100 Russian Engineers Who Changed Our Life 100 RUSSIAN ENGINEERS WHO CHANGED OUR LIFE

Moscow 2014 Dear Reader,

The book you are holding in your hands is today more relevant than ever. It is unlikely that anyone would doubt ’s need in highly skilled engineers. The country requires a breakthrough in science and technology. This means that the time has come to bet on innovative development, drawing on the rich history of Russian engineering. For a number of centuries Russia enjoyed undisputed leadership in science and engineering breakthroughs. Its scientists and inventors were pioneers in many branches of science and technology. The discoveries they made changed our world, creating a new reality, earning admiration for our country and respect as a superpower. The main goal of this book is to remind people of the outstanding contributions our engineers have made towards the progress of science and technology, to teach the younger generations about Russian history and to tell them how interesting engineering can be. The generation of the 21 st century should know about our compatriots, whose inventions and discoveries made such great contributions to human knowledge, and they should strive to meet or surpass those achievements. Despite the unquestionable difficulties of modern Russian industry, the professions of engineers, designers, and science workers are still prestigious and in demand. Developing unique technologies, constantly refining them and looking for new solutions expands the limits of the possible, making the future a reality today; those are the traditional principles our brilliant engineers were guided by. These same principles should also be the basis of how work is organised in any modern company. The book 100 Russian Engineers Who Changed Our Life is the important step towards the global changes needed to increase the competitiveness of Russian industry, the advancing of our science and creating of a true engineering elite. The Russian industrial renaissance must be based on respect for the great achievements of this country and the people who have come to symbolise the brilliance of great ideas and elegant practical solutions.

