(France) Levavasseur Léon @·AIRCRAFTUBE

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    Léon Levavasseur
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    Levavasseur and Latham
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    Levavasseur Antoinette
  • Léon Levavasseur Léon Levavasseur
    Léon Levavasseur
  • Léon Levavasseur Léon Levavasseur
    Léon Levavasseur

Leon Levavasseur

Mesnil-au-Val, December 7, 1863 - † Paris, June 24, 1922

Son of a Marine officer, Léon Levavasseur studied classics at Rochefort, then Angouleme. After a spell at Polytechnique and the "Beaux-Arts", he attended a demonstration of the Gottlieb Daimler engine that was mounted on a boat. That made him discover a real passion for internal combustion devices.

In 1889, he saw at the Paris World Exposition a new Daimler engine and also the first light oil single piston de Dion Bouton engine. Chief Engineer at Patin, a firm producing electrical equipment, it follows the work of Fernand Forest (1851-1914) and progress of firms like Chenu, Rossel-Peugeot, Clement-Bayard and other Panhard-Levassor, trying to adapt automobile engines to propel airships. He also made his first light gasoline engine (less than 100 kg) that he mounted on boats and tested those on the Seine River. Finally in 1897 he discovered, through the Patent Office, the work of Clément Ader on the first "V" engines.

Those were the years where the idea to fly a 'heavier than air' started to emerge, but an essential element still lacked: a lightweight and powerful engine. Father of 6 children, enjoying a comfortable situation, Leon Levavasseur would then be drawn into the adventure, driven by Jules Gastambide, a man with large industrial facilities.

In January 1902, Levavasseur was appointed technical director of the "Société du Propulseur Amovible", in Suresnes. On August 28, he registered under No. 333,068 a patent for a "V" engine capable of developing 80 hp. With the help of chief mechanics Eugene Welferinger, three of his brothers and his brother in law Charles Wächter, Levavasseur started immediately the realization of this engine. In May 1903, a 157 kg - 8-cylinder "V" shaped engine developing 80 hp was ready. The cylinders and pistons were still cast iron, but cylinder heads were aluminium, with bore and course being the same. A brass water loop around the cylinders would also ensure cooling.

By 1903 Levavasseur received from the government a 20,000 francs sponsorship to build an airplane. He built this machine in secrecy at Puteaux and when it was complete, under cover of darkness, he wheeled it out for a test. The machine was a failure, but few people knew about it. He built another machine subsequently but never tested it.

1903 wasn't a total loss for the inventor. That year saw the first running of an engine he had designed at the behest of Jules Gastambide. The Antoinette engine, named after Gastambide's daughter, was remarkably advanced for its time. It used aluminum alloys for weight reduction, had evaporative cooling, and most notably, was fuel injected. The engine was built initially in two sizes, twenty-four horsepower and fifty horsepower. Its first success came in motorboat races at Monaco in 1904 and 1905. In 1905 an Antoinette-powered motorboat was used on the Seine to tow the Voisin gliders. The next year, Blériot, Gastambide, and Levavasseur formed a company to build and market the engines. Santos-Dumont's first airplane flight was powered by an Antoinette.

In 1907 Levavasseur wanted to return to aircraft design but Blériot didn't want the company to compete with his own. Blériot resigned and Levavasseur proceeded. His first design, the Gastambide-Mengin monoplane was a failure. He developed the design until 1909 when he introduced the Antoinette IV. This monoplane with its boat-like fuselage and long, slender wings reflected its designer's artistic origins. It is still considered one of the most beautiful airplanes ever to fly. In its day, it was a successful racer, though the Antoinette engines that powered it were susceptible to clogged injectors.

Levavasseur went on to design several other planes, including the carefully streamlined Monobloc of 1911, but none achieved the popularity of the elegant Antoinette IV. As airplanes became faster and more maneuverable, the Antoinette Company's fortunes faded and bankruptcy ensued. By the time Levavasseur died, he was nearly a pauper.

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