Great inventors: I. Kulibin. What Kulibin I.P. invented: the most famous creations of a talented master A small message for and Kulibin

Great Soviet Encyclopedia:

The remarkable self-taught mechanic Ivan Petrovich Kulibin was born on April 10 (April 21, according to the new style), 1735, in the family of a small merchant in the village of Podnovye, Nizhny Novgorod district.

In his youth, Kulibin was fond of studying clockwork. In 1764-1767. with the financial support of the merchant M.A. Kostromin, he created an egg-shaped clock, which was a complex mechanical device, and in 1769 presented it to Empress Catherine II, who appointed Kulibin the head of the mechanical workshops of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Kulibin's duties included "to have the main supervision over the mechanical and optical workshops, so that all works were successfully and decently produced, and to make an undisguised testimony to academic artists in everything that he himself is skilled in." The workshops produced astronomical optical tubes, electrostatic devices, and navigation devices, in the design of which the scientists of the Academy of Sciences participated. While working at the Academy of Sciences, Kulibin designed a "planetary" pocket watch, in which he applied the compensation device of the new system; in addition to hours, minutes and seconds, they showed months, days of the week, seasons, phases of the moon. He also created projects for tower clocks, miniature “clocks in a ring”, etc.

Kulibin developed new methods of polishing glass for the manufacture of microscopes, telescopes and other optical instruments. In the 1770s he designed a wooden single-arch bridge across the Neva with a span of 298 meters (instead of the previously used 50-60-meter spans), suggesting the use of original cross-lattice trusses. In 1776, a 1/10 life-size model of this bridge built by Kulibin was tested by a special academic commission; The project was approved but not implemented.

In 1779, Kulibin designed a lantern (searchlight), which gave a powerful light with a weak source. This invention was used for industrial purposes - for lighting workshops, ships, lighthouses, etc. In 1791, Kulibin made a pedal scooter cart, in which he used a flywheel, brake, gearbox, rolling bearings, and also developed the design of "mechanical legs" (prostheses).

In 1792, Kulibin was accepted as a member of the Free Economic Society. In 1793 he built an elevator that raised the cabin with the help of screw mechanisms, and in 1794 he created an optical telegraph for transmitting conditional signals at a distance. In 1801 Kulibin was dismissed from the Academy of Sciences and returned to Nizhny Novgorod. In 1804, he built a “waterway”, on which he began work back in 1782 (“the ship went against the water, with the help of the same water, without any extraneous force”). Kulibin's work on the use of a steam engine for the movement of ships belongs to the same time. He also developed a device for boring and processing the internal surfaces of cylinders, machines for extracting salt, seeders, various milling machines, a water wheel of an original design, etc.

History:

Nizhny Novgorod "townsman" Ivan Petrovich Kulibin, after several years of hard work, many sleepless nights, built an amazing clock in 1767. "Between the size and shape of a goose's and a duck's egg," they were encased in an intricate gold setting.

The watch was so remarkable that it was accepted as a gift by Empress Catherine II. They not only showed the time, but also chimed the hours, halves and quarters of the hour. In addition, a tiny automatic theater was enclosed in them. At the end of each hour, the folding doors opened, revealing a golden chamber in which a performance was automatically played out. Warriors with spears stood at the "Holy Sepulcher". The front door was blocked with stone. Half a minute after the chamber was opened, an angel appeared, the stone moved away, the doors opened, and the warriors, stricken with fear, fell on their faces. After another half a minute, the “myrrh-bearing women” appeared, the bells rang, the verse “Christ is Risen” was sung three times. Everything calmed down, and the doors closed the chamber so that in an hour the whole action would be repeated again. At noon, the clock played a hymn composed by I.P. Kulibin in honor of the Empress. After that, during the second half of the day, the clock performed a new verse: "Jesus is risen from the tomb." With the help of special arrows, it was possible to call the action of the automatic theater at any time.

In the precisely coordinated movement of the mass of the smallest details, in the action of time indicators, figurines, musical devices, the sleepless nights of the remarkable Russian mechanic, who worked for years to create one of the most amazing automata known in history, were embodied.

Creating the most complex mechanism of the first of his creations, I.P. Kulibin began to work in the very field that the best technicians and scientists of that time were engaged in, up to the great Lomonosov, who paid a lot of attention to the work of creating the most accurate watches. The work of IP Kulibin on the clock was of great importance. As K. Marx pointed out, the clock, together with the mill, were “two material foundations on which the preparatory work for the machine industry was built inside the manufactory ... The clock is the first automatic machine created for practical purposes; they developed the whole theory of the production of uniform motions. By their very nature, they themselves are built on a combination of semi-artistic craft with direct theory” (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., vol. XXIII, p. 131).

I. P. Kulibin, having begun his work with the invention of an unprecedented clock, went along one of the great roads of technical thought of that time and took his place among the pioneers who developed precision mechanics in practice.

Ivan Petrovich Kulibin - an outstanding inventor and self-taught mechanic - was born on April 21, 1735 in Nizhny Novgorod, in the family of a small merchant. "Learning from a deacon" is his only education. The father hoped to make a flour merchant out of his son, but the inquisitive young man aspired to study mechanics, where his exceptional abilities manifested themselves very early and in various ways. The ardent nature of the inventor was revealed everywhere. There was a rotten pond in the garden of my father's house. Young Kulibin came up with a hydraulic device in which water from a neighboring mountain was collected in a pool, from there it went to a pond, and excess water from the pond was discharged to the outside, turning the pond into a flowing one in which fish could be found.

I. P. Kulibin paid special attention to the work on the clock. They brought him fame. The Nizhny Novgorod watchmaker-inventor and designer became known far beyond the borders of his city. In 1767, he was introduced to Catherine II in Nizhny Novgorod, in 1769 he was summoned to St. Petersburg, again introduced to the Empress, and was appointed to head the workshops of the Academy of Sciences. In addition to watches, he brought from Nizhny Novgorod to St. Petersburg an electric machine, a microscope and a telescope. All these creations of the "Nizhny Novgorod tradesman" were handed over to the Kunstkamera for storage.

With the move to St. Petersburg came the best years in the life of IP Kulibin. Many years of life filled with hard, inconspicuous work were left behind. Ahead opened the way to a new, more interesting business. It was necessary to work in conditions of constant communication with academicians and other prominent people. However, the lengthy clerical red tape for the registration of the "Nizhny Novgorod townsman" in the position ended only on January 2, 1770, when I.P. Kulibin signed the "condition" - an agreement on his duties in the academic service.

He was supposed to: “have the main supervision over the instrumental, metalwork, turning and over that chamber where optical instruments, thermometers and barometers are made.” He was also obliged: “to clean and repair astronomical and other clocks, telescopes, spotting scopes and other, especially physical instruments from the Commission [i.e. from the governing body of the Academy], sent to him. The “Condition” also contained a special clause on the indispensable training by I.P. Kulibin of the workers of academic workshops: “To make an unconcealed testimony to academic artists in everything that he himself is skilled in.” It also provided for the preparation of boys assigned to I.P. Kulibin for teaching one hundred rubles for each of the students, who “themselves without the help and indications of the master will be able to make some kind of large instrument, for example, a telescope or a large astronomical tube from 15 to 20 feet, mediocre goodness." For the management of workshops and work in them, they put 350 rubles a year, giving IP Kulibin the right to engage in his personal inventions in the afternoon.

So Ivan Petrovich Kulibin became the "St. Petersburg Academy of mechanics."

I. P. Kulibin became the direct successor of the remarkable works of Lomonosov, who did a lot for the development of academic workshops and paid special attention to them until his death in 1765.

I.P. Kulibin worked at the Academy for thirty years. His works have always been highly appreciated by scientists. A few months after I.P. Kulibin's academic work began, Academician Rumovsky examined the "Gregorian telescope" made by the new mechanic. According to the report of Rumovsky on August 13, 1770, in the minutes of the academic conference they wrote: “... in discussing the many great difficulties that occur when making such telescopes, it would be good to encourage the artist Kulibin to continue to make such instruments, because there is no doubt that that he will soon bring them to the perfection to which they are brought in England.

A written review of Kulibin’s work, presented by Rumovsky, read: “Ivan Kulibin, the townsman of Nizhny Novgorod, in the discussion of various machines made, in December 1769, on December 23, was admitted to the Academy under a contract and was entrusted with looking over a mechanical laboratory, since that time he is in this position and not only by correcting it, but also by instruction, taught by an artist, deserves special praise from the Academy.

IP Kulibin personally made and supervised the execution of a very large number of instruments for scientific observations and experiments. Many instruments passed through his hands: “hydrodynamic instruments”, “instruments used to make mechanical experiments”, optical and acoustic instruments, cooking tools, astrolabes, telescopes, spyglasses, microscopes, “electric banks”, sun and other watches, spirit levels, precision scales and many others, the “Instrumental Turning, Locksmith, Barometric Chamber”, which worked under the guidance of I.P. Kulibin, supplied scientists and all of Russia with a variety of instruments. "Made by Kulibin" - this stamp can be put on a significant number of scientific instruments that were in circulation in Russia at that time.

