Raúl Pateras Pescara
Encyclopedia
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
in 1890 and died in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1966), marquis
Marquis
Marquis is a French and Scottish title of nobility. The English equivalent is Marquess, while in German, it is Markgraf.It may also refer to:Persons:...
of Pateras-Pescara, was an Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
lawyer and inventor specializing in seaplane
Seaplane
A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...
s and helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
s, as well as motors, compressors, and the Pescara free-piston engine
Free-piston engine
A free-piston engine is a linear, 'crankless' internal combustion engine, in which the piston motion is not controlled by a crankshaft but determined by the interaction of forces from the combustion chamber gases, a rebound device and a load device A free-piston engine is a linear, 'crankless'...
.
Biography
At the beginning of the 20th century, his family returned from Buenos Aires to Europe. He worked with Gustave EiffelGustave Eiffel
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was a French structural engineer from the École Centrale Paris, an architect, an entrepreneur and a specialist of metallic structures...
on wind tunnel
Wind tunnel
A wind tunnel is a research tool used in aerodynamic research to study the effects of air moving past solid objects.-Theory of operation:Wind tunnels were first proposed as a means of studying vehicles in free flight...
research to test a model torpedo-launching seaplane named the Pateras Pescara.
In 1912, the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Ministry of the Navy tested the first aquatic torpedo launcher, based on the Pescara's model. Pescara met Alberto Santos Dumont in Paris at the beginning of the First World War.
In 1917, he applied in Spain for patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
number 63,659, April 7, 1917, which would be followed by 98 other patents until 1929.
From 1919, Pescara built several true coaxial helicopters, primarily described in his tenth French patent entitled "Rational helicopter" and submitted numerous patents across several countries. He first tested his machine indoor in 1921, before moving to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, where government funding was available.
On January 28, 1924, near Paris, "The Marquis Pateras Pescara broke his own world’s records for helicopter flight by remaining in the air eight minutes 13 4/5 seconds while flying 1,160 meters - about two-thirds of a mile – in a vertical line." Equipped with this type of coaxial double rotor apparatus, he was able to achieve a new world record on April 18, 1924 with a flight of 736 m (804.9 yd) in 4 minutes 11 seconds (approximately 13 km/h) at a height of 1.8 metre.
In 1929, with his brother Henri, the Italian engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
Moglia, and the Spanish government, he founded La Fabrica Nacional de Automobiles ("National Automobile Factory") with an investment of 70 million pesetas
Spanish peseta
The peseta was the currency of Spain between 1869 and 2002. Along with the French franc, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra .- Etymology :...
. A car, the Nacional Pescara, was exhibited at the 1931 Paris Motor Show, at the Grand Palais
Grand Palais
This article contains material abridged and translated from the French and Spanish Wikipedia.The Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées, commonly known as the Grand Palais , is a large historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France...
, on the stand neighboring Voisin's
Avions Voisin
Avions Voisin was a French luxury automobile brand established by Gabriel Voisin.Gabriel B. Voisin was an aviation pioneer and manufacturer who in 1919 started producing cars using Knight-type sleeve valve engines at Issy-les-Moulineaux, an industrial suburb to the South West of Paris.Former...
. In 1931 this eight-cylinder car won the European Grand Prix for hill climbing.
The Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
forced Pescara to return to France.
On February 28, 1933, the Pescara Auto-compressor Company was unveiled in Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
. It remained in business for 30 years, supported by six French patents. One of its shareholders was the Pescara & Raymond Corporation based in Dover, Delaware
Dover, Delaware
The city of Dover is the capital and second largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, and the principal city of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County. It is located on the St. Jones River in the Delaware...
, USA. Pescara auto-compressors fall into two basic types: symmetrical and asymmetrical.
During the Second World War, Pescara worked on electrical power in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. Free-piston engine
Free-piston engine
A free-piston engine is a linear, 'crankless' internal combustion engine, in which the piston motion is not controlled by a crankshaft but determined by the interaction of forces from the combustion chamber gases, a rebound device and a load device A free-piston engine is a linear, 'crankless'...
s received new attention when they were mass-produced by SIGMA which developed the GS34, a 1200-horsepower
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
generator. Pescara rejoined his sons in Paris in 1963 where he served as an expert for S.N Marep which was testing its 2000-horsepower ELPH 40.
Raúl Pateras-Pescara subsequently proposed the production of more powerful machines - new tandem generators based on the existing EPLH 40 and GS34). The formation of a company to apply these processes was underway when Pescara died.
Further reading
- de Pescara, Christian. Aérofrance, pages 28–31. Issue 108. Dépôt légal: n° CPPAP 61682.
- de Pescara, Christian. Association des Amis du Musée de l'air. Pégase, pages 12–21 ISBN - 0399-9939.