Results of agrarian reform. Agrarian reform P.A

Russian electrical engineer and inventor, author of the “Yablochkov candle”, “Russian light”

The inventions of inquisitive researchers always prepare a breakthrough in science, technology and the very way of life of society. At the end of the 19th century, major cities of world powers were illuminated one after another. In 1856, electric lamps were already burning in Moscow on Red Square during the coronation of Alexander II. However, they only worked for a short time and were very expensive, so scientists persistently searched for a simple and trouble-free mechanism for their use. Almost a whole century passed after the discovery of electricity before this phenomenon was put to the service of man. Yablochkov’s “electric candle” was one of the first simple and economical inventions that laid the foundation for the mass use of lighting devices for street lighting.

Even in his youth, Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov became interested in physics, especially its little-studied area - electricity. After graduating from Nikolaevskoye engineering school and the St. Petersburg Electroplating Institution, became a military engineer. He served as head of the telegraph office of the Moscow-Kursk Railway. In his workshop, Pavel Nikolaevich tested devices that he himself invented: a signal thermometer for regulating the temperature in railway cars, an installation for lighting the railway track with an electric spotlight... In 1874, during the installation of electric light throughout the entire route of the imperial train, Pavel Yablochkov saw all the inconveniences of the voltage arc regulators used. At the same time, the researcher decided to devote himself to developing a reliable design for an electric arc lamp.

Days and nights he carried out experiments and drew diagrams in a Parisian workshop, which was provided to the inventor by one of the French companies. The only thought occupied him, no matter what he was doing and no matter where he was.

One day in 1876, when 29-year-old Pavel Yablochkov was waiting for his order in a small cafe, it seemed to dawn on him. Looking at how carefully the waiter laid out the cutlery, the talented engineer found a solution that was brilliant in its simplicity... “Yes, exactly like cutlery, the carbon electrodes should be located in the lamp - not like in all previous designs, but in parallel! Then both will burn out exactly the same, and the distance between them will always be constant. And no regulators are needed here!” thought Pavel Nikolaevich.

The very next year, Yablochkov’s “electric candle” illuminated the Louvre store in Paris. The design of two identical coal rods, insulated with a layer of kaolin and mounted on a stand, indeed resembled a candlestick with candles. The electrodes burned evenly, giving a sufficiently bright light long time. An “electric candle” cost about 20 kopecks and burned for an hour and a half. It is not surprising that these devices soon went on sale and began to sell in huge quantities. In 1877, the light bulbs of the Russian inventor were lit on the Thames embankment in London, then in Berlin. And after Pavel Nikolaevich returned to his homeland, his “candle” illuminated St. Petersburg.

This was not the only achievement of Pavel Yablochkov. In the 1880s, he successfully developed and tested electric current generators - magnetodynamic machines, galvanic cells with alkaline electrolyte and other electrical devices. Pavel Nikolaevich participated in specialized electrical exhibitions more than once: in Russia in 1880 and 1882 and in Paris in 1881 and 1889, surprising again and again with his inventions. In love with his work, he became one of the founders of the electrical engineering department of the Russian technical society and the magazine “Electricity” in Russia.

Over time, Yablochkov’s invention was replaced by more economical and convenient incandescent lamps with a thin electric filament inside; his “candle” became just a museum exhibit. However, this was the first light bulb, thanks to which artificial light began to be used everywhere: on streets, squares, theaters, shops, apartments and factories.

In 1876, Pavel Nikolaevich read his report on the invention of an electromagnet with a flat winding at the French Physical Society, of which he was elected a member, and in 1878 he demonstrated the invention at the World Exhibition in Paris.

Almanac "Great Russia. Personalities. Year 2003. Volume II", 2004, ASMO-press.




P. N. Yablochkov (from a photograph of the 1890s)

Coat of arms of the Yablochkovs

Birth:	September 2 (September 14)(1847-09-14 ) Serdobsky Uyezd, Saratov Governorate, Russian Empire
Death:	March 19 (March 31) ( 1894-03-31 ) (46 years old) Saratov, Russian Empire
Burial place:	With. Boot of Rtishchevsky district
Genus:	Yablochkovs
Education:	Nikolaev Engineering School
Activity:	electrical engineer, inventor

Military service
Years of service:	1866-1867, 1869-1872
Type of army:	engineering troops
Rank:	lieutenant
Job title:	battalion adjutant
Commanded:	head of the galvanizing team
Part:	5th Engineer Battalion, 5th Engineer Regiment

Scientific activity
Scientific field:	electrical engineering
Known as:	inventor of the electric candle named after him, as well as other inventions that made a great contribution to the development of electrical engineering in the world

Autograph:

Family
Father:	Nikolai Pavlovich
Mother:	Elizaveta Petrovna (ur. Zemshchininova)
Spouse:	Lyubov Ilyinichna Nikitina (1849-1887) Maria Nikolaevna Albova
Children:	Natalia (1871-1886) Boris (1872-1903) Alexandra (1874-1888) Andrey (1873-1921) Plato

Awards

Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov(2 (14) September 1847, Serdobsky district of the Saratov province - 19 (31) March 1894, Saratov) - Russian electrical engineer, military engineer, inventor and entrepreneur. He is known for the development of the arc lamp (which went down in history under the name “Yablochkov candle”) and other inventions in the field of electrical engineering.

Biography

Childhood and adolescence

Elizaveta Petrovna Yablochkova (Zemshchininova), 1870s

Nikolai Pavlovich Yablochkov, con. 1870s

Pavel Yablochkov was born on September 2 (14), 1847 in Serdobsky district, in the family of an impoverished small nobleman who came from an old Russian family. The Yablochkov family was cultured and educated. The father of the future inventor, Nikolai Pavlovich, studied at Morskoe in his youth cadet corps, but due to illness he was dismissed from service with an award civil rank XIV class (provincial secretary). Pavel's mother, Elizaveta Petrovna (ur. Zemshchininova), managed the household of a large family. She was distinguished by her imperious character and, according to contemporaries, she held the entire family “in her hands.”

