Polzunov Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov Ivan Ivanovich

(1728-1766), Russian heating engineer. In 1763 he developed a project for a universal steam engine, the world's first continuous two-cylinder machine, which he failed to implement. In 1765, according to another project, he built the first steam power plant in Russia for factory needs, which worked for 43 days; died a week before her trial run.

POLZUNOV Ivan Ivanovich (1728, Yekaterinburg - May 16 (27), 1766, Barnaul), an outstanding Russian heat engineer. In 1763 he developed a project for a universal steam engine, the world's first continuous two-cylinder machine, which he failed to implement. In 1765, according to another project, he built the first steam power plant in Russia for factory needs, which worked for 43 days; a week before her test launch, Polzunov died.
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Childhood, study
Polzunov was born far from the capital, near Yekaterinburg, his father is a soldier, but not for military service, but for state construction work. Polzunov's father was illiterate, but he sent his son to a verbal school. From September 1738, Polzunov studied at an arithmetic school and graduated from it very early in those days, at the age of 14. In 1742 he was assigned as a student to master N. Bakhorev. Mechanic Bakhorev studied at the St. Petersburg Naval Academy, studied engineering in Sweden, then at the Krasnoselsky Copper Plant. Polzunov went through a full cycle of student work: mechanics, calculations, drawings, acquaintance with the work of factory machines and metallurgical production.
Applying for a job
At the end of 1747, Polzunov was appointed to the Barnaul copper smelter as a gittenschreiber - superintendent and accountant at smelting furnaces. Polzunov turned out to be a good organizer and a capable manager. Therefore, in addition to the main work, the factory authorities in every possible way loaded him with various organizational concerns of the plant. This greatly hindered him: even when Polzunov was promoted to the officer rank of Schichtmeister (1759) after fulfilling the most important state assignment - escorting a convoy with gold and silver to St. Petersburg, he had extremely limited opportunities for improving education, which he passionately aspired to.
Self-education from books
Books remained a source of education for him. But in the Barnaul library one could find only the "Course of Mathematics" in 1739 and "Mechanics with Drawings", though in 8 volumes, but in German, which Polzunov did not speak. One might think that he could easily read blueprints at that time. Only in 1760 in St. Petersburg was I. Schlatter's book Comprehensive Instructions on Mining Business published in Russian, with drawings of many steam engines, including the Newcomen type. Apparently, at this time, the Crawlers had thoughts about improving labor in the ore fields with the help of machines that act not with the power of water, as it was in Altai, but with fire.
Project "fire engine"
In April 1763, Polzunov sent a draft of his invention to the Kolyvan-Voskresensky office, which described the world's first two-cylinder engine with the combination of cylinders on one common shaft. It was the result of a long labor carried out in fits and starts. The project was sent to St. Petersburg to the Cabinet of Her Majesty with a request to encourage the inventor - rewarding the rank of mechanic and money in excess of an annual salary of up to 200 rubles. Polzunov's papers did not go to an ordinary Russian official, but to a European-educated specialist, President of the Berg College Schlatter (cm. SHLATTER Ivan Andreevich), who praised Polzunov's invention: "this invention of his should be honored for a new invention ...". Having received a letter of appreciation from Schlatter, the Chancellery ordered "to build such a machine and put it into operation."
Highly gifted personality
Throughout the bureaucratic correspondence, Polzunov appears to the reader as a highly gifted person, focused on the needs of industry and the public good. He is encouraged, promoted, he even receives an officer's rank, but he is not given serious help in his most important business. The objective reasons for this (apart from the “cultural” context of the Russian society of that era) are the cheap labor force of the serfs and the abundance in Altai, where everything happened, of the water energy of fast rivers.
Machine building
To carry out the work, according to Polzunov's calculations, 76 people were needed, including 19 highly skilled workers, whom he intended to invite from the Ural factories. The office ordered in its own way: it was allowed to take only three, and students. The construction of the installation (completely made of iron, in a house over 20 m high), begun in January 1764 at the Barnaul plant, proceeded in difficult conditions. Polzunov had to simultaneously act as a designer, designer, technologist, builder and educator of personnel.
The death of the inventor, the fate of the installation
Excessive stress undermined Polzunov's health. In the spring of 1766, he fell ill with transient consumption and died on May 16 (27). In June, already without him, a successful test of the “fiery machine” was carried out, and in August it was put into action. But in November it was stopped due to a boiler leak. Despite the obvious efficiency (profit of 12,418 rubles for 43 days of work), it was abandoned and destroyed in 1780. The model of the installation, transferred to the Academy of Sciences, disappeared without a trace.
Significance of the invention
In England, since the invention of the same (two-cylinder) steam engine, made a little later by J. Watt (cm. WATT James), the industrial revolution began, which then swept Europe. Where our brilliant compatriot Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov is buried, no one can say. His portrait has not been found.

encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .

See what "Polzunov Ivan Ivanovich" is in other dictionaries:

Russian heat engineer, one of the inventors of the heat engine, creator of the first steam power plant in Russia. Born in the family of a soldier from the peasants of Turinsk, In 1742 after ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (1728 66) Russian heat engineer. In 1763 he developed a project for a universal steam engine, the world's first continuous two-cylinder machine, which he failed to implement. In 1765 he built the first in Russia according to a different project ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Polzunov (Ivan Ivanovich), a Russian mechanic, built the first steam engine in Russia, which operated in 1766 at the Barnaul plant. Its model is stored in the Barnaul Mining Museum (XXII, 864). See Brandt History of steam engines (St. Petersburg, 1892) ... Biographical Dictionary

Polzunov, Ivan Ivanovich- POLZUNOV Ivan Ivanovich (1728 66), Russian heat engineer, one of the inventors of the heat engine. In 1763, he developed a design for the steam engine of the world's first continuous two-cylinder machine. In 1765 he built the first ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

The mechanic who arranged the first steam engine in Russia; the son of a soldier of the Yekaterinburg mining companies, ten years old he entered the Yekaterinburg arithmetic school, where he completed the course with the title of a mechanical student. Among several young ... ... Big biographical encyclopedia

Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov Date of birth: March 14, 1728 Place of birth: Yekaterinburg Date of death: May 27, 1766 Place of death: Barnaul Citizenship ... Wikipedia

) - Russian inventor, creator of the first steam engine in Russia 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 the city of Turinsk. After graduating from the Mining School in Yekaterinburg in 1742, he was a "mechanical student" of the chief mechanic of the Ural factories N. Bakharev. By that time, he had studied for 6 years in a verbal, and then in an arithmetic school at the Yekaterinburg Metallurgical Plant, which at that time was quite a lot. In Barnaul, young Polzunov received the position of gittenschreiber, that is, a melting clerk. This work is not only technical, since the young man found out how much and what kind of ore, coal, fluxes are needed for smelting in a particular furnace, he gets acquainted, albeit theoretically, with the smelting mode. The giftedness of the young gittenschreiber was so obvious that it attracted the attention of the factory authorities.

In the library of the Barnaul plant, he gets acquainted with the works of M. V. Lomonosov, and also studies the structure of steam engines.

Less than 3 years after moving to Barnaul, on April 11, 1750, at the suggestion of one of the heads of factories and the largest expert in the mining business, Samuel Christiani, Polzunov was promoted to the junior rank of master with an increase in salary to 36 rubles. in year. Simultaneously with the new production, it was decided that Christiani trained Polzunov to such an extent that Polzunov "...could be worthy of production to the chief officer rank." The resolution announced to Polzunov "... that if he learns the mentioned sciences and, among other things, sees skillfully, then he will have to be given a senior unterschitmeister salary, and in addition, he will not be left with an increase in rank." This decision, which provided Polzunov with the opportunity to realize his desire for learning, was not implemented. Christiani, busy with the management of 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 chores. The lack of people, especially specialists, was the scourge of the Kolyvano-Voskresensky factories. Many workers died due to poor nutrition (bread was delivered intermittently over hundreds of miles), household disorder, and lack of medical care. On June 26, 1750, the junior unterschichtmeister Ivan Polzunov was given the task of checking whether the place for the pier on the Charysh River, above the village of Tugozvonnaya (now the Charyshsky District), was chosen correctly, and also to measure and describe the road to the Zmeinogorsky mine. By that time, huge heaps of ore had accumulated there, which they did not have time to export. Polzunov inspected the place for the pier, and then walked with a measuring chain to the very mine. He measured 85 versts 400 sazhens, marked the entire route with stakes, even outlined "winter huts" - convenient places for spending the night wagon trains with ore. The length of the future road turned out to be 2 times shorter than the current ore-carrying one.