Numerous instructions compiled by him taught how to handle the most complex instruments, how to get the most accurate readings from them.

“The description of how to maintain an electric machine in decent strength,” written by I. P. Kulibin, is just one example of how he taught the organization of scientific experiments. The "Description" was compiled for academicians doing experimental work on the study of electrical phenomena. Compiled "Description" is simple, clear and strictly scientific. IP Kulibin indicated here all the basic rules for handling the device, troubleshooting methods, and techniques that ensure the most effective operation of the device.

In addition to instructions, I.P. Kulibin also compiled scientific descriptions of instruments, such as: “A description of an astronomical perspective of 6 inches, which magnifies thirty times, and, therefore, will clearly show the Jupiter satellites.”

During the performance of various works, IP Kulibin constantly took care of the education of his students and assistants, among whom should be mentioned his Nizhny Novgorod assistant Sherstnevsky, opticians Belyaevs, locksmith Yegorov, Kesarev's closest associate.

I. P. Kulibin created at the Academy an exemplary production of physical and other scientific instruments for that time, a modest Nizhny Novgorod mechanic became one of the first places in the development of Russian instrumentation technology.

But construction equipment, transport, communications, agriculture and other industries also keep remarkable evidence of his work. The remarkable projects of I. P. Kulibin in the field of bridge building were widely known, far ahead of everything that was known to the world practice of his day.

IP Kulibin drew attention to the inconvenience caused by the absence in his time of permanent bridges across the river. Neva. After several preliminary proposals, in 1776 he developed a project for an arched single-span bridge across the Neva. The length of the arch is 298 meters. The arch was designed from 12,908 wooden elements held together by 49,650 iron bolts and 5,500 iron quadrangular clips.

In 1813, I. P. Kulibin completed the drafting of an iron bridge across the Neva. Petitioning to the name of Emperor Alexander I, he wrote about the beauty and grandeur of St. Petersburg and pointed out: “The only thing missing is the fundamental bridge on the Neva River, without which the inhabitants suffer great inconveniences and difficulties in spring and autumn, and often even death.”

The construction of a bridge of three lattice arches resting on four bulls required up to a million poods of iron. For the passage of ships, special movable parts were supposed. Everything was provided for in the project, up to lighting the bridge and protecting it during the ice drift.

The construction of the Kulibin bridge, the project of which amazes even modern engineers with its courage, turned out to be beyond his time.

The famous Russian bridge builder D. I. Zhuravsky, according to prof. A. Ershova (“On the Significance of Mechanical Art in Russia”, “Bulletin of Industry”, 1859, No. 3), assesses the model of the Kulibino bridge as follows: “It bears the stamp of a genius; it is built on a system recognized by modern science as the most rational; the bridge is supported by an arch, its bending is prevented by a diagonal system, which, due to the uncertainty of what is being done in Russia, is called American.

The Kulibin wooden bridge remains unsurpassed in the field of wooden bridge construction to this day.

Understanding the exceptional importance of fast communication for a country like Russia, with its vast expanses, IP Kulibin began in 1794 the development of a semaphore telegraph project. He solved the problem perfectly and developed, in addition, the original code for transmissions. But only forty years after the invention of I.P. Kulibin, the first optical telegraph lines were built in Russia. By that time, the project of I.P. Kulibin had been forgotten, and the government paid one hundred and twenty thousand rubles for the “secret” brought from France to the less advanced Chateau telegraph.

Just as sad is the fate of another of the great darings of a remarkable innovator who developed a way for ships to move upstream due to the very flow of the river. "Vodokhod" - this was the name of Kulibin's ship, successfully tested in 1782. In 1804, as a result of testing another "vodochod" Kulibin, his ship was officially recognized as "promising great benefits to the state." But the matter did not go further than official recognitions, it all ended with the fact that the ship created by I.P. Kulibin was sold at auction for scrapping. But the projects and the ships themselves were developed both in an original and profitable way, which was proved first of all by the inventor himself in the works he wrote: “Description of the benefits that can be from machine ships on the Volga River invented by Kulibin”, “Description of what is the use of the treasury and society can be from machine ships on the river. Volga, according to approximate calculation, and especially in the reasoning of prices rising against previous years in hiring working people.

Detailed, sober calculations made by I.P. Kulibin characterize him as an outstanding economist, on the other hand, they show in him a person who gave all his strength and thoughts for the benefit of his homeland.

A wonderful patriot who worked with all his passion for his people, he did so many wonderful things that even a simple list of them requires a lot of time and space. In this list, one of the first places should be occupied, in addition to those mentioned, by such inventions: searchlights, a “scooter”, that is, a mechanically moving cart, prostheses for the disabled, a seeder, a floating mill, a lifting chair (elevator), etc.

In 1779, St. Petersburg Vedomosti wrote about the Kulibino searchlight lamp, which, using a special system of mirrors, creates a very strong light effect despite a weak light source (candle). It was reported that Kulibin: “invented the art of making a mirror composite of many parts with a certain special curved line, which, when only a candle is placed in front of it, produces an amazing effect, multiplying the light five hundred times against ordinary candle light, and more, looking at measure of the number of mirror particles contained in it.

The singer of Russian glory G. R. Derzhavin, who called I. P. Kulibin “Archimedes of our days,” wrote about the remarkable lantern:

In the list of remarkable works of I.P. Kulibin, such inventions as, for example, smokeless fireworks (optical), various machines for entertainment, devices for opening palace windows and other inventions made to meet the requirements of the empress, court and noble persons. Catherine II, Potemkin, Princess Dashkova, Naryshkin and many nobles were his customers.

Fulfilling orders for inventions of this kind, I. P. Kulibin acted as a researcher here too. He had many times to arrange fireworks for the empress and dignitaries. The result was Kulibin's whole treatise "On Fireworks". He wrote his work thoroughly and accurately, containing sections: “On white fire”, “On green fire”, “On rocket explosion”, “On flowers”, “On sunbeams”, “On stars” and others. IP Kulibin showed an inexhaustible invention. The original recipe for many amusing fires was given, based on the study of the influence of various substances on the color of the fire. Many new technical methods were proposed, the most ingenious types of rockets and combinations of amusing lights were put into practice. The remarkable innovator remained true to himself, even inventing inventions for the entertainment of the court and the nobility.

Inventions of this kind, made by I.P. Kulibin, received the greatest publicity in Tsarist Russia and, moreover, so significant that they to some extent obscured the main works of I.P. Kulibin, which determined the true face of the great innovator. The lights of the palace fireworks, as it were, pushed into the shadows the enormous work of I.P. Kulibin, which benefited the homeland.

Far from everything written by I.P. Kulibin has been preserved, but what has come down to us is very diverse and rich. Some drawings left after I. I. Kulibin about two thousand. Sketches, descriptions of machines, notes, texts, detailed calculations, carefully executed drawings, sketches hastily made on scraps of paper, notes made in black or colored pencil, drawings on fragments of a diary, on the corner of a money account, on a playing card - thousands of other entries and graphic materials of Ivan Petrovich Kulibin show how his creative thought always boiled. It was a true genius of labor, indomitable, passionate, creative.

The best people of that time highly appreciated the talent of IP Kulibin.

The famous scientist Leonhard Euler considered him a genius. A story has been preserved about the meeting of Suvorov and Kulibin at a big celebration at Potemkin:

So the immortal Suvorov honored in the person of Ivan Petrovich Kulibin the great creative power of the Russian people.

However, the personal life of a remarkable innovator was filled with many sorrows. He was deprived of the joy of seeing the proper use of his labors and was forced to spend a large part of his talent on the work of a court porthole and decorator. Particularly bitter days came for I. Ts. Kulibin, when in 1801 he retired and settled in his native Nizhny Novgorod. In fact, he had to live in exile, experiencing a need that grew stronger and stronger, until his death on July 12, 1818.

For the funeral of a great figure, his wife had to sell the wall clock and also borrow money.

About I.P. Kulibino:

1. Svinin P., Life of the Russian mechanic Kulibin and his inventions, St. Petersburg, 1819;
2. Melnikov P. I., Ivan Petrovich Kulibin, Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Gazette, 1845, No. 11-26;
3. Kulibin S., Obituary of the glorious Russian mechanic Kulibin, Inventions and some anecdotes collected by state councilor Kulibin, Muscovite, 1854, vol. VI, No. 22;
4. Korolenko V. G., Materials for the biography of Ivan Petrovich Kulibin, “Actions of the Nizhny Novgorod provincial scientific archival commission”, Nizhny Novgorod, 1895, vol. II, issue. 15;
5. Kochin N.I., Kulibin, ed. "Young Guard", 1940 (the best of the Soviet works on Kulibin. A bibliography and a list of Kulibin's works are given).