Since childhood, Pavel loved to design. He invented a goniometer device for land surveying, which the peasants of Petropavlovka, Bayki, Soglasov and other surrounding villages used during land redistribution; a device for measuring the distance traveled by a cart - a prototype of modern odometers.

In the summer of 1858 (another date is also indicated - the end of 1859), at the insistence of his wife, N.P. Yablochkov took his son to the Saratov 1st Men's Gymnasium, where, after successful exams, Pavel was immediately enrolled in the second grade. However, at the end of November 1862, Nikolai Pavlovich recalled his son from the 5th grade of the gymnasium and took him home to Petropavlovka. Not last role The difficult financial situation of the family played a role in this. It was decided to enroll Pavel in the Nikolaev Military Engineering School (now the Military Engineering and Technical University) in St. Petersburg. But to enter there, Pavel did not have enough necessary knowledge. Therefore, for several months he studied at a private preparatory boarding school, which was maintained by the military engineer Ts. A. Cui. Caesar Antonovich had a great influence on Yablochkov and aroused the future inventor's interest in science. Their acquaintance continued until the death of the scientist.

Study and military service

On September 30, 1863, having brilliantly passed the difficult entrance exam, Pavel Nikolaevich was enrolled in Nicholas School, to the junior conductor class. A strict daily routine and adherence to military discipline brought certain benefits: Pavel became physically stronger and received military training. On August 8, 1866, Yablochkov graduated from college in the first category. By the highest order, he was promoted to second lieutenant and assigned to serve in the 5th engineer battalion, stationed in the Kyiv fortress. His parents dreamed of seeing him as an officer, Pavel Nikolaevich himself military career did not attract, and even burdened. Arriving at the battalion on October 2, 1866, Yablochkov, having served for a little over a year, citing illness, retired from military service on December 9, 1867, receiving the rank of lieutenant.

On January 18, 1869, by the highest order, Yablochkov was again assigned to military service in the 5th engineer battalion as a second lieutenant. He was immediately sent to the Officer Galvanic Classes in Kronstadt, at that time it was the only school in Russia that trained military specialists in the field of electrical engineering. There P. N. Yablochkov got acquainted with the latest achievements in the field of studying and technical application electric current, especially in mining, thoroughly improved his theoretical and practical electrical training. Eight months later, upon completion of galvanic classes, Pavel Nikolaevich was appointed head of the galvanic team of the 5th engineer battalion. Yablochkov arrived at his place of service on September 6, 1869; a few days later, on September 22, he was appointed head of weapons in the battalion and remained in this position until April 1, 1870. On April 15, Pavel Nikolaevich was confirmed as a battalion adjutant, whose duties were limited to some military-economic functions and reporting. On July 24, 1871, Yablochkov was again promoted to lieutenant, and on September 11, 1872, he retired to the reserve, parting with the army forever.

Shortly before leaving Kyiv, Pavel Yablochkov married Lyubov Ilyinichna Nikitina.

Beginning of inventive activity

P. N. Yablochkov during his years of work in Moscow (1872)

Having retired to the reserve, P. N. Yablochkov entered the Department of the Moscow-Kursk Railway as head of the telegraph service (according to other sources, assistant head of the telegraph service). Already at the beginning of his service railway P. N. Yablochkov made his first invention: he created a “black-writing telegraph apparatus.” Unfortunately, the details of this invention have not reached us.

Yablochkov was a member of the circle of electricians-inventors and electrical engineering enthusiasts at the Moscow Polytechnic Museum. Here he learned about A. N. Lodygin’s experiments in lighting streets and rooms with electric lamps, after which he decided to start improving the arc lamps that existed at that time. He began his inventive activity with an attempt to improve the Foucault spring regulator, the most common at that time. The regulator was very complex, operated with the help of three springs and required constant attention.

In the spring of 1874, Pavel Nikolaevich had the opportunity to practically use an electric arc for lighting. A government train was supposed to travel from Moscow to Crimea. For traffic safety purposes, the administration of the Moscow-Kursk road decided to illuminate this train railway track at night and turned to Yablochkov as an engineer interested in electric lighting. He willingly agreed. For the first time in history railway transport a spotlight with an arc lamp - a Foucault regulator - was installed on the locomotive. Yablochkov, standing on the front platform of the locomotive, changed the coals and tightened the regulator; and when the locomotive was changed, Pavel Nikolaevich dragged his searchlight and wires from one locomotive to another and strengthened them. This continued all the way, and although the experiment was a success, he once again convinced Yablochkov that this method of electric lighting could not be widely used and the controller needed to be simplified.

After leaving telegraph service in 1874, Yablochkov opened a workshop of physical instruments in Moscow. According to the memoirs of one of his contemporaries:

Together with the experienced electrical engineer N. G. Glukhov, Yablochkov worked in the workshop to improve batteries and dynamos, and conducted experiments on illuminating a large area with a huge spotlight. In the workshop, Yablochkov managed to create an electromagnet of an original design. He used a winding made of copper tape, placing it on edge in relation to the core. This was his first invention, and here Pavel Nikolaevich carried out work on improving arc lamps.

Along with experiments to improve electromagnets and arc lamps, Yablochkov and Glukhov great importance gave electrolysis to solutions of table salt. The insignificant fact itself played a role big role in the further inventive life of P. N. Yablochkov. In 1875, during one of the many electrolysis experiments, parallel coals immersed in an electrolytic bath accidentally touched each other. Immediately an electric arc flashed between them, illuminating the walls of the laboratory with bright light for a short moment. It was at these moments that Pavel Nikolaevich had the idea of a more advanced design of an arc lamp (without an interelectrode distance regulator) - the future “Yablochkov candle”.

