Engelbert Zaschka

Engelbert Zaschka (born 1 September 1895 in Freiburg im Breisgau, † June 26, 1955 ) was a German chief engineer, constructor and inventor. Zaschka one of the first German helicopter pioneers and he is a pioneer of flying with muscle strength and the Faltautos. Zaschka devoted himself preferred topics from the fields of aviation and automotive industries, but his work was not limited to this.

Engelbert Zaschka is prominent representatives of the rotary aircraft, a - after Zaschka - own class of rotorcraft systems. Zaschka designed and built 1928/1929 the first collapsible and foldable small car ( Faltauto ) and in 1934 an early human-powered aircraft.

As an author, he published in 1936 one of the first written in German language writings about the nature of the support and helicopter, and is also the author of several technical articles. Zaschka was from 1921 to 1925 chief designer of the motorcycle Orionette the Orionette AG for motor vehicles in the Berlin Oranienstraße 6 He designed and built beyond its own engine systems. Zaschka filed for several patents.

Inventor and engineer

Zaschka rotation plane

At the end of the Roaring Twenties ( 1920 ), in the years 1926/1927, designed and presented, born in Freiburg im Breisgau and Berlin-based senior engineer Engelbert Zaschka one of the first precursor of the support and helicopter.

The basic design of the machine is in Zaschkas German Patent No. 573 961, the on 18-19. June 1926 in the German Reich ( Weimar Republic ) was filed, entitled " Hubschraubenflugzeug ". His invention was patented in the subsequent period, except in Germany and in the USA, UK, France, Switzerland and Denmark.

In Zaschkas invention is a rotary-wing aircraft, a combined carrier and helicopter that was equipped with two rotors. In contrast to the rotorcraft known until that time, the rotors of the Zaschka rotary aircraft with a twin-rotor effective flywheel were necessarily rotationally connected. With this technique, the equilibrium control of the flying machine was realized. The arrangement enabled with the engine turned off the safe vertical gliding run. In Zaschkas patent " Hubschraubenflugzeug " which he filed in Germany in 1926, it literally means:

"If it's too far failed to build screws airmen who generated enough lift, it is so far not yet been able to achieve the stability of the helicopter rotor and the slipperiness with the engine stopped. The invention according to the stability of such aircraft will be achieved by using a rotating wing system is connected to a rotating mass. By placing a rotating flywheel is out of the stability achieved that analogous to the dragon aircraft the inherent kinetic energy away in centrifugal help about sudden obstacles, the fact that the same is converted into work. "

In a constructed in 1927 testing machine with a rotating helicopter rotor 14 meters in diameter was mounted over on a test stand. Zaschka succeeded with an engine power of 15 hp to keep the 360 kg heavy unit start from the ground. The rotary wing made ​​here 100 revolutions per minute, if the gyro had a speed of 1450 min-1.

At Berlin- Tempelhof airport Zaschka 1928 led experiments with another model, the Zaschka helicopters or rotary aircraft, which was equipped with a 7 feet tall and 300 cc DKW engine through. Although the efforts of these first technical tests could be performed just above the ground, it became clear that slowly dropped to the ground when the motor decelerates the apparatus. Thus, the intended result was achieved shortly before touchdown.

The chassis of the test device was used here to develop a high-performance propeller drive, which has already been equipped with a gyroscope. Thus, the axis was stabilized against wind or against side effects of the control. Others, if the aircraft would have been very difficult to control. The gyroscope thus served as energy stores for a glide. From the driver's seat from the angle of the rotating fan blades were adjustable so that the height control could take place. By sitting at the tail end propeller of the horizontal flight could be initiated. The propulsion propeller, which should be used for horizontal flight, but was not tested in practice. The financial support for further test runs and further developments were missing.

It was only in 1936 succeeded Henrich Focke and Gerd Achgelis with the model Focke- Wulf Fw 61 produce the first fully controllable helicopter.

Engelbert Zaschka lived in the 1920s in the Selchower road 15/16 in Berlin- Neukölln.

Zaschka muscle strength aircraft

In 1934 he presented the Zaschka muscle strength aircraft ( Zaschka Human -Power Aircraft, abbreviated Zaschka -HPA ). The construction was tantamount to a large human -powered monoplane. It was with a narrow wing, which spanned about 20 meters, equipped. The frame of the Zaschka muscle strength aircraft consisted of steel tubes. To start the plane of up to four men was accelerated to the nominal airspeed.

In flight tests on July 11, 1934 Engelbert Zaschka could reach 20 meters in length by plane at Tempelhof unassisted jump start floating. Thus, it was a muscle -driven flight without a boot device.

