, and airports there are dedicated to him, and his name is inscribed on the Tancredo Neves Pantheon of the Fatherland and Freedom . He was a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters from 1931 until his suicide in 1932. Alberto Santos-Dumont

3276-553: The Montgolfière type and the gas balloon the Charlière . Charles and the Robert brothers' next balloon, La Caroline , was a Charlière that followed Jean Baptiste Meusnier 's proposals for an elongated dirigible balloon, and was notable for having an outer envelope with the gas contained in a second, inner ballonet. On 19 September 1784, it completed the first flight of over 100 km, between Paris and Beuvry , despite

3393-633: The 114th anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille . As he passed the President of the Republic , he fired 21 revolver shots into the air. The military considered the balloon to be a practical instrument for wartime. Santos-Dumont placed himself and his flotilla of three aircraft at the disposal of the government in the event of war, provided it was not against the nations of the Americas and that, "in

3510-528: The 14-bis. He began to study the two solutions for heavier-than-air flight. On 3 January 1906, he entered the Deutsch-Archdeacon Prize, and before that he had begun building a helicopter, the No. 12, but gave up on it on 1 June because it was impossible to create a light, powerful engine. Between June 12 and August 25, 1905, he tested the No. 14 airship, which flew in two versions (14-a and 14-b):

3627-406: The 17th century with Galileo 's experiments in which he showed that air has weight. Around 1650 Cyrano de Bergerac wrote some fantasy novels in which he described the principle of ascent using a substance (dew) he supposed to be lighter than air, and descending by releasing a controlled amount of the substance. Francesco Lana de Terzi measured the pressure of air at sea level and in 1670 proposed

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3744-425: The 622-cubic-metre No. 6 balloon powered by a 20 hp engine, he executed the test in 29 minutes and 30 seconds, but it took about a minute to land, which caused the committee to initially deny the award. This became a matter of controversy , as the public and Deutsch believed that the aviator had won. After some time and the aviator protesting this decision, it was reversed. He became internationally recognised as

3861-654: The Aero Club of the US; when justifying not charging for demonstration flights in St Louis, Santos-Dumont said: "I am an amateur". After the meeting with Edison, Santos-Dumont told the American press that he did not intend to patent his aircraft. He was received at the White House in Washington, DC, by President Theodore Roosevelt and talked to U.S. Navy and Army officials about the possibility of using airships as

3978-500: The Bay of Monaco on 14 February 1902. The crash was due to the balloon being "imperfectly filled when leaving the garage." After the accident he began to perform a check list before each take-off, but No. 6 was badly damaged. Santos-Dumont started to dedicate himself to the construction of new airship models, two years after he left Paris, each one with a specific purpose: the No. 7, with 1,257 cubic metres and 45 hp engine, designed to be

4095-528: The Chinese techniques then current. The Chinese also constructed small hot air balloons, or lanterns, and rotary-wing toys. An early European to provide any scientific discussion of flight was Roger Bacon , who described principles of operation for the lighter-than-air balloon and the flapping-wing ornithopter , which he envisaged would be constructed in the future. The lifting medium for his balloon would be an "aether" whose composition he did not know. In

4212-497: The Deutsch Prize, Santos-Dumont received letters from several countries, congratulating him; magazines published lavish, richly illustrated editions to reproduce his image and perpetuate the achievement; an Alexander Graham Bell interview in the New York Herald explored the reasons for Santos-Dumont's success, envy of other inventors, and the experiments that preceded him; tributes were paid in France, Brazil, England, where

4329-679: The Eiffel Tower for the first time. From the monument he went to the Parc des Princes then to the Bagatelle Gamefield in the Bois de Boulogne (near the Hippodrome of Longchamp ). He landed at the exact spot where No. 1 had crashed, this time under control. From that day on, I no longer had the slightest doubt about the success of my invention. I recognized that I would, for life, be dedicated to aircraft construction. I needed to have my workshop, my aeronautical garage, my hydrogen-generating apparatus, and

4446-475: The Eiffel Tower, round the monument, and return to the place of ascent in no more than thirty minutes, without stops, a total of 11 kilometres, under the eyes of a commission from the Aeroclub de France convened at least one day in advance. This required a minimum average speed of 22 km/h. The award encouraged Alberto Santos-Dumont to try faster flights with No. 4. The aircraft was 420 cubic metres in volume, 29 metres long, and 5.6 metres in diameter. Underneath