Oleg Deripaska Chairman of the Supervisory Board Basic Element Group Contents

PART 1 “The First, the One and Only” and His Turbine 71 Fire from the Sky 137 Representative of Russian Science 205 ORIGINS OF RUSSIAN Pavel Kuzminsky. Radial Gas Turbine Alexander Lodygin. Incandescent Light Bulb . Expansion Turbine— A Highly Efficient Gas Liquefier TECH INNOVATIONS 11 Rival to Diesel 75 Conqueror of the Sun 141 Gustav Trinkler. Airless Injection Diesel Engine Alexander Stoletov. Photoelectric Cell Based How Crystals Grow 211 Theatre of the Lathe 13 on the External Photoelectric Effect Alexey Shubnikov. Modern Crystallography Andrey Nartov. Lathe with Adjustable Carriage Barge Hauler Who Designed a Tractor 79 and Piezoelectric Textures Fyodor Blinov. Tracked Tractor Wireless Telegraphy 145 Seeing More 17 Alexander Popov. Radio Aluminium for the Wings 215 . Telescopes, Night-vision Devices, Providing the Country with Coal 83 Ivan Sidorin. Kolchugalumin Periscopes, and Other Optical Instruments Alexey Bakhmutsky. First Coal Mining Machine Making Communications More Reliable 149 (Russian Duralumin) Valentin Vologdin. A High-voltage Rectifier The Man Who Tamed Fire 21 with a Liquid Mercury Cathode Scientific Way of Inventing 219 Ivan Polzunov. Steam Machine PART 3 Heinrich Altschuller. Theory of Inventive and Two-cylinder Steam Engine Just a Lab Assistant 153 ROAD TO TOMORROW 89 Problem Solving Oleg Losev. Amplifying Jack of All Trades and a Gearbox 25 First Minister of the First Railways 91 and Generating Semiconductor. Light Diode Ivan Kulibin. Self-propelled Cart Pavel Melnikov. St. Petersburg- Railway Thirty Patents of Father Pavel 159 PART 6 High-grade Steel 29 Major General for Eight Spans 95 Pavel Florensky. The First All-purpose RUNNING AHEAD OF TIME 225 Semyon Badaev. Badaev Steel Stanis áaw KierbedĨ. The Blagoveshchensky Bridge Russian Plastic Film Instead of Glass 227 across the Neva River Telegraph of the Russian Cagliostro 33 Ivan Boldyrev. The First Light Sensitive Pavel Schilling. Electromagnetic Telegraph Bridge to the Future 99 PART 5 Non-combustible Photographic Film Dmitry Zhuravsky. Trelliswork Structure Steam Train in the Stone Belt 37 SCIENCE IN CHASE FOR PRACTICE 165 The Great-Grandfather of Hollywood 231 of the Verebya Bridge Yefim and Miron Cherepanov. The First Russian Joseph Timchenko. Movie Camera The Man Who Measured the Sun 167 Railway Electric Traction Instead of Horses 103 Witold Ceraski. Astronomical Photometric Devices. Russia in Colour 235 Fyodor Pirotsky. Electric Tram The Bayard of the Engineering Corps 41 Heliometer for Measuring Solar Compression Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky. Colour Photography Karl Schilder. Submarine Spanning Distant Shores 107 The Motion of the Stars 171 3D Fairy Tales 241 Lavr Proskuryakov. Designing Bridges Aristarkh Belopolsky. Spectrograph Wladislaw Starewicz. 3D Animation PART 2 across Siberian Rivers In Search of Beauty 175 Live Images at Home 245 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 47 Above Water and Ground 111 Vladimir Shukhov. Shukhov Towers Boris Rosing. Cathode Ray Tube Vladimir Levkov. Air Cushion In Search of Damascus Steel 49 Engineer and Governor 181 Poetry of Pins 249 Pavel Anosov. Recovering the Secret Creator of the Russian Automotive Industry 115 Pyotr Shilovsky. Gyroscopic Equipment Alexander Alexeyev. Pin Screen of Damascus Steel Andrey Liphart. Pobeda Vehicle A Rainbow in Ordinary Leaves 185 How the Screen Began to Speak 253 Prime Steel 53 Wings for the Raketa 121 Mikhail Tsvet. Chromatography Alexander Shorin. Optical System for Recording Dmitry Chernov. Metals Science Rostislav Alexeyev. Hydrofoils and Reproducing Sound onto Motion Picture Film and Reform of Steel Production Reaching the Depths 189 Matvey Kapelyushnikov. Turbodrill The Founder of Television 257 First after Hephaestus 57 PART 4 Vladimir Zvorykin. Electronic Television Nikolay Benardos. Electric Arc Welding TAMING ELECTRICITY 127 Synthetic “Tree Tears” 193 Sergey Lebedev. Synthetic Rubber Oscar for a Russian Engineer 261 Electrical Arc Revolution 61 The Power of Electricity 129 Alexander Poniatoff. Videotape Recorder Nikolay Slavyanov. Arc Welding Boris Jacobi. Electric Motor Three-dimensional Meteorology 197 with Metallic Electrode with Direct Drive Line Rotation Pavel Molchanov. Meteorological Radiosonde Skyneedle 265 Nikolay Nikitin. Ostankino TV Tower Engine Running on Unconventional Fuel 65 “Russian Light” 133 What Can Stereograph Do? 201 Ignatiy (Ogneslav) Kostovic ´. Petrol Engine Pavel Yablochkov. Yablochkov Candle Fyodor Drobyshev. Stereographs and Stereometers PART 7 Katyusha for the Victory 333 Jet Airliner 393 Thin Protection 457 Vladimir Artemyev. Multiple IN SEARCH OF SMART MACHINES 271 Andrey Tupolev. The First Soviet Jet Airliner. Georgy Flyorov. Track Membrane Technologies Rocket Launcher Katyusha The World's First Supersonic Airliner Wireless Control 273 Artificial Sun 461 The Absolute Weapon 337 Nikolay Pilchikov. Wireless Control System Sputnik and Gagarin 399 Lev Artsimovich. First Thermonuclear Reactor Mikhail Kalashnikov. AK Assault Rifle Sergey Korolyov. First Artificial Satellite. Automatic Call 277 First Human in Space Mikhail (Moses) Freidenberg. PART 11 Subscriber PART 9 Preselector—A Device for Automatically Tracing Seeing the Invisible 405 PUZZLE OUT THE DIGIT 467 the Subscriber That a Call is Being Made To FEEL THE SKY 343 Boris Rauschenbach. Photographing the Dark Side of the Computer without Electronics 469 Harmless Printing 281 From the Cell to Other Worlds 345 Alexey Krylov. A Machine for Integrating Victor Gassiev. Phototypesetting Machine Nikolay Kibalchich. Interplanetary Powerful Thrust 411 Ordinary Differential Equations Spacecraft Design Pavel Solovyov. Turbofan Jet Engine At the Wave of a Hand 285 The First Computer of the Old World 475 Le´on Theremin. Theremin First Take-off 349 Communication through Space 415 Sergey Lebedev. First Supercomputer Alexander Mozhaysky. The First Aircraft Boris Chertok. Communications Satellites in Continental Europe Music Drawings 291 to Take Off Evgeny Sholpo. Variophone, Rolling on the Moon 421 Counting to Three 479 the Optical Synthesiser Flying the Scientific Way 353 Alexander Kemurdzhian. World’s First Nikolay Brusentsov. Setun, the First Ternary Nikolay Zhukovsky. Aerodynamics Planetary Rover Computer Using a Symmetrical Creating New Dimension 295 Ternary Number System Semyon Ivanov. 3D without Glasses Strategic Superhero 357 Combat “Crocodile” 427 Igor Sikorski. First Multi-engine Aircraft Mikhail Mil. The Most Successful Unorthodox Computer 483 Sound from a Machine 299 Mass-produced Twin-engine Helicopter. Creator of the Flying Boat 361 Israel Akushsky. A Specialised Working Computer Evgeny Murzin. Electronic Synthesiser An Attack Helicopter Dmitry Grigorovich. Specially Built Having a Residue Number System to Speed Up Amphibious Plane the Calculation Process PART 8 Helicopters are the First 365 PART 10 305 List of Illustrations 488 WARS ARE WON BY ENGINEERS Boris Yuriev. The Swash Plate ALMIGHTY ATOM 433 “Three-line Rifle” 307 for the Helicopter’s Rotor Peaceful Atom 435 Sergey Mosin. The 1891 Bolt Action Rifle The Road to Space 369 . The World’s First Russian Smokeless 311 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Multistage Rocket Design Nuclear Power Plant Dmitry Mendeleyev. Pyrocollodion The Space Shuttle Engine 375 2-D Meets 3-D 441 The Saving Dome 315 Valentin Glushko. Yuri Denisyuk. A Method Gleb Kotelnikov. Knapsack Parachute The ORM-1— Russia’s First Liquid for Recording Holograms Propellant Rocket Science Against Gas 319 Nuclear Icebreaker 445 Nikolay Zelinsky. High-efficiency Gas Mask To the Space on a Plane 379 Igor Afrikantov. Reactor for a Nuclear Friedrich Zander. Space Shuttle Aircraft Design. Icebreaker The First Machine Gun 323 The First Soviet Rocket Vladimir Fyodorov. “The Fyodorov Machine Gun”. The Most Important Invention 449 The Prototype of Modern Automatic Weapons Founding Father of Helicopter 383 Alexander Prokhorov, Nikolai Basov. Nikolay Kamov. Autogyros and Helicopters Invisibility Cloak 453 T-34 Armoured Vehicle 327 with Coaxial Rotors Mikhail Koshkin. T-34—The Best Victor Veselago. Metamaterials Battle Tank of World War II Flying Tank 387 Sergey Ilyushin. Ground Attack Aircraft with an Armoured Airframe ORIGINS OF RUSSIAN TECH INNOVATIONS