Based on the results of the trip, he “created” a drawing with a detailed description, showing himself to be an excellent draftsman as well (this drawing is still kept in the state archive 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 spent a whole year. In the autumn he built an ore shed, a guard hut for the soldiers of the guard, in the winter he received five thousand pounds of ore from the peasant carters, and in the spring he organized its shipment along the Charysh and Ob to the Barnaul plant; he returned to Gittensteiburg only in the autumn.

On September 21, 1751, Polzunov, together with his partner A. Beer, again submitted a joint petition to the Chancellery with a request and a reminder of the promise to teach them mining sciences. But only in November 1753 did Christiani finally fulfill his request. He appoints Polzunov as a superintendent of the work of the smelters for half a year, and then to the Zmeinogorsky mine. This was the study. I had to study at the smelter, 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 direction of I. I. Polzunov.

It represented one of the most complex technical structures of that time. From the rotating water wheel, the transmission was carried out to two sawmill frames, to the “sleigh”, on which the sawn logs moved, and to the log haul. The transmission mechanism was a complex set of moving parts, which included: cam gear, gear, shafts, cranks, connecting rods, ratchet wheels, rope gates. Here Polzunov received a practical school in the design and installation of complex transmission mechanisms containing automation elements. Very interesting was Polzunov's decision to locate the sawmill not at the dam, but at some distance from the Zmeevka River on a diversion canal.

In November 1754, Polzunov was appointed to the plant to conduct "a secondment to artisans and working people to work," as well as "supervision of all work." By this time, Polzunov had won such authority from his superiors that none of his comrades unterschichtmeisters had.

In January 1758, it was planned to send another caravan with silver to St. Petersburg. It was only possible to entrust such a load, and this is no less than 3600 kg of silver and 24 kg of gold, to an officer. But by that time there were only four of them. It was “impossible” to do without any of them for eight to ten months (the trip to the capital took so much time) without prejudice to the case. And the Office came up with such a way out; army captain Shirman was appointed as a caravan officer, and since he was not aware of factory affairs, to help him in case “if he asked something, he could clearly and extensively convey” Unterschichtmeister Polzunov was recognized as capable. He was also handed over for transfer to the Cabinet, a package of documents, as well as a large amount of money for the purchase of goods needed by the plant.

This trip was doubly, triple joyful for Polzunov. He got the opportunity to visit, although passing through, his native Yekaterinburg, to see the capital, Moscow, 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, 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 buy the goods ordered by the Chancellery. Here he found his personal happiness - he met a young soldier's widow Pelageya Povalyaeva. Together they went to Siberia.

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 transferred to an officer position - commissioner of the Kolyvan plant “at the arrival and expense money treasury "or, in relation to the current concepts, the deputy manager of the plant for the economic part.

Meanwhile, things at the Kolyvano-Voskresensky factories began to decline. So, if in the year of Beer's death in 1751 the smelting of silver reached 366 pounds, then by 1760 it had dropped to 264 pounds. The Cabinet, or rather the crowned mistress 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 been promoted to major general shortly before, was returned to Altai. He brought with him a whole package of measures "for the improvement of 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. Shortly before that, he headed the povyt (office) "for forestry and smoking affairs" 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 "mountain society" lived, he also looked for a way out, only his thoughts went in a different direction: how to overcome the dependence of mining and factory production on a water wheel?

In April 1763, he put an unexpected and daring project of a "fiery" machine on the table of the head of the plant. I. I. Polzunov intended it to actuate blower bellows; and in the future he dreamed of adapting “according to our will, what would need to be corrected,” but did not have time to do this. At that time, there was not a single steam engine in Russia and the world. The only source from which he knew that there was such a thing in the world was I. V. Schlatter’s book “A Detailed Instruction to Mining”, published in St. Petersburg in 1760. But in the book there was only a diagram and the principle of operation of a single-cylinder Newcomen machine, but not a word about the technology of its manufacture.

