Charles Renard (1847–1905) born in Damblain,

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...

, was a French military engineer.

Airships

After the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

of 1870-1871 he started work on the design of

airships An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding ai ...

at the French army aeronautical department. Together with Arthur C. Krebs and his brother Paul, in 1884 he constructed '' La France'', which made its

maiden flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. In the early days of aviation it could be dange ...

on 9 August 1884 at

Chalais-Meudon Chalais-Meudon is an aeronautical research and development centre in Meudon, to the south-west of Paris. It was originally founded in 1793 in the nearby Château de Meudon and has played an important role in the development of French aviation. ...

, making a 23-minute circular flight. This was the first time that a flying machine made a flight which returned to the place of take-off. It was later exhibited at the Paris

Exposition Universelle (1889) The of 1889 (), better known in English as the 1889 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 6 May to 31 October 1889. It was the fifth of ten major expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. It attracted more t ...

Preferred numbers

Ca. 1877 he proposed a now widely used system of preferred numbers known as Renard numbers that was later reportedly published in an 1886 instruction for captive balloon troops, named after him in the 1920s and finally became

international standard An international standard is a technical standard developed by one or more international standards organizations. International standards are available for consideration and use worldwide. The most prominent such organization is the International O ...

ISO 3. It helped the French army to reduce the number of different balloon

rope A rope is a group of yarns, Plying, plies, fibres, or strands that are plying, twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have high tensile strength and can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger ...

s kept on

inventory Inventory (British English) or stock (American English) is a quantity of the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation. Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying ...

from 425 to 17.

Road Train

Colonel Renard invented the Renard Road Train first developed by Darracq and displayed by them in 1903 later developed in England by Daimler. The leading motor unit having generated the power transmits it by a continuous shaft united between the carriages by a universal joint to the driving wheels of each carriage. These, each carriage being six-wheeled, are the central pair and are shod with iron, the resulting road-shock being taken by the springs and rubber tyres on the other wheels. Each vehicle is steered by its predecessor through a series of rods and linkages and when a Renard train rounds a corner each vehicle follows precisely in the track of its predecessor. They were powered by a 16.1 litre Daimler engine and the last carriage always cut the cornerLord Montagu and David Burgess-Wise ''Daimler Century''; Stephens 1995

Academy

Depressed by the French government's refusal to fund his experiments and the rejection of his candidacy for membership of the French ''Académie des Sciences'' he committed suicide in April 1905. The ''Académie'' recognized his achievements by the award of the ''Prix Plumey'' for 1902 and the posthumous award of the ''Prix Poncelet'' for 1907.

References

* Hallion, Richard P., ''Taking Flight''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003

External links