4563-553: The English Aero Club offered a banquet, and several other countries. The president of Brazil, Campos Sales sent him prize money of 100 million réis following the proposal of Augusto Severo , as well as a gold medal with his effigy and an allusion to Camões : "Through skies never sailed before"; The Brazilian people were apathetic, and in January 1902, Albert I, Prince of Monaco invited him to continue his experiments in

4680-529: The French Aeroclub's Award required the flight to be into the wind – and the use of an engine was not mandatory. This allowed human-powered gliders and ornithopters to compete. It was required for all prizes that the race took place in France and under the supervision of an aeronautical commission convened no later than the evening of the previous day. Very little of what was required was new. Inventors in other countries had already met or exceeded some of

4797-561: The International Congress of Aeronauts, he proved the effectiveness of an aerial propeller driven by an oil engine by flying repeatedly against the wind, even with a broken rudder, impressing the scientists present. The general impression was that he would win the Deutsch Prize, and upon going to Nice after falling ill, he began designing No. 5. No. 5 was built to compete for the Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe award for

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4914-604: The No. 11 as a model aeroplane by presenting it as a dirigible balloon capable of carrying five people and a 34-metre-long envelope, being purchased by an American. The first experiment, conducted on 13 May at the Aeroclub de France, was made by the Dufaux brothers with a prototype helicopter. The model, weighing 17 kilograms and with a 3 hp engine, repeatedly soared to the roof of the air club's porch, raising clouds of dust. It had been demonstrated that heavier, larger aircraft could be lifted by their own means. The second experiment

5031-616: The Ouro Preto Mining Engineering School and returned to France where he took part in motor racing and cycling. He also began technical and scientific studies with a professor of Spanish origin named Garcia. In 1894 Santos-Dumont travelled to the United States, visiting New York, Chicago, and Boston. Around this time he went on to study at Merchant Venturers' Technical College , but never graduated. Agenor Barbosa described Santos-Dumont in this period as

5148-636: The Paris-Amsterdam race on his tricycle, where he crossed 110 kilometers in two hours, abandoning after an accident. The second balloon, Amérique , held 500m³ of hydrogen and was 10 metres in diameter, and was capable of carrying passengers. With the second balloon he faced everything from storms to accidents. In his first experiments he was awarded a prize by the French Aeroclub for his study of atmospheric currents; he reached high altitudes and stayed airborne for more than 22 hours. Santos-Dumont advocated for government investment in aviation development and

5265-591: The Principality. He offered him a new hangar on the beach at La Condamine, and everything else Albert thought necessary for his comfort and safety, which was accepted; his success also inspired the creation of several biographies and influenced fictional characters, such as Tom Swift ; That April, Santos-Dumont travelled to the United States, where he visited Thomas Edison 's laboratories in New York. They discussed patents. The American asked Santos-Dumont to create

5382-537: The School of Engineering from Minas, without finishing the course. He was not considered an outstanding student, studying only what interested him, and extending his studies independently in his father's library. By this time he already displayed the refined manners that would later become part of his image in France, and an introverted personality. He saw his first human flight in São Paulo at the age of 15, in 1888, when

5499-533: The Wrights modified the design; the 3-axis surface control (pitch, yaw and roll) pioneered by the Wrights was also adopted by other inventors including Santos-Dumont and remains the standard airplane control configuration. Having already accumulated technical knowledge, mainly concerning engines, in early 1905, Santos-Dumont built a model glider, No. 11, inspired by a self-stabilising prototype made 100 years earlier by English scientist George Cayley , considered to be

5616-509: The aeronaut Stanley Spencer ascended in a spherical balloon and parachuted down. After a family trip to Paris in 1891, he became interested in mechanics, especially the internal combustion engine . From then on, he never stopped searching for alternatives, receiving from the City Council of Ribeirão Preto, according to Law no. 100 , of 4 November 1903, a million réis subsidy to continue his researches that, three years later, resulted in

5733-511: The air as the air does to the object." ( Newton would not publish the Third law of motion until 1687.) His analysis led to the realisation that manpower alone was not sufficient for sustained flight, and his later designs included a mechanical power source such as a spring. Da Vinci's work was lost after his death and did not reappear until it had been overtaken by the work of George Cayley . The modern era of lighter-than-air flight began early in