The beginning of Yablochkov’s scientific and inventive activity did not go unnoticed. At a meeting of the Imperial Society of Lovers of Natural History, Anthropology and Ethnography, which was attached to Moscow University, which took place on September 29, 1874, Pavel Nikolaevich was unanimously elected to full members of this Society.

World recognition

"Yablochkov's Candle"

Main article: Yablochkov candle.

In October 1875, having sent his wife and children to the Saratov province, to live with his parents, Yablochkov went abroad with the goal of showing his inventions and achievements of Russian electrical engineering in the United States at the World Exhibition in Philadelphia, and at the same time becoming familiar with the development of electrical engineering in other countries. However, financial affairs in the Moscow workshop were completely upset, so that Pavel Nikolaevich only had enough money to get to Paris. Here he became interested in the workshops of physical instruments of Sorbonne professor Antoine Breguet (1851-1882), whose devices Pavel Nikolaevich was familiar with from his work when he was the head of the telegraph in Moscow. A. Breguet received the Russian engineer very kindly and offered him a place in his company. From the end of 1875, Yablochkov began working in the Breguet workshops and took up those orders to which the company attracted him. However, he was haunted by the idea of creating an arc lamp without a regulator.

By the beginning of the spring of 1876, Yablochkov completed the development of the design of an electric candle and on March 23 of the same year received a French patent for it No. 112024. Yablochkov’s candle turned out to be simpler, more convenient and cheaper to operate than Lodygin’s coal lamp; it had neither mechanisms nor springs . The candle consisted of two rods separated by an insulating kaolin gasket. Each of the rods was clamped into a separate terminal of the candlestick. An arc discharge was ignited at the upper ends, and the arc flame shone brightly, gradually burning the coals and vaporizing the insulating material. Yablochkov had to work a lot on choosing a suitable insulating substance and on methods for obtaining suitable coals. Later, he tried to change the color of electric light by adding various metal salts to the evaporating partition between the coals.

Not a single invention in the field of electrical engineering has received such rapid and widespread distribution as Yablochkov’s candles. This was a true triumph of the Russian engineer.

Other inventions

USSR postage stamp dedicated to P. N. Yablochkov, 1951

Facsimile of the RTO letter about awarding P. N. Yablochkov with the Society’s medal (1879)

Decree on awarding P. N. Yablochkov the Order of the Legion of Honor (1882)

P. N. Yablochkov in the laboratory

During his years in France, Pavel Nikolaevich worked not only on the invention and improvement of the electric candle, but also on solving other practical problems. In the first year and a half alone - from March 1876 to October 1877 - he gave humanity a number of other outstanding inventions and discoveries. P. N. Yablochkov designed the first generator alternating current, which, unlike direct current, ensured uniform burning of carbon rods in the absence of a regulator, was the first to use alternating current for industrial purposes, created an alternating current transformer (November 30, 1876, the date of receipt of the patent, is considered the date of birth of the first transformer), an electromagnet with a flat winding, and was the first to use static capacitors in a circuit alternating current. Discoveries and inventions allowed Yablochkov to be the first in the world to create a system for “crushing” electric light, that is, power large number candles from a single current generator, based on the use of alternating current, transformers and capacitors.

On April 21, 1876, P. N. Yablochkov was elected a full member of the French Physical Society. He came second Russian citizens, an elected member of this Society. The notice dated April 22 stated:

Your Majesty!

I have the honor to inform you that you were elected to membership in the French Physical Society at the meeting of April 21st. You may be sure that you will find in society the cordial comradeship which you have a right to expect, and we, for our part, have no doubt that you will exert all your efforts to promote our common success. I consider it my duty, in particular, to ask you to inform people interested in the progress of physics about our work and to bring them closer to us.

I leave with the best feelings

Your very loyal colleague, Chief Secretary D'Almeida.

In 1878, Yablochkov returned to Russia to deal with the problem of the spread of electric lighting. Soon after the inventor’s arrival in St. Petersburg, the joint-stock company “Partnership of Electric Lighting and Manufacturing of Electrical Machines and Apparatuses P. N. Yablochkov the Inventor and Co.” was established, which opened its electrical plant on the Obvodny Canal.

On April 14, 1879, P. N. Yablochkov was awarded a personalized medal of the Imperial Russian Technical Society (RTO). The award notice stated:

Imperial Russian Technical Society

To full member of the Imperial Russian Technical Society Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov:

Taking into account that you, through your labors and persistent many years of research and experience, were the first to achieve a satisfactory solution in practice to the issue of electric lighting, general meeting members of the Imperial Russian Technical Society at a meeting on April 14 of this year, according to the proposal of the Society’s Council, awarded you a medal with the inscription “Worthy Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov.”

It is my pleasant duty to inform you, Dear Sir, about this decree General meeting, The Council of the Society has the honor to forward to you a medal made by order of it.

Chairman of the Imperial Russian Technical Society Pyotr Kochubey. Secretary Lvov.

On January 30, 1880, the first constituent meeting of the Electrical Engineering (VI) Department of the RTO was held in St. Petersburg, at which P. N. Yablochkov was elected deputy chairman (“chairman candidate”). On the initiative of P. N. Yablochkov, V. N. Chikolev, D. A. Lachinov and A. N. Lodygin, one of the oldest Russian technical magazines, Electricity, was founded in 1880.

In the same 1880, Yablochkov moved to Paris, where he began preparing to participate in the first International Electrotechnical Exhibition, which opened on August 1, 1881. To organize an exhibition stand dedicated to his inventions, Yablochkov called some of his company’s employees to Paris. Among them was Russian inventor, creator of electric arc welding Nikolai Nikolaevich Benardos, whom Yablochkov met back in 1876. To prepare Yablochkov's exposition, electrical equipment was used experimental laboratory at the journal “Bulletin de la Société internationale des électriciens” (Bulletin of the International Society of Electricians).

