The name of Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov, who was the first in Russia to build a steam “fire” engine, was almost forgotten for a long time. Only a narrow circle of people knew about Polzunov, mainly those who came into contact with issues of Altai mining production. It was only in 1842 that the name of Polzunov was first included in the “Mining Dictionary” of G.I. Spassky, along with the names of Severi, Newcomen, Watt and other creators of steam engines. To evaluate Polzunov’s innovation, it is necessary to tell what the level of development of heating engineering was by the beginning of the 60s of the 18th century.
The creation of a piston steam engine was first proposed (in 1690) by the French inventor Denis Papin, who for a number of years maintained correspondence with the famous Leibniz. However, Papin's steam boiler, cylinder and condenser were not separated from each other (the water was boiled and cooled in the working cylinder). Papin assumed that the new engine could be used not only “for lifting water or ore from mines,” but also “for propelling ships against the wind.” However, neither this nor Papen’s subsequent projects and models received practical application. In 1698, the English engineer Thomas Severi built the first working steam engine - the “fire pump”.
But Severi’s machine had a narrow purpose - pumping water from lifting workings, although theoretically Severi allowed for the possibility of using a “fire-acting” machine for other needs. Severi's machine had neither a piston nor a cylinder. A machine of this type was the first steam engine to appear in Russia. In 1717-1718 ordered a Severi system machine from England.
This “fire pump,” the spherical cauldron of which could hold 5-6 barrels of water, was used to launch fountains in the Summer Garden. In 1711-1712 English inventor, blacksmith Thomas Newcomen, together with John Colley (or Keighley), built the first steam (steam-atmospheric) piston-type machine. The Newcomen engine was also initially intended only for pumping water. Of course, Ivan Polzunov read the book by I. A. Schlatter, published in 1760, “Detailed instructions for mining,” which contains a description and image of Newcomen’s steam-atmospheric machine.
But Polzunov could not find on the pages of the book a proposal to create a “continuous fire engine” to replace water engines in mining. Ivan Polzunov was born in Yekaterinburg in the first half of 1729. His father, Ivan Alekseevich Polzunov, who came from a peasant family, was taken as a soldier in 1723. The mother of the future inventor was called Daria Abramovna. The Polzunov family lived in a wooden house in the western part of the city, called the Trade Side. My father’s small soldier’s salary (the annual salary “less uniform” was 8 rubles 44 and a half kopecks) was barely enough to cover food. The parents did not want their son to remain illiterate, just like them, and decided to send him to school. By the way, this became a small help for the family - the student was supposed to pay a “salary.” According to the charter, junior mountain officers - sikhtmasters - were appointed as teachers in schools. (In Russian mining, a nomenclature of names borrowed from the German language was adopted.
The word "schichtmeister" comes from "schicht" - change and "meister" - master. This was the name of the position of junior mountaineers of the 13th and 14th classes, which corresponded to the military ranks of ensign and second lieutenant). Classes at the Yekaterinburg school were long: in the summer 12 hours a day, in the fall and spring - 9 hours, in the winter - 7 hours. On Sundays and on holidays there were no classes, but schoolchildren were obliged (and teachers were strictly responsible for this) to attend church services “without nets” and take turns in the church to read “at Vespers, Matins and Mass, and, moreover, to teach singing accordingly.” Having entered the verbal school in 1736, Polzunov graduated from it in 1738 and moved to the arithmetic school. There he studied under the guidance of Fyodor Ivanovich Sannikov, the chargemaster of the Yekaterinburg plant, a specialist in drawing and drawing. In 1742, Polzunov was recalled from school and transferred to “mechanical apprentices” to mechanic Nikita Bakhorev, a major specialist in mining and metallurgical production, who was educated in St. Petersburg, studied mechanical engineering in Sweden and was sent to improve “in large machines” at The Urals in 1729. The responsibilities of 14-year-old Polzunov were varied. He, along with other students, had to help Nikita Bakhorev and his “apprentice” in everything. And the responsibilities of a mechanicus, or machinist, included a wide range of factory and mine affairs.
The mechanic had to supervise the construction of blast furnace, brick and other factory shops, water-lifting and load-lifting machines in mines, sawmills and other mills, residential and factory premises, etc. Working from 1742 to 1747 as a “mechanical apprentice” under the leadership of Bakhorev , Polzunov could get acquainted with the most advanced examples of manufacturing technology in this industry. In 1747, the head of the Kolyvano-Voskresensk factories in Altai, Major General A.V. Beer, under the authority of Her Majesty’s Cabinet, requested the best specialists from the Urals and from other industrial regions of the country to Altai, and Polzunov was transferred to Altai at the beginning of 1748. Polzunov's parents remained in Yekaterinburg. The mother later came to see her son in Barnaul, and Polzunov never saw his father, who was sent to a St. Petersburg grinding workshop for “cutting marble and chopping stones.” Polzunov’s father died in St. Petersburg in 1763. In 1748, Ivan Polzunov “from the Ekaterinburg mechanical students” was officially confirmed in the position of Gitenschreiber. His duties included compiling various records and reports on the progress of factory production. His salary was set at 24 rubles per year. In 1750, Polzunov was promoted to the rank of junior non-commissioned master. In November 1753, he was transferred from the Kolyvano-Voskresensk factory office to the Zmeevsky mine “for training in mining.” Polzunov’s design work began at the Zmeevsky mine. He spent “six months building a saw mill, and this mill was completely built,” as it was written in a report dated November 16, 1754. We are talking about the construction of a water-powered sawmill.
Through a complex transmission mechanism, the water wheel drove the saw frames, as well as the lifting and feeding of logs. At the very end of 1757, the authorities decided to send Captain Shirman and Unterschichtmeister Polzunov with a caravan of precious metals to St. Petersburg. For Polzunov, this business trip was of particular significance. He and Shirman were instructed to submit to Her Majesty’s Cabinet a report on the work of the mines and factories with drawings attached, as well as a report from the Office on the issue of making Polzunov a master of charge. Shirman, Polzunov and the escorts accompanying them - 11 soldiers with a corporal - were transporting a very valuable cargo to St. Petersburg: 3.6 tons of glittering silver and 24 kilograms of gold.
The convoy left Barnaul on January 1, 1758 and almost without stopping moved along the winter route to the Kainsky fortress and Tomsk, and further west through Tobolsk, Perm and Vyatka, south to Nizhny Novgorod, then west again - to Moscow, and from there to St. Petersburg. The convoy covered 5,000 km in more than two months. There is no documentary evidence about Polzunov’s stay in the capital from February to June 1758. It is indisputable, however, that the inquisitive Altai master had something to see and study in the capital. After handing over the precious metals, Shirman and ten soldiers went back to Altai. Polzunov stayed in St. Petersburg “to intercede according to the instructions given to him... for money and to purchase the supplies entrusted to him.”
One soldier and a corporal remained with him to protect him. In mid-June, Polzunov went to Altai. On the way back, an event occurred that played an important role in Polzunov’s personal life. In Moscow, he met the 22-year-old widow Pelageya Ivanovna Povalyaeva. Her husband, a soldier of the Pskov infantry regiment, died in a campaign against the Prussians. Ivan Polzunov returned to Barnaul with her. However, he could not formalize the marriage with Pelageya Ivanovna. To enter into a marriage, permission was required from the Barnaul clergy, and then from the factory Chancellery, because “people of any rank in the factory department” were not allowed to marry without “permit cards from their teams.”
Since they did not have documents certifying that Pelageya’s husband “had died during a campaign against the enemy of the Prussian action,” Polzunov and his wife were forced to hide their marriage for three years. Pelageya lived with Polzunov in Barnaul and on the piers where he was sent, under the guise of a servant. Soon Pelageya became a mother, then a second, again illegitimate, child was born. At this time, Polzunov lived on the Kabanovskaya pier, where he was sent to receive and record ore, pay drivers, etc. This alienated Polzunov and his wife from the attention of both neighbors and the Barnaul Chancellery. They settled on the pier, in one of the fragile dwellings that were built on the piers for visiting officials of the Chancellery. On March 31, 1759, the long-awaited message arrived that Polzunov, by decree of Her Majesty’s Cabinet, “was ordered to be the charge master at the local factories and mining operations.” He received the right to wear a uniform and a sword, and also have an orderly. Polzunov moved from people of “vile origin” to the “noble class.”
They now began to address him in official letters: “The noble and venerable Mr. Schichtmeister.” All this had very great moral significance for Polzunov. And in August 1761, another joyful event occurred. Polzunov managed to obtain “eternal memory” and permission for legal marriage for Pelageya Ivanovna. It is unknown when Polzunov first came up with the idea of creating a “fire” (steam-atmospheric) engine capable of replacing water wheels for various production purposes. In April 1763, Polzunov submitted a memo to the head of the Kolyvan-Voskresensk factories, Major General A.I. Poroshin, with a proposal to build a “fire-acting machine” for factory needs. It was a detailed design for a universal steam engine with approximately two horsepower. The project contained a drawing and explanatory text describing the design and operation of the proposed machine. In the description of the “fire-acting machine” there are sections: “On the members of the machine”, “On heat”, “On compositions”, “On the subtraction of force” and “On the addition of the machine”. They provide information about water, air, atmospheric pressure, vapor, the process of vaporization, theoretical considerations about heat (at the same time, Polzunov never uses the concepts of “caloric” or “calorific matter”, which were common at that time; most likely, he leaned towards the molecular theory of heat). The explanation of the machine design indicates the materials from which its parts and technological processes (casting, polishing, soldering) should be made. In the section “On the subtraction of force,” Polzunov gives a calculation of the machine, determines the necessary ratio between the forces acting on the pistons and the forces required on the handles of the bellows driven by the machine; At the same time, he also took into account losses in the machine itself. The inventor came to the conclusion that friction losses would be surpassed.
The section “About building a machine” determines the amount of metal required to create a machine. The goal is to implement the project at minimal cost. In the memorandum, master of charge Polzunov also shares his grandiose plans affecting “our entire state”, with the goal of “facilitating the work of those who are to come.” And the inventor begins by pointing out the enormous production costs that are observed in mining not only in Altai, but “in our entire state.” Since the “movable foundation” of factories is now water wheels, “almost all factories have been built on rivers.” This makes it necessary to transport ore and fuel to factories from afar and incur huge expenses to pay the “carriers.” It is necessary, Polzunov believes, to eliminate the dependence of factories on the availability of water sources. To do this, it is necessary to replace water engines with “fiery” machines, capable of not only servicing air-blowing mechanisms, but also in general “at our will, whatever needs to be corrected.” This is why a new type of machine must be created.
At that time, all enterprises used exclusively manual labor. Only in some cases, for auxiliary, especially labor-intensive work, bulky machines were used, most of the parts of which were made of wood and only a few were made of metal. A few simple mechanisms were literally cut down with an ax, just as one would “cut down a hut,” and the main builders of the machines of that time were the “dam” masters and the carpenters subordinate to them. The most common machines were blowers for metallurgical furnaces and hammers for forging metals. The most advanced engine was the water wheel, the main tool in the manufacture of which was again an ax. Polzunov’s memo mentions the use of “fire” machines for blowing bellows, since these devices were most common in factories, and he spoke about other types of use of new engines in a general form: “what will need to be corrected,” that is, to do the work. Soberly assessing the difficulties of implementing a completely new business in Russia, Polzunov first proposed to build, as an experiment, one small machine of his design to service a blower installation (consisting of two bellows) and one melting furnace. The installation, according to Polzunov’s first project, included: a boiler - generally of the same design as that used in Newcomen’s machines; a steam-atmospheric machine, consisting of two cylinders with alternate movement of pistons (“embols”) in them in opposite directions, equipped with steam and water distribution systems; tanks, pumps and pipes for supplying the installation with water; a transmission mechanism in the form of a system of pulleys with chains that drives the blower bellows.
Without much delay, Polzunov’s project was reviewed by the Office of the Kolyvano-Voskresensky Plants and sent to St. Petersburg, to Her Imperial Majesty’s own Cabinet, with a covering letter. The office approved the laudable intention of master Polzunov. But the Chancellery feared that “this project would not be able to be implemented due to the lack of a real mechanic who would know the composition of machine parts or who would actually build it. And even if someone who knows mathematics and mechanics was found, there are no skilled craftsmen for such work. However, if he, Polzunov, voluntarily accepts that work and persistent leadership in order to thereby avoid many alterations and losses to the treasury, and at least, in the first case, makes a machine in a small form and puts it into operation, then the Office will reward him he will try to obtain a change in rank and a monetary reward from the Highest Cabinet. And if, due to the lack of skill of the craftsmen, some mistakes and alterations happen, then the Office will not recover damages from him, Polzunov, and will protect him from slander. And even if, for the reasons mentioned above, this enterprise was completely unsuccessful and the loss was up to a thousand rubles, then, based on the income generated from the local factories, it can be considered nothing.” Polzunov’s memorandum with the design and calculations of the engine was sent to the Berg College, from where, after some time, the conclusion of the President of the Berg College, I. A. Schlatter, came. Schlatter noted that Polzunov’s new machine “should be honored as a new invention.” But Schlatter did not understand at all the novelty of Polzunov’s design, its difference from previous power plants, which were used to supply air to smelting furnaces and were a connection of a steam pump with a water wheel. It was these settings that I. A. Schlatter recommended in his conclusion.
Polzunov completely rejected the recommendation of the President of the Berg College and began to act in accordance with his basic idea. But now he decided to build the car not according to the original, but according to a new (second) project, which provided for a significant increase in both the size and power of the machine and the introduction of significant design changes. The new machine was intended to supply air to an entire group of furnaces and was supposed to have a power of 30 horsepower. No steam plant in the world had such power at that time. The inventor developed not only the design of the engine, but also the design of the entire blower system in relation to the conditions of his plant. Polzunov envisaged a centralized supply of air to all the furnaces of the plant with huge bellows driven by a “fiery machine”.
From the central bellows, air was directed through pipes to each of the smelting furnaces. The design of Polzunov’s machine now provided for its automatic regulation, the creation of a direct-acting regulator to maintain a constant water level in the boiler. To ensure uniformity of blast, an “air chest” was designed, that is, a blast accumulator. In January 1764, the office of the Kolyvan-Voskresensky factories issued a decree on the implementation of Polzunov’s project at the Barnaul factory. The creation of the machine was associated with enormous difficulties. Polzunov began his work without competent assistants and qualified workers. He was given only four students and two retired masters. There were no necessary tools, and I had to do everything myself. By May 20, 1765, 110 parts of the machine had already been manufactured, not counting the steam boiler. The inventor had to personally supervise everything, since his assistants were inexperienced. He had to teach them how to cast copper and lead, cut boiler sheets, drill, turn, trim, and polish metal. Polzunov did a lot of things with his own hands. A “machine house” was built for the machine - a solid, twenty-meter-high wooden building.
By December 1765, the construction of the engine was almost completed. The last months were especially difficult: incessant, exhausting work without rest, constant excitement... In November, Polzunov’s throat began to bleed. But still, the car was assembled! All its parts have been adjusted to each other - testing can begin. In the high part of the house the pistons will move and the balancers will swing; the low part is intended for blowers. Bellows have not yet been made, as have melting furnaces, to avoid unnecessary consumption - in case the machine does not start moving. And if the test is successful, it won’t take long to make the bellows. But if in the first project, sent to the Berg College, Polzunov’s machine was universal - it rotated a shaft, then practically built according to the second project, ten times more powerful and intended for blowing (for pumping air into smelting furnaces with bellows), it was no longer a universal machine . The built machine had the simplest balancers: up - down, up - down... On the eve of the decisive day of testing, a fire was lit under the boiler. The next day, Polzunov turned the crane with his own hands, releasing steam into the cylinders, and trembling, the pistons and balancers began to move, swayed on chains and heavy logs hung in place of unbuilt blowers began to move steadily. The car worked! Polzunov insists that blowers be built as soon as possible. He also asks for funds and materials to build a new boiler from thicker sheets, since the constructed boiler is designed only for a test run of the machine, but not for permanent operation. The inventor is trying to eliminate the deficiencies and defects discovered during the tests - first of all, new piston seals in the cylinders are needed. But every day Polzunov’s strength waned, and he developed transient consumption. He still tries to work, but his throat is bleeding more and more often. On May 27, 1766, Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov passed away. Shortly before his death, he wrote a report to St. Petersburg that the engine was ready, and asked that further work on the machine be entrusted to his students D. Levzin and I. Chernitsyn.
A week after Polzunov’s death, new tests of the machine began and the elimination of deficiencies: inaccurate processing of cylinders, shells and irregularities, as well as already built air bellows. In the test log of Polzunov’s machine for 1766, you can read: “On May 23rd in the afternoon at 2 o’clock the water from the tank to the upper chest was raised... and the machine began to operate, the bellows had a deliberate movement, from attached to the bellows pipes, or nozzles of the chest, the air flows contentedly into all twelve tubes, and it was noted that there will be enough air for 10 or all 12 furnaces... (For better testing of the machine, it was decided to build three smelting furnaces and make test ore smelting.) August 4th. After the smelting factory was built... in the morning at 7 o'clock the machine was put into operation, which continued in the afternoon until 2 o'clock, and finally, for no one knows why, suddenly the embolus at the bottom of the left cylinder stopped... August 7th. After the regulator was corrected, this machine was put into operation safely before noon at 6 o’clock, and the smelting furnaces were put into operation safely after noon at 2 o’clock...” But on November 10, 1766, a leak occurred in the boiler, which burned out due to an oversight (the protective roof in the furnace collapsed ). It seemed that the boiler should be fixed or a new one made, as Polzunov asked during his lifetime, and then the machine should be started.
But that did not happen. However, as the Office reported, “through the construction of this machine, not only all expenses were returned, but a lot of profit remained...” In the summer of 1778, the new head of the Kolyvano-Voskresensk factories, Irman, wrote to Her Majesty: “... and how is that machine now for more than ten years consists without any action, idle... the building is very dilapidated, it is dangerous so that it does not completely fall apart and thus the cylinders, pipes and other numerous members assembled in it, especially suitable for future factory action, are not damaged, and therefore so that the government loss does not follow...” year the answer came: “For the prescribed reasons, disassemble the fiery colossus, break down the factory located next to it and use the timber for what it is good for, and store the members for future sometimes future needs...” Despite the short period of work, Polzunov’s “fiery machine” is the first Russian steam engine of continuous operation, thanks to which the name of Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov will forever remain in the history of world technology.
Polzunov Ivan Ivanovich is a Russian inventor, creator of Russia's first steam engine and the world's first two-cylinder engine. I. I. Polzunov was born in the city of Yekaterinburg in 1729 into the family of a soldier. After graduating from the Mining School in Yekaterinburg in 1742, he was a “mechanical student” with the chief mechanic of the Ural factories N. Bakharev. By that time, he had studied for 6 years at the verbal and then at the arithmetic school at the Yekaterinburg Metallurgical Plant, which was quite a lot at that time. In Barnaul, young Polzunov received the position of Gittenschreiber, that is, a melting clerk. In 1750 he passed the exams and was promoted to the pre-officer rank of Unterschichtmeister. I. I. Polzunov was a generalist. It was used for the design and re-equipment of a copper smelter, for debugging the technology of a glass factory, for the construction of a sawmill and a gold washing factory in the Zmeinogorsk mine; for a long time he led the ore-carrying flotilla, designed roads, built piers, ore-carrying ships, studied the fairway of the Charysh and Ob rivers, created their maps; participated in the design of new factories, in the repair and reconstruction of the Kabanova and Biysk fortresses, and established the route and the main crossing across the Chumysh River at Ust-Talmenka.
He is actively involved in invention and rationalization, and this passion did not leave him until the end of his life. For example, using his experience working at piers, he proposed an ingenious and economical way to put cargo ships into winter storage. The innovation consisted of the following: wooden decks were installed at the bottom of the river, onto which ships could be launched “without lifting.” When the water subsided, the ships found themselves on dry land. Everything that Polzunov invented had one goal - to make people's work easier.
At that time, mining production processes in Russia were completely dependent on the water wheel - the main source of energy. In April 1763, he put an unexpected project for a “fiery” machine on the table of the head of the plant. I.I. Polzunov intended it to power blowing bellows. Polzunov proposed to build first, as an experiment, one small machine of a design he had developed to service an air-blowing installation (consisting of two bellows) with one melting furnace.
The project, presented to the Tsar's Cabinet, was reported to Catherine II. By her order, she promoted Ivan Polzunov to “mechanicus with the rank and title of engineering captain-lieutenant”, decided to give him a reward of “four hundred rubles” and, if possible, send him to study at the Academy of Sciences. Since March 1764, the Office of the Mining District relieved Polzunov of all other official duties and approved him only as a designer and builder of a new machine on a solid government salary. So I. I. Polzunov became the first specialist, designer and inventor in Russia! The machine was created in a very short time; in December 1765, blank tests were carried out, the commission was convinced of its readiness for action.
Enormous overexertion and work in an unheated room until the night, when the cold metal parts of the machines burned his hands with frost, undermined Polzunov’s health. May 16, 1766 at six o'clock in the evening in Barnaul, I.I. Polzunov died.
On August 7, the machine delivered its first blast and worked with short breaks until November, during which time it managed to not only recoup all construction costs, but also make a huge profit. Polzunov’s machine worked for a little over three months, and after a breakdown it was stopped. The broken unit was dismantled into parts.
Polzunov’s machine was soon forgotten, and people started talking about the first engine after its new version was designed by the famous Scottish inventor James Watt in 1774, i.e. much later than Polzunov did. Indeed, Watt's machine was widely used in practice and played an important role in the transition to machine production. However, the first steam engine was created by Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov in Altai.
listen)) - Russian inventor, creator of Russia's first steam engine and the world's first two-cylinder steam engine.
Biography
Polzunov was born into the family of a soldier, a native of the peasants of Turinsk. After graduating from the Mining School in Yekaterinburg in 1742, he was a “mechanical student” with the chief mechanic of the Ural factories N. Bakharev. By that time, he had studied for 6 years at the verbal and then at the arithmetic school at the Yekaterinburg Metallurgical Plant, which was quite a lot at that time. In Barnaul, young Polzunov received the position of Gittenschreiber, that is, a melting clerk. This work is not only technical, since the young man learned how much and what kind of ore, coal, fluxes are needed for smelting in a particular furnace, and became familiar, albeit theoretically, with the smelting regime. The talent of the young Gittenschreiber was so obvious that it attracted the attention of the factory management.
In the library of the Barnaul plant, he gets acquainted with the works of M.V. Lomonosov, and also studies the design of steam engines.