5850-405: The air becomes compressed, typically at speeds above Mach 1. Transonic flow occurs in the intermediate speed range around Mach 1, where the airflow over an object may be locally subsonic at one point and locally supersonic at another. A rocket or rocket vehicle is a missile , spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine . In all rockets, the exhaust

5967-544: The air. With the increasing activity in space flight, nowadays aeronautics and astronautics are often combined as aerospace engineering . The science of aerodynamics deals with the motion of air and the way that it interacts with objects in motion, such as an aircraft. The study of aerodynamics falls broadly into three areas: Incompressible flow occurs where the air simply moves to avoid objects, typically at subsonic speeds below that of sound (Mach 1). Compressible flow occurs where shock waves appear at points where

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6084-421: The aircraft took off and flew. The air pump for the internal balloon, which kept the envelope rigid, did not work properly, and the airship, at a height of 400 metres, began to flex and descend rapidly. In an interview, Santos-Dumont told how he escaped death: The descent was at a speed of 4 to 5 m/sec. It would have been fatal if I hadn't had the presence of mind to tell the passersby, spontaneously suspended from

6201-470: The airship "came down so lightly, that a child underneath it would not have been harmed". The distance travelled in the three-hour flight was about 30 miles (48 km), about three times the distance of any of Santos Dumont's previous flights. Spencer used the same airship to fly the 17 miles (27 km) from Blackpool to Preston in Lancashire in a "high wind" on 21 October 1902. In November of

6318-565: The airship arrived at Saint Paul's at about 700 feet (210 m) and flew a semi circle to the east but was unable to turn back towards the south due to the wind. After several attempts, he gave up the struggle and turned away to the north, eventually landing near New Barnet . One source suggests that Spencer planned a third and yet larger airship, 150 feet (46 metres) long, driven by two 50 horse power engines with accommodation for ten passengers and crew members. Spencer married Rose Isabel Hawkins on 9 September 1895 at Hornsey . A son, William

6435-479: The airship to flex and crash. "At a height of five or six metres, over Longchamp, the apparatus suddenly bent and the crash began. Of my entire career, this is the most abominable memory I have in store." No. 1 was inflated again in the Aclimation Garden in Paris on 18 September 1898, but was damaged before it could fly, due to a misjudgement by the ground crew holding the ropes. Repaired two days later,

6552-457: The combined action of the contraction of the hydrogen and the force of the wind. In September 1899 Santos-Dumont started the construction of a new elongated airship, the No. 3, inflated with lighting gas , 20 metres long and 7.5 metres in diameter, with a capacity of 500 cubic metres. The basket was the same one used in the two other aircraft. At 3:30 pm on 13 November Santos-Dumont took off in No. 3 from Vaugirard Aerostation Park and went around

6669-548: The competitors is judged to have fulfilled the program, the prize will be awarded to him by the President of the Club himself, to whom I will immediately put the amount indicated above. If at the end of five years, beginning on April 15 of the current year, 1900, no one has won it, I consider my commitment null and void. The challenge became known as the Deutsch Prize. The regulations stipulated that an aircraft must be able to fly to

6786-466: The construction costs, he entered into a sponsorship contract with Mellin and Company of Peckham , the manufacturer of " Mellin's Food ", a leading brand of infant formula "for babies and invalids". The sum of £1,500 was payable in return for twenty-five return flights carrying an advertisement for "Mellin's Food". The airship was assembled in Spencer's balloon shed at Crystal Palace, London , then

6903-408: The creation of his aeroplane. A newspaper of the time stated that Santos-Dumont would only accept if "...that amount was intended for an aircraft contest prize." Santos-Dumont would remember with nostalgia the times spent on his father's farm, where he enjoyed the greatest freedom: I lived a free life there, which was indispensable to form my temperament and taste for adventure. Since childhood I had

7020-427: The dangling cable like a real human cluster, to pull the cable in the opposite direction to the wind. Thanks to this manoeuvre, the speed of the fall decreased, thus avoiding the greater violence of the shock. I thus varied my amusement: I went up in a balloon and came down in a kite. In 1899, Santos-Dumont built a new aircraft, No. 2, with the same length and similar shape, but a larger diameter of 3.8 metres, increasing

7137-492: The day he won the Deutsch prize, recalling his childhood: "This letter brings back to me the happiest days of my life, when I exercised myself in making light aeroplanes with bits of straw, moved by screw propellers driven by springs of twisted rubber, or ephemeral silk-paper balloons." (Santos-Dumont) Every year, on 24 June he would fill whole fleets of tiny silk balloons over the bonfires of St. John , to watch them climbing into