Automotive and motorcycle design

Motorcycle: The German Orionette (1921-1925)

In addition, Engelbert Zaschka was instrumental as chief engineer at Orion Corporation for motor vehicles in Berlin during the construction of the motorcycle Orionette in the years 1921 until 1925. The company is known for motor vehicles under the name Orionette AG and was located in the southeast of Berlin. Zaschka able to create his own design, which was eventually produced in series. The now under monument protection complex Industriehof Orange Street Number 6 in Berlin -Kreuzberg was in the 1920s and 1930s corporate location of the Orionette AG and manufacture of Orionette.

The Orionette AG was one of the most important companies in Berlin for car and motorcycle of the 1920s.

Foldable Car: Zaschka - Three Wheeler

The space and parking problems of the urban areas was already in the 1920s and even 1928/1929 presented inventor Engelbert Zaschka in Berlin the first Faltauto to solve this problem. The Zaschka city car concept had, for the user to be the goal of cost-effective and space-saving, by driving the vehicle could be folded after use. Zaschkas invention could thus be quickly assembled and placed in the apartment. The car was disassembled into three parts, according to the motto: Small car buyers are frugal people; a garage would be an unaffordable luxury for them.

At the tubular frame of the original vehicle combination a lightweight frame was attached, which was clothed with fabric or vinyl. At that time was the manufacture of the pipe frame means that much too expensive. A self-supporting all-steel body would have been the solution that would have been but a bit of work to potential owners. The Faltauto would thus have had an even higher weight. The two front wheels were independently suspended, the rear wheel was equal to that of a motorcycle, as damping and suspension associated this. A composite structure, at both ends thereof were fixed mechanical assemblies, replacing the separate chassis.

The air-cooled single-cylinder engine was in the rear of the Threewheelers which drove the rear wheel via a spur gear, so therefore the front radiator grille constitute only a dummy. A rear reclining motor is indispensable, as long as no cheaper and safe front-wheel drive construction exists to Zaschka expressed. Engine and transmission should remain firmly locked.

The collapsible Zaschka small car was designed so that it could be dismantled within 20 minutes., The structure also took about 20 minutes. The car reached a top speed of 40 to 50 km / h

With the first Faltauto, the Zaschka - Three Wheeler, Engelbert Zaschka climbed the top platform of the Berlin radio tower in 1928.

For a serial production of Faltautos the cost of a self-supporting body was ultimately too high. According to the conception of the automobile steel sheet would have been too heavy, and materials such as rubber, concrete or wood tanks were to be understood rather than ideas and wishful thinking. More than 1,000 Reichsmarks (now about 3,300 euros ) should not cost the portable cart. Zaschka failed on a serial production of its small car ultimately the fact that at that time almost no component was mature properly.

The knock-down three-wheeled automobile from Engelbert Zaschka included features that were for the American architect and engineer Richard Buckminster Fuller important. Zaschkas separable compact car was a three-wheeled car, like Fuller's Dymaxion car ( 1933). However, the Zaschka car could be easily folded, disassembled and reassembled, as Fuller's Dymaxion House and many of his geodesic domes.

The concept of a Faltautos has been since 2009 in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, better known by the Spanish Innovation Centre Denokinn as MIT, developed further. The prototype of the Hiriko electric Faltautos was presented to the public in 2010. After planning the model is to go in 2013 in Spain in series production.

Other inventions (selection)

Present and Research

Engelbert Zaschka was mainly in the 1920s and 1930s, a well-known German inventor who also internationally - including in the U.S. - gained notoriety. In the following period is approximately Zaschka forgotten. Its technical projects, designs and tests (such as the support and helicopter ) could be mainly, not terminated in part because of a lack of funds that would have been necessary for more test runs and further developments. Furthermore, was perfected in the 1920s and 1930s almost no component or material properly. This fact meant that the planned serial production - such as the foldable Zaschka tricycle cars - was not feasible.

Holger Steinle is on behalf of the German Museum of Technology Berlin still looking for exhibits in the German Aviation Collection Berlin. The German Museum of Technology is currently seeking among other things, the prototype of the Zaschka helicopter that belonged to the Museum Inventory of the German Aviation Collection to 1941. The search is on the Lost Art Internet Database, which is operated by the Liaison Office for Lost Cultural Assets in Magdeburg. It is an institution of the federal government and the states of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC has an archive collections, documents and photographs ( Zaschka Document and Photograph Files) of Zaschka support and helicopter and the Zaschka muscle strength aircraft includes.

The History of Aviation Collection of the University of Texas at Dallas ( UTD ) contains, among other things, the collection of the U.S. Navy Admiral Charles E. Rosendahl. The Vice Admiral Charles E. Rosendahl Lighter -than- Air Collection ( lighter-than -air technology collection) are photographs of early aviation pioneers such as Engelbert Zaschka and his helicopter.

Writings

• Rotary -wing aircraft. Support and helicopter (1936 )

Engelbert Zaschka wrote the script rotary -wing aircraft. Support and helicopters. , Which in July 1936 in Berlin CJE Volckmann Nachf. E. bet - Publishing appeared. This is one of the first publications on the nature of the support and helicopter. It is particularly addressed to aircraft designers as well as sponsors of the rotary-wing aircraft.