On June 21, 1881, P. N. Yablochkov was elected to the Organizing Committee of the First International Congress of Electricians (now the World Electrotechnical Congress), which was held on the initiative and under the chairmanship of the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs of France A. Cocherie from September 15 to October 5 of the same year in Paris at the Elysee Palace. For participation in the exhibition and congress, Yablochkov was awarded the French Order of the Legion of Honor.

last years of life

Rtishchevsky village. The former Eshliman estate, where P. N. Yablochkov lived until 1893 (built in 1870)

Saratov. Former “Central Rooms” of Ochkin, where P. N. Yablochkov lived from 1893 to 1894

The International Electrotechnical Exhibition held in Paris showed that Yablochkov’s candle and his lighting system began to lose their importance. Beginning in 1882, Pavel Nikolaevich completely switched to creating a powerful and economical chemical current source. In a number of schemes for chemical current sources, Yablochkov was the first to propose wooden separators to separate the cathode and anode spaces. Subsequently, such separators found wide application in the designs of lead-acid batteries.

On May 2, 1882, P. N. Yablochkov received French patent No. 148737 for the so-called “cliptic” dynamo, which could be used as an electric motor and as an electricity generator.

Work with chemical current sources turned out to be not only poorly studied, but also life-threatening. While conducting experiments with chlorine, Pavel Nikolaevich burned the mucous membrane of his lungs and since then began to choke, and his legs began to swell. In 1883, due to illness, Yablochkov was forced to interrupt his work; He was able to continue his experiments only in 1884. From that time until 1889, he continued to work on electric motors and chemical current sources.

In 1889, Yablochkov left scientific research because he took an active part in organizing the Russian Pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris. He was chairman of the Committee of Russian Exhibitors in Paris and a member of the jury for class XV (precision mechanics, scientific instruments). Yablochkov did a great job, essentially creating the Russian pavilion.

In the same year, Pavel Nikolaevich’s merits in the field of electrical engineering were noted by the Imperial Society of Lovers of Natural History, Anthropology and Ethnography. At a meeting held on October 7, 1889, Yablochkov was elected an honorary member of this society.

All of P. N. Yablochkov’s activities in Paris took place in the intervals between trips to Russia. In the early 1890s, the scientist decided to finally return to his homeland. However, by that time Yablochkov was in an extremely difficult financial situation. He bought out all his foreign patents No. 112024, 115703 and 120684, paying one million francs for them and therefore did not have the opportunity to move to Russia. This move was accomplished only in the second half of 1893 thanks to financial assistance uncle of Pavel Nikolaevich - Dmitry Pavlovich Yablochkov (1819-1900).

In St. Petersburg, P. N. Yablochkov again became very ill. Fatigue and the consequences of the explosion of a sodium battery in 1884, where he almost died, took their toll, and after the 1889 exhibition, Yablochkov suffered two strokes. For some time, Yablochkov lived in Serdobsk in a small house on Malaya Peschanaya Street (now Kirova Street). Having waited for his second wife Maria Nikolaevna and son Plato to arrive from Paris, Pavel Nikolaevich went with them to Saratov.

From Saratov, the Yablochkovs moved to Atkarsky district, where, near the village of Koleno, the small estate of Dvoenki, inherited by Pavel Nikolaevich, was located. After staying there for a short time, the Yablochkovs headed to Serdobsky district to settle in their “father’s house” and then go to the Caucasus. However, the parental house in the village of Petropavlovka no longer existed; several years before the scientist arrived here, it burned down. I had to settle with my younger sister Ekaterina (d. 1916) and her husband Mikhail Ashliman, whose estate was located near the village of Ivanovka, Sapozhkovsky volost.

Pavel Nikolaevich intended to engage in scientific research here, but very soon realized that it was impossible to do science in the village. This forced the Yablochkovs to move to Saratov again at the beginning of winter (apparently in November 1893). They settled in Ochkin’s “Central Rooms” (now residential building No. 35 on the corner of M. Gorky and Yablochkov streets), on the second floor. His room quickly turned into a study where the scientist, mostly at night, when no one distracted him, worked on drawings for electric lighting in Saratov. Yablochkov’s health deteriorated every day: his heart became weaker, his breathing became difficult. Heart disease led to dropsy, my legs were swollen and could hardly move.

On March 19 (31), 1894 at 6 o’clock in the morning P. N. Yablochkov died. On March 21, Pavel Nikolaevich’s body was transported for funeral to the village of Sapozhok. On March 23, he was buried on the outskirts of the village, in the fence of the Archangel Michael Church in the family crypt.

Actual record of the death of Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov

Family

Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov was married twice. He met his first wife, Lyubov Ilyinichna Nikitina (1849-1887), in Kyiv. He married when he was very young and against the wishes of his family. This marriage produced four children: Natalya (1871-1886); Boris (1872-1903) - engineer-inventor, was fond of aeronautics, worked on developing new powerful explosives and ammunition, died of tuberculosis; Alexandra (1874-1888) and Andrey (1873-1921) - agronomist-gardener, after graduating from the cadet corps, lived on his estate in the village, which went to the children after the death of Pavel Nikolaevich’s parents, was found murdered on the territory of the orchard, the circumstances of his death are not known installed. After the divorce, Yablochkov’s first wife settled in Moscow.

Yablochkov met his second wife, Maria Nikolaevna Albova, the daughter of the Russian florist-systematist, botanist, geographer and traveler Nikolai Mikhailovich Albov, in Paris. Pavel Nikolaevich visited the Albovs very often. 8 months after they met, Maria Albova married him in a civil marriage, according to French law. In his second marriage, a son was born, Platon (1879-?) - a railway engineer, worked on the Moscow Circular Railway as a bridge worker, during the First World War he was mobilized into military units, served in a large engineering unit, after the war he left for border. After Yablochkova's death, Maria Nikolaevna worked as a dressmaker in Saratov, then moved to St. Petersburg, and later to Paris.