1 Andrey Nartov Lathe with Adjustable Carriage

2 Mikhail Lomonosov Telescopes, Night-vision Devices, Periscopes, and Other Optical Instruments

3 Ivan Polzunov Steam Machine and Two- cylinder Steam Engine

4 Ivan Kulibin Self-propelled Cart

5 Semyon Badaev Badaev Steel

6 Pavel Schilling Electromagnetic Telegraph

7 Yefim and Miron Cherepanov The First Russian Railway

8 Karl Schilder Submarine With its vast territory and inexhaustible natural esourcesr Russia was however lagging behind Europe on practically every count. There was no industry to speak of, just some isolated small manufacturing shops, poorly organised and with few links between each other. The economy wasbased on agriculture and small artisan shops that would make Theatre semi-finished goods and gathered hemp and salt. Most of the Lathe manufacturing involved hard manual labour that brought 1 down life expectancy but was the only option available. That In 1973 the German company Waldrich Siegen th was what Russia was like in the 18 century. Peter the Great’s brought a genuine monstrosity to the South famous ‘window onto Europe’ was opened with a great effort African city of Rosherville. It weighed more than and against great odds; at times extreme measures had to 400 tonnes and was approximately 40 metres be taken to bring about change. However, it was during that period that the first sprouts of Russian science appeared. long. This was the world’s largest lathe, capable Russian science was unique in how fast it advancedand how of handling slabs weighing 300 tonnes and five broad the range of issues it attempted to tackle from the metres in diameter. However, even this giant very start was. Early Russian researchers boldly combined and the latest-generation unit, where operating advanced European technologies with traditional knowledge. the lathe requires only a sensor screen and These were often people from the lower classes of society, who computer keyboard, owe their appearance had learned to read and write on their own, only to amaze their to a prominent Russian engineer from teachers with their inventions. They were paintinga portrait of the 18 th century. their time in bold strokes, changing their time and the world around them. It was in the second half of the 18 th century that the first steps to more organised production, a new European style technology were made in Russia. 1414 100 RUSSIAN ENGINEERS WHO CHANGED OUR LIFE