Less than 3 years after moving to Barnaul, on April 11, 1750, on the recommendation of one of the plant managers and the greatest expert in mining, Samuel Christiani, Polzunov was promoted to the junior rank of chargemaster with an increase in salary to 36 rubles. in year. Simultaneously with the new production, it was decided that Christiani should train Polzunov so that Polzunov “... could be worthy of promotion to the rank of chief officer.” The resolution announced to Polzunov “... that if he knows the mentioned sciences and is also skilled, then a senior non-commissioned master’s salary will be determined for him, and in addition, he will not be left with an increase in rank.” This decision, which provided Polzunov with the opportunity to fulfill his desire for teaching, was not realized. Christiani, busy managing the factories, entrusted to him after the death of Andreas Beer in May 1751, sought to use Polzunov as a reliable and conscientious worker in a variety of economic work. The lack of people, especially specialists, was the scourge of the Kolyvan-Voskresensk factories. Many workers died due to poor nutrition (bread was delivered intermittently hundreds of miles away), domestic instability, and lack of medical care. On June 26, 1750, Junior Unterschichtmeister Ivan Polzunov received the task of checking whether the place for the pier on the Charysh River, above the village of Tugozvonnaya (now Charyshsky district), was chosen correctly, and also to measure and describe the road to the Zmeinogorsky mine. By that time, huge piles of ore had accumulated there, which they did not have time to remove. Polzunov inspected the landing site, and then walked with a measuring chain all the way to the mine. He measured 85 versts 400 fathoms, marked the entire route with stakes, and even outlined “winter huts” - convenient places for overnight convoys with ore. The length of the future road turned out to be 2 times shorter than the existing ore road.
Based on the results of the trip, he “made” a drawing with a detailed description, also showing himself to be an excellent draftsman (this drawing is still kept in the state archives of the Altai Territory). Polzunov returned to the plant in July, and in August he was again sent to the Krasnoyarsk pier, where this time he stayed for a whole year. In the fall, he built an ore shed, a guard hut for the guard soldiers, in the winter he accepted five thousand pounds of ore from peasant carters, and in the spring he organized its shipment along Charysh and Ob to the Barnaul plant; He returned to Gittensteyburg only in the fall.
On September 21, 1751, Polzunov, together with his partner A. Beer, again submitted a joint petition to the Chancellery with a request and reminder of the promise to teach them mining sciences. But only in November 1753 Christiani finally fulfilled his request. He assigns Polzunov to oversee the work of the smelters for six months, and then to the Zmeinogorsk mine. This was training. I had to learn at the smelting furnace, in the mine, adopting experience and knowledge from practitioners, because there were no universities, technical schools, or even schools in Altai at that time, just as there was no technical literature in Russian. In addition to studying various mining operations, it was here that Polzunov first showed himself as an inventor. He took part in the construction of a new sawmill near the dam. The saw mill was the first factory building erected under the leadership of I. I. Polzunov.
It represented one of the most complex technical structures of that time. From the rotating water wheel, transmission was carried out to two sawmill frames, to the “sleigh” on which the sawn logs were moved, and to the log hauler. The transmission mechanism was a complex set of moving parts, which included: cam transmission, gear transmission, shafts, cranks, connecting rods, ratchet wheels, rope gates. Here Polzunov received practical training in the design and installation of complex transmission mechanisms containing automation elements. Very interesting was Polzunov’s decision to locate the sawmill not near the dam, but at some distance from the Zmeevka River on a diversion canal.
In November 1754, Polzunov was assigned to the plant to lead “the assignment of artisans and working people to work”, as well as “to supervise all work.” By this time, Polzunov had gained such authority among his superiors that none of his fellow Unterschichtmeisters had.
In January 1758, it was planned to send another caravan with silver to St. Petersburg. Only an officer could be entrusted with such a cargo, which was no less than 3600 kg of silver and 24 kg of gold. But by that time there were only four of them available. It was “impossible” to do without any of them for eight to ten months (that’s how long the trip to the capital took) without damaging the business. And the Office came up with such a way out; Army Captain Shirman was appointed caravan officer, and since he was not up to date with factory affairs, Untersichtmeister Polzunov was recognized as capable of helping him in case “if someone asked something, he could convey it clearly and in detail.” He was also given a package with documents for transfer to the Cabinet, as well as a large sum of money for the purchase of goods needed by the plant.
This trip was doubly, triply joyful for Polzunov. He got the opportunity to visit, albeit just passing through, his native Yekaterinburg, to see the capital, Moscow, and Russia. On the 64th day the caravan arrived in St. Petersburg. Polzunov was again entrusted with handing over the precious metals. They were received personally by the director of the Mint, Johann Wilhelm Schlatter, Russia’s largest specialist in the field of mining, coinage, and metallurgy. After St. Petersburg, Polzunov stayed in Moscow for another three months to purchase goods ordered by the Office. Here he found his personal happiness - he met the young soldier’s widow Pelageya Povalyaeva. They went to Siberia together.
In January 1759, Polzunov was sent to the Krasnoyarsk and Kabanovskaya piers to supervise the reception of ore. Here he received a letter from Christiani in March, which began like this: “The most noble and venerable Mr. Schichtmeister.” A cherished dream came true, ten years of impeccable service were crowned with success - Polzunov became an officer and was transferred to an officer position - commissar of the Kolyvan plant “at income and expense monetary treasury" or, in relation to current concepts, the deputy manager of the plant for economic affairs.
Meanwhile, business at the Kolyvano-Voskresensky factories began to decline. So, if in the year of Beer’s death in 1751, silver smelting reached 366 pounds, then by 1760 it dropped to 264 pounds. The Cabinet, or rather the crowned owner of the factories, did not want to put up with such a loss of income. In October 1761, the head of the factories, A.I. Poroshin, who had recently been promoted to major general, was returned to Altai. He brought with him a whole package of measures “to improve factories”, developed by the Cabinet (with his participation) and approved by the Empress. One of these measures was the construction of a new silver smelter.
With the arrival of A.I. Poroshin, the search acquired a wide scope. All mountain officers were involved in them, only I.I. Polzunov was not involved. Not long before he headed the department (office) “at the timber and smoking departments” of the Barnaul plant, he was given time to get used to the new troublesome position. But he did not want to stay away from what the entire “mining society” lived by; he was also looking for a way out, only his thoughts went in a different direction: how to overcome the dependence of mining production on the water wheel?
In April 1763, he put an unexpected and daring project for a “fiery” machine on the table of the head of the plant. I. I. Polzunov intended it to power blowing bellows; and in the future he dreamed of adapting “according to our will, what will need to be corrected,” but did not have time to do this. At that time, there was not a single steam engine in Russia or the world. The only source from which he knew that there was such a thing in the world was the book by I. V. Schlatter “Detailed instructions for mining,” published in St. Petersburg in 1760. But the book contained only a diagram and the operating principle of Newcomen’s single-cylinder machine, and not a word about the technology of its manufacture.
Polzunov borrowed from I.V. Schlatter only the idea of a steam-atmospheric engine; he came up with everything else himself. He gained the necessary knowledge about the nature of heat, the properties of water, air, and steam from the works of M. V. Lomonosov. Soberly assessing the difficulties of implementing a completely new business in Russia, Polzunov proposed to build first, as an experiment, one small machine of a design he had developed to service a blower installation (consisting of two bellows) with one melting furnace.
In the drawing attached to the note, in the explanatory text, the installation, according to Polzunov’s first project, included: a boiler - generally of the same design that was used in Newcomen’s machines; a steam-atmospheric machine, consisting of two cylinders with alternate movement of pistons (“embols”) in them in opposite directions, equipped with steam and water distribution systems; tanks, pumps and pipes for supplying the installation with water; a transmission mechanism in the form of a system of pulleys with chains (Polzunov refused the balancer), driving the blower bellows. Water vapor from the boiler entered the piston of one of the working cylinders. This equalized the atmospheric air pressure. The vapor pressure was only slightly higher than atmospheric air pressure. The pistons in the cylinder were connected by chains, and when one of the piston was raised, the second was lowered. When the piston reached the top position, the access of steam automatically stopped and cold water was sprayed inside the cylinder. The steam condensed and a vacuum (rarefied space) formed under the piston. By the force of atmospheric pressure, the piston was lowered to the lower position and pulled along the piston in the second working cylinder, into which steam from the same boiler was let in to equalize the pressure automatically, operating from the engine transmission mechanism. The fact that the pistons with the motion transmission system were connected by chains shows that when lifting the pistons along the chain, it was impossible to transmit motion (the chain was not tensioned). All parts of the engine worked due to the energy of the descending piston. that is, the piston that moved under the influence of atmospheric pressure. The steam produced no useful work in the engine. The amount of this work depended on the consumption of thermal energy throughout the entire cycle. The amount of thermal energy expended expressed the amount of potential energy of each of the pistons. This is a double atmospheric-vapor cycle. Polzunov clearly understood the principle of operation of a heat engine. This can be seen in the examples with which he characterized the conditions for the best operation of the engine he invented. He defined the dependence of the engine’s operation on the temperature of the water condensing the steam in the following words: “the action of emvols and their rise and fall will become higher the colder the water in the fantals, and even more so from such that it reaches the freezing point and has not yet thickened.” and from this in the whole movement it will give a lot of ability.”
This position, now known in thermodynamics as a special case of one of its basic laws, had not yet been formulated before Polzunov. Today this means that the work of a heat engine will be greater, the lower the temperature of the water condensing the steam, and especially when it reaches the solidification point of water - 0 degrees Celsius.
Polzunov's engine in his 1763 project was intended to supply air to smelting furnaces using blower bellows. If desired, the engine could easily perform rotational movements using the crank mechanism, widely known in Russia. Polzunov’s project was reviewed by the office of the Kolyvan-Voskresensky factories and was highly appreciated by the head of the factories, A. I. Poroshin. Poroshin pointed out that if Polzunov undertakes to make a machine suitable for servicing several furnaces at once, if he builds a machine suitable for pouring water from mines, then the Office will willingly support his plans. The final decision on this issue remained with the Cabinet and the owner of the factories, Catherine II. The project was sent to St. Petersburg, but the Cabinet's response was received in Barnaul only a year later.
By decree of the Cabinet of November 19, 1763, the Empress granted the inventor to the “mechanics” with the rank and title of engineering captain-lieutenant. This meant that Polzunov was now provided with a salary of 240 rubles per annum, with the addition of two orderlies and the maintenance of horses, he received 314 rubles. He was promised a reward of 400 rubles. All this is no small mercy. It once again demonstrates that Empress Catherine II loved to maintain her reputation as the patroness of the sciences and arts. But the size of the incentive confirms that the significance of Polzunov’s invention was not understood in St. Petersburg.
While the Cabinet was considering the engine design, Polzunov wasted no time working on the second stage project. He designed a powerful heat engine for 15 smelting furnaces. This was already a real thermal power station. Polzunov did not just increase the size of the engine, but introduced a number of significant changes to it. After the project of a powerful engine was completed, Polzunov learned that the Cabinet, having familiarized itself with his first project, awarded him the title of mechanic and decided to give him 400 rubles as a reward, but did not make any decision on the substance of the issue.
Despite this position of the Cabinet, the head of the Kolyvano-Voskresensk plants, A.I. Poroshin, allowed Polzunov to proceed with the implementation of the first stage of the project. In March 1764, I. I. Polzunov proposed to begin construction of a large heat engine. Poroshin agreed with this proposal. Thus, the construction of the world’s first universal thermal power plant began at the Barnaul plant.
This was a serious decision, if only because the car would cost no less than building a new plant. Polzunov was required to submit an application for labor and materials. Before even starting to build the machine, the inventor was faced with a difficulty: the lack of people capable of realizing his plans and the tools and mechanisms required for construction. The first steam engine in Russia had to be built, but there were neither specialists capable of leading the construction, nor qualified workers familiar with the design of such engines. Polzunov himself, who assumed the responsibilities of the general manager of the work, to some extent solved the problem of technical management, but precisely, “to some extent,” because it was beyond the power of one person to manage such a new and complex technical enterprise.
