Clément Ader was a French inventor and engineer who was born in Muret, Haute-Garonne, and died in Toulouse. He is remembered primarily for his pioneering work inaviation. In 1870 he was also one of the pioneers in the sport of cycling in France.
Electrical and mechanical inventions
Ader was an innovator in both electrical and mechanical engineering. He originally studied electrical engineering, and in 1878 improved on the telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell. After this he established the telephone network in Paris in 1880. In 1881, he invented the théâtrophone, a system of telephonic transmission where listeners received a separate channel for each ear, enabling stereophonic perception of the actors on a set; it was this invention which gave the first stereo transmission of opera performances, over a distance of 2 miles in 1881. In 1903, he devised a V8 engine for the Paris–Madrid race, but although three or four were produced, none were sold.
Aircraft prototypes
Following his work with V8 engines, Ader turned to the problem of mechanical flight and until the end of his life gave much time and money to this. Using the studies of Louis Pierre Mouillard on the flight of birds, he constructed his first flying machine in 1886, the Ader Éole. It was a bat-like design run by a lightweight steam engine of his own invention, with 4 cylinders with a power rating of, driving a four-blade propeller. The engine weighed. The wings had a span of. All-up weight was. On 9 October 1890 Ader attempted to fly the Éole. Aviation historians give credit to this effort as a powered take-off and uncontrolled flight in ground effect of approximately at a height of approximately. Ader also claimed credit for getting off the ground in the Éole. Ader began construction of a second aircraft he called the Avion II, also referred to as the Zephyr or Éole II. Most sources agree that work on this aircraft was never completed, and it was abandoned in favour of the Avion III. Ader's later claim that he flew the Avion II in August 1892 for a distance of in Satory near Paris, was never widely accepted. Ader's progress attracted the interest of the minister of war, Charles de Freycinet. With the backing of the French War Office, Ader developed and constructed the Avion III. It resembled an enormous bat made of linen and wood, with a wingspan, equipped with two four-bladed tractor propellers, each powered by a steam engine of. Using a circular track at Satory, Ader carried out taxiing trials on 12 October 1897 and two days later attempted a flight. After a short run the machine was caught by a gust of wind, slewed off the track, and came to a stop. After this the French army withdrew its funding, but kept the results secret. The commission released in November 1910 the official reports on Ader's attempted flights, stating that they were unsuccessful.
Book on aviation
Clément Ader remained an active proponent of the development of aviation. In 1909 he published L'Aviation Militaire, a very popular book which went through 10 editions in the five years before the First World War. It is notable for its vision of aerial warfare and for its foreseeing the form of the modern aircraft carrier, with a flat flight deck, an island superstructure, deck elevators and a hangar bay. His idea for an aircraft carrier was relayed by the US Naval Attaché in Paris and was followed by the first trials in the United States in November 1910.