Andrey Nartov 1693-1756

Lathe with Adjustable Carriage

Nartov’s manuscript called Teatrum Machinarum or the Bright Spectacle of Machinery, contained dozens of detailed layouts, including highly detailed descriptions of the operating principles of lathes and their components. He invested his entire soul in the book. And it was no accident that he called the technical work “theatre” or “spectacle”. Andrey Nartov, who was a tool mechanic, lathe operator, and engineer, was fascinated by “mechanisms” since his childhood. He understood the value of his work. However, he could not have imagined that it would still be in demand two centuries later and that the ordinary lathes that he had created would find their place in one of Russia’s main museums.

“Founder”—this entry in the Russian In 1712, Peter the Great summoned By that time, the whole of Europe was Book of Genealogy meant in the 18 th Nartov to St. Petersburg not only to talking about the great lathe operator. century that nobility had been granted by “teach the Sovereign the art of grinding”, This was not surprising, since the Tsar, while the ennobled individual Nartov also visited small artisan Nartov designed a lathe in 1717 that could originate from merchants or even workshops with the Tsar, and what were became—without exaggeration—not from the lower class. Andrey Nartov was then considered large factories. He then only a technical breakthrough, but also a common lathe operator at a workshop went on several foreign trips and also a symbol of the new era. of the Moscow School of Mathematics and had another sovereign student—the The French were astonished. Navigation, which had been established Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I. Master craftsmen in turnery, the by Peter the Great in the Sukharev Tower. 1 In 1720, he was finally appointed head best in Europe, they simply were By the age of 16 he had already become of the Tsar’s lathe workshops, was paid unable to fathom how the machine a “recognised craftsman” and was a good salary, and was given a title and manufactured by the Russian engineer eventually noticed by the Tsar. his own house. worked. 16 100 RUSSIAN ENGINEERS WHO CHANGED OUR LIFE

moved with the help of a screw drive, i.e., a screw that would twist in the screw nut. Nartov’s support2 (self-propelled lathe) did not simply facilitate manual labour; it transformed the cutter from a manual tool into a mechanism. The Russian copying lathe is exhibited in the Paris Museum of Arts and Crafts—this is the very same lathe that Nartov showed to the President of the Paris Academy Design of Andrey of Sciences Abb é Jean-Paul Bignon, 3 Nartov's lathe and it was bestowed a compliment: “It Emperor Peter I. Seeing More is impossible to imagine anything more The obverse of a rouble Until that time, the machine-cutting tool wondrous.” Incidentally Nartov’s lathe is coin made in 1724 was squeezed into a special support and exactly 80 years older than the similar 2 manually adjusted. More often than not, invention by the Englishman Henry The list of inventions compiled by Nartov On 18 October 1967, a small hemispherical you had to hold the cutter in your hand. Maudslay, 4 which was only made in 1797. in 1754 includes 30 items. Each one This was a protracted and labour-intensive Furthermore, Maudslay’s lathes could not is an important technical solution and Venera-4 inter-planetary probe just over business, beyond the strength of many. By perform the full set of operations Nartov’s sometimes unique. The reward bestowed contrast, Andrey Nartov’s hands were free. brainchildren were capable of performing. upon Nartov for his inventions matched The cutter was held by an amazing “iron Nartov’s lathes also performed another his merits. He received several villages, a metre in diameter, several million kilometres arm”. Nartov had an explanation for this function—they were not just lathes, but the rank of state counsellor and money miracle: a special mechanised support. It also copying lathes. from the Romanovs. However, the new from the Earth, transmitted data on the inventions required significant costs, and Nartov invested all the money into Andrey Nartov’s his projects. After the death of the great composition of the ambient atmosphere during copying lathe. 1729 inventor in April 1756, his property went under the hammer. The manuscript of one-and-a-half hours of its parachute descent. the book Teatrum Machinarum ended up in the library of Catherine the Great, where it remained forgotten for almost It was a part of the research that resumed two centuries. Six lathes from the lathe workshops of the two hundred years after one of the greatest early 18 th century found their place in the Hermitage. It is worth noting that there are discoveries in Russian observational astronomy no crucial differences between Nartov’s lathes and contemporary multifunctional was made, the discovery of the atmosphere of giants.

