Clément Ader (2 April 1841 – 3 May 1925) was a French inventor and engineer who was born near

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

Muret Muret (; in Gascon Occitan ''Murèth'') is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Muretains''. It is an outer suburb of the ci ...

Haute-Garonne Haute-Garonne (; oc, Nauta Garona, ; en, Upper Garonne) is a department in the Occitanie region of Southwestern France. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country's ...

, and died in Toulouse. He is remembered primarily for his pioneering work in

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

. In 1870 he was also one of the pioneers in the sport of cycling in France.

Electrical and mechanical inventions

Ader was an innovator in both electrical and

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

. He originally studied

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, and in 1878 improved on the

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

invented by

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Te ...

. After this he established the telephone network in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1880. In 1881, he invented the

théâtrophone Théâtrophone ("the theatre phone") was a telephonic distribution system available in portions of Europe that allowed the subscribers to listen to opera and theatre performances over the telephone lines. The théâtrophone evolved from a Clément ...

, a system of telephonic transmission where listeners received a separate channel for each ear, enabling stereophonic perception of the actors on a set; it was this invention which gave the first

stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

transmission of opera performances, over a distance of 2 miles (3 km) in 1881. In 1903, he devised a

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...

for the

Paris–Madrid race :''See also the 1911 Paris to Madrid air race.'' The Paris–Madrid race of May 1903 was an early experiment in auto racing, organized by the Automobile Club de France (ACF) and the Spanish Automobile Club, Automóvil Club Español. At the time ...

, but although three or four were produced, none was sold.

Aircraft prototypes

Following his work with V8 engines, Ader turned to the problem of mechanical flight and until the end of his life gave much time and money to this. Using the studies of

Louis Pierre Mouillard Louis Pierre Mouillard (September 30, 1834 – September 20, 1897) was a French artist and innovator who worked on human mechanical flight in the second half of the 19th century. He based much of his work on the investigation of birds in Algeri ...

(1834–1897) on the flight of birds, he constructed his first flying machine in 1886, the ''

Ader Éole The ''Ader Éole'', also called ''Avion'' (French for ''aeroplane''), was an early steam-powered aircraft developed by Clément Ader in the 1890s and named after the Greco-Roman wind god Aeolus. Design and development Unlike many early flying m ...

''. It was a bat-like design run by a lightweight

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

of his own invention, with 4 cylinders with a

power rating In electrical engineering and mechanical engineering, the power rating of equipment is the highest power input allowed to flow through particular equipment. According to the particular discipline, the term ''power'' may refer to electrical or me ...

of , driving a four-blade

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

. The engine weighed . The wings had a span of . All-up weight was . On 9 October 1890 Ader attempted to fly the ''Éole''. Aviation historians give credit to this effort as a powered take-off and uncontrolled flight in ground effect of approximately at a height of approximately .Encyclopædia Britannica: Clément Ader
/ref> Ader also claimed credit for getting off the ground in the Éole. Ader began construction of a second aircraft he called the ''

Avion II The ''Avion II'' (originally referred to as the ''Zephyr'' (west wind) or the ''Éole II'') was the second primitive aircraft designed by Clément Ader in the 1893. Most sources agree that work on it was never completed, Ader abandoning it in fav ...

'', also referred to as the ''Zephyr'' or ''Éole II''. Most sources agree that work on this aircraft was never completed, and it was abandoned in favour of the ''Avion III''. Ader's later claim that he flew the ''Avion II'' in August 1892 for a distance of in

Satory Satory is an area south of Versailles in France. It is mostly known for its military camp, housing: * Weapon-testing facilities of Nexter Systems * Barracks and facilities for Gendarmerie including the GIGN headquarters and the Mobile Genda ...

near Paris, was never widely accepted. Clement Ader Avion French patent 205155 of 19 April 1890

Ader's progress attracted the interest of the minister of war,

Charles de Freycinet Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet (; 14 November 1828 – 14 May 1923) was a French statesman and four times Prime Minister during the Third Republic. He also served an important term as Minister of War (1888–1893). He belonged to the Opp ...

. With the backing of the French War Office, Ader developed and constructed the ''

Avion III The ''Avion III'' (sometimes referred to as the ''Aquilon'' or the ''Éole III'') was a steam-powered aircraft built by Clément Ader between 1892 and 1897, financed by the French War Office. Retaining the same bat-like configuration of the ...

''. It resembled an enormous bat made of linen and wood, with a wingspan, equipped with two four-bladed

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

propellers, each powered by a steam engine of . Using a circular track at Satory, Ader carried out taxiing trials on 12 October 1897 and two days later attempted a flight. After a short run the machine was caught by a gust of wind, slewed off the track, and came to a stop. After this the French army withdrew its funding, but kept the results secret. The commission released in November 1910 the official reports on Ader's attempted flights, stating that they were unsuccessful.

Book on aviation

Clément Ader remained an active proponent of the development of aviation. In 1909 he published '' L'Aviation Militaire'', a very popular book which went through 10 editions in the five years before the

First World War 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 ...

. It is notable for its vision of aerial warfare and for its foreseeing the form of the modern

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

, with a flat flight deck, an island superstructure, deck elevators and a hangar bay. His idea for an aircraft carrier was relayed by the US

naval attaché A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includ ...

in Paris and was followed by the first trials in the United States in November 1910.

Influence

Ader is still admired for his early powered flight efforts, and his aircraft gave the French language the word ''

avion Avion may refer to: * Avion, the French and Spanish name for airplane (powered fixed-wing aircraft); coming from Latin "avis" (bird). Same family as "aviation" ** Avion II and Avion III by Clément Ader * Avion (band) * Avion (car) * Avion, Pas-de ...

'' for a heavier-than-air aircraft. In 1938, France issued a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

honoring him.

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...

named one of its aircraft assembly sites in

after him. Clément Ader has been referred to as "the father of aviation".

Notes

External links

*
Clement Ader

Clement Ader's first flight in 1879 ?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ader, Clement 1841 births 1925 deaths People from Muret Aviation pioneers Aircraft designers French aerospace engineers Aerial warfare pioneers Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur