1854-1922 |
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Photo Courtesy of State Office for Inventions and Trademarks |
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(29 January 1854, Sercaia-Brasov - 22 January 1922, Bucharest) Inventor, publisher. Together with Just Buisson, built and tried one of the early reaction engines State Office for Inventions and Trademarks Reproduced by Permission After high school, Alexandru Ciurcu studied Law at the University of Vien (1873), but he also continued to study technical sciences. Back in Romania, as a journalist, he attacked the Government, and was forced to flee to Paris, France. There Alexandru Ciurcu met an old friend, Just Buisson, also a journalist with a passion for technical subjects. |
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in 1886, on river Sena Photo courtesy of State Office for Inventions and Trademarks |
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Together, they designed and built an engine based on the propulsive force due to the gases produced
by combustion in a small chamber. The chamber was smaller than any other gas generator of its time. The engine consisted of a 2 liter
volume recipient that had a hole of 3 mm diameter. The burning gases produced an internal pressure of 10-15 atmospheres. On August 13, 1886, they successfully operated their engine on a boat that sailed for 15 minutes against the flow of river Sena. It was the first boat with an reactive engine. The review "La Nature", no. 735 from 2 July 1887 published "Experience du propulseur a reaction du M.M. Just Buisson et Alexandru Ciurcu" with a preface by G. Tissandier and a picture of powered boat. At 12 October 1886 they received French patent no. 179001 on "Reactive-boat. Reactiv engine", and later patents from other countries: Germany (no. 39964/1886), England (no. 8182/1882), Belgium (no. 77755/1887) and Italy (21863/1887). |
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Photo courtesy of State Office for Inventions and Trademarks |
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In December 16, 1886, they built another engine, with a larger boiler in order to develope a
higher pressure and increased velocity of exhausted gases. Unfortunately, the engine exploded, killing Just Buisson and a third
young man who was steering the boat. Alexandru Ciurcu was put on trial for murder, but found not guilty. At the request of a Mr. Gaston Tissandier, Ciurcu made other experiments on reactive engine, at the Scoran - Livry military base. This time he was helped by Emil Sarrau and Paul Vieille (white powder inventor). They succesfully mounted the engine on a small rail wagon. |
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If you search the internet using Google on "Alexandru N. Ciurcu", you will find one important link. It is in Romanian, but an English version is available. This is the article which appears in English translation above. The translation was done by Mihai Radu, who arranged for the permission to reproduce it on this website. |
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If you have any information on this pioneer aviator please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper Back 
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