Such an order given by a sailboat captain would not have impressed his crew more than 190 years ago and he would have most probably been inviting a psychiatric examination. However, there came a turning point in shipping, thanks to Josef Ressl and his screw propeller invention. Windless conditions ceased to be a menace to those on board and the paddlewheel drive became history.
Although Ressl was born on land in Chrudim and was three-quarters Czech, the Austrians and Slovenians also consider him to be “theirs”. In those days, the monarchy was still unaware of the future borders separating the national states. Ressel worked as a forester in Slovenia, Croatia and in Trieste, Italy. It was there from 1821–1826 that through trial and error, he invented the optimal shape of the screw, and especially its revolutionary positioning on the stern between the hull and the helm of the ship. The experiment with the manual drive of a six ton ship was successful and he acquired the patent one year later (1872). He obtained a “sponsor” and went on to conduct what at first appeared to be a very successful test in 1829 with a large steamer named Civetta (21 m, carrying capacity 33 tons). Unfortunately, the vessel had a technical glitch on the steam pipe and any further attempts were banned by the police. And as frequently happens with many inventions, many other “inventors” suddenly appeared on the scene and Ressel was never given the official recognition he deserved. He died in 1857 from malaria. The invention was attributed to him nine years later by the American Academy of Sciences in Washingtonu and as an expression of respect, in addition to many monuments and street names, his portrait is depicted on the Austrian 500 shilling banknotes in the 1950s, and on Czechoslovak and Slovenian postage stamps.
-Babok-
Nesouhlas se zpracováním Vašich osobních údajů byl zaznamenán.
Váš záznam bude z databáze Vydavatelstvím KAM po Česku s.r.o. vymazán neprodleně, nejpozději však v zákonné lhůtě.
