Coanda – a Prolific Inventor

Henri Coanda

Academician and Romanian engineer

Pioneer of aviation – he brought his

contribution to the development of the

development of aviation before the I World

War.

Physician

Inventor of the jet engine and discoverer of the

effect that bears his name – the Coanda Effect.

The jet plane

Coanda’s life I

He was born on 7 June 1886 in Bucharest.While being a student at the Military High Schoolfrom Iasi, he designed and built a series ofpyrotechnic rockets with the obvious purpose toexperiment the jet propulsion of the heavier than airaircrafts.He graduated as an artillery officer, but he was moreinterested in the technical problems of flight,therefore he continues his studies at the PolytechnicSchool fromCharlottenburg, then at the Superiour School ofElectricity from Liege and Superiour School fromMontefiori.In 1909, after graduation, he left to Paris where heattended the Superior School of Aeronautics whichhe also graduated the following year.

The Coanda Effect

Coanda’s life II

In 1910, at the International Event of Aeronautics, he displayed his plane with a jet engine designed and built all by himself. At the end of the exhibition, he went with his plane on the field from Issy les Moulineux where he flew with it and reached an amazing speed which frightened him – this is considered to be the first flight of a plane with a jet engine.

Between 1911 - 1914 Henri Coanda worked as technical manager and engine director of the Bristol AeroplaneCompany, England where he designed several airoplanes, one of them winning a prize at the British Military Airplane Competition.

During the World War I, at the request of the French government, Coanda designed a series of planes, among which an aircraft with two propellers mounted close to the tail, thus becoming one of the first constructors of bi-engine planes in the world.

250 patents in Coanda’s career

Coanda’s life III

In 1934 he discovered the Coanda effect – “the procedure or device for the deviation of a fluid into another one”

In 1969 he returned to Romania where he reorganized the Department of Aeronautical Engineering of the Polytechnic Universit of Bucharest.

Although he was in his 80s, Coanda kept being active as a researcher in order to make improvements in different domains: medical, optic, acoustic.

Henri Coanda died on 25 November 1972, and many of his amazing patens are to be found at the Technic Museum “Prof. Dr. Leonida” from Bucharest.

A life dedicated to aviation

The main innovations which made Coanda’s plane unique at the exhibition from Paris 1910

The plane used a 4-cylinder piston engine to power a rotary compressor which was intended to propel the craft by a combination of suction at the front and airflow out the rear instead of using a propeller (the jet engine)

The main struts of the wings were made of steel, not wood There were slit flaps at the slats The profile of the wings had a sharp curve of constant

thickness on the whole surface The wings had different sizes and the superior one was

staggered forward The plane was a “sesquiplan” because the inferior wing was

six times smaller than the superior one The fuel and oil tanks were situated on the superior wing The wings were fastened on the fuselage with only two

pairs of mullions made of steel tubes

Many awards received for his inventions

The Inovations of the new plane with jet

engine

The air absorbed by the compressor of the engine was thrown backwards with a tremendous speed, this way the propulsion of the plane was created.The fuel tanks of the plane were placed in the superior side of the aircraft.The cloth was replaced with a painted plywood in order to oppose a force as small as possible.The wings were equipped with a damper at the slats.The landing gear was partially retractable.

Coanda Memorial Home

Inventions and discoveries

1910:The Coanda-1910, an experimental aircraft constructed for air-reactive propulsion

1911: An aircraft powered by two engines driving a single propeller

He invented a new decorative material for use in construction, beton-bois, which was used at the Palace of Culture from Iasi

1926: Working in Romania, Coandă developed a device to detect liquids under ground, useful in petroleum prospecting. Shortly thereafter, in the Persian Gulf region, he designed a system for offshore oil drilling

Probably the most famous of Coandă's discoveries is the Coandă Effect

A modular system of sea water desalination and transformation to fresh water, based on solar energy, a clean, ecological and adaptable system

Quote by Henri Coanda in the book "The Prowling Mind of Henri Coanda" written by Harry G. Stine

"These airplanes we have today are no more than a perfection of a toy made of paper children use to play with. My opinion is we should search for a completely different flying machine, based on other flying principles. I consider the aircraft of the future, that which will take off vertically, fly as usual and land vertically. This flying machine should have no parts in movement. The idea came from the huge power of the cyclons.“

Henri Coanda – pioneer of Romanian and world

aviation

250 patents

International Recognition

On 3 April 1960, in a festivity organized by the United Nations for Education, Science and Culture, he was awarded the Order of Merit for Scientific Research, and a year later he was awarded the Military Medal of the French aeronautics as well.

Coanda 1910 – the first plane with a jet engine

The Sledge Coanda 1911

The Aniversary Medal

1910-2010 Celebration of 100 years since the invention of the jet plane

Henri Coanda – Portraits on stamps

Henri Coanda’s Brevets

jet propulsion – aerodynamic lenticular

Henri Coanda Airport from Bucuresti – the biggest airport in

Romania

The Coanda Effect

Henri Coanda – bust statue

Henri Coanda - Romanian

Henri Coanda – Thinker

” Many” people from the modern society are like boatmen: they pull the oars, but they stay with their back to the future”

Henri Coanda in literature