Polzunov borrowed from I. V. Schlatter only the idea of ​​a steam-atmospheric engine, he thought of everything else himself. The necessary knowledge about the nature of heat, the properties of water, air, steam, he drew from the works of M. V. Lomonosov. Soberly assessing the difficulties of carrying out a completely new business in Russia, Polzunov proposed to build at first, as an experiment, one small machine of a design he developed for servicing a blower installation (consisting of two wedge-shaped 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 - in general, of the same design that was used in Newcomen's machines; a steam-atmospheric machine, consisting of two cylinders with alternate movement of pistons ("emvols") in them in opposite directions, equipped with steam and water distribution systems; tanks, pumps and pipes for supplying the plant with water; a transmission mechanism in the form of a system of pulleys with chains (Polzunov refused a balancer), which sets the blower furs in motion. Water vapor from the boiler entered the piston of one of the working cylinders. This equalized the air pressure. The vapor pressure was only slightly higher than the pressure of atmospheric air. The pistons in the cylinder were connected by chains, and when one of the pistons was raised, the second one fell. When the piston reached its upper position, steam access was automatically stopped, and cold water was sprayed into the cylinder. The steam condensed and a vacuum formed under the piston (rarefied space). By the force of atmospheric pressure, the piston descended to the lower position and pulled the piston behind it in the second working cylinder, where steam from the same boiler was let in to equalize the pressure by an automatic machine acting from the engine transmission mechanism. The fact that the pistons with the motion transmission system were connected by chains shows that when the pistons were lifted up the chain, motions could not be transmitted (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 did no useful work in the engine. The value of this work depended on the consumption of thermal energy throughout the entire cycle. The amount of thermal energy expended expressed the magnitude of the potential energy of each of the pistons. This is a dual atmospheric cycle. Polzunov clearly represented 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 determined the dependence of engine operation on the temperature of the water condensing the steam in the following words: “the action of the emvols and their ascents and descents will become higher, the colder the water in the fantals, and even more so from the one that reaches the freezing point, but does not yet thicken and from that, in the whole movement, ability will give a lot.

This proposition, now known in thermodynamics as a particular case of one of its fundamental laws, had not yet been formulated before Polzunov. Today, this means that the work of a heat engine will be the greater, the lower the temperature of the water condensing the steam, and especially when it reaches the point of solidification of water - 0 degrees Celsius.

Polzunov's engine in his project of 1763 was intended to supply air to melting furnaces with blower bellows. If desired, the engine could easily perform rotational movements using a 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 Chancellery will willingly support his plans. The final decision on this issue remained with the Cabinet and the mistress of the factories - Catherine II. The project was sent to St. Petersburg, but the response of the Cabinet was received in Barnaul only a year later.

By decree of the Cabinet of November 19, 1763, the Empress granted the inventor to the “mechanicus” with the rank and rank of engineer 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 a great mercy. She once again testifies that Empress Catherine II loved to maintain her fame as the patroness of sciences and arts. But the size of the encouragement confirms that the significance of Polzunov's invention was not understood in St. Petersburg.

While the Cabinet was considering the engine project, Polzunov wasted no time working on the project for the second stage. He designed a powerful heat engine for 15 melting furnaces. It was already a real heat power station. Polzunov did not just increase the scale of the engine, but made a number of significant changes to it. After the project of a powerful engine was completed, Polzunov became aware that the Cabinet, having familiarized himself with his first project, awarded him the title of mechanic and decided to give 400 rubles as a reward, but did not take any decision on the merits of the issue.

Despite this position of the Cabinet, the head of the Kolyvano-Voskresensky plants, A.I. Poroshin, allowed Polzunov to proceed with the implementation of the first phase of the project. In March 1764, I. I. Polzunov proposed to start building 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.