The script is divided into A: evolution starting with Leonardo da Vinci - B: Newer projects, experiments and successes with Petroczy Karman Žurovec, Cierva, Rieseler, Strandgren, Rohrbach, Piskorsch, Maitland - Barkelew - Bleeker, Nagler, Hafner, d' Ascanio, Florinne, Asboth, lame, Bréguet - Dorand and more. C: theory and design guidelines and D: future prospects of the helicopter. Zaschkas helicopters have also been documented and mapped.

In the preface Zaschka writes:

" Although we are masters of the air and can cross oceans and continents, but the next house roof we have not yet conquered with our aircraft. The fulfillment of this desire dream we hope, among many other possibilities, from a helicopter. "

Article ( selection)

Engelbert Zaschka the author of several articles in technical journals. Some examples are The motor car (today: ATZ magazine) of the journal of the Central European Motor Car Association removed:

• Modern Design guidelines in motorcycle. In: The motor car, Vol 26, No. 35-36, December 1923, pp. 488-491.

• Machine for oxyfuel cutting shafts. In: The motor car.

Patents

Engelbert Zaschka been granted several patents 1919-1953. There are currently 10 known patents; they include, among others, the helicopter patents, a patent of an engine and motor as well as a folding bike.

The mirror speaks of 82 patents that Zaschka total account.

• Patent DE330202: Corrugated Kochgeschirrabgiessdeckel, which can be used as a grater and strainer. Registered on 21 February 1919.
• Patent DE573961: Hubschraubenflugzeug. Registered on 19 June 1926.
• Patent GB272962: Improvements in or relating to Helicopter Flying Machines. Registered on 20 June 1927.
• Patent US1779524: Helicopter. Registered on 29 June 1927.
• Patent DE512513: engine for machines with reciprocating pistons, connecting rods which are operated by sitting on the drive shaft eccentric. Registered on 12 April 1929.
• Patent US1944052: Portable power plant. Registered on 21 April 1930.
• Patent FR1019111: Bicyclette. Registered on 26 May 1950.

The first year of a patent application is indicated. Invention, patent application, patent grant and the beginning of the marketing can fall in different calendar years. Different information in publications have in their cause.

Reception

Richard A. Lupoff engages in his novel Marblehead: A Novel of HP Lovecraft (2006) the helicopter invention of Engelbert Zaschka from 1927 on.

Various newspapers such as the nationwide New York Times, Washington Post, The Argus (Melbourne, Australia), Diario ABC (Madrid, Spain ) and Daily Mirror (London, England ), and others reported on the helicopter developments of Zaschka. The reporting is characterized by initial technical success, expectations and future prospects of the Zaschka helicopter. For example, the newspaper wrote The Bee ( Danville, Virginia):

"His [ Engelbert Zaschka 's] plan, the first helicopter, whichever worked so successfully in miniature, not only rises and descends vertically, but is able To Remain stationary at any height. German airplane experts assert did search a flight as did of Captain [ Charles ] Lindbergh 's from New York to Paris would not even be a feat for Zaschka 's plane When it was perfected. [ ... ] Mr. Zaschka is fully aware did the perfection of his Invention wants to be the greatest step forward in aviation since the Wright brothers made ​​Their historical hop. As he pointed out, the danger of flying would immediately be Decreased by at least 80 per cent, since four fifths of the accidents in flying Occur Either in the takeoff or in landing. [ ... ] A motor giving thirty to forty horsepower is installed in Zaschka 's present experimental machine. It is so delicately adjusted did He Has been able to keep the plane at a height of several feet above the ground, with no movement up or down Either. "

"His [ Engelbert Zaschkas ] plane - the first helicopter that has ever been so successful works in miniature - increases and decreases not only vertically but is also able to stand at any height. German aircraft experts explain that a flight like a feat for Zaschkas plane would not even Captain [ Charles ] Lindbergh from New York to Paris if it were perfected. [ ... ] Mr. Zaschka is located about fully aware that the perfection of his invention will be the biggest advancement in aviation since the Wright Brothers made ​​their historic leap. As he pointed out to decrease the risk of flight immediately by at least 80 percent since 4/5 of aviation accidents either when taking off or during landing were to appear. [ ... ] An engine with 30 to 40 HP is built into Zaschkas present experimental machine. This is so fine-tuned that he has managed to keep the aircraft at a height of several feet above the ground with no upward or downward movement. "

Composer

As a composer Engelbert Zaschka created popular music, including Slavoma - the latest Dance ( 1925) and the hit Who was it merely the herring on tie moored me? (1928).

Trivia

The press photographer and journalist George Pahl photographed in the 1920s and early 1930s, Engelbert Zaschka with his inventions. George Pahl broke through 1923, the photographic anonymity of Adolf Hitler.

The photojournalist Leif Geiges photographed and tested in the Black Forest, the foldable Zaschka ski.