Source: "People of Russian Science: Essays on Outstanding Figures in Natural Science and Technology" / Ed. S.I. Vavilov. - M., L.: State. publishing house of technical and theoretical literature. - 1948.

Technique:

Nadezhda Maksimova

Perpetual motion machine Ivan Kulibin

Describing Ivan Petrovich Kulibin, the Encyclopedia of Cyril and Methodius (KM) states with restraint: “Russian self-taught mechanic (1735-1818). Invented many different mechanisms. Improved glass polishing for optical instruments. He developed a project and built a model of a single-arch bridge across the river. Neva with a span of 298 m. He created a “mirror lantern” (prototype of a searchlight), a semaphore telegraph and many others.

When reading this paragraph, an unprepared person gets the feeling that Kulibin was still a pretty decent inventor (over there, he also has a lantern, and a semaphore, and even “many others”). But on the other hand, just a mechanic (like a locksmith), and even self-taught.

You can’t put next to a highly learned European of the Renaissance.

Therefore, breaking the tradition of writing essays and scientific articles devoted to some personalities, I will start not with biographical data, but with a riddle.

So, it is known that Ivan Kulibin, who was born on the Volga and from childhood saw the hard work of barge haulers, invented a self-propelled barge. Which (attention!) She went against the flow of the river, using the very (you won’t believe it!) The flow of the river as a driving force.

Yes, it's not a mistake or a typo. Kulibin really created a barge that, using only the force of the current, went ... against the current.

It seems incredible. Impossible. Contradicts the basic laws of physics.

Judge for yourself: even if you achieve that a heavy barge has a zero coefficient of friction on the water (which is impossible!), then the ship would at best remain in place. It would not drift downstream to the lower reaches of the river.

And then the barge was under its own power UP.

It's just some kind of perpetual motion machine!

The Paris Academy of Sciences would refuse to consider such a project, because it is impossible, because it is never possible!

But Kulibin did not provide a project, but a real barge. Which, with a large crowd of people, was indeed launched and ACTUALLY, in front of everyone, went against the current, without using any external forces.

Miracle? No, reality.

And now that you know this, try for yourself (after all, we are residents of the 21st century, armed with knowledge and favored by technical progress) to figure out how a self-taught mechanic (!) Of the 18th century achieved such an amazing effect using the simplest and most accessible materials.

While you're thinking, to sharpen your thought processes, here are a few fundamental principles of invention. Developed, of course, in the XXI century.

So,
A technical solution is considered ideal if the desired effect is achieved "for nothing", without the use of any means.

A technical device is considered ideal when there is no device, but the action that it should do is being performed.

The way in which the technical solution is carried out is ideal when there is no energy and time consumption, but the required action is carried out, moreover, in a regulated manner. That is, as much as you need and only when you need it.

And finally: The substance used in the technical solution is considered ideal when the substance itself is not present, but its function is performed in full.

Don't you think that the village-bearded man-bast-worker, or rather the self-taught mechanic Ivan Kulibin was able to find exactly IDEAL solutions? Impossible from the point of view of the Paris Academy of Sciences?

Alexandre Dumas' book The Count of Monte Cristo vividly depicts how the titular character intercepted and distorted information transmitted by semaphore telegraph from the Spanish theater of operations to Paris. The result was the collapse of the stock exchange and the grandiose ruin of one of the most powerful bankers - the enemies of the count.

Nothing surprising. Whoever owns the information owns the world.

I would only like to emphasize that this same semaphore telegraph was invented by Ivan Petrovich Kulibin.

Now about the spotlight.

Let's not forget that by the grace of Her Imperial Majesty Catherine II, the son of the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believer merchant Ivan Kulibin was called to the capital and there, for 32 years (from 1769 to 1801), he was in charge of the mechanical workshops of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Petersburg is a nautical city. So, the supply of light signals in it is extremely important. There are beacons that orient ships and protect them from running aground, and transmit information from ship to ship...

Until the era of Kulibin, ships used multi-colored pennants raised on masts and a hand-held semaphore (a dashing sailor with flags) to transmit signals. It is clear that it was possible to see this beauty only during the day. Fires were lit at the lighthouses at night.

But on a wooden ship, open fire is too dangerous, so at sea, only a candle or a wick floating in a bowl of oil could be used for lighting. It is clear that the power of light from such sources is low and is not suitable for transmitting signals over any decent distance. So at night the ships plunged into darkness and informational silence.

Having studied the problem, the self-taught mechanic Kulibin in 1779 designed his famous lantern with a reflector, which gave powerful light with a weak source. The importance of such a searchlight in a port city can hardly be overestimated.

Victor Karpenko in his book "Mechanic Kulibin" (N. Novgorod, publishing house "BIKAR", 2007) describes the event as follows:

“Somehow, on a dark autumn night, a fireball appeared on Vasilyevsky Island. It illuminated not only the street, but also the Promenade des Anglais. Crowds of people rushed into the light, making prayers.

It soon became clear that it was a lantern that was hung by the famous mechanic Kulibin from the window of his apartment, which was located on the fourth floor of the Academy.”

The lanterns were in great demand, but Kulibin was a bad businessman and the orders went to other craftsmen who made more than one fortune on this.

Automobile

Leonardo da Vinci is considered to be the first inventor of the wheelchair in history. True, the Florentine used it for military purposes and, as they now say, was the prototype of the modern tank.

The device, protected on all sides by “armor” made of wood (modern bullets and shells were not known in the Middle Ages), moved due to the muscular strength of several people who sat inside and rotated the levers. (Like a crooked starter).

Alas, having studied the drawings of Leonardo, modern experts evaluated the invention as follows:

David Fletcher, British tank historian:

Yes, at first it seems that nothing will come of it. There must be people inside, turning the handles so that the wheels turn and the colossus moves from its place, God knows how heavy. I would say that it is physically almost impossible.

In order for this to move, you need a battlefield as flat as a table. Stone - and it will stop. Mole hole - and again stop. The enemy will die of laughter before this thing reaches him.

But this is only at first sight. From the second - the soldiers (!) of the British army noticed that there was a fundamental error in the drawing.

The gears on the wheels are in the wrong place,” said one of those who were put inside the Leonard tank and forced to turn the handles. - With this device, the front wheel spins backwards, and the rear wheel forwards. So this needs to be fixed - rearrange the gears. Then both wheels will simultaneously move in the same direction.

As you can see, Leonardo's invention contained fundamental design flaws. Moreover, even after their elimination, the mechanism could only be used in laboratory conditions on a perfectly flat surface, which cannot be found in real life.

Now let's look at the inventions of Ivan Kulibin.

The Polytechnic Museum of Moscow has several smaller copies of a self-propelled carriage. Those (not copies, but real products) were made in the mechanical workshops of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, which were led by Kulibin, and were quite widely used for aristocratic walks.

Museum staff emphasize that the Kulibino self-running cart had all the parts of a modern car: a gearbox, a brake, a cardan mechanism, a steering wheel, rolling bearings ... The only similarity with Leonard's invention is that this design was set in motion also due to human muscles. The driver pedaled with his feet, his efforts spun the heavy flywheel ... and after a short period of time, the bicycle carriage, which had an enviable carrying capacity, could develop a decent speed. The driver was only required to firmly hold the steering wheel and keep the flywheel in constant rotation.

Bridges

Da Vinci, settling under the patronage of the Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza, Leonardo positioned himself as a military engineer.

“I can create light strong bridges,” he said, “that will be easy to transport during the pursuit. Or, God forbid, fleeing from the enemy. I also came up with a method of besieging castles, in which the first thing is to drain the moat with water.

And the duke accepted him into service. However, as a sane person (encyclopedias report that under him “Milan became one of the strongest states in Italy, the center of science and art”), he instructed the new employee not to build bridges of a new design, but something much more modest. He entrusted Leonardo (Can you drain? - Drain!) to drain the Duchess's bathroom.

Encyclopedia KM says:

“In the 1770s. Kulibin designed a wooden single-arch bridge across the Neva with a span of 298 m (instead of 50-60 m, as was built at that time). In 1766 he built a 1/10 life-size model of this bridge. It was tested by a special academic commission. The project was highly appreciated by the mathematician L. Euler, who checked the correctness of his theoretical formulas using the Kulibin model.”

It is very interesting to mention that the famous Euler did not carry out calculations for a self-taught Russian, but checked HIS calculations using his model. He was a smart man, he understood that "practice is the criterion of truth."

Question: why, in fact, did Kulibin need to invent a bridge of such an unusual shape? Thank God, there are many bridge designs from ancient times ...

The fact is that St. Petersburg is a large port. And to this day it accepts ships of large tonnage and displacement. In order for these huge ships to enter the city, the main bridges of St. Petersburg were made drawbridges.

