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> Gogu Constantinescu The Invention with Outstanding Impacts o Issue: 2012-3 Section: 17-19



Gogu Constantinescu – The Invention with Outstanding Impacts on The World War One

Science is a factor in our lives that has become so important, that we could barely imagine where the world would have arrived without its marvellous influence. Among this decisive field, many personalities have managed to leave an impressing mark on the course of history through their ingenious and tremendously helpful inventions and discoveries. However, science and its inventions are not the only thing that held a significant ground in our civilization's past.

Since we can remember, this planet that we so dearly call Earth has been organised and reorganised by the wars that requested a chance at its resources and conquering of its territories. Whichever part would be declared winning, the changes humanity faced were the same in terms of essence.

Due to his innovative efforts in the field of physics, Gogu Constantinescu became a name who would last for a long time in the history of inventions, holding a decessive role during the important events of this world.

The celebrity of the ingineer was brought to him mainly by his inventions in the dramatic years of The World War I, when his help offered to the allied air force, representing the vital ingredient needed by the english Admiralty in order to gain the upper-hand in the sky battle.

After his entrance in the contest organized by the British Forces, with a view to get efficiency of the firing equipment built on planes, Constantinescu creates the mechanism named by him "Constantinescu Fire Control Gear". This gear was to make possible the shooting by machine guns through the propeller blades with a frequency synchronized with the speed of those blades. Therefore, the frequency of the shooting grew up to 1200 bullets per minute, for each of the two machine-guns mounted to the left and right of the propeller. Due to the success of the British Amiralty, the latter agreed to finance Constantinescu's researches, proceeding to the establishment of a laboratory, in which thei nventor would set up the basis of the physics inovations to come.

As far back as 1901, the engineer, now enjoying a world-wide recognition, planned implementing the ideas connected to a new theory, in this way Gogu elaborating the sonics theory, leading to the creation of a new field in physics, bearing the name of the discovery, i.e. The Sonics.

Sonicity is the science of transmitting mechanical energy through vibrations. Starting from the theory of musical accords, Gogu Constantinescu managed to find the laws for transmitting the mechanical power to the distance through oscillations that propagate in continuous environments (liquid or solid) due to their elasticity. At the Romanian Academy conference of the 14th of November 1919, Gogu Constantinescu presented the multiple functioning of the sonicity in transports, energetics and petroleum drillings. He discovered that these phenomena had their analogies not only with the properties of sound waves and the laws of harmony, but also with AC electrical circuits. Prototypes of rock drills working on the percussion system and polyphase rotary systems were already being demonstrated by 1913. As soon as Gogu Constantinescu founded the the theory of sonicity, he used it to provide the world with inventions such as the sonic engine, the sonic pump and sonic hammer.

An important aspect of his work was the fact that he promoted the usage of reinforced concrete. Because of the disastrous results of the method among various parts of Europe, succeeding was a tough task. Those unfortunate results are exemplified by the Celestial Globe bridge at the Universal Exhibition in Paris, in 1900 and the Black Bear hotel from Basle, 1903. Gogu Constantinescu built, however, the first reinforced concrete bridge with sleepers (a structural member on or near the ground that supports weight) in Romania and fortified the dome of the Parliament Palace in Bucharest, constructions that have defied the passing of the years to this very day.

Moreover, Constantinescu managed to demonstrate a theory which had not been accepted by the physics textbooks at that time, a theory which upheld the compresion of fluids as being possible. Since it requires a great amount of pressure to accomplish a little compression, solids and water were referred to as being incompressible. Still, matter is composed of a collection of atoms and, in actuality, are relatively far apart, therefore the matter is mostly empty space. Even though the forces between the molecules cause their resistance agains being pressed together, they can still be, as demonstrated by the romanian scientist.

Among his achievements, Gogu holds the title of the first scientis to plan and build the "Gogu Constantinescu Torque Converter", which he claimed to be a device that could be universally applied in industry, motor vehicles, railway locomotives, ships, military tanks and agricultural tractors. His idea was to produce a low cost one hundred guinea "peoples' car'' which would travel 100 miles on one gallon of petrol at the most commonly used road speeds of 30 to 40 miles per hour. George arrived at this figure after conducting a comprehensive survey of average car road speeds and designed his car to benefit the most people, rather than a car of higher speed which would only benefit a minority. Therefore he used a cheap 500 cc single cylinder two stroke air cooled engine together with his Torque Converter transmission which would eliminate the conventional gear box and clutch.

Implementing the new theory in the numerous inventions determined the British Army to request the engineer to cooperate thereto without delay. The British Army supported him in his work to create the sonar. The new device was also successfully used by the English, a fact that brought to the Romanian the granting in 1965 of the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the Politechnical University in Bucharest and the membership of the Romanian Academy.

Gogu Constantinescu died even in the same year when official recognition was granted to him. As a result of a life entirely dedicated to science, he left behind his fruitful work, which managed to significantly influence history. Gogu Constantinescu is a Romanian who belongs to history.