1 Sukharev Tower (built in “I support”. In lathes it is Venus in 1761. 1692-1695 and demolished the unit aimed to fix and in 1934), situated at the move the operating tool. intersection of the current 3 Jean-Paul Bignon Garden Ring with Sretenka (1662-1743)—President Street in Moscow, was of the Paris Academy of once home to the Moscow Sciences, librarian to Louis School of Mathematics XIV of France. and Navigation Sciences. 4 Henry Maudslay The School trained artillery (1771-1831)—British men, engineers and sailors machine tool operator and in 1701-1752. author of the designs of 2 Support—from the Late various tools, stamps and Latin supporto meaning lathes. 18 100 RUSSIAN ENGINEERS WHO CHANGED OUR LIFE

Mikhail Lomonosov 1711-1765

Telescopes, Night-vision Devices, Periscopes, and Other Optical Instruments

The most prominent European astronomers eagerly awaited 24 May 1761. For this was the day when you could observe an exceptional phenomenon —the solar transit of Venus. In St. Petersburg the procession of the planet started at about 5 am. Dozens of scientists from different countries attentively tracked the transit of Venus; they all considered it their duty to document their observations in the utmost detail. However, only one of them managed to see the “tender radiance like shining hair” that erupted around Venus when the planet touched the solar disk. He not only witnessed the event, but also drew this conclusion: the planet had an atmosphere. This sole observer and visionary was a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and Sciences, Mikhail Lomonosov.

The son of a rich pomor, 1 Vasily his mentor (the audacious Russian some specific part or area, but instead Lomonosov, fled his father’s house in believed that there was nothing more in all phenomena. Such were the origins Kholmogory.2 Accounts differ. Either that he could learn from the chemist of a genius almost unprecedented in he did not get on with his stepmother and mineralogist Johann Henckel 3), history. , chemistry, the theory or didn’t want to get married. To be he abandoned everything and left for of electricity, mechanics, geography, admitted to the Moscow Slavic Greek home, ending up along the way in the navigation and rhetoric—this is an Latin Academy, he took a risky step. He Prussian army and having to run away incomplete list of Lomonosov’s scientific forged documents and pretended to be from that, too. interests. In each of these areas he made a youth of noble birth. As one of the top Possessed of a difficult character a discovery or invention; and on occasion 12 students he was sent abroad and and self-confident—at times possibly even founded a new scientific discipline. again encountered difficulties. Because excessively so—most importantly he had It was Lomonosov who developed the he was short of money and argued with an interest in science in general. Not in theory of glass: a fully-fledged scientific 20 100 RUSSIAN ENGINEERS WHO CHANGED OUR LIFE

On 26 May 1761, Mikhail Lomonosov observed Venus moving across the disc of the Sun

Lomonosov was not satisfied with the Newton 7 and Gregory 8 telescopes, which were considered the best in the The Man Who 18 th century. Instead, he proposed his own design. It had only one concave mirror Tamed Fire located at an incline of approximately 4° to the telescope axis. The rays reflected 3 by this mirror hit the ocular lens that discipline was formed, bridging physics foundations for the production of glass was set to one side. This made it Today a powerful engine is commonplace. and chemistry. Lomonosov’s approach to in a variety of colours and developed possible to increase the optical path and investigating silicates and glass became smalt-melting technology, 4 at the same consequently see further. No one is surprised by hundreds of the starting point for further research time renewing an ancient genre of the A prototype of this telescope was and remained virtually unchanged figurative arts—mosaic. manufactured in April 1762. In May, horsepower. Any mini-car could leave for 100 years. Lomonosov laid the He knew how to look further ahead Lomonosov demonstrated it at a meeting and perceived things more acutely. of the Academy only to hear once again th This may be the reason why he was so the verdict: “It has no scientific value.” the most serious 18 century steam machines preoccupied by optics where Lomonosov This was not surprising: Lomonosov's also made a number of important optical devices were a century from the Demidov plants far behind. However, discoveries. ahead of their time. Even though his He was behind the creation of more contemporaries were unable to properly 300 years ago, the very idea that an iron than ten fundamentally new optical appreciate his engineering innovations, devices, including the catopric-dioptric 5 they laid the groundwork for the further kindling system and a device “for development of an entire field of research. “mechanism” could be stronger than a the concentration of light”, which he called a “night-sighting tube” for night horse appeared impudent and unfeasible. observations at sea. Three “night- Lomonosov’s approach to sighting tubes” were assembled for investigating silicates and glass The unprecedented power of steam was to a polar expedition by Captain Vasily became the starting point for Chichagov. 6 In addition, he discovered further research and remained a bathyscope to observe the bottom of change the world forever. the sea and the horizontal scope—a virtually unchanged for 100 years. periscope to map the terrain.