The problem of selecting workers turned out to be no less difficult. Experienced model makers, foundry workers, blacksmiths, mechanics, carpenters, burners, copper and soldering specialists were required. According to Polzunov’s calculations, 76 people, including 19 highly qualified craftsmen, should have been directly involved in the construction of the engine. It seemed impossible to obtain such specialists locally. There was only one way out; call specialists from the Urals - the forge of technical personnel.
Difficulties in acquiring construction tools and mechanisms turned out to be even more insurmountable. According to the inventor’s plan, “the whole machine should be made of metal,” which inevitably required the presence of special metal-working equipment, which Russia almost did not have at its disposal. The matter was aggravated by the fact that the engine was being built in Altai, and this was an area with developed copper and silver smelting production, but backward foundry, forging and metalworking equipment. The inventor's premonitions did not deceive him. The office fully approved only the considerations regarding the required amount of materials. Not wanting to spend money on calling experienced craftsmen from the distant Urals, the factory management allocated Polzunov four students whom he knew and asked to assign to him, two retired artisans and four soldiers to guard the construction site. The Office decided to assign the rest of the artisans (over 60 people) to Polzunov as needed, “how much work he, Polzunov, has to do.”
The car was built in two places at once. Casting and processing of cylinders, pallets and other large parts was carried out in one of the workshops of the Barnaul plant, where it was possible to use a water wheel, lathes, flattening (rolling) machines, water-acting hammers for the production of spherical copper sheets for assembling the boiler; small parts were cast and forged in the premises of a temporarily closed glass factory, where a small melting furnace with a forge attached to it was built specifically for this purpose. The plant was located in the upper reaches of the pond, three miles from the village. Such a load could exhaust a healthy person, and he would develop consumption.
By 1765, the parts of the machine were mostly ready. In the time remaining before winter, a building had to be built for it, and in it it would be necessary to “largely connect” and assemble the car. Polzunov promised to do this by October. The world's first heat engine was built on the right bank of the pond, not far from the Barnaul silver smelter, next to a small glass factory. They built a large barn for the car, the height of a three-story house.
Enormous overexertion and work in an unheated room until the night, when the cold metal parts of the machines burned his hands with frost, undermined Polzunov’s health. It is known that from May 1764 to August 1765 he turned three times to the doctor of the Barnaul hospital, Yakov Keesing, for help, as he was “obsessed with stabbing in the chest.”
By December 7, the assembly of the machine was basically completed, and the inventor decided to make its first trial run and test it in operation. But during the launch, a number of shortcomings also emerged (which is completely natural). Polzunov immediately began to correct them. By this time he had moved into an apartment at a glass factory. There was no need to waste time traveling from the village and back. Now he disappeared at the car until his strength left him completely.
He returned home after dark, completely chilled, barely moving his legs, coughing up blood. And in the morning, despite the persuasion and tears of his wife, he again hurried to the car. It was quite clear that, feeling the end was near, he was in a hurry to complete the work he had begun at the cost of his life. The short winter day was not enough; the evenings were too long. It is known that on December 30, 1765, Polzunov received three pounds of candles. By March, the huge bellows covers, made according to the inventor’s design, were finally delivered on 8 horses. They were installed and the car was finally fully assembled. The matter was left to the smelting furnaces.
In the spring of 1766, Polzunov's illness intensified. On April 18, his throat started bleeding again, after which he was no longer able to get out of bed. With merciless clarity, the inventor realized that he would not live to see the launch of the machine. On April 21, Polzunov dictated to his student Vanya Chernitsyn (he himself could no longer write) a petition addressed to the empress asking for the promised prize for his family.
On May 16, 1766 at six o'clock in the evening in Barnaul, on the Irkutsk line (now Pushkinskaya street) I. I. Polzunov died. He was 38 years old.
A week after the death of I.I. Polzunov, on May 23 (June 5), 1766, official tests of the world's first heat engine began. On the first day, testers came to the conclusion that the machine could drive bellows to supply air to 10-12 furnaces. The large engine built by Polzunov was significantly different in design from the machine that he described in the original project of 1763. The transmission of motion to the machines that the engine was supposed to serve was carried out using balancers. For greater strength, the inventor made the chains connecting the engine pistons to the balancers from separate iron rods and hinged, of the type now known as “Gall chains.” The boiler's supply of heated water was automated. Polzunov came up with a simple mechanism that ensured that the water in the boiler remained at the same level while the engine was running. This simplified the work of people servicing the machine.
Memory
Monument to I. I. Polzunov in front of the main building of Altai State Technical University
Altai State Technical University bears the name of I. I. Polzunov, opposite the main building of which there is a monument to the inventor.
Technological progress is to some extent predetermined: it is difficult to imagine a civilization that would go into space without mastering the use of electricity or without knowing what jet propulsion is. Many laws of nature were formulated almost simultaneously by two scientists who lived in different countries - let us remember the Boyle-Mariotte law, well known from the school curriculum. In science, this happens so often that a special term has even been coined for it - “multiple discovery.” It is used when talking about discoveries made independently and more or less simultaneously.
The discovery of the two-cylinder steam engine, which is usually attributed to the Englishman James Watt, can hardly be called multiple - if only because the Russian master Ivan Polzunov created it almost twenty years earlier. However, in the world it is Watt who is considered the pioneer, and the reasons for this are of a very different nature. Firstly, it was his steam engine that found commercial application and was replicated first in Great Britain and then throughout the world - in other words, it, and not Polzunov’s “fire engine,” became the progenitor and trendsetter in the world of steam. Secondly, Russia remained an exotic periphery for Europe for quite a long time - due to cultural barriers and the undeveloped Russian scientific journalism at that time, the world learned about Polzunov’s car belatedly and now perceives it as an amusing curiosity.
To be completely honest, the inventor who first made steam do work was not James Watt or even Polzunov, but the ancient Greek Heron of Alexandria, who around 130 BC created the so-called aeolipile - a primitive steam turbine. Steam entered the hollow sphere under pressure, then the mechanic opened two L-shaped tubes connected to the sphere, from which steam began to escape, causing the sphere to rotate at breakneck speed - modern engineers who recreated the aeolipile were convinced that the “turbine” could make up to 3600 revolutions in a minute! However, the aeolipile remained a funny toy - Heron, known for many useful inventions, such as devices for opening doors, did not come up with any practical use for it. The history of the aeolipile perfectly illustrates how the fate of the discovery depends on the development of society - for example, the demand for a new mechanism in the economy. This circumstance played an important role in the fate of Polzunov’s car.
Polzunov's steam engine. Source: Polytechnic Museum
Ferris wheel
Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov was born in 1729 into a soldier’s family in Yekaterinburg, who turned out to be only 6 years older than his brilliant son. Yekaterinburg arose as a city-factory: the dignitary and famous historian Vasily Tatishchev created here the largest iron production in the country. The plant was advanced: in terms of technical equipment it had no equal in Europe. Within a few years, the Mint, which provided the state with copper coins, and the Lapidary Factory, whose products replenished the treasuries of the royal court and the richest nobles of St. Petersburg, adorned the toilets of the European rich, arose next to it.
Tsar Peter, of course, could not know that by decree on the founding of an ironworks, he predetermined the fate of one of the most talented inventors in Russia. The plant needed workers, and Vanya, having mastered the basics of mathematics at the arithmetic school, entered there as a “mechanical” student under master Nikita Bakhorev. The boy turned out to be a child prodigy - he mastered mining science so well that at the age of 20 he received an unusually important task. The young specialist was sent to the Kolyvano-Voskresensky factories of Altai, where they mined gold and silver for the treasury. A talented mining master was tasked with exploring ore deposits in the vicinity of the Charysh River in order to choose a place for the construction of new factories. Polzunov successfully mapped the mines. However, his thoughts were not occupied by mining exploration, but by the work of the factories themselves.
For most of the operations that were carried out in factories in those days, the physical strength of workers or horses was used as a source of energy (a modern person who knows that the power of his car is measured in horsepower usually does not think that this term began to be used precisely in industrial enterprises , where they measured the cost of effort for specific operations). Polzunov was looking for natural strength that could replace muscles. Only wind and water came to mind. Wind was unsuitable because it provided too little energy that could be usefully used in factory work. The turbulent Altai and Ural rivers offered much more noticeable power - in many of the Russian factories, the water wheel served as the source of energy to operate the bellows and hammers that forged metal. Polzunov experimented with water engines for some time - so, in 1754, the young inventor built a “water-powered sawmill.” Here he was not a pioneer - the first such sawmill in Russia was built back in 1720 by the creator of the Vyshnevolotsk water system, Mikhail Serdyukov. Most likely, Polzunov built it according to engineering books, which he ordered in batches from St. Petersburg.
The water wheel has a long and well-deserved history: it was first used in Babylon, and in Russia it did not lose popularity until the revolution - in 1917, 46 thousand water wheels “worked” in Russia, the total power of which was about 40% of the total power industrial energy sources (whatever one may say, there is something to thank grandfather Lenin for with his slogan about the electrification of the entire country). However, the disadvantages of this device were obvious back in the 18th century: plants and factories could only be built near large rivers, which imposed restrictions on the scale of production, in addition creating additional costs for transporting materials - ore, firewood, etc.
However, water is capable of moving not only in the riverbed - with the help of fire it could be forced to run through pipes with enormous force. Polzunov’s thoughts were occupied with a “fiery machine” that could replace a water wheel. “By building a fiery machine, the water management is to be stopped and, in these cases, completely destroyed, and instead of dams for the movable foundation of the plant, it is established so that it is able to bear all the burdens imposed on itself, which are usually required for fanning the fire in factories.” and, according to our will, correct whatever is necessary” - this is how he will define his task in the “project” that will crown his name with glory.
Construction of the colossus
A clarification is required here - Polzunov was the first to invent a two-cylinder continuous steam engine. The fact is that simply steam engines were created from the very beginning of the 18th century, and Polzunov’s invention did not arise out of nowhere. He, of course, could not help but know about the steam pump system of the Englishman Thomas Severi, which Peter I purchased in 1717 to supply water to the fountains of the Summer Garden. Severi's machine was pistonless - using steam injection, it moved water through pipes, creating jets. But the steam-atmospheric machine of another Englishman (again Thomas, by the way) - Newcomen - was already single-piston. The steam pressure in it was low, and it could only work with a pump, but it was she who determined the further path of development of steam engines. By the way, one of Newcomen’s machines worked in the mines near Königsberg in the 1720s. All these steam pumps, used mainly for pumping water from mines, were described in books on mining that were available in Russia - their drawings were given there, from which one could understand the principle of their operation.
It was these developments that served Polzunov as the basis for his own drawings. In 1763, he presented them to the Kolyvan-Resurrection Chancellery. The officials did not take responsibility and sent the papers to the capital. The steam engine project was considered by Her Majesty's Cabinet. Polzunov was lucky - the “project” fell into the hands of the president of the Berg College, which dealt with the mining industry, a very educated man, Ivan Schlatter. He gave the highest assessment of Polzunov’s invention: “this invention of his should be honored as a new invention,” reporting it to Empress Catherine II. The resolution on the “project” was adopted a year later: the empress admired the solution found by Polzunov, ordered him to be promoted to “mechanicus with the rank and rank of engineering captain-lieutenant,” awarded 400 rubles, and most importantly, blessed him for the construction of the machine, ordering “to give so many people, how much work will happen to him.”
By the spring of 1766, Ivan Polzunov and four students built a car at the Barnaul plant in Altai. It had truly cyclopean dimensions - it was the height of a three-story house, and some parts weighed 2.5 tons. It worked like this: water was heated in a boiler riveted from metal sheets, and, turning into steam, entered two three-meter cylinders. The cylinder pistons pressed on the rocker arms, which were connected to bellows that fanned the flames in the ore smelting furnaces, as well as to water distribution pumps. The presence of two pistons made it possible to make the work process continuous. An automatic supply of heated water to the boiler was provided.
But Polzunov himself never saw his brainchild in action - working for more than a year on the drawings, and then on the machine itself, the inventor undermined his health and contracted consumption, for which there was no cure in those days. He died suddenly on May 6 (27), 1766 at the age of only 38 years.
Steam engine from the Barnaul Museum. Photo: Dr. Bernd Gross
Watt is not to blame
The car was launched without Polzunov, in August of the same year. It worked for 43 days, day and night, providing metal smelting in ore smelting furnaces. During this time, it not only recouped the costs of its construction - 7,200 rubles, but also generated 12 thousand rubles in profit on top of this.
However, the premature death of the inventor affected the fate of his brainchild in the most unfortunate way - when, in November of the same year, leaks arose from the cylinders and the boiler of the machine itself, the engineer’s students unsuccessfully tried to fix the problem by wrapping the pistons in birch bark. If Polzunov were alive, he, of course, would understand that the first pancake came out lumpy and it was necessary not to repair the old one, but to build a new machine, the design of which could withstand prolonged heating. His students did not have his authority, and they failed to convince the factory management to build a new steam engine. The stopped giant stood at the plant for 14 years, and then it was dismantled and taken away. The factory people called the place where he stood “Polzunov’s ashes.”
Disputes about who should be considered the discoverer of the two-cylinder steam engine - Polzunov or Watt - have been going on in our country for several decades. “Watt’s” insist that Polzunov’s brainchild, as well as the developments on which he relied, was not a universal steam engine: firstly, the features of the heat engineering cycle did not make it possible to make it more compact in order to use it for more delicate operations, secondly secondly, Polzunov, unlike Watt, did not develop a transmission mechanism that would convert reciprocating motion into rotational motion. Needless to say, the fourth of Watt’s models, patented by him in 1782 and meeting all these requirements, was indeed more functional. However, these improvements were not something complicated - if Polzunov had not died so early, he would hardly have settled on the model he originally invented.
The problem, of course, was not only this - unlike Great Britain, in Russia at that time the culture of invention was poorly developed. There was no one to continue Polzunov’s developments. We should not forget that scientific discoveries are made by researchers, but they become in demand due to economic development. Industrial capitalism was rapidly developing in England, and competing factories quickly adopted the steam engine, seeing its prospects. In Russia, capitalism developed slowly and, moreover, extensively - natural resources and a huge undeveloped territory made it possible not to think too much about the efficiency of labor. That is why even Watt’s steam engine, which did not take much effort to copy and make in Russia, began to gain recognition in our country only in the middle of the next, 19th century. But Polzunov remained a lone talent, whose invention turned out to be needed no more than the aeolipile of Heron of Alexandria.
So, the time at which Polzunov made his wonderful invention dates back to the beginning of the history of the city of Barnaul. In 1727, on the Belaya River at the foot of the Kolyvan Mountains, the first copper smelter in Altai was built by the people assigned to Akinfiy Demidov. This plant was named Kolyvano-Voskresensky, named after the location of Lake Kolyvan and the Voskresensky mine. After 12 years, they began to build another plant, at the mouth of the Barnaulka River. The Barnaul plant was intended for smelting silver-containing ores that were mined in the Zmeinogorsk mine.
In 1747, all factories and mines of Demidov in Altai became the property of the Russian tsars. The new royal estate, called the Kolyvan-Voskresensky factories, included, according to the modern administrative division, the Altai Territory, the Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo regions and part of the eastern regions of Kazakhstan. The total territory was 443 thousand km 2, which is approximately equal to the area of Sweden. The center was the Barnaul plant, which housed the Office of the Kolyvan-Voskresensk Plants, which was directly subordinate to the management of all the imperial estates - “Her Majesty’s Cabinet.”
In December 1747, on his way to Altai, Beer stopped in Yekaterinburg. Taking advantage of the right granted to him, he selected a large group of mining specialists here for the royal factories. Among them was 18-year-old mechanic apprentice Ivan Polzunov. By that time, he had studied for 6 years at the verbal and then at the arithmetic school at the Yekaterinburg Metallurgical Plant, which was quite a lot at that time. From school, as the best of the best, Nikita Bakhorev, a mechanic at factories in the Urals and Siberia, took him as a student, and during the 5 years of work with him, Polzunov achieved a lot. In Barnaul, young Polzunov received the position of Gittenschreiber, i.e. melting clerk. This work is not only technical, because... the young man learned how much and what kind of ore, coal, and fluxes were needed for smelting in a particular furnace, and became familiar, albeit theoretically, with the smelting regime. The talent of the young Gittenschreiber was so obvious that it attracted the attention of the factory management.
Less than 3 years after moving to Barnaul, on April 11, 1750, on the recommendation of one of the plant managers and the greatest expert in mining, Samuel Christiani, Polzunov was promoted to the junior rank of charge master with an increase in salary to 36 rubles. in year. Simultaneously with the new production, it was decided that Christiani should train Polzunov so much that Polzunov “... could be worthy of promotion to the rank of chief officer.” The decree announced to Polzunov “... that if he knows the mentioned sciences and is also skilled, then a senior non-commissioned master’s salary will be determined for him, and beyond that he will not be left with an increase in rank.”
This decision, which provided Polzunov with the opportunity to fulfill his desire for teaching, was not realized. Christiani, busy managing the factories, entrusted to him after the death of Andreas Beer in May 1751, sought to use Polzunov as a reliable and conscientious worker in a variety of economic work. The lack of people, especially specialists, was the scourge of the Kolyvan-Voskresensk factories. Many workers died due to poor nutrition (bread was delivered intermittently hundreds of miles away), domestic instability, and lack of medical care.
On June 26, 1750, Junior Unterschichtmeister Ivan Polzunov received the task of checking whether the place for the pier on the Charysh River, above the village of Tugozvonnaya (now Charyshsky district), was chosen correctly, and also to measure and describe the road to the Zmeinogorsky mine. By that time, huge piles of ore had accumulated there, which they did not have time to remove. Polzunov inspected the landing site, and then walked with a measuring chain all the way to the mine. He measured 85 versts 400 fathoms, marked the entire route with stakes, and even marked out “winter huts” - convenient places for overnight convoys with ore. The length of the future road turned out to be 2 times shorter than the existing ore road.
"Saw" mill in Zmeinogorsk
Based on the results of the trip, he “made” a drawing with a detailed description, also showing himself to be an excellent draftsman (this drawing is still kept in the state archives of the Altai Territory). Polzunov returned to the plant in July, and in August he was again sent to the Krasnoyarsk pier, where this time he stayed for a whole year. In the fall, he built an ore shed, a guard hut for the guard soldiers, in the winter he accepted five thousand pounds of ore from peasant carters, and in the spring he organized its shipment along Charysh and Ob to the Barnaul plant; he returned to Gittensteyburg only
in the fall. On September 21, 1751, Polzunov, together with his partner A. Beer, again submitted a joint petition to the Chancellery with a request and reminder of the promise to teach them mining sciences. But only in November 1753 Christiani finally fulfilled his request. He assigns him to oversee the work of the smelters for six months, and then to the Zmeinogorsk mine. This was training. I had to learn at the smelting furnace, in the mine, adopting experience and knowledge from practitioners, because there were no universities, technical schools, or even schools in Altai at that time, just as there was no technical literature in Russian. In addition to studying various mining operations, it was here that Polzunov first showed himself as an inventor. He took part in the construction of a new sawmill near the dam. The saw mill was the first factory building erected under the leadership of I.I. Polzunov.
It represented one of the most complex technical structures of that time. From the rotating water wheel, transmission was carried out to two sawmill frames, to the “sleigh” on which the sawn logs were moved, and to the log hauler. The transmission mechanism was a complex set of moving parts, which included: cam transmission, gear transmission, shafts, cranks, connecting rods, ratchet wheels, rope gates. Here Polzunov received practical training in the design and installation of complex transmission mechanisms containing automation elements. Very interesting was Polzunov’s decision to locate the sawmill not near the dam, but at some distance from the Zmeevka River on a diversion canal. In November 1754, Polzunov was assigned to the plant to conduct “assignments to artisans and working people to work”, as well as “to supervise all work.”
Along with this, Christiani still did not bypass him with assignments, sometimes quite unexpected. Here's one of them. In January 1755, a glass factory came into operation in the upper reaches of the factory pond. Two glass masters sent from central Russia worked on it. At first, the dishes they made turned out to have a “fog” and were not very transparent - an obvious defect. The glass masters were unable to identify the cause of the defect. Then this was entrusted to Polzunov. He spent about a month continuously at the plant, meticulously delving into all the details of a completely unfamiliar technology for glass melting, and finally solved the riddle! The dishes became foggy because they were not cooled properly.
It can be said without exaggeration that by this time Polzunov had gained such authority among his superiors that none of his fellow sergeants had. Here is convincing proof of this. In January 1758, it was planned to send another caravan with silver to St. Petersburg. Only an officer could be entrusted with such a cargo, which was no less than 3600 kg of silver and 24 kg of gold. But by that time there were only four of them available. It was “impossible” to do without any of them for eight to ten months (that’s how long the trip to the capital took) without damaging the business. And the Office came up with such a way out; Army Captain Shirman was appointed caravan officer, and since he was not aware of factory affairs, to help him in case “if something was asked, he could convey it clearly and at length... he was recognized as capable
Untersichtmeister Polzunov." He was also given a package of documents to be transferred to the Cabinet, as well as a large sum of money for the purchase of goods needed by the plant.
This trip was doubly, triply joyful for Polzunov. He got the opportunity to visit, albeit just passing through, his native Yekaterinburg, to see the capital, Moscow, and Russia. On the 64th day the caravan arrived in St. Petersburg. Polzunov was again entrusted with handing over the precious metals. They were received personally by the director of the Mint, Johann Wilhelm Schlatter (in Russian, Ivan Andreevich), the largest specialist in Russia in the field of mining, coinage, and metallurgy. After St. Petersburg, Polzunov stayed in Moscow for another three months to purchase goods ordered by the Office. Here he found his personal happiness - he met the young soldier’s widow Pelageya Povalyaeva. They went to Siberia together.
In January 1759, Polzunov was sent to the Krasnoyarsk and Kabanovskaya piers to supervise the reception of ore. Here he received a letter from Christiani in March, which began like this: “The most noble and venerable Mr. Schichtmeister”! Need I say what feelings these words evoked in Polzunov? They meant that the long-awaited Cabinet decree had finally arrived! He became a master of charge! A cherished dream has come true, ten years of impeccable service have been crowned with success!...
Why did Polzunov so strive to become an officer?
He was not driven by ambition, although he probably had that too. But the main thing was that now he was moving from a tax-paying, powerless, “vile” class to a privileged one, becoming a nobleman, “your honor,” a free man. No one could subject him to corporal punishment, insult him, or even say “you.” Service restrictions were lifted, now he could fully develop his capabilities, knowledge, energy, in a word, bring more benefit to the Fatherland. Finally, the material side also played an important role for him, now a family man: his salary tripled, an orderly appeared...
