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Ernest Bazin is one of the most underrated inventors of the XNUMXth century. We tell how a simple sailor became the captain of Nemo of his time and made our life easier
How Bazin Became an Inventor
Little is known about the biography of the Frenchman Ernest Bazin: even his memoirs have not survived to this day. The future inventor was born in the city of Angers in western France in 1826. He was a curious child, constantly striving to learn new things. At the age of 15, his father assigned him as a cabin boy on a ship, and over the next 10 years, Ernest sailed the oceans, studied geography and maritime affairs.
Upon returning home, Bazin immersed himself in invention. He was not a scientist by education, but this did not prevent him from improving and patenting new inventions one after another. He was such a popular character of his time that he was known almost all over the world. Ernest Bazin was even personally acquainted with the emperor Napoleon III and the great Russian prince Constantine.
The main difference between Bazin and other inventors of his time was that he was looking for in his inventions not scientific, but practical value. Thanks to this, he not only received funds for new inventions, but was able to work only for himself as an individual entrepreneur.
In his hometown, Ernest Bazin was remembered for his love of electricity. He created a project for the lighting of Angers, and also worked hard on the electrification of the quarries located near the city. In addition, he developed a number of innovative electrical appliances for his time, such as an electric plow and a rock drill for drilling tunnels.
The inventor died in 1898, without having completed his main invention – a boat on wheels – to the end.
Key Inventions
1. Boat on wheels
A boat on wheels is a vessel capable of reaching high speeds due to hollow underwater disks. Bazin considered that if the ship was “lifted” above the water with the help of an underwater structure, then it was possible to reduce the resistance of the water and achieve much greater speed with the same power. Accordingly, the structure of the ship was a boat on “wheels”, which were set in motion separately from the ship’s propeller and raised the ship above the water level.
The “wheels” themselves were discs, resembling a lens in shape, tapering towards the end, like the hulls of ships. That is why they perfectly kept their balance in the water, and when gaining speed, they created additional traction, thanks to which the ship moved faster.
The first ship of this design was called “Ernest Bazin” – after the name of its creator. It was launched in 1896 and made a splash: the New York Times even wrote about the ship, claiming that with the help of new technology it was possible to cross the ocean in just four days. However, during the tests, it became clear that the ship was not suitable for transporting passengers, since the “wheels” slowed down after reaching a certain speed and only slowed down the ship.
Despite the fact that the invention was not widely used, it became the prototype of modern hydrofoil ships. When gaining speed, hydrofoils lift the ship above the water with the help of lift, due to which the ship develops a speed that is not possible for conventional ships. For example, according to this principle, the well-known Meteors in St. Petersburg work today.
2. Diving bell (dome)
It was not Bazin who originally invented the diving bell. It is difficult to say who is the inventor of the construction, since the mention of it dates back to the XNUMXth century BC. However, divers all over the world are indebted to Bazin for being the first to propose to conduct electricity into the bell to illuminate the seabed. The inventor also proposed to create a steel structure and add “windows” through which the diver could see what was happening around.
Despite the fact that there was no additional air supply system in the bell, it was still used quite widely. Bazin personally conducted tests on the use of an improved invention, and even sank in it to a depth of 80-90 meters. Moreover, the scientist inadvertently became the founder of underwater photography: thanks to electric lighting and windows in the body of the bell, he was able to take the world’s first photograph of the seabed using a long-exposure camera. Unfortunately, these photographs were not published and have not survived to this day.
Thanks to the invention of the diving bell, Bazin went on an expedition to Spain to look for gold on galleons sunk at the beginning of the XNUMXth century. On this trip, he fulfilled the dream of many inventors, literally finding himself in Jules Verne’s book “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.” It was with the help of his inventions that Bazin descended to the sunken ships and studied them in detail under an electric light led to an improved diving bell. Moreover, he applied another of his inventions: a special device for lifting objects from the seabed, called the “Bazan extractor”.
3. Bazin extractor
Bazin extractor – a device that was attached to a ship and used to take samples at the bottom of a reservoir. It was a complex structure in the form of a tube, which was set in motion by a system of engines. At its end was a Bazin grinder, which crushed large objects into small particles, which were then drawn into a compartment inside the ship by a special pump. Considering that before the only way to sink to the bottom were divers and divers (who just used the diving bell improved by Bazin), Bazin’s extractor made a real breakthrough. It is believed that this device was actively used during the construction of the Suez Canal.
Memories of contemporaries
Unfortunately, the memoirs of Bazin himself, which would have made it possible to learn more about his creative process and ideas, have not been preserved. However, the records of his contemporaries remained, who were delighted with his lively mind and thirst for inventions.
- Michel Vassier, author of the only book on Ernest Bazin, described him as one of the few inventors who was absorbed not in complex scientific problems, but in the practical application of his inventions. Ernest Bazin was truly a man of his age: he loved progress and novelty and was interested in everything from conquering the air to household appliances. Vassier believes that it was thanks to Bazin’s indefatigable mind that our world became simpler and more convenient, and that his inventions, sometimes extravagant, but mostly useful, were ahead of their time.
- An article by the French magazine Le Monde Illustré on Grand Duke Constantine’s visit to the workshops of Bazaine describes the engineer as “a bold and peaceful pioneer of progress”. Indeed, for the inventor, there seemed to be no difficulties: he was ready to endlessly improve his inventions until he achieved the result that satisfied him. And only death prevented Bazin from completing his latest invention.
- Oscar Colson in 1913 admired the inexhaustible imagination of the inventor. He was amazed at how, in such a fairly short period of time, Bazin patented a huge number of inventions with a wide variety of applications: from serious technical designs to ordinary household devices, such as an electric vegetable peeler. It is interesting that the inventor created all this without having a full-fledged engineering education – he simply gave free rein to his imagination and used the knowledge that he received while wandering the seas.