1 Pomory—ethnographic in the region. literally means mirror and theologian. Author of group of the Russian 3 Johann Friedrich Henckel lens. Lomonosov’s a practical design for the Mikhail Lomonosov’s population, who lived on (1678-1744) was a famous system was designated reflecting telescope. illustrations to his the coast of the White and German mineralogist, for the attainment of 8 James Gregory article “Observation of Barents seas. chemist, metallurgy expert high temperatures in (1638-1675)—English 2 Venus against the Sun Kholmogory is now a village and doctor. laboratory conditions. mathematician and (according to the results 4 Smalt (from the German 6 Vasily Chichagov(1726- astronomer, the founding at St. Petersburg’s of the 2010 census: 4,150 schmelzen—“to smelt”)— 1809)—Russian navigator, father of mathematical Imperial Academy of inhabitants) and a district coloured artificial glass. admiral. analysis, and author of a Sciences on 26 May centre of Arkhangelsk Mosaics can be created 7 Isaac Newton (1642- practical design for the 1761” Region. In Lomonosov’s from bits of smalt. 1727)— great British reflecting telescope. times it was the biggest city 5 Catopric-dioptric , mathematician 22 100 RUSSIAN ENGINEERS WHO CHANGED OUR LIFE

Ivan Polzunov 1728-1766

Steam Machine and Two-cylinder Steam Engine

The memo addressed to the head of the Kolyvan-Voskresensk plant, Major General Poroshin, concerned a strange project. The author of the memo asserted that his “fire-driven machine” could supply air to smelting furnaces through bellows, while at the same time activating the pistons of the water pumps, in other words —hammers, ore crushers and many other plant and mining mechanisms. It was hard to believe in the existence of such a miracle. Poroshin forwarded the project to St. Petersburg. Let them work it out. The response came back fairly quickly: the capital’s well-known scientist and President of the Mining Collegium 1 Ivan Schlatter 2 assessed the idea as “rather ingenious”, but proposed combining the “fire-driven machine” with a standard hydraulic wheel. Poroshin summoned the project’s creator, relayed the letter containing the authoritative opinion to him and was not in the least surprised when the thick-set man of average height, after attentively reading Schlatter’s message, shook his head. No, the mechanic Ivan Polzunov would not do this. The soldier’s son and naturally gifted scientist, who had learned physics without attending any universities, stood his ground…

The Kolyvan-Voskresensk Plants, wonder Catherine the Great herself the President of the Mining Collegium founded in Altai by the Demidovs, were ordered that the mechanic receive a (incidentally, a recognised specialist owned directly by the imperial court. reward for his invention. It was a serious in steam engines). Fifteen times more Dispatches would constantly be sent reward—as much as 400 roubles. powerful than in his original design, there from St. Petersburg, always In 1764 after receiving permission from the steam engine had the capacity to containing the same message: “Supply the plants’ Chancellery, Ivan Polzunov service 10-12 furnaces simultaneously. as much silver as you possibly can”. 3 started building his “fire-driven Furthermore, unlike similar Western Polzunov’s steam engine opened up machine”. He had already modified its machines of the time, Polzunov’s engine astounding new opportunities. No design, but not in the way ordered by could also pump out water, thanks to 24 100 RUSSIAN ENGINEERS WHO CHANGED OUR LIFE

Jack of All Trades 4 and a Gearbox Which gearbox to choose: automatic or manual? Which brakes are better —disk or drum? Anyone who has ever bought a car has had to make these deliberations. Most of us associate this automotive vocabulary with the modern day. In fact, these engineering solutions, which are