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7254-515: The desire to conquer the air. The submarines, balloons, ocean liners, and vehicles that the novelist envisioned in his works made a deep impression on the boy's mind. Years later, as an adult, he still remembered the adventures lived in imagination: With Captain Nemo and his shipwrecked guests I explored the depths of the sea in that first of all submarines, the Nautilus. With Phileas Fogg I went round

7371-413: The family moved to the small town of Cabangu , in the municipality of João Aires, for Henrique Dumont to work on the construction of the D. Pedro II railroad . The construction work finished when Alberto was 6, and the family moved to São Paulo. Here he began to show signs of his aeronautical interest; according to his parents, at the age of one he used to puncture rubber balloons to see what was inside. He

7488-468: The first aeroplane in history: the model, 1.5 metres long by 1.2 metres wide, had fixed wings, a cruciform tail and a movable weight to adjust the centre of gravity. Santos-Dumont's glider differed from Cayley's in size, wing profile, and the fact that it had no movable weight. The project was abandoned due to poor stability. An article by Georges Blanchet published in April 1904 diverges from the description of

7605-477: The first powered airships and won the Deutsch prize  [ pt ] in 1901, when he flew around the Eiffel Tower in his airship No. 6 , becoming one of the most famous people in the world in the early 20th century. Santos-Dumont then progressed to powered heavier-than-air machines and on 23 October 1906 flew about 60 metres at a height of two to three metres with the fixed-wing 14-bis (also dubbed

7722-546: The first scientifically credible lifting medium in the form of hollow metal spheres from which all the air had been pumped out. These would be lighter than the displaced air and able to lift an airship . His proposed methods of controlling height are still in use today; by carrying ballast which may be dropped overboard to gain height, and by venting the lifting containers to lose height. In practice de Terzi's spheres would have collapsed under air pressure, and further developments had to wait for more practicable lifting gases. From

7839-611: The first was 41 metres long, 3.4 in diameter and 186 cubic metres, with a 14 hp engine, and the second was 20 metres long, 6 in diameter and with a 16 hp engine. On 13 June 1905, represented by the Italian Count Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux , Baron Pierre de Coubertin awarded Santos-Dumont the Olympic Diploma No. 3 for "...representing the Olympic ideal..." according to Coubertin, who

7956-406: The first woman to pilot a powered aircraft . Although designed to be a single-seater, Spencer flew with his three-month-old baby daughter Gladys on at least one occasion, claiming that she was the first female to have flown in an airship. During a further trial flight on Friday, 19 September 1902, the conditions seemed right for Stanley Spencer to try to equal Santos Dumont's feat of flying around

8073-403: The genuine pleasure of my first balloon ascent". That year, even before he was known as a balloonist, he began to be quoted by the media due to his involvement in motor racing. On 30 May 1898 he made his first night ascent, and the following month he started working as a captain, taking groups of passengers aloft in a hired balloon. By 1900 he had created nine balloons, of which two became famous:

8190-429: The idea of " heavier than air " a reality. Newspapers and magazines published photographs of Lilienthal gliding, favourably influencing public and scientific opinion about the possibility of flying machines becoming practical. His work lead to him developing the concept of the modern wing. His flight attempts in Berlin in the year 1891 are seen as the beginning of human flight and the " Lilienthal Normalsegelapparat "

8307-625: The importance of public opinion, something previously noted by Júlio César Ribeiro de Sousa  [ pt ] . Airships , powered aerostats, were first demonstrated and patented by the Brazilian priest Bartolomeu de Gusmão in 1709, and were flown by the Montgolfier Brothers in 1783, but until the late 19th century had yet to be mastered, having been attempted by Henri Giffard , Charles Renard and Arthur Constantin Krebs in

8424-427: The impossible event of war between France and Brazil," he considered himself obliged to support his motherland. The French military encouraged several industries to develop the technology proposed by Santos-Dumont. The first woman to fly an aircraft was Aida de Acosta , on 29 June 1903, in No. 9. The 11 August 1905 issue of La Vie au Grand Air describes the organisation of the second Coupe des Femmes Aéronautes and in

