Alfred Maul (1870–1942) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

who could be thought of as the father of

aerial reconnaissance Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. The role of reconnaissance can fulfil a variety of requirements including artillery spotting, the collection of ima ...

. Maul, who owned a machine works, experimented from 1900 with small solid-propellant

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...

Background

Although people had long been experimenting with rockets, hardly anyone had used them in a practical application. It was Alfred Maul, an industrialist and engineer born in

Pößneck Pößneck (also spelled ''Poessneck'') is a town in the Saale-Orla-Kreis district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 19 km east of Rudolstadt, and 26 km south of Jena. History Pößneck, which is of Slavonic origin, passed about 1 ...

, in the Duchy of

Saxe-Meiningen Saxe-Meiningen (; german: Sachsen-Meiningen ) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin dynasty, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia. Established in 1681, by partition of the Ernestin ...

, that thought of, and implemented, the idea of taking photographs of the land with a rocket-attached camera. He was inspired by Ludwig Rahrmann, who in 1891 patented a means of attaching a camera to a large calibre artillery projectile or rocket. Previously, aerial photographs had been taken from balloons and kites, and in 1896 or 1897 by

Alfred Nobel Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( , ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedes, Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He is best known for having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel ...

's rocket, from a small rocket at 100 metres altitude. (photographs by Alfred Nobel and the Bavarian pigeon fleet) In 1903 Julius Neubronner's pigeons were used to take aerial photos but found to be too unreliable.

Camera rocket development

In 1903, Alfred Maul patented his

Maul Camera Rocket The Maul Camera Rocket was a rocket for aerial photography developed by Alfred Maul's company from 1903 to 1912. The Maul Camera Rocket was demonstrated in 1912 to the Austrian Army and tested as a means for reconnaissance in the Turkish-Bulgari ...

. (summary and photo) The camera would be launched into the air with a

black powder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Th ...

rocket. When the rocket had reached an altitude of about 600 to 800 meters, a few seconds later, its top would spring open and the camera would descend on a parachute. A timer would trigger the taking of the photograph. In 1904, Maul managed to image the local landscape from a 600-metre altitude. A military application for Maul's technique was intended and, on 22 August 1906, a secret demonstration occurred before military observers at the Glauschnitz firing range. Maul developed his camera rocket further for the purpose of

military reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmishers, ...

. He began attaching

gyroscopic A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rotat ...

-stabilized plate cameras in 1907. In 1912, his rocket cameras were using a 20 by 25 centimetre photographic plate and gyroscopic steering to ensure stable flight and sharper images. The rocket weighed 41 kilograms.

Aeroplanes take over

Maul's rockets achieved no military significance because conventional aeroplanes during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

succeeded in the role of aerial reconnaissance. The

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with about 28,000 exhibited objects from ...

in Munich displays a Maul-built rocket.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maul, Alfred 1864 births 1941 deaths People from Pößneck People from Saxe-Meiningen German aerospace engineers Photographers from Thuringia Aerial photographers Aerial reconnaissance pioneers Engineers from Thuringia