REPORT IN PHYS SCI 121

The Life and Scientific

Contributions of Jules Henri Giffard

Submitted by:
Zoe Toribio
Genes Obligado
Jes Olavides
Students from BSAMT 1-B

Submitted to:
Sir Van Amabao
Instructor
 Jules Henri Giffard (8 February 1825 – 14 April
1882) was a Frenchman who made his fortune by inventing
the steam injector (a device to prevent steam engine
boilers running out of water whilst they were stationary,
patented in 1858), but before that in 1852, he built the
world's first passenger airship.

Both practical and steerable, the hydrogen-filled

airship was equipped with a 3 hp steam engine that drove
a propeller. The engine was fitted with a downward-
pointing funnel. The exhaust steam was mixed in with the
combustion gases and it was hoped by these means to
stop sparks rising up to the gas bag; he also installed a
vertical rudder.

Other people had previously built and flown balloons filled with hydrogen, but in order to
make the jump from balloon to being a true airship there needed to be both a source of propulsion
and a means of changing direction so that there was the control to choose to fly where one wished.
The first airships were known as "dirigible balloons" from the French "dirigeable", meaning
"steerable". Later they were simply referred to as "dirigibles". .

Giffard was granted a patent for the injector on

8 May 1858. Unusually, he had thoroughly worked out
the theory of this invention before making any
experimental instrument, having explained the idea in
1850. Others had worked on using jets,
particularly Bourdon who patented a very similar device
in 1857

In 1850 Giffard helped fellow French engineer

Balloon of Henri Giffard over Paris
rooftops, 1878.
Jullien to build an airship with a propeller driven by
clockwork, but it was to be Giffard's knowledge of
steam power that would place his own airship in the
history books and in 1851 he patented the "application
of steam in the airship travel". He managed to build a
small and light steam engine weighing just 250. The
engine drove a large (3.3 meter) rear-facing three-
bladed propeller, and although only producing a power
of 2,200 watts(1) (three horsepower), it would prove to be enough to demonstrate that controlled
flight was possible. The funnel pointed downwards and the exhaust stream was mixed with the
combustion gasses to try and prevent sparks which might ignite the highly flammable hydrogen gas
in the balloon. The balloon itself was 43 meters (144 foot) long and pointed at both ends. Below it at
the rear was mounted a sail-like triangular vertical rudder.

On 24 September 1852 Giffard made the first powered and controlled flight travelling 27 km
from Paris to Élancourt. The wind was too strong to allow him to make way against it, so he was
unable to return to the start. However, he was able to make turns and circles, proving that a proving
that in calm conditions controlled flight was possible.

In response to his declining eyesight, Giffard committed suicide in 1882, leaving his estate to
the nation for humanitarian and scientific purposes.

A model of the Giffard Airship at the London Science Museum.