Masonic activity

While living in Paris, Yablochkov was initiated into the Masonic lodge “Work and True Friends of Truth” No. 137 (fr. Travail et Vrais Amis Fideles) was under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of France (GLF). Yablochkov became the Worshipful Master of this lodge on June 25, 1887. Yablochkov founded the first Russian emigrant lodge “Cosmos” No. 288 in Paris, also under the jurisdiction of the VLF. He was the first Worshipful Master of this lodge. This lodge included many Russians who lived in France. In 1888, such subsequently famous Russian figures as professors M. M. Kovalevsky, E. V. de Roberti and N. A. Kotlyarevsky were initiated there. P. N. Yablochkov wanted to turn the Cosmos lodge into an elite one, uniting in its ranks the best representatives of Russian emigration in the field of science, literature and art. However, after the death of Pavel Nikolaevich, the lodge he created ceased its work for some time. She managed to resume her work only in 1899.

Awards

Order of the Legion of Honor (4 January 1882, France)
Nominal medal of the Imperial Russian Technical Society (April 14, 1879)

Memory

Bust of P. N. Yablochkov in Saratov near the College of Radio Electronics

Memorial plaque in honor of the village of Yablochkovo (Zhadovka)

They bear the name Yablochkov Monuments, bas-reliefs and memorial plaques


Monument at the grave of P. N. Yablochkov (village Sapozhok, Rtishchevsky district) Object of cultural heritage of the Russian Federation № 6410046000	Saratov. Memorial plaque on the facade of house No. 35 on the corner of M. Gorky and Yablochkov streets	Monument to P. N. Yablochkov in Serdobsk


Medallion with the image of P. N. Yablochkov at the station Elektrozavodskaya Moscow metro	Bas-relief with a portrait of P. N. Yablochkov in the column hall of the station Technological Institute of the St. Petersburg Metro

Yablochkov Prize Philately

In August 1951, the USSR Post issued a series of postage stamps “Scientists of our Motherland”, one of the miniatures of which was dedicated to P. N. Yablochkov.
In 1987, the USSR Ministry of Communications issued an artistic marked envelope (KhMK) dedicated to the 140th anniversary of the birth of P. N. Yablochkov.
In 1997, KhMK was released in Russia with the original stamp, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the inventor.
In 2001, Russian Post issued a KhMK dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the invention of the arc lamp.


KhMK Post of the USSR. 140 years since the birth of Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov (1987)	KhMK with OM of Russia. 150 years since the birth of Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov (1997)	KhMK Russia. 125th anniversary of the invention of the arc lamp (2001)

Notes

Literature

Brachev V.S. Masons in Russia: from Peter I to the present day ().
Ivanov A. Electrification of Gatchina until 1881 // Historical magazine “Gatchina through the centuries” ().
History of the Saratov region 1590-1917: Reader. - Second ed., revised. and additional/ edited by V. A. Osipova, Z. E. Gusakova, V. M. Gochlerner.- Saratov: Saratov University Publishing House, 1983. - P. 122-123, P. 126-127.
Kaptsov N. A. Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov, 1847-1894: His life and work. - M.: Gostekhizdat, 1957. - 96 p. - (People of Russian science).
Kaptsov N. A. Yablochkov - the glory and pride of Russian electrical engineering (1847-1894). - M: Military Publishing House of the Ministry armed forces USSR, 1948.
Korzinov N. Advances in electric lighting and the merits of P. N. Yablochkov (article from the magazine “Science and Life” No. 39 for 1890) // Science and Life, 2010 ().
Kuvanov A. He gave the world Russian light // Lenin’s Path. - September 27, 1973
Kuznetsov I. So where was Yablochkov born? // Crossroads of Russia. - June 20, 2000
Malinin G. A. Inventor of the “Russian light”: [About P. N. Yablochkov]. - Saratov: Volga Book Publishing House, 1984. - 112 p. - (Their names in the history of the region).
Malinin G. A. Monuments and memorable places Saratov region(3rd edition, revised and supplemented). - Saratov: Volga Book Publishing House, 1979. - P. 215-217.
P. N. Yablochkov. To the 50th anniversary of his death (1894-1944) / Ed. prof. L. D. Belkinda. - M., L.: State Energy Publishing House, 1944
Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov. Proceedings. Documentation. Materials/holes ed. Corresponding member USSR Academy of Sciences M. A. Chatelain, comp. prof. L. D. Belkind. - M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1954
Pavlova O. V. Inventor of the “Russian light” // Crossroads of Russia. - September 13, 1997
The homeland of the creator of the “Russian sun” plunged into darkness // Saratov News. - November 27, 2001. - P. 3
Serkov A. I. Russian Freemasonry 1731-2000. encyclopedic Dictionary
Chekanov A. A. Nikolai Nikolaevich Benardos. - M.: “Science”, 1983
// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907
First Electric Light In A Theater // Ann Arbor Argus. - March 13, 1896 ().

Links

Some of Yablochkov's patents:
Freemasons and technical progress // Echo of Moscow. - April 21, 2010 ().
Paris. Lodge Cosmos // Virtual server of Dmitry Galkovsky ().
A new technology park named after Pavel Yablochkov has opened in Penza // story of the TV-Express TV channel (Penza) dated June 1, 2012 ().
Historical information about the emergence of the city of Serdobsk
Yablochkovo (Zhadovka) Serdobsky district, Penza region ().

Nobles and noble families
Beklemishevs · Blokhins · Borhi: Sofya Ivanovna · Vetchinin Alexander Alexandrovich · Vladykins: Vasily Mikhailovich · Vladimir Nikolaevich · Ivan Nikolaevich ·

Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov (1847-1894)

Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov, a remarkable inventor, designer and scientist, had a tremendous influence on the development of modern electrical engineering. His name still does not leave the pages of scientific electrical engineering literature. His scientific and technical heritage is very significant, although it has not yet been systematically studied.

Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov was born on September 14, 1847 on his father’s family estate in the village. Tales about the village. Petropavlovsk Serdobsky district, Saratov province. His father was known as a very demanding and strict man. The small estate was in good condition, and the Yablochkov family, although not rich, lived in abundance; There were every opportunity for the good upbringing and education of children.

Very little information has been preserved about the childhood and adolescence of P. N. Yablochkov. It is only known that the boy was distinguished by an inquisitive mind from childhood, good abilities and loved to build and design. At the age of 12, he came up with, for example, a special goniometer tool, which turned out to be very simple and convenient for land surveying work. The surrounding peasants willingly used it during land redistribution. Home schooling was soon replaced by gymnasium classes in Saratov. Until 1862, P. N. Yablochkov studied at the Saratov gymnasium, where he was considered a capable student. However, three years later Pavel Nikolaevich was in St. Petersburg, in a preparatory boarding school run by the later famous military engineer and composer Caesar Antonovich Cui. It can be assumed that Yablochkov’s special love for design and the general interest that he showed in technology from an early age forced him to leave the gymnasium bench and prepare to enter an educational institution that would have enough opportunities for the development of the young man’s engineering inclinations. In 1863, Pavel Nikolaevich entered the Military Engineering School and, thus, chose the career of an engineer.

But military school with its intensive combat training, with a general bias towards training in fortification and the construction of various military engineering structures, was not able to satisfy the inquisitive young man, full of various technical interests. Only the presence of such outstanding Russian scientists as Ostrogradsky, Pauker, Vyshnegradsky and others among the teachers smoothed out many of the shortcomings of teaching. Released in August 1866 as a second lieutenant in the 5th engineer battalion of the engineering team of the Kyiv fortress, P. N. Yablochkov entered the engineering field to which he so aspired. However, his work gave him almost no opportunity to develop his creative powers. He served as an officer for only 15 months and at the end of 1867 he was dismissed due to illness. The enormous interest that everyone showed at that time in the use of electricity for practical purposes could not but affect P. N. Yablochkov. By this time, both abroad and in Russia, many important works and inventions had been done in the field of electrical engineering. Only recently, based on the work of the Russian scientist P. L. Schilling, the electromagnetic telegraph became widespread; few years have passed since the successful experiments of the St. Petersburg professor and academician B. S. Jacobi on the use of an electric motor to move a ship and since the day he invented galvanoplasty; just became known important work Wheatstone and Siemens, who discovered the principle of self-induction and laid the practical foundation for the construction of dynamos. At that time, the only school in Russia where it was possible to study electrical engineering was the Officer Galvanic Classes. And in 1868, one could again see P. N. Yablochkov in an officer’s uniform as a student of this school, which for a year taught military mines, demolition technology, the design and use of galvanic elements, and military telegraphy. At the beginning of 1869, P. N. Yablochkov, after completing galvanic classes, was re-enlisted in his battalion, where he became the head of the galvanic team, simultaneously serving as a battalion adjutant, whose duties were in charge of office work and reporting.

Having studied the fundamentals of modern electrical engineering in galvanic classes, P. N. Yablochkov understood better than before what enormous prospects electricity had in military affairs and in everyday life. But the atmosphere of conservatism, limitation and stagnation in active military service again made itself felt. Hence Yablochkov’s decisive step - leaving military service after the mandatory one-year period and leaving forever. In 1870 he retired; This ended his military career and began his activity as an electrical engineer, which lasted continuously until his death, a rich and varied activity.

The only area in which electricity was already firmly in use during these years was the telegraph, and P. N. Yablochkov, immediately after retiring, took the post of head of the telegraph service of the Moscow-Kursk Railway, where he could come into direct contact With various questions practical electrical engineering, which deeply interested him.

In Moscow at this time there were already many people interested in electrical engineering. The most important questions related to the use of electricity were widely debated in the Society of Amateurs of Natural History. Not long before this, the Polytechnic Museum, which was created, was a place where Moscow pioneers of electrical engineering gathered. Here the opportunity opened up for Yablochkov to do experiments. At the end of 1873, he managed to meet with the outstanding Russian electrical engineer V. N. Chikolev. From him Pavel Nikolaevich learned about good luck with your work A. N. Lodygina on the design and use of incandescent lamps. These meetings had a tremendous influence on P. N. Yablochkov. He decided to devote his experiments to the use of electric current for lighting purposes and by the end of 1874 he was so immersed in his work that serving as the head of the telegraph of the Moscow-Kursk Railway, with its petty daily worries, became little interesting and even embarrassing for him. P. N. Yablochkov leaves her and completely surrenders to his scientific studies and experiences.

He is equipping a workshop for physical instruments in Moscow. Here he managed to build an electromagnet of an original design - his first invention, and here he began his other works. However, the business of the workshop and the store attached to it was going poorly and could not provide by the necessary means neither Yablochkov himself nor his work. On the contrary, the workshop absorbed P. N. Yablochkov’s significant personal funds, and he was forced to interrupt his experiments for a while and begin to carry out some orders, such as, for example, the installation of electric lighting for the railway track from a steam locomotive to ensure the safe passage of the royal family to the Crimea. This work was successfully carried out by P. N. Yablochkov and was the first case of electric lighting on railways in world practice.

In his workshop, Pavel Nikolaevich did many experiments on blower lamps, studied their shortcomings, and realized that the correct solution to the issue of regulating the distance between the coals, i.e., the issue of regulators, would be of decisive importance for electric lighting.

However, Yablochkov’s financial affairs were completely upset. His own workshop fell into disrepair, since Pavel Nikolaevich did little of it, and spent all his time on his experiments. Feeling the futility of his work in technically backward Russia in the 70s, he decided to go to America to the opening Philadelphia exhibition, where he hoped to get acquainted with electrical innovations and at the same time exhibit his electromagnet. In the fall of 1875, P. N. Yablochkov left, but due to the lack of funds to continue the trip, he remained in Paris, where a lot of diverse and interesting work on the use of electricity was then carried out. Here he met with the famous mechanical designer Academician Breguet.