Polzunov was transferred to a “real” officer position - commissar of the Kolyvan plant “in charge of the receipts and expenditure of the treasury” or, in relation to current concepts, deputy manager of the plant for economic affairs. Meanwhile, business at the Kolyvano-Voskresensky factories began to decline. So, if in the year of Beer’s death in 1751, silver smelting reached 366 pounds, then by 1760 it dropped to 264 pounds. The Cabinet, or rather the crowned owner of the factories, did not want to put up with such a loss of income. In October 1761, the head of the factories, A.I. Poroshin, who had recently been promoted to major general, was returned to Altai. He brought with him a whole package of measures “to improve factories”, developed by the Cabinet (with his participation) and approved by the Empress.
One of these measures was the construction of a new silver smelter. The question arises: wouldn’t it be easier to increase the power of the existing ones?
Barnaulsky and Kolyvansky? That's the point, no. The plant's capacity was limited by the number of water wheels or, in other words, by the amount of water in the pond. The plant also needed a large supply of forest nearby to burn charcoal (they didn’t know how to use stone at that time).
A river and a forest were an indispensable condition for the construction of a plant, and not every river was suitable, but only one that was not very wide and not very fast with strong (not sandy) banks. Finding such a place near the Zmeinogorsky mine was not easy. It is no coincidence that the Barnaul plant is located 240 miles away. With the arrival of A.I. Poroshin, the search became widespread. All mountain officers were involved in them, only I.I. Polzunov was not involved. Shortly before that, he headed the department (office) “at the forestry and smoking departments” of the Barnaul plant, he was given time to get used to the new troublesome position. But he did not want to stay away from what the entire “mining society” lived by; he was also looking for a way out, only his thoughts went in a different direction: how to overcome the slavish dependence of mining production on the water wheel? In April 1763, he put an unexpected and daring project for a “fiery” machine on the table of the head of the plant. I.I. Polzunov intended it to power blowing bellows; and in the future I dreamed of adapting “according to our will, whatever needs to be corrected,” but I didn’t have time to do it..."
In order to fully appreciate the creative feat of I.I. Polzunov, let us remember that at that time there was not a single steam engine in Russia. The only source from which he knew that there was such a thing in the world was the book by I.V. Schlatter “Detailed instructions for mining,” published in St. Petersburg in 1760. But the book contained only a diagram and the operating principle of Newcomen’s single-cylinder machine, and not a word about the technology of its manufacture. It never occurred to I.V. Schlatter that someone in Russia might need such information. It can be said without exaggeration that Polzunov borrowed only the idea of a steam-atmospheric engine from I.V. Schlatter, and came up with everything else himself. He gained the necessary knowledge about the nature of heat, the properties of water, air, and steam from the works of M.V. Lomonosov.
Soberly assessing the difficulties of implementing a completely new business in Russia, Polzunov proposed to build first, as an experiment, one small machine of a design he had developed to service a blower installation (consisting of two bellows) with one melting furnace. In the drawing attached to the note, in the explanatory text, the installation, according to Polzunov’s first project, included: a boiler - generally of the same design that was used in Newcomen’s machines; a steam-atmospheric machine, consisting of two cylinders with alternate movement of pistons (“embols”) in them in opposite directions, equipped with steam and water distribution systems; tanks, pumps and pipes for supplying the installation with water; a transmission mechanism in the form of a system of pulleys with chains (Polzunov refused the balancer), driving the blower bellows. Water vapor from the boiler entered the piston of one of the working cylinders. This equalized the atmospheric air pressure.
The vapor pressure was only slightly higher than atmospheric air pressure. The pistons in the cylinder were connected by chains, and when one of the piston was raised, the second was lowered. When the piston reached the top position, the access of steam automatically stopped and cold water was sprayed inside the cylinder. The steam condensed and a vacuum (rarefied space) formed under the piston. By the force of atmospheric pressure, the piston was lowered to the lower position and pulled along the piston in the second working cylinder, into which steam from the same boiler was let in to equalize the pressure automatically, operating from the engine transmission mechanism.
The fact that the pistons with the motion transmission system were connected by chains shows that when lifting the pistons along the chain, it was impossible to transmit motion (the chain was not tensioned). All parts of the engine worked due to the energy of the descending piston. those. that piston that moved under the influence of atmospheric pressure. The steam produced no useful work in the engine. The amount of this work depended on the consumption of thermal energy throughout the entire cycle. The amount of thermal energy expended expressed the amount of potential energy of each of the pistons. This is a dual steam-atmospheric cycle. Polzunov clearly understood the principle of operation of a heat engine. This can be seen in the examples with which he characterized the conditions for the best operation of the engine he invented. He defined the dependence of the engine operation on the temperature of the water condensing the steam in the following words: “the action of the embols and their rise and fall will become higher the colder the water in the fantals, and even more so from such that it reaches near the freezing point and has not yet thickened and from this in the whole movement it will give a lot of ability.” This position, now known in thermodynamics as a special case of one of its basic laws, had not yet been formulated before Polzunov. To understand its meaning, let us translate Polzunov’s words into our modern language: the work of a heat engine will be greater, the lower the temperature of the water condensing the steam, and especially when it reaches the solidification point of water 0 ° C. Polzunov’s engine in his 1763 project was intended for supplying air to melting furnaces using blowers. At the same time, he activated the pistons of the water pumps, supplying water to the upper pool to power the “fountains” inside the cylinders at the moment of steam condensation. Thus, the engine could drive two different mechanisms - water pumps and blowers, which no other machine in the world had done before. In addition, he could operate hammers, ore crushers, and many other factory and mine mechanisms. If desired, the engine could easily perform rotational movements using the crank mechanism, widely known in Russia. Polzunov’s project was reviewed by the office of the Kolyvano-Voskresensky factories and was highly appreciated by the head of the factories A.I. Poroshin. Poroshin pointed out that if Polzunov undertakes to make a machine suitable for servicing several furnaces at once, if he builds a machine suitable for pouring water from mines, then the Office will willingly support his plans. The final decision on this issue remained with the Cabinet and
the owner of the factories - Catherine II. The project was sent to St. Petersburg, but the Cabinet's response was received in Barnaul only a year later. By decree of the Cabinet of November 19, 1763, the Empress granted the inventor to the "mechanics" with the rank and title of engineering captain-lieutenant. This meant that Polzunov was now provided with a salary of 240 rubles per annum, with the addition of two orderlies and the maintenance of horses, he received 314 rubles. He was promised a reward of 400 rubles.
All this is no small mercy. It once again demonstrates that Empress Catherine loved to maintain her reputation as the patroness of the sciences and arts. But the size of the incentive once again confirms that the significance of Polzunov’s invention was not understood in St. Petersburg. To confirm this, we can cite the following fact: when Polzunov’s namesake Ivan Kulibin presented the empress with an original watch he had made, he received 1000 rubles as a gift. When he made a model of a bridge across the Neva in one span, he was awarded the same amount and was showered with other incentives. After testing the bridge, Kulibin received another 2,000 rubles as a reward. Ivan Kulibin was, of course, a highly gifted mechanic, but still his inventions cannot be placed next to Polzunov’s machine.
Speaking about the role and significance of the first project of the “fire machine” in the world history of technology, one should confidently state the following: if Polzunov had not built or designed anything at all, but had only left a sketch of his first project, then this would have been enough, to admire his brilliant plan.
While the Cabinet was considering the engine design, Polzunov wasted no time working on the second stage project. He designed a powerful heat engine for 15 smelting furnaces. This was already a real thermal power station. Polzunov did not just increase the size of the engine, but introduced a number of significant changes to it. After the project of a powerful engine was completed, Polzunov learned that the Cabinet, having familiarized itself with his first project, awarded him the title of mechanic and decided to give him 400 rubles as a reward, but did not make any decision on the substance of the issue.
Despite this position of the Cabinet, the head of the Kolyvano-Voskresensky factories A.I. Poroshin allowed Polzunov to proceed with the implementation of the first stage of the project. In March 1764, I.I. Polzunov proposed to begin construction of a large heat engine. Poroshin agreed with this proposal. Thus, the construction of the world’s first universal thermal power plant began at the Barnaul plant.
This was a serious decision, if only because the car would cost no less than building a new plant. Polzunov was required to submit an application for labor and materials. He presented it at the end of March. But it was an application
already on another machine, more powerful than in the first project. Why? Apparently, the events of recent months have forced the inventor to look at everything differently. He obtained permission to build at too high a price. Probably not likely
once again in his life such an opportunity would present itself... Of course, Polzunov realized that without sufficient experience, creating a large machine for driving blower bellows, providing 6-9 melting furnaces, was not an easy task. And yet I decided to do it. Before even starting to build the machine, the inventor was faced with a difficulty: the lack of people capable of realizing his plans and the tools and mechanisms required for construction. The first steam engine in Russia had to be built, but there were neither specialists capable of leading the construction, nor qualified workers familiar with the design of such engines. Polzunov himself, who assumed the responsibilities of the general manager of the work, to some extent solved the problem of technical management, but precisely, “to some extent,” because it was beyond the power of one person to manage such a new and complex technical enterprise.
The problem of selecting workers turned out to be no less difficult. Experienced model makers, foundry workers, blacksmiths, mechanics, carpenters, burners, copper and soldering specialists were required. According to Polzunov’s calculations, 76 people, including 19 highly qualified craftsmen, should have been directly involved in the construction of the engine. It seemed impossible to obtain such specialists locally. There was only one way out; call specialists from the Urals - a real forge of technical personnel.
Difficulties in acquiring construction tools and mechanisms turned out to be even more insurmountable. According to the inventor's plan, “the whole machine should be made of metal,” which inevitably required the presence of special metal-working equipment, which Russia almost did not have at its disposal. The matter was aggravated by the fact that the engine was being built in Altai, and this was an area with developed copper and silver smelting production, but backward foundry, forging and metalworking equipment.
The inventor's premonitions did not deceive him. The office fully approved only the considerations regarding the required amount of materials. Not wanting to spend money on calling experienced craftsmen from the distant Urals, the factory management allocated Polzunov four students whom he knew and asked to assign to him, two retired artisans and four soldiers to guard the construction site.
The Office decided to assign the remaining artisans (over 60 people) to Polzunov as needed, “how much work he, Polzunov, has to do.” During the construction of the machine, this “as needed” was a source of constant difficulties. The decision of the office presented new difficulties for the inventor. Four young students - Ovchinnikov, Levzin, Chernitsyn and Vyatchenin - reminded him of his own youth, the life of a beginning “mechanical student.” Retired artisans Medvedev and Bobrovnikov became decrepit over the years and became so deprived of strength that they were removed from factory work for their weakness. Thus, instead of seventy-six people, Polzunov was entrusted with ten. Only then were several more assigned peasants identified. But even under such circumstances the inventor does not
wavered, did not retreat. His business was his life's work. When he had to choose between the quiet existence of an ordinary factory employee and the full of difficulties and risky life of a machine builder, he chose the second. The car was built in two places at once. Casting and processing of cylinders, pallets and other large parts was carried out in one of the workshops of the Barnaul plant, where it was possible to use a water wheel, lathes, flattening (rolling) machines, water-acting hammers for the production of spherical copper sheets for assembling the boiler; small parts were cast and forged in the premises of a temporarily closed glass factory, where a small melting furnace with a forge attached to it was built specifically for this purpose. The plant was located in the upper reaches of the pond, three miles from the village. Polzunov had to measure these miles more than once a day. Such a load could exhaust even a healthy person, but he developed consumption...
Exterior view of the building in which Polzunov’s car was located. A later reproduction of a drawing from 1765.