And the single-arch bridge that Kulibin proposed seemed to hover over the Neva, touching the ground at only two points - on the right and left banks.

IT WOULD NOT NEED TO BE BREEDED!

Kulibin's bridges, if their project were adopted, would allow ocean-going ships to enter the port not only at night, but at any time of the day! And no costs for maintenance and repair of adjustable mechanisms.

The ideal solution (see above).

Clock

It is well known that Ivan Kulibin's metropolitan career began with the fact that during the visit of Empress Catherine II to Nizhny Novgorod, she was presented with a watch made by the master. They were the size of a goose egg and contained (in addition to the clock itself) nothing less than an automatic theater, a music box and the mechanism that controlled it all. In total, the “egg figure”, which is now a pearl in the Hermitage collection, contains 427 details.

Here is how this amazing watch is described in Viktor Karpenko's book:

“They beat every hour, half and even a quarter of an hour. At the end of the hour, the folding doors in the egg opened, revealing a gilded chamber. Opposite the doors stood an image of the Holy Sepulcher, into which a closed door led.

On the sides of the coffin stood two warriors with spears. Half a minute after the doors of the chamber were opened, an angel appeared. The door leading to the coffin opened, and standing warriors fell to their knees. The myrrh-bearing women appeared and the church verse “Christ is Risen!”, Accompanied by ringing, was heard, performed three times.

In the afternoon, another verse was sung every hour: "Jesus is risen from the tomb." At noon, the clock played a hymn composed by Kulibin himself. Figurines of angels, warriors and myrrh-bearing women were cast in gold and silver.”

The clocks created by Kulibin are stored in the storerooms of the Hermitage, and in order to see them, you need to make special efforts (negotiate, issue a pass, etc.). The famous "Peacock Clock" made in Europe and exhibited in one of the halls of the Hermitage is much more accessible.

This is a truly grandiose building, which, even in the spacious Hermitage, occupies a significant part of the premises allocated to it.

Of course, like everything made in Europe, the Peacock watch is a fashionable entertaining toy and, at the same time, a work of art. In the life-sized "wonderful garden", a peacock, a rooster, an owl in a cage and squirrels are located on the gilded oak branches. When winding special mechanisms, the figures of birds come into motion. The owl turns its head, the peacock spreads its tail and turns to the audience with its most beautiful part (that is, the rear), the rooster crows.

In addition to all the bells and whistles, there is also a dial (in a mushroom cap), looking at which you can, without any frills, purely humanly find out what time it is.

The clock was purchased by Prince Potemkin from the English Duchess of Kingston, who in 1777 sailed to St. Petersburg on her own ship with a cargo of art treasures taken from England.

The clock had only one drawback: the duchess took it out of London disassembled and, for more than ten years, it lay in the pantry, losing its parts and details. For example, out of 55 faceted crystals lying on the base of the clock, only one survived by 1791.

His Serene Highness Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky, who spent a lot of money on the curiosity, called on Kulibin and asked him to "revive the poor birds."

The clock is still running.

Kulibin created a variety of watches of various designs: pocket, daily, ring, harp watches...

But I want to talk about just one more. In 1853, a note appeared in the Moskvityanin magazine, signed by a certain P.N. Obninskiy. He reported that he had a clock created by Kulibin in his house, and asked to send a commission for examination.

What was so interesting about this device?

First, the clock was astronomical. That is, they showed the course of the planets, eclipses of the Moon and the Sun. In addition, the clock indicated the date (day, month), and a special hand marked leap years.

Secondly, on the minute hand, a small clock was arranged, the size of a dime, which, having no connection with the general mechanism of the clock and having no winding, nevertheless shows the time very correctly.

In fact, here we are again faced with the "perpetual motion machine" invented by Kulibin.

In fact, no springs, no weights, no visible source of energy ... And the hand moves and shows the time very correctly. Miracle!

The secret is that Kulibin knew physics, perhaps better than the French Academy of Sciences.

Indeed, according to the law of conservation of energy, "perpetual motion" is impossible. Because in a closed system, energy does not arise from nothing, and does not disappear into nowhere. But who forces us to stay in a CLOSED SYSTEM?

Hence the clue. On the small (in a dime) clock, located on the minute hand of the astronomical clock, there was a system of counterweights. The minute hand moves under the influence of the clock mechanism. At the same time, its position in the gravitational field changes. Accordingly, the position of the center of gravity in the "small" watches changes, and due to this they go. Gravity Drive!

Approximately the same problem is solved with a barge moving against the current due to the force of the current.

In a closed system, such movement would be impossible. But why close?

The secret is so simple that it's even funny:

An anchor is taken and brought forward on the boat, where it is hooked securely. The anchor chain (rope) wraps its other end around the propeller shaft on the ship. Two paddle wheels are attached to the propeller shaft (everything, like on a paddle steamer).

The current presses on the blades of the wheels, they come into rotation, and the rope is wound on the propeller shaft. The ship begins to move against the current.

The ship was tested for several days in a row. The cargo was 8500 pounds of sand.

It is interesting to note that Kulibin's "navigable machine ship" was the prototype of the tuer system introduced in Russia in the 60s of the 19th century. Tuer was a steam ship. It had an iron hull and moved forward, choosing a chain laid on the bottom of the river.

Kulibin lived for 83 years, and continued to work until the very end.

“For more than forty years I have been engaged in the search for a self-propelled machine, I practiced making experiments on it in secret, because many scientists consider this invention to be impossible, they even laugh and swear at those who practice that research,” Ivan Petrovich wrote to Arshenevsky in 1817 year.

Or maybe you would? A little bit was not enough. Attention, money, effort, time...

No, by inventing a "perpetual motion machine", the impossibility of which was proved by Leonardo da Vinci, Ivan Petrovich Kulibin did not refute the laws of physics. He just knew them a little better...

Literature:

Stanislav Rapnitsky

Kulibin and the dark time

Ivan Petrovich Kulibin, as you know, was a craftsman. And mastered that without hitting. Either a clock indicating the phases of the moon, or a scooter cart, or a steam locomotive, or even just a lantern. Dark people, and academicians too, were afraid of his inventions and disliked the craftsman himself. But Kulibin was unstoppable. He really wanted mechanisms to work for people, and people worked to buy these mechanisms! The man was golden! Head!

Ivan Petrovich Kulibin was also an academician. But not for long. Neither extensive knowledge nor simple bribes could solve the issue of his expulsion from the academy. Either the people were evil, or Kulibin was not too inventive, but he could not get a job in life! So they drove him from everywhere. But they could simply sell abroad for the collapse of foreign technology and economic life! What people were thinking then - I can't imagine!

When Ivan Petrovich Kulibin was still an academician, he did not miss a single academic meeting. He will come that way, sit in an armchair, put his feet on the table and crunch bagels, and drink sweet tea. And puffs so loudly: pffff! This, of course, interfered with other academicians. And often academics gave him a "dark": they would cover him with a jacket and bludgeon him - some with a ruler, some with a small scope, and some with an astrolabe. Soon everyone got so used to it that sometimes meetings were held specifically for this ceremony. These academicians are carried away by the people! Easy to taste!

This tradition, by the way, was later adopted by leading companies. And today you can see how fun and carefree at meetings everyone attacks a colleague. And it all started with whom? - From Kulibin, of course!

Kulibin did not like students and graduate students. And if he meets such a person in the corridor, he will grab him by the ear and twist, twist! And he himself says: got caught, scoundrel! Once, one professor's ear was torn off. Wrong. Or wanted to be thought wrong. Was the smartest person! And inventive!

By the way, when Kulibin was fired from the academy for a systematic violation of discipline, students and graduate students stood up for him. Well, the academy lacked a tough hand!

When Kulibin invented the steam-powered cart, everyone was delighted at first. Encouraged, Ivan Petrovich immediately began to roll influential people around St. Petersburg and even encroached on the imperial family. Good thing the wagon exploded before that! Otherwise, Kulibin would have been accused of treason and shot as a dissident! By the way, Ivan Petrovich himself was not injured in the explosion: the catapult went off. The rest got off with minor injuries: Kutuzov was left without an eye, and Dostoevsky became an idiot. Although regarding Dostoevsky, they say, he had previously contracted idiocy in a cheap cafe from a German guest worker. But, I think, nevertheless, this version belongs to Kulibin himself.

Kulibin invented a lantern and put it on the street to illuminate the night Petersburg. But either the residents did not like the lantern, or the time was so dark, and the lantern was broken all the time. Kulibin is already worn out to repair it! Even on duty at the lantern at night! But as soon as he turns away - bang! - the lantern is broken, and Ivan Petrovich himself is already being robbed! Kulibin spent half a fortune on this undertaking. And nothing! Still, there was strong resistance to progress in Russia! Our compatriots love to oppose innovations that way! But it is understandable: change is change, but people need to live somehow!

