 Félix du Temple de la Croix ( 1823– 1890). Félix du Temple de la Croix (1823–1890) (usually simply called Félix du Temple) was a French naval officer and an inventor, born into an ancient Normandy family. He developed some of the first flying machines, and is sometimes credited with the first powered flight in history in 1874 [1], twenty-nine years before the 1903 flight of the Wright brothers. He was a contemporary of Jean-Marie Le Bris, another French flight pioneer who was active in the same region of France. Image File history File links DuTemplePhotograph. ...
Image File history File links DuTemplePhotograph. ...
1823 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ...
1823 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ...
Mont Saint Michel, one of the famous symbols of Normandy. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Early flight. ...
1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...
1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ...
The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871–January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867–May 30, 1912), are American brothers generally credited with making the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air human flight on December 17, 1903. ...
Le Bris and his flying machine, Albatros II, photographed by Nadar, 1868. ...
Military life
 Félix du Temple as a young Naval officer. Félix du Temple entered the French Navy Academy (École Navale) in 1838. He participated in most of the conflicts during the Second French Empire, especially the Crimean War, the French intervention in Italy against Austria, and the French intervention in Mexico. Image File history File links FelixDuTemplePainting. ...
Image File history File links FelixDuTemplePainting. ...
The École Navale is the French Navy Academy in charge of the education of the officers of the French Navy. ...
| Jöns Jakob Berzelius, discoverer of protein 1838 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...
The neutrality of this article is disputed. ...
Combatants United Kingdom France Ottoman Empire Kingdom of Sardinia Russian Empire Casualties 17,500 British 90,000 French 35,000 Turkish 2,050 Sardinian killed, wounded and died of disease 256,000 killed, wounded and died of disease The Crimean War lasted from 1854 until 1 April 1856 and was...
Emperor Maximilian Napoleon III of France Juárez, republican leader and President The French intervention in Mexico was an invasion of Mexico by the army of the Second French Empire, and supported in the beginning by the British and Spanish. ...
At the age of 41, he returned to France, became a captain (Capitaine de Frégate), and joined the Loire Army (Armée de la Loire). A partisan of the Comte de Chambord and a legitimist (an "Ultra-Royalist"), he was forced to quit the Navy in 1876. Henri Charles Ferdinand Marie Dieudonne, Comte de Chambord (September 29, 1820 - August 24, 1883) was the grandson of King Charles X of France, the posthumous son of Charless younger son Charles, Duc de Berry, who had been assassinated several months before Henris birth. ...
Legitimists are those Royalists in France who believe that the King of France and Navarre must be chosen according to the simple application of the Salic Law. ...
Flying machine patent Félix du Temple patented designs for an aerial machine in 1857, which incorporated a retractable wheel landing gear, a propeller, a 6 hp engine and a dihedral wing design, under the title "Locomotion aérienne par imitation du vol des oiseaux" ("Aerial locomotion by imitation of the flight of birds"). 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...
In geometry, the dihedral is the angle between two planes. ...
He built several large models together with his brother Luis. One of them, weighing 700 grams, was able to fly, first using a clockwork mechanism as an engine, and then using a miniature steam engine. The two brothers managed to make the models take off under their their own power, fly a short distance and land safely.
 1857 patent drawing of Félix du Temple's flying machine. As they tried to build a unit capable of carrying a man, they realized that steam engines lacked power and were too heavy. They developed in 1867 an original "hot air" engine design, which did not prove satisfactory. They also experimented with the new internal combustion gas engine design developed by Lenoir, but which also lacked the necessary power. Image File history File links 1857DuTemplePatent. ...
Image File history File links 1857DuTemplePatent. ...
1867 (MDCCCLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...
A Stirling engine and generator set with 55 kW electrical output, for combined heat and power applications. ...
A colorized automobile engine The internal combustion engine is a heat engine in which the burning of a fuel occurs in a confined space called a combustion chamber. ...
Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir (1822-1900) was born in Mussy-la-Ville, Belgium, in 1822. ...
Du Temple continued his research and finally succeeded in creating a very compact, high-speed circulation steam engine for which he applied for a patent on April 28th 1876. The engine used very small pipes packed together "to obtain the highest possible contact surface for the smallest possible volume" [2]
- "When he began with the aid of his brother, M. Louis du Temple, to experiment on a large scale, the inadequacy of all motors then known became apparent. They first tried steam at very high pressures, then a hot-air engine, and finally built and patented, in 1876 a very light steam boiler weighing from 39 to 44 lb. to the horse power, which appears to have been the prototype of some of the light boilers which have since been constructed. It consisted in a series of very thin tubes less than 1/8 in. in internal diameter, through which water circulated very rapidly, and was flashed into steam by the surrounding flame." Octave Chanute, Aeroplanes : Part III, August 1892
The "Monoplane" In 1874, the two brothers built the Monoplane, a large plane made of aluminium in Brest, France, with a wingspan of 13 meters and a weight of only 80 kilograms (without the pilot). Several trials were made with the plane, and it is generally recognized that it achieved lift off under its own power after a ski-jump run, glided for a short time and returned safely to the ground, possibly making it the first successful powered flight in history, depending on the definition — since the flight was only a short distance and a short time. Image File history File links 1874DuTemple. ...