Until now, all factory equipment, including the water wheel and machine tools, was made mainly of wood; there were few metal parts. And here we had to build a huge machine for those times, 11 meters high, almost entirely made of metal, built, as they say, from a sheet of paper, without even testing it on a model. And this is despite the lack of experienced specialists, the necessary machines, and tools. Polzunov had to invent some machines and tools literally on the fly. At the beginning of construction, Polzunov made a serious mistake, due to which he lost about two months of precious summer time. In order to reduce the cost of the car, he decided to cast the cylinders from an alloy of copper and lead, and the water pipes and other small parts - entirely from lead. In fact, it turned out that they did not have the necessary margin of safety. We had to start all over again, for which we asked for an additional 224 pounds of copper and 15 pounds
tin. There was no tin in the warehouse; the Office ordered it to be purchased from local merchants, although they, taking advantage of the opportunity, raised the price higher than usual. New cylinders (from an alloy of copper and tin) were cast only at the end of September - beginning of October; their turning and polishing of the inner walls began already with the onset of winter. On May 20, he reported that, in addition to the boiler, up to 110 parts had already been made for the machine by “foundry and turning”, with a “burden” of one to one hundred and seventy poods each. The scope of turning work alone is evidenced by the following figure: in July, Polzunov delivered 97 pounds of copper filings to the warehouse!
So, the parts of the car were basically ready. In the time remaining before winter, a building had to be built for it, and in it it was necessary to “largely connect” and assemble the car. Polzunov promised to do this by October. It must be said that he set himself an extremely short period of time.
The world's first heat engine was built on the right bank of the pond, not far from the Barnaul silver smelter, next to a small glass factory. They built a large barn for the car, the height of a three-story house. The diggers were the first to get to work. They removed a layer of soft soil from the place where the machine was to be installed. The foundation beams were laid on a flat area. Now one could hope that under the weight of the car the ground would not begin to settle. The walls of the boiler heating furnace gradually grew. Mechanisms were built below to lift cylinders and other heavy parts. The furnace firebox was laid out, and it was time to install the steam boiler. By this time, the builders had not yet received a cast boiler with thick walls. The fate of the request for the manufacture of such a boiler, sent to the Yekaterinburg plant, remained unknown. The situation was becoming critical. After much deliberation, Polzunov decided to temporarily install a thin-walled boiler of his own making. There was simply no other way out. The whole autumn was spent assembling the car. These days were the most intense for the builders of the “fiery” machine. What it took to assemble just one seven-hundred-bucket boiler from separate sheets with riveting and soldering of seams, and attach various fittings to it. It was necessary to raise 150-pound cylinders to the height of two floors, install them precisely vertically at given points, assemble a multi-meter web of pipes, a pumping unit, balancers, etc., secure everything properly, solder it in a hundred places, etc.
Enormous overexertion and work in an unheated room until the night, when the cold metal parts of the machines burned his hands with frost, undermined Polzunov’s health. It is known that from May 1764 to August 1765 he turned three times to the doctor of the Barnaul hospital, Yakov Kiesing, for help, because was "obsessed with pounding in the chest."
By December 7, the assembly of the machine was basically completed, and the inventor decided to make its first trial run and test it in operation. Instead of the handles of the blower bellows (the construction of the bellows had not yet begun), a bundle of logs was attached to the balancers of the transmission mechanism. By how the machine would lift such a weight, the inventor hoped to determine its power. And so
The long-awaited day of the first launch of the machine has arrived. Work started earlier than usual. The last time we checked the adjustment of the steam and water distribution mechanism, the reliability of the operation of the steam and water taps. By noon we completed the inspection of all mechanisms and systems. After a short break, on command, they poured water into the reserve pool and pumped it into the upper reservoir with a hand pump.
Finally, the bustle died down. They stood quietly and a little decorously and looked at the “hero” of the occasion. So, with a sharp movement, he approached the firebox, bent down and began to light the firewood that had been stacked in it since yesterday evening. Dry birch logs quickly flared up, crackling merrily and scattering sparks. Finally, the first tongues of flame licked the dull copper of the steam boiler. Two tedious hours passed. The water in the boiler began to boil, releasing more and more steam. Finally, with a noise and a whistle, the steam burst into the cylinder. The balance beam seemed to reluctantly swing the logs suspended from it. Then there was a loud noise in the cylinder and the balancer began to sway again. Immediately, as if on command, the piston of the second cylinder came to life. The piston rods moved faster and faster, easily swinging the heavy logs suspended from the balance bars. But Polzunov no longer saw this. A thick veil clouded his eyes. A big, courageous man, who had not been broken by any of the hardships of life, wept with joy.
But during the launch, a number of shortcomings also emerged (which is completely natural). Polzunov immediately began to correct them. By this time, he had moved to an apartment at the glass factory, which previously belonged to the “glass masters.” There was no need to waste time traveling from the village and back. It was, of course, good. But the bad thing is that now he disappeared at the car until his strength left him completely. But winter had come, in the machine house it was time to freeze the wolves, how he survived there is difficult to understand. He returned home after dark, completely chilled, barely moving his legs, coughing up blood. And in the morning, despite the persuasion and tears of his wife, he again hurried to the car, his eyes fanatically shining on his frostbitten, emaciated face - it would be better to put him in a coffin. It was quite clear that, feeling the end was near, he was in a hurry to complete the work he had begun, even at the cost of his life. In icy drafts, he and his assistants climbed ladders around a car breathing cold, something
endlessly adjusting, tightening, adjusting. The short winter day was not enough; the evenings were too long. It is known that on December 30, 1765, Polzunov received three pounds of candles. By March, the huge bellows covers, made according to the inventor’s design, were finally delivered on 8 horses. They were installed and the car was finally fully assembled. The matter was left to the smelting furnaces. In the spring, Polzunov's illness intensified. On April 18, his throat started bleeding again, after which he was no longer able to get up from
bed. With merciless clarity, the inventor realized that he would not live to see the launch of the machine. On April 21, Polzunov dictated to Vanya Chernitsyn (he himself could no longer write) a petition addressed to the empress. “The Most Serene, Most Sovereign, Great Empress Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna, All-Russian Autocrat, Most Gracious Empress! Mechanicus Ivan strikes with his brow
Ivanovich son Polzunov about the following: Your Imperial Majesty, the project I composed for a new machine, considered it back in 1763 and deigned to be pleased with it. And to encourage me and others, following my example in such useful exercises, they deigned to give me 400 rubles as a reward. But that money has not been given to me to this day. And although I was not honored to receive that dacha, my zeal for service did not weaken, and I made the above-mentioned machine in all its parts and assembled it in the built factory, installed it and put it into operation in the smelting furnaces, about which the main thing was at the Kolyvano-Voskresensk factories the commander, Major General and Cavalier Poroshin, with some mountain officers has already been attested. Under which structure I suffered considerable burden and exhaustion in my health. With all that machine structure, of the mechanics who are with me, the students Dmitry Levzin, Ivan Chernitsyn deliberately understood its composition in members and know the production, and if anything is damaged in the future, they can correct it.”
On May 16, 1766 at six o'clock in the evening in Barnaul, on the Irkutsk line (now Pushkinskaya street) I.I. Polzunov died. He was 38 years old. A week after the death of I.I. Polzunov, on May 23 (June 5), 1766, official tests of the world's first heat engine began. On the first day, testers came to the conclusion that the machine could drive bellows to supply air to 10-12 furnaces.
The large engine built by Polzunov was significantly different in design from the machine that he described in the original project of 1763. The transmission of motion to the machines that the engine was supposed to serve was carried out using balancers. For greater strength, the inventor made the chains connecting the engine pistons to the balancers from separate iron rods and hinged, i.e. of this type, which are now known as “Gall chains”. The boiler's supply of heated water was automated. Polzunov came up with a simple mechanism that ensured that the water in the boiler remained at the same level while the engine was running. This simplified the work of people servicing the machine.
To ensure uniform air blast in the melting furnace, I.I. Polzunov invented a blast accumulator. The bellows did not supply air directly to the furnace, but to a large box - an “air chest”, from which a continuous stream of air entered the smelting furnaces. I.I. Polzunov’s engine was called by his contemporaries a “smelting factory.” The height of the machine was 10 meters, and the cylinders were about 3 meters. The heat engine developed a power of 40 horsepower. The construction of a large, unprecedented machine in the production conditions that I.I. Polzunov had was a truly heroic, almost fabulous feat. It was truly a miracle, which only the genius of the great is capable of
Russian people. A man of heroic creative daring, the soldier’s son Polzunov was the embodiment of the ingenuity and perseverance characteristic of our people. During the first tests of the heat engine, problems were discovered. During the tests, it turned out that water and steam seep between the pistons (embols) and the cylinder walls, and the pumps supply insufficient water
quantity. Kozma Frolov, summoned from the Zmeinogorsk mine, proposed replacing the pumps with mine water-lifting ones. We brought pumps from the Zmeinogorsk mine, installed them, and the result was excellent. Thus, it was proven that Polzunov’s machine is capable of performing one more task - pumping water from the mine. If Polzunov had lived longer, he might have figured out how to use it to set machines in motion and, in general, “by our will, whatever needs to be corrected.”
With emblems the matter turned out to be more complicated. The leather seal wore out quickly: tests showed that cork bark was better suited for this.
On July 4, the fifth and final test of the vehicle was carried out. All mechanisms and systems worked well. The factory management decided to put the car into operation. The tests lasted a month and a half. Most of the shortcomings were either a consequence of construction omissions, or those that could not be eliminated at the then level of technological development. But not a single word of reproach was said about the general design of the fire-fighting machine itself. The inventor has foreseen and taken into account everything down to the smallest detail! The tests were completed, but the car remained idle for a whole month without use. In early August 1766, the construction of the smelting furnaces was finally completed, and the office scheduled the machine to be put into operation on August 4.
From early morning, impatiently shifting from foot to foot, people crowded around the building of the unprecedented machine. Curious people gathered from all over Barnaul. By 7 o'clock in the morning the fire was already bubbling in the boiler's furnace. A subtle whistling sound of steam signaled that the machine was ready for work. The ignition of the furnaces and the start of the first smelting were delayed from minute to minute. The car was idle for more than six hours. At two o'clock in the afternoon all the factory management arrived. The solemn moment of blowing out the furnaces was coming. But the celebration did not take place, because at the moment of blowing, the piston of the left cylinder suddenly stopped in the lower position, and the machine froze.
Using blocks, we had to remove the pistons from the cylinders and carefully inspect both. The reason for the stop was still not discovered. At first glance everything seemed fine. Only after they extinguished the furnace, released steam from the boiler and carried out a thorough inspection of the machine, it was discovered that a nut that had loosened, apparently during the testing period, allowed the steam
the regulator turns to a much larger angle than intended. The steam regulator was stuck and would not turn to the sides. In this case, the inlet window was closed; steam did not have access to the cylinder. An unfortunate oversight disrupted the launch of the machine, and repairs delayed it for another two days. On August 7, at six o'clock in the morning, the mechanism was started again, but this time they did not wait for the arrival of the high authorities. At two o'clock the smelting furnaces were blown out without any solemnity. The day of August 7, 1766 will remain in the memory of people for centuries. On this day, the first steam power plant was put into operation, intended for
direct drive of factory units! The machine operated non-stop for more than three days. During this time, about 400 pounds of ore were smelted. On August 10, the car was stopped again. The seal, made from poor quality cork bark, crumbled into crumbs and began to let cold water into the cylinder. I had to send a request for a cork to Tobolsk and Yekaterinburg pharmacies. Looking for a way out of this situation, they temporarily used birch bark for compaction.
All the thoughts of the factory office were aimed at acquiring cork bark. None of the technical managers of the plants thought of taking a different path: changing the design of the piston itself, making it more perfect. In addition, many mines in the district used sump pumps with pistons made of two disks, between which hemp was stuffed for compaction. Therefore, the use of such a piston was timely.