Once Ivan Petrovich invented such a special wallet in which money never ends. And went to the store. And there is noise, a crush at the cashier. So they pulled an invention out of his pocket! And the offender went to Siberia and privatized it all! The name was Demidov. And so it goes: one invents, the other uses. This principle, by the way, was then well mastered by the owner of Microsoft.

If it seems to someone that Kulibin's life was full of various fiascos, then I will object. Ivan Petrovich was born in a vast and rich country, received an excellent education and an idea of ​​manners. It’s really not easy for the current talent: none of the above is in his life. There are, of course, exceptions. But rarely. Mainly in show business. On the other hand, what kind of inventions are now! Everything has already been invented, just use it if you have money. But there is no money!

Once Ivan Petrovich was giving a lecture on the electric field and steam traction. And take one graduate student and ask: Mr. Kulibin, what is the charge of an electron? Ivan Petrovich then became very nervous and unscrewed both ears of the graduate student at once! He began to hear badly and gave up science. But he took up music and composed so much of it that the conservatory still cannot cope with it! The surname of the graduate student is Beethoven. He came to Russia for a cultural exchange from Vienna. You see, again - show business! Well, the inventor does not have a future, but the pop musician does. So leave the academy! What's the point in them? - one lighthouse! Another thing is real popularity: money, fame ... Well, unless your ears are unscrewed!

Kulibin liked to listen to the work of various mechanisms. He will stand by the steam boiler and listen, listen. Even rolls his eyes! And sometimes he puts several different units in a row - and conducts. So there was a fashionable direction in music - house and techno. Ivan Petrovich collected large audiences! All young people are students and graduate students. Mandatory. Truants - excluded.

Ivan Petrovich loved colloquial expressions. Especially "figs". They give him another topic for research, and he replies: "What the heck!" - Op! A whole dissertation is ready in two days. Well, it’s true, different words also slip through the dissertation. So it's annoying to read. Judge for yourself: "Figley write here: the steam engine runs on steam. What for you load the genius with all sorts of garbage! You take a barrel, poured water, damn it, kindled the fire - here's the steam engine for you! Figli is here to explore!" And further in the same way.

As a great music lover, Kulibin once made such a mini-theatre: music plays inside, and mechanical figures dance outside. Well, he was too lazy to go to theaters! At the academy, he even created a drama circle, where students and graduate students played in plays. For this, Ivan Petrovich fell in love again and changed their minds about dismissing him from the academy. So far, he has not staged the rock opera "At the Bottom" in this circle. Bitter, of course, a classic, but no one could allow frivolous treatment of classics! Well, they gave Kulibin a severe reprimand! "A figly!" - said the inventor and went to build a hyperboloid. A big fire happened then in St. Petersburg! Don't tie your hands to talent!

Kulibin once read science fiction and built a steam-powered robot. This robot brewed coffee in the morning, cut the bushes, and solved arithmetic problems. Only now he consumed firewood - well, just an unthinkable amount. An entire forest could be consumed in one day! He even chopped firewood himself or stole from neighbors at night. Not a robot, but some kind of abyss! This story ended as usual: the neighbors filled the robot with logs in such a way that it barely crawled to the house. And after the incident, he was only good for chopping nuts. And even then, it was possible to get by with one robotic head. But the neighbors did not touch Ivan Petrovich himself. Wrote an anonymous letter at the place of work - and all for a short time! It was then that Kulibin was finally fired from the academy. And then they only threatened!

By the way, the first coffee maker was invented by the same Kulibin. Ivan Petrovich in his own person. Only at first it was not a coffee maker, but a concrete mixer. For road works. This means that this experimental concrete mixer is working, cracking, banging. Noise, in general, unimaginable! Well, the merchants, of course, jumped out of the shops - and let's throw the car along with the inventor with whatever came to hand! One of the merchants tried so hard that a whole pood of coffee hit the very vent. And a second has not passed - and the coffee is ground and brewed. And most importantly, the powder is so fine, so high quality! Immediately orders fell on the car, the merchants were quick-witted, unlike the academics! One thing is bad: Ivan Petrovich suffered a lot with his head after this incident. The merchants were still not only quick-witted, but also well-aimed!

When Ivan Petrovich started having migraines, he turned to leading specialists. Specialists took tests from the genius, conducted research and - nothing! The cause of the disease is in the disease itself. They prescribed patches and harmless pills for him, and sent him home. Kulibin covered himself with plasters at home, took all the pills at once and is waiting for improvement. Been waiting like this for a month. Then he realized that they had laughed at him, and invented a dental drill in retaliation. Since then, the public does not like doctors and does not trust medicine. Especially in the field of dentistry.

Kulibin became famous for many more inventions. You can't list everything. For example, once he made such a string bag that can easily fit in your pocket, but unfolds into a huge suitcase. The size of a carriage. Ivan Petrovich went to the market. Well, of course, I bought everything there. And puts it in a new string bag. And everything fit in it, and there is still room left. Kulibin then began to buy more food, and in the end he even stuffed the seller into a shopping bag. And the place in the string bag is again left! So he bought everything in the market until the evening, until the money ran out. But the place remains! Then nobody understood anything, but modern science calls such phenomena a black hole. That's what a creative genius is capable of! Although the string bag was not black, but, on the contrary, green.

Kulibin began to study his miracle shopping bag and found that the products were placed in it, but they did not return back. He was already shaking it, and turning it outward: they don’t return, even if you crack! Then he went to the academy and caught in a string bag a dozen or two graduate students and even a couple of professors. Then Ivan Petrovich repeated his experience more than once. And there was nothing to fire a genius from the academy! The troubled times have begun! - there are fewer inquisitive minds, Russia has begun to lag far behind. And from the string bag, by the way, he finally shook out something! Lenin! Yes, the same one! From here a new story began.

There were many outstanding inventors in Russia, but there is a name. which cannot be passed by. Ivan Petrovich Kulibin impressed his contemporaries so much that his name became a symbol of invention and Kulibins began to be called all self-taught inventors who create some kind of ingenious devices, and simply talented craftsmen. So, what made Kulibin famous for?

Ivan Petrovich Kulibin

Kulibin was born on April 10 (21 according to the new style) in 1735 in the village of Podnovye near Nizhny Novgorod. He was born into a family of Old Believers and, until the end of his life, followed the Old Believer traditions. For example, he did not drink alcohol, did not smoke, did not gamble, and even refused to shave off his beard in order to obtain a noble title. But here he chose an occupation completely different from what his father, a flour merchant, wanted. From an early age, he was attracted to all kinds of mechanical devices and he tried to make them. He made various mechanical toys, built a model of a windmill, made a device for supplying water to a pond so that fish would not die in it. He was especially interested in watches. Kulibin tried in every possible way to get and study different watches and parts for them, he was looking for various books that would describe how to make mechanical devices.

When Kulibin was 17 years old, he traveled to Moscow, where he visited watch workshops and bought various instruments. After returning to Nizhny Novgorod, he himself took up the repair of watches, and after the death of his parents, he closed the flour shop, and instead opened a watch workshop. Rumors about the skilled craftsman soon spread throughout the city, watch repair began to bring a good income. But Kulibin did not want to be a simple watchmaker either. He showed interest in a variety of technical innovations, when an electrostatic machine, a microscope and a telescope brought by one of the merchants to Nizhny Novgorod fell into his hands, Kulibin spent a lot of time to figure out their device and learn how to do such things on his own. Kulibin learned how to make lenses and mirrors, with a telescope he assembled, it was possible to examine the city of Balakhna in all details, which was located at a distance of more than 30 kilometers.

In 1764, it became known that Empress Catherine was going to visit Nizhny Novgorod and other cities on the Volga. The merchant Kostromin, who knew about Kulibin's talent and that he was trying to make a watch of complex and unusual design, offered to present this watch as a gift to the Empress. Kostromin provided Kulibin with a house and money so that nothing would distract the inventor from his work. The clock was not completed on time, but Kulibin showed Catherine other mechanisms when she arrived in Nizhny Novgorod in 1767. Only two years later the watch was ready and Kulibin and Kostromin went to St. Petersburg to present it to the Empress. The unique watch was made in the shape of a goose egg. They beat every hour, half an hour and a quarter of an hour. Every hour, small folding doors were opened and inside, to church music, small figures showed a scene from religious life.

Every hour, small Royal doors were dissolved in it, behind which the Holy Sepulcher was visible. On either side of the door stood two warriors with spears. The doors of the golden chamber opened, and an angel appeared. The stone, rolled to the door, fell off, the door leading to the coffin opened, the guards fell on their faces. Half a minute later, the myrrh-bearing women appeared, the chimes played the prayer “Christ is Risen” three times, and the doors closed.

At noon, the clock played a hymn composed by Kulibin in honor of Catherine and other music at different times of the day. The clock was enclosed in a gold frame with many curls and decorations.