The exterior of the the fundamentally new two-cylinder fully recouped all the expenses of its familiar to everybody today, came into being building that housed construction. This was the world’s first construction, but had also yielded a Polzunov’s steam two-cylinder steam engine. profit of almost 100%. th engine. A later in the 18 century. The well-known “Russian reproduction of a 1765 The engineer assembled the machine Polzunov’s engine worked for three drawing in an incredibly short time—13 months. months and then stopped because Some of the engine’s components of a minor malfunction. The plant’s Archimedes”, Ivan Kulibin, created a self-propelled weighed over 2,000 kilograms. On management ruled: “It is deemed that 7 August the machine emitted its first there is no need to commission it owing cart —a prototype of future cars and pedal cars — blast and operated with minor intervals to the abundance of water at this plant.” until November. Within three months more than two centuries ago, in days when most of operation the machine had not only means of transportation boasted one, two, three

1 Mining Collegium— a mine foreman, minting wherever else it may be further smelting of the management body of the specialist. Director of found, and from such ore ores should be made” or four horsepower, and summers were spent Russian mining industry, the St. Petersburg Mint, or previously extracted (excerpt from the Edict of founded by Peter the Great President of the Mining- ores coarse metal should Empress Elizabeth I dated in 1719. Operational in Collegium. be smelted at the Kolyvan- 1 May 1747). preparing sleighs for winter. 1719-1731, 1742-1783 and 3 “At such plants as much Voskresensk plant and 1797-1807. silver ore as possible at Shulba, where three 2 Ivan Schlatter (Johann should be produced at the furnaces or as many as Wilhelm, 1708-1768) was places found by you or would be possible for the 26 100 RUSSIAN ENGINEERS WHO CHANGED OUR LIFE

Ivan Kulibin 1735–1818

Self-propelled Cart

Empress Catherine the Great called him “my Kulibin”. The Austrian Archduke and the King of Sweden were amazed and praised his talents. At one of Potemkin’s receptions 1 the great military leader Alexander Suvorov 2 bowed to him three times with the words: “Your worship! Your honour! Your brilliance!” The famous 18 th century mathematician 3 personally verified his calculations, and on one occasion exclaimed: “All he has left to do is build a stairway to the sky!”

The son of a flour trader from Nizhny Empress of Russia as a gift. The device, Orders flooded in. Noblemen keen on Novgorod, ever since childhood Ivan the size of a large egg, not only showed everything new and extraordinary would Kulibin had been accustomed to standing the time, but also a scene from the virtually fall out over Kulibin’s “gadgets”. up for his views. His father saw him as Holy Scriptures: soldiers with spears However, the engineer was far more a clerk in his shop, but his son was busy stood at the Lord’s tomb; then an angel preoccupied by issues other than these creating a pond-cleaning device in the appeared, the stone at the entrance mechanical trifles. He developed his own family garden. He was fascinated by moved back and the soldiers kneeled. technique for grinding glass and created different types of mechanical devices. Meanwhile the bells chimed the Easter the most powerful “Gregorian telescope” After his father’s death, he invested prayer “Christ has risen!” Catherine of his time.6 He assembled the first everything he had in a clock workshop. was mesmerised and curious. She searchlight—“a mirror compiled from People started talking about the immediately suggested that Kulibin head many parts” capable of multiplying the craftsman after he repaired a clock for the workshops of the St. Petersburg light of an ordinary candle by 500 times. the Governor of Nizhny Novgorod. Imperial Academy of Arts and Sciences, In his book about Kulibin written in Clocks remained the engineer’s soft which had previously been managed the early 20 th century Vasily Avenarius spot and also his talisman. Kulibin gave by both Andrey Nartov 4 and Mikhail tells the story of how Suvorov jokingly his most famous masterpiece to the Lomonosov. 5 predicted that Kulibin would one day 28 100 RUSSIAN ENGINEERS WHO CHANGED OUR LIFE