It was a serious decision, if only because the car would cost no less than building a new factory. Polzunov was required to apply for labor and materials. Before starting the construction of the machine, the inventor encountered a difficulty: the lack of people capable of realizing his ideas and the tools and mechanisms necessary for the construction. It was necessary to build the first steam engine in Russia, but there were neither specialists capable of leading the construction, nor skilled workers familiar with the construction of such engines. Polzunov himself, who assumed the duties of the general manager of the work, to some extent solved the problem of technical management, but precisely, “to some extent”, because it was not possible for one person to manage such a new and complex technical enterprise.

No less difficult was the problem of selecting workers. Experienced modellers, foundry workers, blacksmiths, locksmiths, carpenters, roasters, specialists in copper and soldering were required. According to Polzunov's calculations, 76 people, including 19 highly qualified craftsmen, were to be directly involved in the construction of the engine. It was impossible to get such specialists on the spot. There was only one way out; call specialists from the Urals - the forge of technical personnel.

Difficulties in acquiring building tools and machinery proved to be even more insurmountable. According to the inventor's plan, "the whole machine must be made of metal", which inevitably required the presence of special metal-working equipment, which Russia almost did not have. The matter was aggravated by the fact that the engine was built in Altai, and this was an area with developed copper and silver smelting production, but backward foundry, forging and metalworking equipment. Premonitions did not deceive the inventor. The Office has only fully approved considerations for the quantity of materials required. Not wanting to spend money on calling experienced craftsmen from the distant Urals, the factory authorities allocated Polzunov four students whom he knew and asked to be assigned to him, two retired artisans and four soldiers to guard the construction site. The rest of the artisans (over 60 people) the Office decided to appoint at the disposal of Polzunov as needed, "how much, when he, Polzunov, will have work to happen."

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 manufacture 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 was built especially 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 developed consumption.

By 1765, parts of the machine were mostly ready. In the time remaining before winter, it was necessary to build a building for her, and in it “largely connect”, assemble a car. Polzunov promised to do this by October. They built the world's first heat engine on the right bank of the pond, not far from the Barnaul silver-smelting plant, next to a small glass factory. A large shed was built for the car, as high as a three-story house.

A huge overstrain of forces and work in an unheated room until the very night, when the cold metal parts of the machines burned their 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, as he was "obsessed with a prickly chest."

By December 7, the assembly of the machine was basically completed, and the inventor decided to make its first trial run, to test it in operation. But during the launch, a number of shortcomings were revealed (which is quite natural). Polzunov immediately set about correcting them. By this time, he had moved into an apartment at a glass factory. There was no need to waste time on the road from the village and back. Now he disappeared by the car until his strength left him completely.

He returned home in the dark, chilled to the core, 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 near end, he was in a hurry to complete the work he had begun at the cost of his life. A short winter day was not enough, evenings were seized. It is known that on December 30, 1765, Polzunov received three pounds of candles. By March, at last, huge covers of blowing bellows, made according to the project of the inventor, were delivered on 8 horses. They were installed and the machine is finally fully assembled. The case remained for melting furnaces.

In the spring of 1766, Polzunov's illness worsened. On April 18, he once again began to bleed in his throat, after which he could no longer get out of bed. With merciless clarity, the inventor realized that he would not live to see the start 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 bonus for his family.

May 16, 1766 at six o'clock in the evening in the city of 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 very first day, the testers came to the conclusion that the machine could drive bellows to supply air to 10-12 ovens. The large engine built by Polzunov differed significantly in design from the machine that he described in the original project of 1763. The transmission of movement to the machines that the engine was supposed to serve was carried out using balancers. The chains connecting the pistons of the engine with the balancers, for greater strength, the inventor made of separate iron rods and articulated, of the type that are now known as "Gall's chains." The supply of the boiler with heated water was automated. Polzunov came up with a simple mechanism that kept the water in the boiler 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 AltSTU

The name of I. I. Polzunov is Altai State Technical University, opposite the main building of which there is a monument to the inventor.

Polzunov Ivan Ivanovich - Russian inventor, creator of the first steam engine in Russia and the world's first two-cylinder engine. I. I. Polzunov was born in the city of Yekaterinburg in 1729 in the family of a soldier. After graduating from the Mining School in Yekaterinburg in 1742, he was a "mechanical student" of the chief mechanic of the Ural factories N. Bakharev. By that time, he had studied for 6 years in a verbal, and then in an arithmetic school at the Yekaterinburg Metallurgical Plant, which at that time was quite a lot. 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. II 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 Zmeinogorsky mine; for a long time he led an ore-carrying flotilla, designed roads, built wharves, 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, established a route and the main crossing over the Chumysh River near Ust-Talmenka.

