Ivan Ivanovich Polsunov

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Statue of Polsunov in Barnaul

Ivan Polzunov ( Russian Иван Иванович Ползунов ., Scientific transliteration Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov * 1728 in Yekaterinburg , † May 16th . Jul / 27. May  1766 greg. In Barnaul ) was a Russian inventor . He invented the first steam engine in Russia and the first two-cylinder engine in the world.

biography

Polsunow steam engine, 1763

Ivan Polsunow was born into a family of soldiers from Turinsk . After graduating from the mining school ( Горнозаводская Школа ) in Yekaterinburg in 1742, he worked there as a mechanic's assistant. In 1748 he went to Barnaul and worked there as a technician in a metal processing company. He devoted himself intensively to the study of previous scientific knowledge about mechanical engineering, including the works of Mikhail Lomonossow . He was considered an extremely talented employee of the company and was therefore promoted to shift supervisor in 1750 .

In the 1750s, Polsunow was used several times in the development of new silver mines. The fact that at that time the ore was only transported with the use of horses and was therefore not very efficient, prompted Polsunow to develop a special steam engine with which the mining should be technically optimized. By April 1763, Polsunow had drafted a 1.3  kW two-cylinder steam engine. The new machine was able to go into regular use as early as 1766. For this invention, Polsunow was personally honored by Empress Catherine II and promoted to the rank of officer.

After the successful invention of the two-cylinder steam engine, Polsunov began working on the development of a larger thermal power plant, which would be the first of its kind in the world. In 1765 the project was largely finished, but the construction work for the machine turned out to be very difficult. In addition, Polsunow fell ill with tuberculosis as early as 1764 , but this did not prevent him from actively participating in the construction. By 1766 his health deteriorated considerably. He died on May 27, 1766, one week before the first test use of the machine.

Appreciation

The work of Polsunow in Barnaul found its most important recognition in the award of the name Ivan Polsunow to the Technical University. A Polsunov statue was finally erected in front of the main building of the Polsunov State Technical University . There is also Polsunow Street in Barnaul and a restaurant named after Polsunow. The central central belt asteroid (2771) Polzunov is named after him.

literature

  • TO Voyeykov: II Polzunov . In: Russkaya Starina . 40, 1883, pp. 407-416.
  • Nik. von Klobukow: On the history of the steam engine . In: Prometheus, illustrated weekly on advances in trade, industry and science . 3, 1892, pp. 810-812, 827-829.
  • VV Danilevskii: Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov . Ozd-vo Akademii Nauk SSSR, Moscow 1940.
  • Otto Mayr: The Origins of Feedback Control . MIT Press, 1970, ISBN 978-0-262-13067-7 , pp. 77-78, 126.
  • Hannes Hegen: As the tsarina's courier. Berlin, Verlag Junge Welt 1962 ( Mosaic No. 65)

Web links

Commons : Ivan Polzunov  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files


Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lutz D. Schmadel : Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . Fifth Revised and Enlarged Edition. Ed .: Lutz D. Schmadel. 5th edition. Springer Verlag , Berlin , Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7 , pp.  186 (English, 992 pp., Link.springer.com [ONLINE; accessed on September 13, 2019] Original title: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . First edition: Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg 1992): “1978 SP 7 . Discovered 1978 Sept. 26 by LV Zhuravleva at Nauchnyj. "