Kulibin's clock is kept in the Hermitage today

Ekaterina was impressed, and Kulibin received a position as a mechanic at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He became the head of academic workshops, becoming Lomonosov's successor in this post.

Kulibin worked at the Academy for 30 years. Under the guidance of Kulibin, a huge number of different instruments and scientific instruments were manufactured in the workshops, many of which were significantly superior in quality to foreign ones. Microscopes, telescopes, thermometers and barometers, accurate scales, lathes and engraving machines - all this and much more was done in Kulibin's workshops.

Courtiers and nobility often turned to Kulibin with various problems that required technical talent, knowing that only Kulibin could solve them. For example, Prince Potemkin once bought a complicated Peacock mechanical watch in England. But they were transported disassembled and during transportation the parts were damaged. It was not possible to collect watches from different masters, only Kulibin coped with this task. Kulibin repaired and manufactured complex automata, arranged bright illumination and smokeless fireworks, with the help of mirrors he illuminated a long basement corridor in the palace, and also made an elevator by which Catherine went up to the upper floors.

Kulibin made many practically significant inventions. Unfortunately, many of them did not go further than prototypes and drawings, because they did not find funding. Here are just a few of Kulibin's inventions:

The photo shows a searchlight invented by Kulibin. In the 18th century there were no bright sources of light, but Kulibin was able to design a searchlight with such a system of mirrors that the light of an ordinary candle, reflected many times, gave a narrowly focused bright beam. On the basis of this searchlight, Kulibin proposed to make an optical telegraph for the rapid transmission of messages over long distances, but the prototype of such a telegraph, despite positive reviews, was sent to the Kunstkamera.

Kulibin developed the design of the bridge across the Neva and even built its model on a scale of 1:10, but the state did not allocate money for the construction. In the design of the bridge, Kulibin used elements that are used in modern bridges, for example, lattice arches. The length of the bridge was to be 300 m, significantly longer than any other bridges of that time, so many were skeptical about Kulibin's project, assuming that the bridge would collapse. Nevertheless, the calculations carried out already in the 20th century according to all the rules of sopromat showed that Kulibin's project was absolutely correct and the bridge would have withstood the planned load with a margin.

Another useful invention that turned out to be unclaimed was the waterway. In those days, the delivery of goods along the rivers, if they had to be transported against the current, was a difficult job. The ship was usually pulled upstream by barge haulers, in extreme cases, bulls or horses. Kulibin came up with the design of a vessel that would use the energy of the water flow, but at the same time would move against the current! A long rope was fixed on the shore upstream, and a special mechanism, driven by water wheels, pulled the ship with the help of this rope. The Kulibina watercourse overtook both barge haulers and rowboats. Despite the successful testing of two water passages built by Kulibin, the officials decided that they were too expensive and had a complex design, so the water passages never went into production.

What else did Kulibin invent?

• Artificial prostheses with a movable knee joint;
• Self-running wheelchair with brake, gearbox, bearings and flywheel;
• Salt machine for pumping brines from mines;
• Various machines, seeders, mills and much more.

After Kulibin, about 2000 drawings remained.

Even during his lifetime, Kulibin became a celebrity. On the personal instructions of Catherine II, Kulibin was awarded a nominal gold medal on the St. Andrew's ribbon with the inscription “Worthy. Academy of Sciences - mechanic Ivan Kulibin. The poet Derzhavin called Kulibin "Archimedes of our days." And the great commander Suvorov, once seeing Kulibin in the palace, staged a whole performance:

As soon as Suvorov saw Kulibin at the other end of the hall, he quickly approached him, stopped a few steps away, bowed low and said:
— Your Grace!
Then, taking another step closer to Kulibin, he bowed even lower and said:
- Your honor!
Finally, coming quite close to Kulibin, he bowed from the waist and added:
- Your wisdom is my respect!
Then he took Kulibin by the hand, asked him about his health and, turning to the whole assembly, said:
- God have mercy, a lot of mind! He will invent a flying carpet for us!

But despite all the fame gained, the last period of Kulibin's life can hardly be called prosperous. In 1801, the inventor, tired of working in St. Petersburg and disappointed by the lack of attention to his projects, returned to Nizhny Novgorod. He continued to work on inventions, tried to introduce waterways on the Volga, made a project for an iron bridge across the river. Kulibin died in poverty, at the age of 83, at the end of his life confessing that for many years he secretly worked on a perpetual motion project, on which he spent considerable personal funds. Of course, the inventor never built a perpetual motion machine, but this in no way detracts from his talent.

Most of the ideas of the great self-taught engineer Ivan Petrovich Kulibin did not find support from the authorities of that time. Of all the creations of the master, today you can see only a self-propelled carriage and outlandish watches presented to the Empress. However, the name of a man of genius has not only survived to this day, but has also become a household name.

The name of this person has become a household name and is pronounced with admiration when we are lucky enough to watch the work of a master - the author of a useful invention, discovery or amazing mechanism.

Who is Kulibin: a short biography

Kulibin Ivan Petrovich was born in the Nizhny Novgorod province in April 1735. His father was a small merchant, the family lived in an estate in the suburb of Podnovye. Today, there is a memorial sign at this place in Nizhny Novgorod, but the estate itself has not been preserved.

It is known about Kulibin's childhood and youth that the boy read a lot and was fond of technology, as far as it was possible at that time. The profession of a merchant did not appeal to him. He trained as a locksmith, turner and watchmaker. Apart from this, he received no education.

Thanks to his hard work, he managed to impress the empress. Kulibin presented her with an amazing watch with a chime, music and tiny figurines that moved under the action of a clock mechanism.

For this historical gift, Ivan Petrovich was appointed in 1769 the head of the mechanical workshop of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Thus began the work of the famous master, engineer and inventor in the capital of Russia.

vane water engine

Among the inventions of Kulibin, a waterway stands out, the principle of operation of which was similar to a horse-drawn vessel. Such cargo ships were used in Russia along with burlatsky ones. The anchor of a loaded ship was thrown far ahead, brought in on a boat, and then with the help of horses the ship was pulled up to it. The mechanism was water wheels driven by the flow of river water. Through the gear transmission, the rotation was transmitted to another axis, on which the anchor chain was wound. While the ship was pulling itself up to the first anchor, the second was thrown far ahead, and the ship moved on.

In total, Kulibin created three projects for the waterway, the last one only on paper. The test of the first model was not successful enough to impress officials from the water department. They considered the project too expensive and inefficient, barge haulers are able to drag cargo over a greater distance in one day. Although the inventor made significant improvements to the first draft, it was rejected.

Elevator for Her Imperial Majesty

Catherine II herself was the customer of the inventor. Over the years, it became more and more difficult for her to move around her huge palace, and the elevator with ropes attached under the roof of the building categorically did not suit her majesty.

A resourceful engineer proposed a mechanism that did not need any ropes. The "lifting chair" moved up and down on vertical screws and was a simple and safe device. It was under the power of one strong man to put it into action. After the death of the empress, the lifting mechanism was no longer needed in the palace, and its shaft was bricked up.

The first idea of ​​a bridge across the Neva

The capital needed a stable crossing of the Neva. The floating bridges that existed at that time had to be bred during the ice drift. The design of the single-arch bridge proposed by Kulibin solved this problem.

Having designed a 300-meter single-span bridge, the engineer created his model in one-tenth of the original. It was installed and successfully tested in the Tauride Garden in front of skeptics and doubters. However, the bridge across the Neva, designed by Kulibin, was never built.

Its design was advanced for its time and met the requirements stated in the competition for a bridge over the Thames. This competition strengthened the Russian inventor in the idea that his ideas correspond to the spirit of the time and reflect the real needs of the city.

Self-propelled stroller - the prototype of the first car

Kulibin's self-propelled gun developed speeds of up to sixteen kilometers per hour - unprecedented at that time for such an innovative vehicle. In fact, it was a bicycle with a complex gearbox, brakes and steering mechanisms. For the sake of reducing the weight of the stroller, Kulibin developed it with three wheels.

The person who set the wheelchair in motion, pressing the pedals, had the opportunity to rest - the wheelchair could go on its own for some time. "Self-running carriage" had a flywheel and rolling bearings. It was noted that the stroller had a very soft ride, despite the high speed.

The current model of a self-propelled carriage exists, it was reproduced according to Kulibin's drawings. The invention was not put into production, like many other creations of the master. Among the nobility, who only entertained themselves with new mechanisms, there was no person with a commercial streak and understanding of the prospects of technology.

First prosthesis

The lieutenant, who lost his leg during the assault on Ochakov, managed to continue his military career and rise to the rank of major general thanks to a prosthetic leg designed by Ivan Kulibin. It was not just a "wooden leg" replacing a limb.

The prosthesis was made of metal and consisted of several parts. The lower leg, hollow inside (for ease of construction), was connected by a hinge to the foot on a spring, which, when walking, bent and straightened, and when putting on clothes was fixed in the desired position.