Breguet immediately identified in P.N. Yablochkov the presence of outstanding design abilities and invited him to work in his workshops, in which at that time the construction of telegraph apparatus and electrical machines was carried out mainly. Having started work in Breguet's workshops in October 1875, P. N. Yablochkov did not stop his main work - improving the regulator for the arc lamp, and already at the end of this year he fully formalized the design of the arc lamp, which, having found wide use under the name " electric candle", or "Yablochkov candle", made a complete revolution in the technology of electric lighting. This revolution caused fundamental changes in electrical engineering, as it opened a wide path to the use of electric current, in particular alternating current, for significant practical needs.

March 23, 1876 is the formal date of birth of Yablochkov’s candle: on this day he was given the first privilege in France, which was then followed by a number of other privileges in France and other countries for a new light source and its improvements. Yablochkov's candle was exceptionally simple and was an arc lamp without a regulator. Two parallel coal rods had a kaolin gasket between them along the entire height (in the first candle designs, one of the coals was enclosed in a kaolin tube); each of the coals was clamped with its lower end into a separate terminal of the lamp; these terminals were connected to the battery poles or connected to the network. Between the upper ends of the coal rods, a plate of non-conductive material (“fuse”) was strengthened, connecting both coals to each other. When current passed, the fuse burned out, and an arc appeared between the ends of the carbon electrodes, the flame of which created illumination and, gradually melting the kaolin during the combustion of coals, the base of the rods also decreased. When an arc lamp is powered with direct current, positive carbon burns twice as fast; in order to avoid extinguishing the Yablochkov candle when powered by direct current, it was necessary to make the positive carbon twice as thick as the negative one. P. N. Yablochkov immediately established that powering his candle with alternating current is more rational, since in this case both coals can be exactly the same and will burn evenly. Therefore, the use of the Yablochkov candle led to the widespread use of alternating current.

The success of Yablochkov's candle exceeded our wildest expectations. In April 1876, at an exhibition of physical instruments in London, Yablochkov's candle was the highlight of the exhibition. Literally the entire world technical and general press were full of information about the new light source and confidence that new era in the development of electrical engineering. But for practical use candles, many more issues had to be resolved, without which it was impossible to carry out economically profitable and rational exploitation of the new invention. It was necessary to provide lighting installations with alternating current generators. It was necessary to create the possibility of simultaneous combustion any number candles in one circuit (until that time, each individual arc lamp was powered by an independent generator). It was necessary to create the possibility of long-term and continuous lighting with candles (each candle burned out for 1 1/2 hours).

The great merit of P. N. Yablochkov is that all these extremely important technical issues received the fastest resolution with the direct participation of the inventor himself. P. N. Yablochkov ensured that the famous designer Zinovy Gramm began producing alternating current machines. Alternating current soon gained decisive dominance in electrical engineering. Designers of electrical machines for the first time seriously began to build alternating current machines, and P. N. Yablochkov was responsible for the development of current distribution systems using induction devices (1876), which were the predecessors of modern transformers. P. N. Yablochkov was the first in the world to face the issue of power factor: during experiments with capacitors (1877), he first discovered that the sum of the currents in the branches of the circuit was greater than the current in the circuit before the branching. Yablochkov's candle had a decisive influence on many other works in the field of electric lighting, giving, in particular, impetus to the development of scientific photometry. P. N. Yablochkov himself turned to building electric machines.

At the end of 1876, P. N. Yablochkov made an attempt to apply his inventions in his homeland and went to Russia. It was the day before Turkish war. P. N. Yablochkov was not a practical businessman. He was received with complete indifference, and essentially failed to do anything in Russia. He, however, received permission to set up experimental electric lighting at the Birzula railway station, where he carried out successful lighting experiments in December 1876. But these experiments did not attract attention, and P. N. Yablochkov was forced to leave for Paris again, severely shocked by this attitude towards his inventions. However, how true patriot I never left my homeland with the idea of seeing my inventions implemented in Russia.

Since 1878, Yablochkov candles began to be widely used abroad. A syndicate was created, which in January 1878 turned into a society for the exploitation of Yablochkov’s patents. Within 1 1/2-2 years, Yablochkov’s inventions traveled around the world. After the first installations in 1876 in Paris (Louvre department store, Chatelet theater, Place de l'Opéra, etc.), Yablochkov candle lighting devices appeared in literally all countries of the world. Pavel Nikolaevich wrote to one of his friends at that time: “From Paris, electric lighting spread throughout the world, reaching the palaces of the Shah of Persia and the King of Cambodia.” It is difficult to convey the delight with which lighting with electric candles was greeted all over the world. Pavel Nikolaevich became one of the most popular faces of industrial France and the whole world. The new method of lighting was called “Russian light”, “northern light”. The Society for the Exploitation of Yablochkov's Patents received enormous profits and could not cope with the surging mass of orders.

Having achieved brilliant success abroad, P. N. Yablochkov again returned to the idea of becoming useful to his homeland, but he was unable to achieve War Ministry Alexander II took over for exploitation the Russian privilege he declared in 1877. He was forced to sell it to the French Society.

The merits of P. N. Yablochkov and the enormous significance of his candle were recognized by the most authoritative scientific institutions. A number of reports were devoted to her at the French Academy and in major scientific societies.

Years of brilliant successes of candles finally cemented the victory of electric lighting over gas lighting. Therefore, design thought continued to continuously work on improving electric lighting. P. N. Yablochkov himself built a different type of electric light bulb, the so-called “kaolin” one, the glow of which came from fire-resistant bodies heated by electric current. This principle was new and promising for its time; however, P. N. Yablochkov did not delve into the work on the kaolin lamp. As you know, this principle was applied a quarter of a century later in the Nernst lamp. Work has also intensified on arc lamps with regulators, since an electric spark plug was of little use for spotlights, etc. similar installations intense lighting. At the same time, Lodygin in Russia, and a little later Lane-Fox and Swan in England, Maxim and Edison in America, managed to complete the development of incandescent lamps, which not only became a serious competitor to the candle, but also replaced it in a fairly short time.