8541-453: The late fifteenth century, Leonardo da Vinci followed up his study of birds with designs for some of the earliest flying machines, including the flapping-wing ornithopter and the rotating-wing helicopter . Although his designs were rational, they were not based on particularly good science. Many of his designs, such as a four-person screw-type helicopter, have severe flaws. He did at least understand that "An object offers as much resistance to

8658-475: The man-powered propulsive devices proving useless. In an attempt the next year to provide both endurance and controllability, de Rozier developed a balloon having both hot air and hydrogen gas bags, a design which was soon named after him as the Rozière. The principle was to use the hydrogen section for constant lift and to navigate vertically by heating and allowing to cool the hot air section, in order to catch

8775-466: The mid-18th century the Montgolfier brothers in France began experimenting with balloons. Their balloons were made of paper, and early experiments using steam as the lifting gas were short-lived due to its effect on the paper as it condensed. Mistaking smoke for a kind of steam, they began filling their balloons with hot smoky air which they called "electric smoke" and, despite not fully understanding

8892-558: The most common type of rocket and they typically create their exhaust by the combustion of rocket propellant . Chemical rockets store a large amount of energy in an easily released form, and can be very dangerous. However, careful design, testing, construction and use minimizes risks. Stanley Spencer (aeronaut) Stanley Edward Spencer (1868–1906) was an early English aeronaut , famous for ballooning and parachuting in several countries, and later for building and flying an airship over London in 1902. Stanley's family had

9009-411: The most favourable wind at whatever altitude it was blowing. The balloon envelope was made of goldbeater's skin . The first flight ended in disaster and the approach has seldom been used since. Sir George Cayley (1773–1857) is widely acknowledged as the founder of modern aeronautics. He was first called the "father of the aeroplane" in 1846 and Henson called him the "father of aerial navigation." He

9126-635: The principles at work, made some successful launches and in 1783 were invited to give a demonstration to the French Académie des Sciences . Meanwhile, the discovery of hydrogen led Joseph Black in c.  1780 to propose its use as a lifting gas, though practical demonstration awaited a gas-tight balloon material. On hearing of the Montgolfier Brothers' invitation, the French Academy member Jacques Charles offered

9243-583: The propellers was smashed against the ground. Nothing daunted, Spencer proceeded to dismount the engine and the airship was flown as an unpowered balloon, landing three hours later near Ongar, Essex . He later reverted to a single propeller and carried advertising for the London Evening News . On 17 September 1903, Spencer attempted to circumnavigate the dome of Saint Paul's; the streets below were crowded with expectant spectators. Despite breaking some telephone cables on takeoff at Crystal Palace,

9360-486: The record of 23 hours in the air. He tried to fly almost every day, demonstrating the reliability and usefulness of his aircraft. On 24 March 1900, the millionaire oil magnate Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe sent the President of the Aéro-Club de France , which had been founded two years earlier, a letter in which he promised 100,000 francs to anyone who could invent an efficient flying machine: Desirous of contributing to

9477-698: The required goals including 2-axis (pitch and roll) control of gliders. In Germany, Otto Lilienthal had made thousands of glider flights in the early 1890s, often reaching distances far greater than the 25 metres stipulated by the Archdeacon Prize. In the United States, German immigrant Gustave Whitehead had allegedly pioneered powered glide, though claims and eye witness accounts remain controversial. The Wright brothers had simultaneously been making progress in developing surface-control gliders, at first using Lilienthal's foil concepts, then relying on their own wind tunnel data, and finally adding yaw control via

9594-520: The same year, he flew from the Isle of Man across the Irish Sea to Dumfries . The airship must have been modified because he took fellow aeronaut John Mackenzie Bacon on the flight; newspaper reports state that Bacon also took the controls. On 28 October 1903, Spencer took Mellin and Company to court in an effort to recover the final £500 of advertising fees, which had been withheld on the grounds that

9711-409: The sea. On testing the guide wire over the sea, he found that it stabilised the aircraft in low-level flight. Santos-Dumont also demonstrated that overall the aircraft behaved well over water, reaching up to 42 km/h (26 mph). Its success made clear the potential military use of the aircraft, especially for anti-submarine warfare, but its flights in the principality were interrupted by a crash in

9828-606: The second half of 1906, the magazine Le Sport Universel Illustré reported that three years after the start of the Grand Prix of the Aéro-Club de France, seven countries were already participating in the competition. No. 10, a 2,010 cubic metre airship with a 60 hp engine, was large enough to carry several people and serve as public transport. It made a few flights in October 1903, but was never completely finished; No. 11

