Claude François Joseph d'Auxiron

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Claude François Joseph d'Auxiron (born May 31, 1731 in Besançon , Franche-Comté , France , † March 27, 1778 in Paris ) was a French engineer, inventor and pioneer of steam navigation . He was Chevalier des Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis .

family

Claude d'Auxiron was the son of Jean-Baptiste d'Auxiron, a doctor of medicine, and Anne-Elisabeth Maire. He had two older brothers, Jean Baptiste and Pierre Claude. He never married and had no offspring.

Military time

He studied at the École royale d'artillerie de Metz and showed special skills in mathematics and natural sciences. He then served first in the Regiment d'infanterie d'Austrasie , and later he was a lieutenant in an artillery regiment. After seeing steam engines in action in England , he wrote a treatise on how steam engines could be used to supply Paris with water. He also wrote on principles of governance.

Steamship pioneer

With his friend Charles François Monnin de Follenay, Claude François Joseph d'Auxiron discussed the possibility of propelling ships using steam engines. The idea fascinated him so much that in 1770 he left the army and went to Paris to build a steamship. For two years he tried to get a hearing from the state authorities until he finally got the promise on May 14, 1772 that he would receive the sole right of use for 15 years if he managed to build a functioning steamship. He started a company and Monnin de Follenay helped him find financial backers.

On the Île des Cygnes near Paris, work had now begun on a ship that was launched in December 1772. The ship was equipped with a brick foundation for fire protection, on which the steam boiler was installed in January 1773. In April the cylinder was finally mounted on the boiler. Claude Périer visited the ship on April 21, 1773 . The population initially mocked the steamship, but a short time later there were threats and d'Auxiron had the ship guarded by the military. It was later moved to Meudon , where it sank on one night in September 1774. Claude d'Auxiron expressed the suspicion that adversaries had deliberately sunk the ship, who in turn claimed that d'Auxiron had sunk the ship himself because he had noticed that it was a bad design. Today it is believed that there was an accident because the steam engine together with the brick foundation were far too heavy for the small ship.

The loss of the ship was a major setback for Claude François Joseph d'Auxiron. He met Claude François Jouffroy d'Abbans , who had also developed the idea of ​​building a steamship. Monnin de Follenay and d'Auxiron encouraged him to build his own boat. A short time later on March 27, 1778, Claude François Joseph d'Auxiron suffered a stroke and died.

Publications

  • Projet patriotique sur les eaux de Paris, ou Mémoire sur les moyens de fournir à la ville de Paris des eaux saines , 1765
  • Principes de tout gouvernement, ou Examen des causes de la splendeur ou de la foiblesse de tout État considéré en lui-même et indépendamment de ses moeurs , 1766 ( Volume 1 online ) ( Volume 2 online )
  • Comparaison du projet de M. de Parieux de l'Académie des Sciences pour donner de l'eau à la ville de Paris , 1769
  • Examen des decisions de M. l'abbe Morelet, sur les trois questions importantes qui sont le sujet de son memoire , 1769
  • Réponse au Mémoire de M. Perronet, par M. d'Auxiron , 1776
  • Théorie des fleuves avec l'art de bâtir dans les eaux et d'en prévenir les racages , 1769 ( online ) (translation of the treatise on hydraulic engineering on rivers by Johann Esaias Silberschlag )

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The biographical dictionary of the Society for the diffusion of useful knowledge , Volume 4, London 1844, p. 249 ( online )
  2. ↑ Louis Figuier: Machine à vapeur , Paris 1867, pp. 157-161 ( online )
  3. ↑ Annales Franc-Comtoises , Volume 4, Besançon 1865, pp. 267–279 ( online )
personal data
SURNAME Auxiron, Claude François Joseph d '
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French engineer, inventor and pioneer of steam navigation
DATE OF BIRTH May 31, 1731
PLACE OF BIRTH Besançon , Franche-Comté , France
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1778
Place of death Paris