In 1878, when the candle was still in its brilliant period of use, P. N. Yablochkov decided to once again go to his homeland to exploit his invention. Returning to his homeland was associated with great sacrifices for the inventor: he had to buy back French society Russian privilege and had to pay about a million francs for it. He decided to do this and came to Russia without funds, but full of energy and hope.

Arriving in Russia, Pavel Nikolaevich encountered great interest in his work from various circles. Funds were found to finance the enterprise. He had to re-create workshops and conduct numerous financial and commercial affairs. Since 1879, many installations with Yablochkov candles appeared in the capital, the first of which illuminated the Liteiny Bridge. Paying tribute to the times, P. N. Yablochkov also began a small production of incandescent lamps in his workshops. The commercial direction, which P. N. Yablochkov’s work in St. Petersburg predominantly received this time, did not bring him satisfaction. His difficult mood was not eased by the fact that his work on designing an electric machine and his activities in organizing the electrical engineering department of the Russian Technical Society, of which Pavel Nikolaevich was elected vice-chairman, were progressing successfully.

He put a lot of work into founding the first Russian electrical engineering magazine, Electricity, which began to be published in 1880. On March 21, 1879, he read a report on electric lighting at the Russian Technical Society. The Russian technical community honored him with the award of the Society's medal for the fact that “he was the first to achieve a satisfactory solution in practice to the issue of electric lighting.” However, these external signs of attention were not sufficient to create P. N. Yablochkova good conditions work. Pavel Nikolaevich saw that in backward Russia in the early 80s there were too few opportunities for the implementation of his technical ideas, in particular for the production of electrical machines he built. He was again drawn to Paris, where so recently happiness had smiled upon him. Returning to Paris in 1880, P. N. Yablochkov again entered the service of the Society for the exploitation of his inventions, sold his patent for a dynamo to the Society and began preparing to participate in the first World Electrotechnical Exhibition, scheduled to open in Paris in 1881. At the beginning of 1881, P. N. Yablochkov left his service in the Company and devoted himself entirely to design work.

At the electrical exhibition of 1881, Yablochkov's inventions received highest award: They were declared out of competition. Scientific and technical official spheres highly valued his authority, and Pavel Nikolaevich was appointed a member of the international jury for reviewing exhibits and awarding awards. The 1881 exhibition itself was a triumph for the incandescent lamp: the electric candle began to decline.

From that time on, P. N. Yablochkov devoted himself to working on electric current generators - dynamos and galvanic elements; he never returned to the light sources.

In subsequent years, P. N. Yablochkov received a number of patents for electrical machines: for a magneto-electric alternating current machine without rotational movement(later the famous electrical engineer Nikola Tesla built a car based on this principle); to a magnetic-dynamo-electric machine built on the principle of unipolar machines; an alternating current machine with a rotating inductor, the poles of which were located on a helical line; to an electric motor that can operate on both alternating and direct current and can also serve as a generator. P. N. Yablochkov also designed a machine for direct and alternating currents, operating on the principle electrostatic induction. A completely original design is the so-called “Yablochkov cliptic dynamo.”

Pavel Nikolaevich's work in the field of galvanic cells and batteries and the patents he took reveal the exceptional depth and progressiveness of his plans. In these works, he deeply studied the essence of the processes occurring in galvanic cells and batteries. He built: combustion elements, which used the combustion reaction as a source of current; elements with alkali metals (sodium); three-electrode element (car battery) and many others. These works of his show that he persistently and consistently carried out work to find the possibility of direct use of chemical energy for the purposes of high-current electrical engineering. The path that Yablochkov followed in these works is a revolutionary path not only for his time, but also for modern technology. Successes along this path could open a new era in electrical engineering.

In continuous work, in difficult material conditions, P. N. Yablochkov conducted his experiments in the period 1881-1893. He lived in Paris as a private citizen, completely devoting himself to scientific problems, skillfully experimenting and introducing many original ideas into his work, heading in bold and unexpected ways, ahead of the contemporary state of science, technology and industry. An explosion that occurred in his laboratory during experiments almost cost him his life. The continuous deterioration of his financial situation, progressive severe heart disease - all this undermined the strength of P. N. Yablochkov. He decided to go home again after a 13-year absence. In July 1893, he left for Russia, but immediately upon arrival he became very ill. On the estate he found the economy so neglected that he had no hope of improving material conditions. Pavel Nikolaevich with his wife and son settled in a hotel in Saratov. Sick, confined to a sofa with severe dropsy, deprived of almost any means of subsistence, he continued to conduct experiments.

On March 31, 1894, the heart of a talented Russian scientist and designer, one of the brilliant pioneers of electrical engineering, whose work and ideas make our homeland proud, stopped beating.

The main works of P. N. Yablochkov: On the new battery, called the auto-accumulator, "Comptes Rendues de l`Ac. des Sciences", Paris, 1885, t. 100; About electric lighting. Public lecture Russian technical society, read on April 4, 1879, St. Petersburg, 1879 (also included in the book: P. N. Yablochkov. On the fiftieth anniversary of his death, M.-L., 1944).

About P. N. Yablochkov: Persky K.D., Life and works of P.N. Yablochkov, “Proceedings of the 1st All-Russian Electrotechnical Congress in St. Petersburg in 1899-1900,” St. Petersburg, 1901, vol. 1; Zabarinsky P., Yablochkov, ed. "Young Guard", M., 1938; Chatelain M. A.,. Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov ( biographical sketch), "Electricity", 1926, No. 12; P. N. Yablochkov. To the fiftieth anniversary of his death, ed. prof. L. D. Belkinda; M.-L., 1944; Kaptsov N, A., Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov, M.-L., 1944,