9945-636: The second, instituted by the French aeroclub, would award 1,500 francs ($ 300) to anyone who flew 100 metres; and the third, sponsored by Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe and Ernest Archdeacon, would award 1,500 francs to anyone who flew 1,000 metres. With the exception of the Deutsch-Archdeacon Award, which prohibited the competing aircraft from using a balloon for launch, the other awards left the question of takeoff open. The flight could take place on flat or uneven terrain, in calm weather or wind –

10062-459: The sky. In 1891, when he was 18, Santos-Dumont visited Europe. In England he spent a few months practising his English, and in France he climbed Mont Blanc . This adventure, at an altitude of almost 5,000 metres, gave him a taste for heights. The following year, his father had a serious accident, and released Alberto from parental care on 12 February 1892, advising him to focus on learning mechanics, chemistry, and electricity. With that, Alberto left

10179-550: The solution of the problem of air travel, I undertake to place at the disposal of the Air Club a sum of 100,000 francs, constituting a prize, under the title of the Air Club Prize, to the aeronaut who, leaving the park of Saint Cloud, Longchamps, or any other point situated at an equal distance from the Eiffel Tower, reaches this monument in half an hour, and, surrounding it, returns to the point of departure. (...) If one of

10296-415: The stipulated twenty-five return flights of the airship had not been completed. After an argument about the exact meaning of a "return flight", the judge, Justice Darling , ruled in favour of Mellin's. Stanley Spencer soon directed his energies to the construction of a larger and more powerful airship. The envelope was 88 feet (27 m) long, with a capacity of 26,000 cubic feet (740 m ). The gondola

10413-400: The stock market, allowing him to work without being accountable to any investor. At 24 years of age, Santos-Dumont left for France, where he hired professional aeronauts to teach him ballooning after reading the book Andrée – Au Pôle Nord en ballon . On 23 March 1898, he made his first ascent in a Lachambre & Machuron balloon at a cost of 400 francs, later saying that: "I will never forget

10530-526: The study of bird flight. Medieval Islamic Golden Age scientists such as Abbas ibn Firnas also made such studies. The founders of modern aeronautics, Leonardo da Vinci in the Renaissance and Cayley in 1799, both began their investigations with studies of bird flight. Man-carrying kites are believed to have been used extensively in ancient China. In 1282 the Italian explorer Marco Polo described

10647-511: The thousands of persons in the streets..." Spencer continued across the River Thames at Chelsea Bridge and continued over Kensington and Earl's Court . During the flight, he frequently flew around in circles to demonstrate the airship's maneuverability, and threw out small rubber balls, to demonstrate "what an army airship could do with bombs". As darkness approached, Spencer landed in a field at Eastcote , near Harrow; he claimed that

10764-462: The tricycle he had used in the Paris-Amsterdam race up a tree to check for vibration, which did not occur. He modified the engine by putting the two cylinders on top of each other, creating a lightweight 3.5 horsepower unit, which was the first internal combustion engine successfully used in aeronautics. An article presented in CENDOC , Rio de Janeiro 2021 , claims that the aeronautical movement in France

10881-422: The use of the whirling arm test rig to investigate the aerodynamics of flight, using it to discover the benefits of the curved or cambered aerofoil over the flat wing he had used for his first glider. He also identified and described the importance of dihedral , diagonal bracing and drag reduction, and contributed to the understanding and design of ornithopters and parachutes . Another significant invention

10998-424: The volume to 200 cubic metres. To address the unreliability of the air pump which had almost killed him, he added a small aluminium fan to maintain pressure and rigidity. The first test was scheduled for 11 May 1899. At the time of the flight, rain made the balloon heavy. The demonstration consisted of simple manoeuvres with the aircraft attached by a rope, but ended in the adjacent trees. The airship had folded under

11115-720: The work Dans L'Air , whose translation into Portuguese, Os Meus Balões (My Balloons), was published in Brazil in 1938. In October 1904, three aviation prizes were founded in France: the Archdeacon Prize  [ pt ] , the French Aeroclub Prize  [ pt ] , and the Deutsch-Archdeacon Prize  [ pt ] . The first, promoted by millionaire Ernest Archdeacon , would award 3,500 francs to anyone who flew 25 metres;