In 1776, Ivan Kulibin designed a one-arc bridge across the Neva River. The arc was 298 metres long and consisted of 12,908 wooden parts held together by 49,650 metal bolts and 5,500 rectangular metal girdles 5 High-grade Steel Anyone with first-hand experience of fixing things who is capable of turning screws is fully invent a magic flying carpet. Kulibin And the first lift using screw elevating The inventor then accomplished several didn’t invent an aircraft, but instead mechanisms, and the first ever new projects and started building produced a self-propelled vehicle, as semaphore telegraph—these were all a perpetual-motion machine. At the age aware how important the quality of their tools is. it was called back then. In 1791, the creations of the “Russian Archimedes”. of 70 he married for the third time and engineer finished his work on a “self- The optical telegraph lines invented by had three daughters from this marriage. A poor screwdriver will strip the slot of the screw propelled cart”, or “self-propelled Kulibin did not generate any demand He had 11 children. cariole”. It had three wheels and special from his contemporaries. However, pedals that enabled it to move. At the they would appear in Russia 40 years at the most inopportune moment, while a bad same time, like a modern car, it had a later—the “secret” would be exported gearbox, a flywheel, brakes and bearings. from France and the government of the wrench will fall to pieces in the workman’s hand. “The cart moved rapidly uphill, and Empire would pay 120,000 roubles for it. moderated its speed coming downhill”— In one of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy In its turn, the quality of wrenches, screwdrivers one could only wonder how it was tales, The Swineherd, a silly princess was possible for a human being to control it. unable to see the value of true works There was also a barge that moved of art, but agreed to kiss a swineherd and other instruments depends on the steel used upstream using the river flow alone. in return for mechanical trifles—a pot which showed who was preparing what to manufacture them. for dinner in the city, and a rattle that The paddle wheel played all the fashionable waltzes and and the crankshaft of polkas. Kulibin’s inventions suffered the the paddle steamer same fate. Devices for opening court designed by Kulibin windows, mechanical gadgets that could

sing and dance, colourful fireworks—all 1 Grigory Potemkin (1739- the greatest scientists of enjoyed steady demand. Unfortunately, 1791) was Favourite of the 18th century. 4 the Imperial court showed no interest in Catherine the Great, For more on Nartov, see outstanding statesman and p. 13. his inventions that could have benefited military leader. 5 For more on Lomonosov, see the country. 2 Alexander Suvorov(1730- p. 17. 1800) was a great Russian 6 “Gregorian telescope”— In 1801, after Alexander I came to commander, general. reflecting telescope built The clock Ivan power, Ivan Kulibin retired, was awarded 3 Leonhard Euler according to the design of Kulibin presented (1707-1783)—German, the English mathematician to Catherine an annual pension of 3,000 roubles Swiss, Russian mechanic and astronomer James the Great and returned to Nizhny Novgorod. and mathematician, one of Gregory (1638-1675). 30 100 RUSSIAN ENGINEERS WHO CHANGED OUR LIFE

Semyon Badaev 1778-1847

Badaev Steel

On 14 January 1811, a newspaper, Severnaya Pochta [Northern Post], 1 published a short article: “A certain serf, Semyon Badaev, claimed to the authorities that he knows how to manufacture cast steel of excellent quality. An experiment carried out at the St. Petersburg Factory of Surgical Instruments under the supervision of a mining official lived up to Badaev’s claim. The steel manufactured by the factory was submitted to the Mining Council and the samples of different products cast from the steel, such as punches, chisels and springs, demonstrated that it was equal in quality to English steel.”

In the beginning of the 19th century, Corps. He would attend as a free In 1808, he brought his own drawings when Europe was engulfed by war, student and could spend many hours to the laboratory: a furnace that steel was a strategic product for the observing experiments and sometimes consisted of two compartments—one . No matter how the participating in them. for cementation 2 and the crucible itself. situation developed, it was clear that There are hardly any biographical details In the first compartment the iron was Russia would also soon need cannons, about Russia’s first steelmaker. We know carburised. In the second it was smelted. rifles and surgical scalpels. However, only that in 1813 Semyon Badaev was This is how the steel was made. the “homemade” steel cast at factories granted the grade of shift master—the Three years of continuous experiments in Tula and the Urals was of lower lowest rank within category XIV of the yielded the first results: the steel quality than the steel made in Europe. Mining Table of Ranks. Initially he had produced using the Badaev method Consequently, most of it was exported been just a serf of a second lieutenant competed successfully with foreign from England and did not come cheaply. Rogozin. However, he had a better materials. This meant a reduction in Semyon Badaev was a familiar face understanding of smelting issues than imports and significant savings for at the laboratory of the Mining Cadets most specialists. the country.