Yves le Prieur
Encyclopedia
Yves Paul Gaston Le Prieur (March 23, 1885 – died 1963) was an officer of the French Navy
and an inventor.
The glider, named Le Prieur No. 2 after an earlier No. 1 unmanned prototype, was 7.2 m long, 7.0 m wide, and weighed 35 kg. The frame was made of Japanese bamboo, which was covered with calico. Le Prieur had designed the glider in collaboration with Shirou Aibara, a Lieutenant of the Japanese Navy, and Aikitsu Tanakadate, a professor at Tokyo Imperial University. The first flight took place in December 1909 just to the East of the University of Tokyo at Shinobazu Pond with Le Prieur sitting on the glider's main wing. The first flight covered 200 m at an altitude of 10 m.
launcher for bringing down observation balloons.
Le Prieur also patented a number of designs for mechanical lead computing sights
for both ship to ship and anti-aircraft guns.
. The Fernez breathing apparatus consisted of a simple T-shaped rubber mouthpiece. On one side this was connected to a long tube down which air was pumped from the surface. On the other side of the mouthpiece, excess and exhaled air escaped from a simple rubber "ducks bill" valve. The diver's nose was pinched by a pair of spring clamps ("pince nez") to prevent ingress of water, and his eyes were protected by small goggles with rubber surrounds.
Le Prieur was impressed by the simplicity of the Fernez equipment and the freedom it allowed the diver, and he immediately conceived an idea to make it free of the tube to the surface pump by using Michelin cylinders as the air supply. Michelin cylinders contained three litres of air compressed to 150 kg/cm2 supplied by Michelin to garages without air compressors for inflation of car tires. Le Prieur approached Fernez, who cooperated to modify his equipment to Le Prieur's idea, and on 6 August 1926 the "Fernez-Le Prieur" diving apparatus was demonstrated at the swimming pool of Tourelles in Paris. The unit consisted of a cylinder of compressed air carried on the back of the diver, connected to a pressure regulator designed by Le Prieur adjusted manually by the diver, with two gauges, one for tank pressure and one for output (supply) pressure. Air was supplied continually to the mouthpiece and ejected through a short exhaust pipe fitted with a valve as in the Fernez design. For the first time a man could breathe underwater with no connection to the surface at all – Le Prieur had invented the self-contained underwater breathing apparatus – scuba
.
In 1934 Le Prieur was granted French patent 768083 for an improved hand-controlled self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
with full face mask. The patent application was lodged in Paris on 2 February 1934 at 2:32 pm. The patent was awarded on 7 May 1934 and the patent specification was published on 31 July 1934. The equipment delivered air at constant pressure without a demand regulator. Compressed air was contained in a cylinder carried on the diver's chest in a harness, delivering air to the full face mask at a pressure controlled by a hand operated regulator. Excess air, and the diver's exhaled breath, escaped by slightly lifting the edges of the mask.
In 1946, Le Prieur invented a further improvement to his scuba set. Its fullface mask's front plate was loose in its seating and acted as a very big, and therefore very sensitive, diaphragm for a demand regulator: see Diving regulator#Demand valve.
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
and an inventor.
Adventures in the Far East
Le Prieur followed his father in joining the French navy. As an officer he served in Asia and used traditional deep sea diving equipment. He studied Japanese and became sufficiently proficient to be promoted to military attaché and translator at the French Embassy in Tokyo. While there he became the first Frenchman to earn a Black Belt in judo, and the first person to take off in a plane, a glider, from Japanese soil in 1909.The glider, named Le Prieur No. 2 after an earlier No. 1 unmanned prototype, was 7.2 m long, 7.0 m wide, and weighed 35 kg. The frame was made of Japanese bamboo, which was covered with calico. Le Prieur had designed the glider in collaboration with Shirou Aibara, a Lieutenant of the Japanese Navy, and Aikitsu Tanakadate, a professor at Tokyo Imperial University. The first flight took place in December 1909 just to the East of the University of Tokyo at Shinobazu Pond with Le Prieur sitting on the glider's main wing. The first flight covered 200 m at an altitude of 10 m.
First World War
During the First World War he invented the plane-mounted Le Prieur rocketLe Prieur rocket
Le Prieur rockets were a type of incendiary air-to-air rockets used in World War I against observation balloons and airships. They were invented by the French Lieutenant Yves Le Prieur and were first used in the Battle of Verdun on 1916...
launcher for bringing down observation balloons.
Le Prieur also patented a number of designs for mechanical lead computing sights
Mechanical computer
A mechanical computer is built from mechanical components such as levers and gears, rather than electronic components. The most common examples are adding machines and mechanical counters, which use the turning of gears to increment output displays...
for both ship to ship and anti-aircraft guns.
Invention of Scuba
In 1925 Le Prieur saw a demonstration at the Industrial and Technical Exhibition in Paris of a diver using a breathing apparatus invented by Maurice FernezMaurice Fernez
Maurice Fernez was a French inventor and pioneer in the field of underwater breathing apparati, respirators and gas masks. He was pivotal in the transition of diving from the tethered diving helmet and suit of the nineteenth century to the free diving with self contained equipment of the twentieth...
. The Fernez breathing apparatus consisted of a simple T-shaped rubber mouthpiece. On one side this was connected to a long tube down which air was pumped from the surface. On the other side of the mouthpiece, excess and exhaled air escaped from a simple rubber "ducks bill" valve. The diver's nose was pinched by a pair of spring clamps ("pince nez") to prevent ingress of water, and his eyes were protected by small goggles with rubber surrounds.
Le Prieur was impressed by the simplicity of the Fernez equipment and the freedom it allowed the diver, and he immediately conceived an idea to make it free of the tube to the surface pump by using Michelin cylinders as the air supply. Michelin cylinders contained three litres of air compressed to 150 kg/cm2 supplied by Michelin to garages without air compressors for inflation of car tires. Le Prieur approached Fernez, who cooperated to modify his equipment to Le Prieur's idea, and on 6 August 1926 the "Fernez-Le Prieur" diving apparatus was demonstrated at the swimming pool of Tourelles in Paris. The unit consisted of a cylinder of compressed air carried on the back of the diver, connected to a pressure regulator designed by Le Prieur adjusted manually by the diver, with two gauges, one for tank pressure and one for output (supply) pressure. Air was supplied continually to the mouthpiece and ejected through a short exhaust pipe fitted with a valve as in the Fernez design. For the first time a man could breathe underwater with no connection to the surface at all – Le Prieur had invented the self-contained underwater breathing apparatus – scuba
Scuba set
A scuba set is an independent breathing set that provides a scuba diver with the breathing gas necessary to breathe underwater during scuba diving. It is much used for sport diving and some sorts of work diving....
.
In 1934 Le Prieur was granted French patent 768083 for an improved hand-controlled self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
Scuba set
A scuba set is an independent breathing set that provides a scuba diver with the breathing gas necessary to breathe underwater during scuba diving. It is much used for sport diving and some sorts of work diving....
with full face mask. The patent application was lodged in Paris on 2 February 1934 at 2:32 pm. The patent was awarded on 7 May 1934 and the patent specification was published on 31 July 1934. The equipment delivered air at constant pressure without a demand regulator. Compressed air was contained in a cylinder carried on the diver's chest in a harness, delivering air to the full face mask at a pressure controlled by a hand operated regulator. Excess air, and the diver's exhaled breath, escaped by slightly lifting the edges of the mask.
In 1946, Le Prieur invented a further improvement to his scuba set. Its fullface mask's front plate was loose in its seating and acted as a very big, and therefore very sensitive, diaphragm for a demand regulator: see Diving regulator#Demand valve.