11232-411: The world in eighty days. In "Screw Island" and "The Steam House" my boyish faith leaped out to welcome the ultimate triumphs of an automobilism that in those days had not as yet a name. With Hector Servadoc I navigated the air. Technology fascinated him. He began building kites and small aeroplanes powered by a propeller driven by twisted rubber springs, as he says in a commentary on the letter he received

11349-474: The world's greatest aviator and the inventor of the airship. The prize was then 100,000 francs plus interest, that Santos-Dumont distributed among his staff and the unemployed and workers in Paris who for some reason had "pawned their tools of labor" with help from the City Hall of Paris . A month before the event, by announcing this intention, he had obtained "unrestricted support from public opinion". The money

11466-517: Was a 9.4-metre bamboo keel, in the middle of which were the saddle and pedals of an ordinary bicycle. Astride the saddle, the pilot had under his feet the starting pedals of a 7 hp engine, which powered a front propeller with two 4-metre long silk blades. Next to the pilot were ropes with which he could control the carburettor and valve settings, the rudder, ballast, and displacement weights. Santos-Dumont made almost daily flights in No. 4 from Saint Cloud during August. On 19 September, before members of

11583-412: Was a copy of No. 6 ordered by Edward Boyce, vice president of the Aeroclub of America, having made a single flight in New York; No. 9, with 261 cubic metres and 3 hp, was a travel airship, in which Santos-Dumont made several flights throughout 1903, including the first night flight of an airship on 24 June, and the last of these came on 14 July, when it took part in a military parade in commemoration of

11700-431: Was already driving the farm's trains, and at twelve he could operate a locomotive on his own, but the speed achievable on land was not enough for him. By observing coffee machines he deduced that oscillatory machines wore out more, while those with circular motion were more efficient. By reading the works of Jules Verne , with whose fictional heroes he was later compared and who he would meet in adulthood, Santos-Dumont got

11817-680: Was also needed. He also wrote: "...the flying-machine will be achieved only by the way of evolution, by making the air-ship pass through a series of transformations analogous to the metamorphoses by which the chrysalis becomes the winged butterfly." The first airship designed by Santos-Dumont, the No. 1, was 25 metres long with a volume of 186 cubic metres, made its first takeoff attempt in February 1898, after being inflated in Henri Lachambre 's workshops in Vaugirard. Snowy conditions caused

11934-527: Was also received by Theodore Roosevelt , Fridtjof Nansen and William-Hippolyte Grenfell . De Coubertin considered aviation a sport; Santos-Dumont was described as a sportsman in FAI Bulletins and the Paris Sport of 15 July 1901 described the Brazilian as "a true sportsman in every sense of the word." Santos-Dumont was already famous at that time and already a hero in his country. Santos' diploma

12051-582: Was an open frame of ash wood spars, on which mounted a Thomas Green & Son engine of 35 horsepower (26 kW) that drove a pair of wooden propellers, designed by Hiram Maxim . The controls were activated by means of Bowden cables , the first time that these had been used on an airship. On 11 July 1903, the new airship was prepared for its first flight at the Ranelagh Club in Barnes , Surrey . However, it slewed sideways during takeoff and one of

12168-409: Was an unmanned monoplane. No. 12 was a helicopter never completed due to the technological limitations of the time and finally, No. 13, a luxurious double hot air and hydrogen balloon. On his first return to Rio de Janeiro in 1903, a group of climbers put up a banner on Sugarloaf Mountain , beside Guanabara Bay, greeting the aviator on his return by ship from Europe. On 7 September 1903, he returned as

12285-1043: Was baptised in Valença at the Matriz de Santa Teresa  [ pt ] on 20 February 1877, by Teodoro Teotônio da Silva Carolina . In 1879, the Dumonts sold their farm in Valença, Rio de Janeiro , and settled in Sítio do Cascavel, in Ribeirão Preto , where they bought the Arindeúva Farm, of José Bento Junqueira, producing 1200 bushels . Until he was 10, he was taught by his older sister, Virginia. From 10 to 12 years old he studied at Colégio Culto à Ciência . He then attended Colégio Kopke in São Paulo, Colégio Morton, and Colégio Menezes Vieira in Rio de Janeiro, and later at