The fastening of the prosthesis to the body was also carefully thought out. A system of splints and straps securely and comfortably fastened the artificial leg to the torso. The inventor provided special support bars for the correct distribution of weight when walking.

Serial production of "mechanical legs" was not established by the military department in Russia, but later similar prostheses began to be produced in France.

What else did a self-taught engineer invent

Ivan Kulibin's contribution to the theory and practice of building bridges, ships, lifting mechanisms and other machines was not limited to the above. Ivan Petrovich created precise instruments for navigation, astronomical and other scientific research. For example, he made a microscope without chromatic aberrations according to the Euler project, a powerful searchlight with a parabolic mirror, and perfected the technique of polishing optical glasses.

The Empress highly appreciated the "long-range warning machine", a semaphore with a special tower project. The code for encrypting messages Kulibin also came up with himself. The machine transmitted information to a line-of-sight distance, then further along a chain of such towers.

But the recognition and admiration of the nobility was mainly enjoyed by Kulibin's inventions for the entertainment of the public: ingenious automata, complex fireworks, luxury items.

The musical gold watch, enclosed in a case in the shape of an Easter egg, decorated with rich embossing, has survived to this day. The complex mechanism of the clock consists of four hundred parts, some of which set in motion many figures of a mechanical theater.

Fascination with the idea of ​​​​creating a perpetual motion machine

The idea of ​​perpetual motion occupied the mind and time of the famous inventor for many years. Ivan Petrovich did not receive a fundamental education; he was a talented practical engineer and self-taught.

The idea of ​​a perpetual motion machine has long attracted people, but the theoretical justification for the possibility of building such a machine has not been received. In the second half of the 18th century, the Paris Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of London officially announced that they would no longer accept projects of this kind.

It is all the more strange that the great mathematician Euler supported Ivan Petrovich's belief in the reality of a perpetual motion machine. Kulibin was interested in the news of science and technology and tried, as far as it was possible at that time, to receive information about everything that others invented in these areas. However, it is not known for sure whether Kulibin read the article of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences criticizing all the projects of "continuous movement" and pointing out the theoretical impossibility of its creation.

The article directly stated that many masters skilled in mechanics went bankrupt in pursuit of an unattainable goal. Indeed, Kulibin spent personal funds to develop his idea, worked hard until his death, and rejected criticism, referring to the authority of the great mathematician.

His biographer, journalist and writer Pavel Svinin also believed in Kulibin's dream. His book The Life of the Russian Mechanic Kulibin and His Inventions was published in 1819.

Despite the misconception about the nature of energy, despite the fact that few inventions were put into practice, the name and spirit of Ivan Kulibin remained an example of perseverance and ingenuity.

We, Soviet children, were taught to be conscientious. A lot of information has settled in the depths of memory, especially starting with the words of the National Anthem. For some reason, the author of these lines remembered the words about the great Russian inventor Ivan Petrovich Kulibin from a history textbook: they say, a self-taught master, underestimated during his lifetime, who died in complete oblivion and poverty. Of all this information, only the first part is true. Indeed, Kulibin's name has become a household name - this is how they began to call all self-taught masters, people from the common people.

Biography of Ivan Petrovich Kulibin (1735-1818)

This man lived a long, tireless life - 78 years. Almost never left his native Nizhny Novgorod. Probably, about people like him, one can say with a line of the poet V. Bryusov: “The only happiness is work!” However, Kulibin managed to do everything. He was married three times. It is noteworthy that the last, third marriage was concluded when the groom was already 70 years old. And all the more striking that three more daughters were born. In total, Kulibin gave birth to 11 offspring, and managed to give all the sons, as heirs, a decent education.

Being a daring innovator in the field of science and technology, an experimenter far ahead of his time, he adhered to rather conservative habits and manners in everyday life, in everyday life. He was an absolute teetotaler, never smoked, he was indifferent to gambling. He dressed emphatically like a merchant, wore a long, bushy beard, a long-brimmed caftan and high boots. They teased him, but respectfully. Kulibin won over with his wit, good nature and gentle disposition. He often gathered soirees at his place, where he entertained those present and was inexhaustible in inventions and practical jokes.

Inventions of Ivan Kulibin

Even in his youth, he learned several crafts at once: watchmaking, turning and locksmithing. All the skills were not only useful, but earned him the fame of an outstanding master. He was known and appreciated by Empress Catherine II. By the way, she made a tempting offer to the inventor, on which another would certainly “peck”: the nobility in exchange for a merchant's beard.

But Kulibin even here proudly refused, did not disgrace the honor of the estate. He belonged to that type of scientists who do not leave projects unfinished, are not limited to drawings and diagrams. At the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Kulibin headed the mechanical workshop for more than thirty years. Inventions followed like a cornucopia. That is a wooden single-arch bridge across the Neva, the world's first searchlight, the so-called. “waterway”, a stroller, which the master dubbed “self-running”, an elevator ...

Ekaterina received an "egg" clock as a gift from Kulibin. A collection of 427 parts, and inside there is not only a clock mechanism, but also an automatic theater and a musical scale. The famous 19th-century writer Nikolai Leskov, undoubtedly, had a Kulibin masterpiece before his eyes when he composed a tale about the Tula Lefty, who shod a flea. Now Kulibin's watch is in the collection of the State Hermitage.

There are also other famous clocks - "Peacock", the brainchild of the English master James Cox, which Kulibin had a chance to restore, and which function to this day. These successes would have turned their heads to another, but not to Kulibin. There is a legend that at the end of his life he was literally obsessed with the idea of ​​​​creating a perpetual motion machine, over the secret of which more than one generation of inventors struggled and, allegedly, lost all his fortune on it.

• In the life of Kulibin, there was a patron, or rather, a sponsor - the merchant Mikhail Kostromin. He introduced Kulibin to the Empress, which immortalized his own name.
• One of the characters in the play by A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm" is called Kuligin. He is also a scientist and poet, self-taught, and the surname is only one letter different from Kulibin. More than a transparent analogy, isn't it?!

Ivan Petrovich Kulibin was born in Nizhny Novgorod on April 10 (according to the new style - April 21), 1735, in the family of a poor flour merchant. Kulibin's father did not give his son a school education. He taught him to trade. But the son languished for an unloved thing, and as soon as a free minute fell out, he indulged in an unloved occupation: he made various wonders - toys, weather vanes, gears. The father complained about his son, often repeating "The Lord punished me, there will be no use from the little boy." Kulibin grew up as a closed dreamer, obsessed with the idea of ​​inventing something unusual. Everything related to technology worried him greatly, the young man was especially interested in watch mechanisms. But the education Kulibin received from the deacon was not enough to understand these complex mechanisms. Books came to the rescue. The knowledge gained from books, the young man tested by experiments.

Kulibin's trip to Moscow on the business of the city hall gave him the opportunity to get acquainted with watchmaking, to purchase tools, a beam-type commodity machine and a cutting machine. Upon his return from Moscow, he opened a watchmaking workshop and began to excel significantly in watchmaking. Constantly studying physics and mathematics, the inventor improved his skills and soon became convinced that he had enough strength, knowledge and skill to create a watch of his own design with numerous mathematical devices.

In this matter, he was helped by the merchant Kostromin, who took on all the expenses for the maintenance of the Kulibin family and for the acquisition of materials and tools.

The manufacture of such complex watches as the "egg figure" was an extremely difficult task. The details were so small that they had to be finished under a magnifying glass. In addition, Kulibin was not only a watchmaker, but also a locksmith, toolmaker, metal and wood turner, model carpenter and, in addition, a designer and technologist. He was even a composer, as the clock played a melody composed by him.

When the manufacture of the “egg figure” clock was coming to an end, Kulibin managed to get acquainted with the microscope, electric machine, telescope and spyglass brought from Moscow by the merchant Izvolsky. Kulibin was extremely interested in these devices, and he made the same ones with his own hands. On May 20, 1767, Empress Catherine arrived in Nizhny Novgorod. Governor Arshenevsky and merchant Kostromin, who patronized Kulibin, introduced him to the queen. She examined the electric machine, the telescope, the microscope, and the marvelous clock that the mechanic had spent more than two years making.

This clock was the size of a goose egg. They consisted of a thousand smallest details, wound up once a day and beat off the allotted time, even half and a quarter. The queen praised the talent of the inventor and promised to call Kulibin to Petersburg.

Catherine II kept her word. In March 1769, Ivan Petrovich was summoned to St. Petersburg and appointed head of the mechanical workshop of the Academy of Sciences with the title of mechanic. The clock, electric machine, microscope and telescope brought by him to Catherine were transferred to the Kunstkamera, a kind of museum established by Peter the Great. In which various curiosities were kept.