Image File history File links 1874DuTemple. ...
Félix du Temples 1874 Monoplane. ...
1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...
Félix du Temples 1874 Monoplane. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number aluminium, Al, 13 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 13, 3, p Appearance silvery Atomic mass 26. ...
Location within France Brest, at the tip of Brittany Brest is a city in the Bretagne région, north-west France, sous-préfecture of the Finistère département. ...
The distance AB is the wing span of this Aer Lingus Airbus A320. ...
The plane was displayed at the 1878 World Fair (Exposition Universelle (1878)) in Paris. The third Paris Worlds Fair, called an Exposition Universelle in French was held in 1878 and celebrated the recovery of France after the crushing defeat of the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. ...
The original steam engine which had been developed by Félix du Temple was later commercialized by him from a company he established in Cherbourg, "Générateur Du Temple S.A." and became highly successful. The design was adopted by the French Navy for the propulsion of the first French torpedo boats: Cherbourg is a city of Normandy, in northwestern France, in the Manche département, of which it is a sous_préfecture. ...
The French Navy (Marine Nationale) is the maritime arm of the French military and the largest Western European navy in terms of personnel. ...
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to launch torpedoes at larger surface ships. ...
- "Officers and engineers have now made up their opinion regarding Du Temple's steam engine. Everybody proclaims the superiority of its qualities… orders are pouring in from our commercial harbours and from the French government." Revue Maritime 1888 ("L’opinion est faite aujourd’hui sur la chaudière Du Temple parmi les officiers et les ingénieurs. Tout le monde proclame ses qualités supérieures… les commandes affluent de nos ports de commerce et de la part du gouvernement français".) [3]
Industrial legacy Following his death in 1890, his successors took over the management of the company. "Générateur Du Temple S.A.", acquired the Lesénéchal company in 1905, and by 1918 had several hundred employees when it was absorbed by the shipbuilding company Société Normande de Construction Navale.
Quote - "In general, birds, especially the largest ones, only rise and fly because of an acquired speed: this speed which is necessary to rise is obtained either by running on the ground or on water, or by jumping from a high point. Once arrived at a certain height that allows him to fly horizontally and move forward with just the flap of the wings, he gains speed, speads his wings and tail so as to form as flat a surface as possible, and thus moves forward without any visible movement of the wings and without falling significantly" Félix du Temple [4]
External links
Notes - ^ Some quotes on the first powered flight in history, achieved by Félix du Temple:
- "The first takeoff of a powered, fixed-wing aircraft with a man aboard took place in 1874 at Brest, France. The steam-engine-powered plane, designed by a French naval officer, Félix du Temple, rose a few feet when it was launched down a hill." The New York Times, 2003
- "The Wrights were not even the first to leave the ground in a powered plane. That honor apparently went to a French sailor whose name has been lost to history. In 1874, Félix du Temple, a French naval officer, watched the steam-powered plane he devised speed down a ski-jump-like ramp and sputter through the air with the guileless young sailor at the helm." Paul Hoffman, author of Wings of Madness, writing in The New York Times Dec. 17, 2003 article
- "In 1874, French naval officer Félix Du Temple successfully launched a bat-like plane with a steam engine. Rising a few feet off the ground, it was the first launch of a manned, powered fixed-wing aircraft." in Wright College
- "Felix Du Temple built a steam-powered monoplane that managed to rise a few feet off the ground-the first powered fixed-wing aircraft that carried a passenger, albeit down a slope." US National Park Service
- "First powered flight to make even a brief hop", according to the U.S. Centennial of flight commission
- "It was more of a "hop" than a real flight, but some historians give du Temple credit for the first powered flight." in The pioneers, an anthology and The National Business Aviation Association
- "It is said the craft managed to make a brief hop a few feet off the ground after being rolled down an inclined slope, gliding a short distance, and landing safely. If this account is true, Félix du Temple did succeed in launching the first manned, powered, fixed-wing, heavier-than-air flight, but the propulsion system was too weak to sustain the flight and the control system was ineffective." in Aerospaceweb.org
- ^ The patent describes "une demande pour une chaudière à vapeur à circulation rapide donnant la plus grande surface de chauffe possible sous le plus petit volume et le moindre poids."
- ^ French document
- ^ French original text: "En général, l'oiseau, surtout de grande taille, ne s'élève et ne vole qu'en raison d'une vitesse acquise : cette vitesse il la prend pour s'élever soit en courant sur la terre ou sur l'eau, soit en se précipitant d'un point culminant. Une fois arrivé à une certaine hauteur qui lui permet de voler horizontalement d'un coup d'aile, il se donne de la vitesse, étend ses ailes et sa queue de manière à former avec elles un plan aussi parfait que possible et avance ainsi sans mouvement d'ailes apparent et sans tomber de manière sensible" Félix du Temple
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