12402-579: Was believed to be a record ascent to 27,500 feet. On 15 November 1899, Spencer ascended with John Mackenzie Bacon and Gertrude Bacon to observe the Leonid meteor shower from above the clouds. Ten hours later, their balloon landed near Neath, South Wales, narrowly avoiding drifting out over the Atlantic. The success of the airships designed and flown by Alberto Santos Dumont in Paris led Spencer to believe that he could build an improved version. To fund

12519-544: Was made on 8 June on the Seine: Gabriel Voisin went up in the hydroplane Archdeacon, towed by a speedboat piloted by Alphonse Tellier  [ fr ] , La Rapière. The device barely rose out of the water and the project was abandoned due to poor stability. Watching tests like this, Santos-Dumont realised that the Antoinette engine from the tugboat could be used in an aeroplane, giving the concept of

12636-680: Was passed to the Brazilian ambassador in Belgium, who then passed it on to the aviator, according to the 21 June 1905 edition of the Correio Paulistano  [ pt ] . Santos-Dumont was not the only one represented by others at the ceremony and only William Grenfell received the diploma personally. The FAI was created on 14 October 1905, along the lines of the International Olympic Committee. Aeronaut A significant part of aeronautical science

12753-548: Was released on 4 November after a vote in which nine members of the Aeroclub opposed and fifteen supported. This delay served to put public opinion further in Santos-Dumont's favour. The same afternoon, he sent a letter of resignation to the Aeroclub. Mauricio Pazini Brandão, in The Santos-Dumont legacy to aeronautics , says that this event should be considered as the certification of the airship. After winning

12870-466: Was reported to have made its first flight some time in late June 1902. There followed a series of trial flights at the Crystal Palace polo ground. On 14 July, the airship was piloted by Spencer's wife, Rose, on a powered flight in a circuit around the ground, "under perfect control" according to one newspaper report. If the various press reports of the event are correct, this makes Mrs Spencer

12987-562: Was sparked by Santos-Dumont's experiments and Santos-Dumont said he believed his experiences led to the founding of the Aéro-Club de France . A detail raised by Santos-Dumont refers to the definition of what would be heavier than air: in June 1902 he published an article in the North American Review arguing that his work on airships was about aviation, because hydrogen gas itself was not capable of taking off, and engine power

13104-462: Was that the balloon had been cut with a knife, with Santos-Dumont stating that "...whole sections were cut and removed" and that he had previously experienced similar. In Monaco, after accepting Prince Albert's invitation, Santos-Dumont guided the construction of a 55 metre long, 10 metre wide and 15 metre high hangar, with doors he designed which weighed 10 tons, on the Boulevard de La Condamine by

13221-586: Was the enabling technology of the Space Age , including setting foot on the Moon . Rockets are used for fireworks , weaponry, ejection seats , launch vehicles for artificial satellites , human spaceflight and exploration of other planets. While comparatively inefficient for low speed use, they are very lightweight and powerful, capable of generating large accelerations and of attaining extremely high speeds with reasonable efficiency. Chemical rockets are

13338-411: Was the first true scientific aerial investigator to publish his work, which included for the first time the underlying principles and forces of flight. In 1809 he began the publication of a landmark three-part treatise titled "On Aerial Navigation" (1809–1810). In it he wrote the first scientific statement of the problem, "The whole problem is confined within these limits, viz. to make a surface support

13455-428: Was the only person in the world capable of controlled flight. After his time in the US, he learned of the fatal accident of Augusto Severo and the suicide of his mother; he returned to England, where he had left No. 6 being prepared for an exhibition at the Crystal Palace , as well as planning to fly into London. The fabric of the airship was punctured, as confirmed by the balloonist Stanley Spencer . The initial view

13572-479: Was the sixth child of Henrique Dumont , an engineer who graduated from the Central School of Arts and Manufactures in Paris, and Francisca de Paula Santos. The couple had eight children, three sons and five daughters: Henrique dos Santos-Dumont, Maria Rosalina Dumont Vilares, Virgínia Dumont Vilares, Luís dos Santos Dumont  [ pt ] , Gabriela, Alberto Santos-Dumont, Sofia, and Francisca. In 1873,

13689-443: Was the tension-spoked wheel, which he devised in order to create a light, strong wheel for aircraft undercarriage. During the 19th century Cayley's ideas were refined, proved and expanded on, culminating in the works of Otto Lilienthal . Lilienthal was a German engineer and businessman who became known as the "flying man". He was the first person to make well-documented, repeated, successful flights with gliders , therefore making

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