For the benefit of the state and society

The Petersburg period of IP Kulibin's life (1761-1801) was the heyday of his talent for bold daring. The provincial inventor-watchmaker approached the source of the highest scientific thought of the country, from which he could now draw knowledge through direct communication with prominent scientists. He received at his disposal workshops with numerous departments (tool, turning, carpentry, barometric, optical, punching), with a staff of qualified craftsmen

At the same time, Kulibin, one of the remarkable inventors of the 18th century, who with all his thoughts went into solving the largest technical issues, had to live on errands with the academic authorities and spend much of his time on work that was very far from grandiose inventive plans.

And yet Ivan Petrovich found time to develop his inventions. He designed a wooden single-arch bridge across the Neva. The capital badly needed a permanent bridge. But the construction of such a bridge with the then bridge-building technology presented exceptional difficulties. The Neva is wide and deep. Under these conditions, it was difficult to build supports (bulls) for the installation of spans. Kulibin managed to make the bridge single-span, from one arch. With funds provided to him by Prince Potemkin, he began to build a model. The creation of such a model was a major event in construction technology and attracted the attention of Academician L. Euler. The world-famous scientist not only got acquainted with the drawings of the bridge, but also checked Kulibin's calculations to determine the carrying capacity of the bridge and found them correct. On December 27, 1776, a model of a single-arch wooden bridge was tested in the presence of a special academic commission. Three thousand three hundred pounds of cargo was laid on the bridge. The model withstood this load, which was considered limiting by calculation. Kulibin ordered to increase the weight to 3800 pounds. After that, he ascended the model and invited not only the commission of the Academy of Sciences, but also the workers who participated in the test. We all walked across the bridge several times. The commission had no choice but to congratulate the inventor on his success. The commission recognized that according to his project it is possible to build a bridge across the Neva with a length of 298 meters. The queen, "with extreme pleasure" accepted the report on such an important invention of the domestic mechanic, and ordered him to be awarded with money and a gold medal. And the bridge? Nobody wanted to build a bridge. His model was ordered "to make a pleasant sight for the public, which daily flocked to marvel at it." Soon, interest in the model from both the government and the public cooled down. In 1793, a decree was issued to transfer it to the garden of the Tauride Palace and throw it across the canal there. Such was the fate of the model of a wooden single-arch bridge, about which the famous bridge builder D.N. Zhurakhovsky said “It bears the stamp of a genius.”

The project of a three-arched iron bridge, created by Kulibin a few years later, was not brought to life either.

Kulibin also invented an original lamp, which can be considered a prototype of a modern searchlight. For this lamp, he used a concave mirror, consisting of a huge number of individual pieces of mirror glass. A light source was placed at the focus of the mirror, the strength of which was increased by a factor of 500 by the mirror.

Kulibin intended his searchlight primarily for practical purposes. He invented lanterns of different sizes and strengths: some were convenient for lighting corridors, large workshops, ships, were indispensable for sailors, while others, smaller in size, were suitable for carriages. But the Petersburg nobility was least of all interested in the possibility of using this lantern, which at that time was a miracle of technology, for the needs of the Russian fleet, for manufactories or urban improvement. Kulibino lanterns were used for decorative and entertainment purposes.

But Ivan Petrovich did not give up. Doomed to the position of a court pyrotechnician, organizer of illuminations and props, he continued to create inventions in this area, which could be of great importance in the national economy and in military affairs, if only his "patrons" did not interfere with this. Such an invention was, for example, his engine-driven navigation vessel.

As conceived by Kulibin, the Arrangement of a "navigable vessel" was as follows. One end of the rope is tied to a fixed object on the shore (or an anchor brought forward), the other is wrapped around the propeller shaft on the ship. The current presses on the blades of the wheels, they come into rotation, and the rope is wound on the propeller shaft. The ship begins to move against the current.

The tests were carried out on the Neva by a special government commission. “A lot of people gathered on the banks of the Neva, wanting to see how the ship would go without sails and oars, against the wind and current, with the same force of the same flowing water.” When it went so fast that the two-oared yawl could hardly keep up with it, a loud "cheers" broke out in greeting to the Russian autodidact, who, standing on his ship, steered the machine himself.

For the built ship, Kulibin was awarded five thousand rubles, but his ship was never put into operation. In the socio-economic conditions of that time, ships with burlak traction were more profitable than machine ships. September 28, 2004 marked the 200th anniversary of the testing of the "waterway"

But this did not discourage the inventor. He still directs "all his thoughts to the invention of the treasury and the society of useful machines." In 1791, Kulibin created a three-wheeled scooter driven by pedals connected by an ingenious transmission mechanism to the driving wheels of the car. “The servant stood on his heels in attached shoes, raised and lowered his legs alternately without almost any effort, and the odnokolka rolled quite quickly.” She could carry "one or two idle people."

In the same year, Kulibin designed mechanical legs (prosthesis). He made the first prosthesis for the artillery officer Nepeytsin. The result amazed Kulibin himself. When the made prosthesis was tied to Nepeytsin's leg, he put on a boot, "for the first time, he went with a cane, sat down and got up, without touching it with his hands and without any outside help."

Military surgeons recognized the prosthesis invented by Kulibin as the most perfect of all those that existed at that time and quite usable. But this invention did not bring anything to Kulibin. Apart from the expense. While they judged and rowed, intending to test the prosthesis in experience. Applying it to the wounded, a sly Frenchman stole this invention and, it is said, then sold it to Napoleon, receiving a hefty sum.

The development of these inventions required from Kulibin not only time. but also the money needed to purchase materials. Payment of freelance craftsmen. Not having his own funds and not receiving any amounts from the treasury, Kulibin was forced to borrow money. The path of a professional inventor every year became more and more thorny. Having abandoned the management of the workshops, Ivan Petrovich began to receive only 300 rubles a year. And he was already owned by a new idea of ​​​​creating a model of an optical telegraph. Kulibin developed both a telegraph of an original design and a secret telegraph code. But the state and public significance of this invention. Was not appreciated by those. On whom depended the possibility of building a telegraph. The first telegraph in Russia was installed in 1835 by the Frenchman Chateau, who was paid 120,000 rubles by the Russian government just for the “secret” of his optical telegraph, although in Russia a more advanced telegraph had been developed by Kulibin long before that.

Project rejected

Since 1791, Kulibin has been seeking funds from the government: for the introduction of machine ships into the Volga shipping. The clerical, red tape with the consideration of his petitions dragged on for many years. The deceased Catherine was replaced on the throne by Paul, after Paul Alexander I began to reign. He got acquainted with Kulibin's proposal, "how it is more convenient and without burdening the treasury to put into use machine ships on the Volga River, for the benefit of the state." Kulibin asked for little: to give him two years in advance of his salary for the construction of the ship. In case of failure, he assumed all the costs. The king granted the inventor's request. In 1891, Kulibin and his family left St. Petersburg for Nizhny Novgorod to start building a navigation vessel.

Even before arriving in Nizhny Novgorod, he outlined a program and methods for carrying out his experiments, and immediately began to design and build a trial ship. According to Ivan Petrovich's son, "... he spent 1802 - 1803 - 1804 in this exercise, worked, sparing neither strength nor health, enduring cruel winds, dampness and frost, zealous to speed up the fulfillment of his ardent desire." Ivan Petrovich was already 70 years old, and he "could hardly overcome the dream of not an easy task."

The official test of the trial machine ship by the government commission took place on September 28. Its results were quite favorable. With a load of eight thousand five hundred pounds, the ship was moving against the current at a speed of 409 fathoms per hour. Nizhny Novgorod Governor A.M. Runovsky, noting the "excellent diligence and zeal of I.P. Kulibin", informed the government that the use of this vessel on the Volga "would not be useless for navigation." But hunters use a machine-made vessel. Kulibin was never found. It stood by the shore and rotted, and on the Volga, as of old, ships were pulled with a tow line and a barge song was heard, "like a groan."

In 1807, by order of the governor, Kulibin handed over the ship to the City Duma for storage against receipt, and sent the drawings to the Ministry of the Interior. But it was not in the interests of the then ruling class to support measures to reduce the labor force through the mechanization of labor. Kulibin's project was rejected, and the ship was sold for firewood for 200 rubles.

The last dream of the inventor was a perpetual motion machine. Kulibin died, surrounded by blueprints, working to his last breath. In order to bury him, the wall clock had to be sold. In the house of the inventor, known far beyond the borders of Russia, there was not a penny. He lived and died a beggar.

The fate of Kulibin, like the fate of other inventors, reflects the painful process of the struggle between the progressive elements of Russian society, striving to develop domestic industry on the basis of advanced machine technology in the depths of the feudal serf system, and the conservative forces of noble Russia of the 18th century, who want to suppress these elements, slow down progressive aspirations.

The tragedy of Kulibin is the tragedy of a genius who could not overcome the conservative forces of that time and therefore did not see his plans come true.

(Materials from the books of N. Kochin "Kulibin" and V. Pipunyrov "Ivan Petrovich Kulibin" were used.)