Alexandre Goupil
Alexandre Goupil was a French aero inventor.
Goupil constructed a monoplane with 27 square meters of wing surface and a deep body for carrying propulsion apparatus and passengers. This craft included elevators on either side of the body for pitch control. Since they would move independently, they could also be used for roll control. (Later known as elevons—a combination of elevator and aileron.) In a December 1883 test this vessel rose in the breeze with two men on board, subsequently crash landing after the wing folded in higher wind.[1]
In 1884, Goupil published La Locomotion Aérienne, a book exploring the main problems in heavier-air-flight including propulsion and lift. It also describes his personal work and a his navigation system for controlling airflight along three axes. Albert Francis Zahm considers this exposition to reflect the invention of the aileron.[2]
Glenn Curtiss (& co) built a "Goupil Duck" in 1916, but it was mostly flightless.[3] (Zahm had a higher opinion of the flight, and later wrote that it vindicated Goupil.)[2]
Patents whose inventor or applicant is Alexandre Goupil
- Patent FR-1883-158220 (English title: Improvement in aero apparatus by way of airplanes)
Publications by or about Alexandre Goupil
- Goupil, 1880, Aviation (Simple title: Aviation, Journal: La Chron. Ind.)
- Goupil, 1884, La locomotion aérienne (Simple title: Aerial locomotion)
- Goupil, 1884, Construction d'un aéroplane (Simple title: Construction of an airplane, Journal: L'Aéronaute)
- Publication 287, 1884, Aéroplane Goupil (Simple title: The Goupil airplane, Journal: La Chron. Ind.)
- Publication 5411, 1885, Goupil's flying machine (Simple title: Goupil's flying machine, Journal: Scient. Amer. • Can. Mag.)
- Goupil, 1886, Anémomètre pour cerf-volant (Simple title: Kite anemometer, Journal: L'Aéronaute)
- Goupil, 1893, Aviation, étude, expérimentation, observations et déductions (Simple title: Aviation, study, experimentation, observations and deductions)
- Goupil, 1893, Aviation, étude, expérimentation, observations et déductions (Simple title: Aviation, study, experimentation, observations and deductions, Journal: Texte. Tours)
- Goupil, 1904, Aérodynamique (Simple title: Aerodynamic)
- Goupil, 1905, À propos de la voiture du cerf-voltant Hargrave (Simple title: About the Hargrave Kite Car, Journal: L'Aérophile)
- Goupil, 1905, Calculs sur l'aéroplane de M. Archdeacon expérimenté sur le Seine, les 8 juin et 18 juillet 1905 (Simple title: Calculations on the airplane of Mr. Archdeacon experienced on the Seine, June 8 and July 18, 1905, Journal: L'Aérophile)
- Goupil, 1905, Equilibre d'un cerf-volant de 1m² de surface, s'étant tenu à une position très voisine de la verticale du lieu de retenue (Simple title: Equilibrium of a kite with a surface area of 1m², standing at a position very close to the vertical of the holding site, Journal: L'Aérophile)
- Goupil, 1905, Pourquoi les voitures du cerf-volant Hargrave donnent de la stabilité (Simple title: Why Hargrave Kite Cars Give Stability, Journal: L'Aérophile)
- Castagneris, 1905, L'Istituto speciale di aerodinamica di Koutchino (Simple title: The special institute for aerodynamics at Koutchino and the worldwide technical development of aerodynamics, Journal: Bollettino della Società Aeronautica Italiana)
- Goupil, 1907, Le pour et le contre (Simple title: For and against, Journal: L'Aérophile)
- Goupil, 1907, Sur la direction de la résultante des reactions sur un plan mince et sur le principe du mouvement relatif (Simple title: On the direction of the resultant reactions on a thin plane and on the principle of relative motion, Journal: L'Aérophile)
- Goupil, 1907, Virage d'un aéroplane (Simple title: Turn of an airplane, Journal: L'Aérophile)
- Goupil, 1908, Un appareil indicateur de pente pour l'aéroplane et l'inutilité de tels instruments (Simple title: A device indicating slope for the airplane and the uselessness of such instruments, Journal: L'Aérophile)
- Goupil, 1908, À propos de l'indicateur de pente (Simple title: About the slope indicator, Journal: L'Aérophile)
- Goupil, 1908, Autour du coefficient K. Pour le calcul d'un aéroplane (Simple title: Around the coefficient K. For the calculation of an airplane, Journal: L'Aérophile)
- Goupil, 1908, Dynamisme du planement (Simple title: Dynamism of the planement, Journal: L'Aérophile)
- Goupil, 1908, Sur le vol à voile (Simple title: On gliding, Journal: L'Aérophile)
- Goupil, 1908, Le pour le contre (Simple title: The for against, Journal: L'Aérophile)
- Goupil, 1909, Gyroplanes (Simple title: Gyroplanes, Journal: L'Aérophile)
Links
- Text of La Locomotion Aérienne (1884) on archive.org
- Alexandre Goupil on Carroll Gray's Flying Machines website
References
- ↑ Hallion, 2003, pp. 126–127.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Albert F. Zahm, "Conspectus of Early Powerplane Development", Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington D.C., Vol. 46/46, 1944/1945; JSTOR.
- ↑ Hallion, 2003, p. 292. "The next year, 1916, Curtiss built a full-size aircraft based on Goupil's drawings, the so-called Goupil Duck. It apparently hopped off the ground on one occasion but seems not otherwise to have flown." Footnote: "For photographs and more information on this strange craft, see Peter M. Bowers, Curtiss Aircraft, 1907–1947 (London: Putnam, 1979), 87–88." Details and photos, some maybe from Bowers: [1].