On September 25, with the arrival of the cork bark, the machine was put into operation and worked with minor stops until November 10. On this day, “in the afternoon at six o’clock, during a very decent and continuous action, it turned out that behind the fire under the boiler of the brick vaults, from one boiler there was a significant water leak, so that it extinguished the fire under the boiler, for which reason they forced this machine together and with smelting stop the stoves." With this, Polzunov’s machine “ended its work.” The boiler, riveted from thin sheet copper, turned out to be its weak point. Polzunov also pointed out that it was only suitable for the initial test, but it was not possible to make it more durable at the Barnaul plant.
The total useful operating time of the machine was 1023 hours (42 days and 15 hours). During this time, 14 poods of silver 38 pounds 17 spools 42 shares, gold 14 pounds 22 spools 75 shares were received. After deducting all expenses for building the machine, paying the smelters, even the 400 ruble reward for Polzunov, the net profit amounted to 11,016 rubles 10.25 kopecks. But the machine worked for less than a month and a half, and even then not at full capacity: it served only three furnaces. And yet, it was decided that in the future “it is not considered necessary to put it into operation, due to the abundance of water in the local plant.” This decision was signed, sadly enough, by the head of the factories, Poroshin, who until recently was an ardent supporter of the “fiery” machine.
The reason was, apparently, that at the Kolyvano-Voskresensk factories, as throughout feudal Russia, there was no great need for machines. There was plenty of forced, cheap labor. Polzunov's tragedy was that he was ahead of his time... In 1784, James Watt received a patent for a universal heat engine, which soon won worldwide recognition. And Polzunov’s car, after standing for 15 years, 5 months and 10 days, was dismantled in March 1782.
History of the steam engine
The first attempt to put steam to the service of man was made in England in 1698: the Savery machine was intended for draining mines and pumping water. The inventor himself called it a "fire machine" and widely advertised it as a "friend of miners." Fire was required to generate the steam that powered the machine, but Savery's invention was not yet an engine in the full sense of the word, since apart from a few valves that were opened and closed manually, it had no moving parts.
Savery's machine worked as follows: first, a sealed tank was filled with steam, then the outer surface of the tank was cooled with cold water, causing the steam to condense and creating a partial vacuum in the tank. After this, water - for example, from the bottom of the shaft - was sucked into the tank through the intake pipe and, after the next portion of steam was introduced, it was thrown out through the outlet. The cycle was then repeated, but water could only be lifted from depths less than 10.36 m, since it was actually atmospheric pressure that pushed it out.
The first successful “steam” engine with a piston was built by the Frenchman Denis Papin, whose name is more often associated with the invention of the autoclave, which is found in almost every home today in the form of a pressure cooker.
In 1674, Papin built a gunpowder engine, the principle of which was based on the ignition of gunpowder in a cylinder and the movement of a piston inside the cylinder under the influence of powder gases. When excess gases left the cylinder through a special valve, and the remaining gas was cooled, a partial vacuum was created in the cylinder, and the piston returned to its original position under the influence of atmospheric pressure.
The machine was not very successful, but it gave Papen the idea of replacing gunpowder with water. And in 1698 he built a steam engine (in the same year the Englishman Savery also built his “fire engine”). Water was heated inside a vertical cylinder with a piston inside, and the resulting steam pushed the piston upward. As the steam cooled and condensed, the piston moved downward under the influence of atmospheric pressure. Thus, through a system of blocks, Papen's steam engine could drive various mechanisms, such as pumps.
Hearing about Papen's steam engine, Thomas Newcomen, who often visited the mines in the West Country, where he worked as a blacksmith, and understood better than anyone else how good pumps were needed to prevent flooding
mines, joined forces with plumber and glazier John Culley in an attempt to build a more advanced model. In 1705, a patent was issued to T. Newcomen for a water-lifting machine (Fig. 4), in which cylinders with a piston were used for the first time. The design of this machine included
a contradiction that did not allow it to work continuously: the work of steam moved the piston, which performed a useful action, but a piston extended to the end stopped working - it was necessary to open the valve, release steam and return the piston to its original position at idle.
Fig.4. Operating principle of the Newcomen machine
The first steam engine was installed in a colliery in Staffordshire in 1712. As in Papen's machine, the piston moved in a vertical cylinder, but overall Newcomen's machine was much more advanced. To eliminate the gap between the cylinder and the piston, Newcomen attached a flexible leather disk to the end of the latter and poured a little water on it.
Steam from the boiler entered the base of the cylinder and raised the piston upward. But when cold water was injected into the cylinder, the steam condensed, a vacuum formed in the cylinder, and under the influence of atmospheric pressure the piston fell down. This reverse stroke removed water from the cylinder and, through a chain connected to a rocker arm that moved like a swing, lifted the pump rod up. When the piston was at the bottom of its stroke, steam again entered the cylinder, and with the help of a counterweight attached to the pump rod or rocker arm, the piston rose to its original position. After this, the cycle repeated. Newcomen's machine turned out to be extremely successful and was used throughout Europe for more than 50 years. In 1740, a machine with a cylinder 2.74 m long and 76 cm in diameter completed in one day the work that teams of 25 men and 10 horses, working in shifts, had previously completed in a week. In 1775, an even larger machine, built by John Smeaton (creator of the Eddystone Lighthouse), drained the dry dock at Kronstadt, Russia, in two weeks. Previously, using high wind turbines, this took a whole year. And yet,
Newcomen's machine was far from perfect. It converted only about 1% of thermal energy into mechanical energy and, as a result, consumed a huge amount of fuel, which, however, did not matter much,
when the car was working in the coal mines. In general, Newcomen's machines played a huge role in preserving the coal industry: with their help, it was possible to resume coal mining in many flooded mines.
The project of the world's first steam engine (Fig. 5), capable of directly driving any working mechanisms, was proposed on April 25, 1763 by the Russian inventor I. I. Polzunov, a mechanic at the Kolyvano-Voskresensky mining plants of Altai. The project came to the table of the head of the factories, who approved it and sent it to St. Petersburg, from where the answer soon came: "... This invention of his should be considered a new invention."Polzunov's steam engine received recognition.
Drawing of Polzunov's machine Fig. 5 Operating principle of Polzunov's steam engine
Unlike Newcomen's machine, Polzunov's machine produced work continuously. He used two cylinders, the pistons of which transferred work to a common shaft alternately. Thus, Polzunov spread the condition of no idling between different objects, for the first time putting forward the idea of combining the work of several cylinders. When one cylinder was idling, the other was doing work. Polzunov proposed to build first
a small machine on which all the defects inevitable in a new invention could be identified and eliminated. The factory management did not agree with this and decided to immediately build a huge machine for a powerful blower.
The construction of the machine was entrusted to Polzunov, to whose assistance they were allocated " those who do not know, but have only one inclination towards this among the local artisans
two" and even a few auxiliary workers. With this "staff" Polzunov began building his machine. It was built for a year and nine months. When the machine had already passed the first test, the inventor fell ill with transient consumption and died a few days before the final tests.
On May 23, 1766, Polzunov’s students Levzin and Chernitsyn alone began the final tests of the steam engine. The "Day Note" dated July 4 noted " correct machine action", and on August 7, 1766, the entire installation - a steam engine and a powerful blower - was put into operation.
In just three months of operation, Polzunov’s machine not only justified all the costs of its construction in the amount of 7233 rubles 55 kopecks, but also gave a net profit of 12640 rubles 28 kopecks.
On November 10, 1766, the boiler leaked and the machine stopped. Despite the fact that this malfunction could have been easily eliminated, the factory management, not interested in mechanization, abandoned Polzunov’s creation.
Over the next thirty years, the machine was inactive, and in 1779, the then managers of the Altai factories gave the order to dismantle the machine, “break down the factory located at it and use the timber for whatever it is good for.”
Around the same time, Scotsman James Watt was working on the creation of a steam engine in England. In 1784, Englishman James Watt received a patent for a universal steam engine.
Fig.6. Cylinder operation of Watt's steam engine
After twenty years of improvements, Watt finally got a continuous machine (Fig. 6). He resolved the contradiction within one object: he closed the cylinder with a lid with an oil seal, now steam could be supplied alternately on both sides of the piston - the idle speed disappeared. The working stroke in one half of the cylinder was the idle stroke for the other half.
Beginning in 1763, he worked on improving Newcomen's ineffective steam-atmospheric engine, which, in general, was only suitable for pumping water. It was clear to him that the main drawback of Newcomen's machine was the alternating heating and cooling of the cylinder. What
So how can we avoid this? The answer came to Watt on a spring Sunday in 1765. He realized that the cylinder could remain hot all the time if the steam was diverted into a separate tank through a pipeline with a valve before condensation. Moreover, the cylinder can remain hot and the condenser cold if the outside of them is covered with insulating material. In addition, Watt made several more improvements that finally turned the steam-atmospheric engine into a steam engine. In 1768, he applied for a patent for his invention. He received a patent, but for a long time he was unable to build a steam engine. It was only in 1776 that Watt's steam engine was finally built and successfully tested. It turned out to be twice as effective as Newcomen's machine.
In 1782, Watt created a remarkable new machine - the first universal double-acting steam engine. He equipped the cylinder cover with a seal invented shortly before, which ensured free movement of the piston rod, but prevented steam leakage from the cylinder. Steam entered the cylinder alternately from one side of the piston, then from the other. Therefore, the piston made both the working and return strokes with the help of steam, which was not the case in previous machines.
Since in a double-acting steam engine the piston rod performed a pulling and pushing action, the previous drive system of chains and rocker arms, which responded only to traction, had to be redesigned. Watt developed a system of coupled rods and used a planetary mechanism to convert the reciprocating motion of the piston rod into rotational motion, used a heavy flywheel, a centrifugal speed controller, a disc valve and a pressure gauge to measure steam pressure.
The “rotary steam engine” patented by Watt was first widely used to drive machines and looms of spinning and weaving factories, and later of other industrial enterprises. Thus, Watt's steam engine became the invention of the century, marking the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
In 1785, one of Watt's first machines was installed in London at Samuel Whitbread's brewery for grinding malt. The machine did the work instead of 24 horses. Its cylinder diameter was 63 cm, the piston stroke was 1.83 m, and the flywheel diameter reached 4.27 m. The machine has survived to this day, and today it can be seen in action in the Sydney Powerhouse Museum.
Watt's engine was suitable for any machine, and the inventors of self-propelled mechanisms were quick to take advantage of this.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. www.Aomai.ab.ru/Books/Files/1998-01/02/pap_02.html
2. www.Free-time.ru/razdeis/!anziki/p_11.html.
3. Confederates I.Ya. Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov. - M.-L.: Gosenergoizdat, 1951. - 296 p.: ill.
4. Zubkov B.V., Chumakov S.V. – Encyclopedic Dictionary of Young Technicians – 2nd ed. – M.: Pedagogy 1988
5. Savelyev N.Ya. Altai is the birthplace of outstanding inventions. - Barnaul: Altaikrayizdat, 1951. - 117 p.
6. Shishkin A.D. Creator of the "fiery" machine (I.I. Polzunov). - Sverdlovsk: Sverdlovsk book. publishing house, 1963. - 83 p.
7. Borodkin P. Stories about Polzunov // Altai. - 1977. - No. 1. - P. 53-61.
8. Virginsky V.S. Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov 1729-1766 / Rep. ed. N.K. Laman. - M: Nauka, 1989. - 165 p.,: ill.
9. Danilevsky V.V. I.I.Polzunov: Works and life of the first Russian heating engineer. - M.-L.: USSR Academy of Sciences, 1940.- 446 pp.: ill., 18 sheets, drawing.
10. skbkontur.ru/personal/blink/triz.htm