He is actively engaged in invention and rationalization, and this passion did not leave him until the end of his life. For example, using the experience of working on the piers, he proposed an ingenious and economical way of putting cargo ships into winter storage. The innovation was as follows: wooden decks were installed at the bottom of the river, on which ships could be launched “without lifting”. When the water subsided, the ships were on dry land. Everything that Polzunov invented had one goal - to facilitate the work of people.

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 of a "fiery" machine on the table of the head of the plant. I.I. Polzunov intended it to actuate blower bellows. Polzunov proposed to first build, as an experiment, one small machine of a design developed by him for servicing a blower installation (consisting of two wedge-shaped bellows) with one melting furnace.

Catherine II was informed about the project submitted to the Tsar's Cabinet. By her order, she promoted Ivan Polzunov to a "mechanic with the rank and rank of an engineering captain-lieutenant", decided to give him an award 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 released Polzunov from 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 in Russia, a designer-inventor! 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.

A huge overstrain of forces and work in an unheated room until the very night, when the cold metal parts of the machines burned their 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 gave the first blast and worked with short breaks until November, during which time it managed not only to recoup all the costs of construction, but also to make a huge profit. Polzunov's car worked for a little over three months, and after a breakdown it was stopped. The broken unit was disassembled into parts.

Polzunov's car was soon forgotten, and the first engine was talked about after its new version was designed by the famous Scottish inventor James Watt in 1774, that is, much later than Polzunov did. Indeed, the Watt machine found wide application in practice and played an important role in the transition to machine production. However, the first steam engine, after all, was created by Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov in Altai.

May 16, 1766 (May 29). - Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov, the inventor of the world's first two-cylinder steam engine of universal application, died

Portrait of Polzunov by Ivan Mamontov

Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov (14.3.1728–16.5.1766) was born in Yekaterinburg in the family of a soldier, a native of the peasants of the Turin district of the Tobolsk province. In 1738–1742 studied at the founded Gornozavodsk school at the Yekaterinburg Metallurgical Plant, after which he was assigned as a student to the chief mechanic of the Ural plants N. Bakharev. Polzunov went through a full cycle of educational work with him: mechanics, calculations, drawings, acquaintance with the work of factory machines and metallurgical production. In 1742, after graduating from school, he was appointed as a "mechanical student" at the factory. In 1748 he was taken to Barnaul to work at the Kolyvano-Voskresensky copper smelter as a technician for accounting for the smelted metal. In 1750, for ingenuity and organizational skills, he was promoted to non-commissioned master.

In 1754, his design work began, when Polzunov built a sawmill at the Zmeinogorsk mine, driven by a water wheel installed on the dam. In 1759 he received the first chief officer rank of master of the ship.

In the library of the Barnaul plant, Polzunov got acquainted with the works, studied the design of steam-pump installations. Polzunov was occupied with the idea of ​​improving the machines available at the plant using thermal energy. In 1763, he developed a design for a 1.8 hp steam engine. (1.3 kW) - the world's first two-cylinder engine with the combination of cylinders on one common shaft, universal in its technical application (this project was not immediately implemented). He was transferred to the "mechanicus" with the rank and salary of an engineering captain-lieutenant. In 1764-1766. made the first steam power plant in Russia to drive blower bellows with a record power of 32 hp for that time. (24 kW). The originality of Polzunov's installation was appreciated by the Russian naturalist E.G. Laxman, who wrote that Polzunov is “a husband who does honor to his fatherland. He is now building a fiery machine, completely different from the Hungarian and English ones.

However, the inventor, falling ill with consumption, died a week before testing his new machine. Her model was taken to the Kunstkamera, but subsequently disappeared. The very same steam power plant, tested by Polzunov's students, not only paid for itself, but also made a profit. However, after a breakdown, it was dismantled and forgotten - river water wheels were more familiar at the plant and easier to operate for untrained workers.

In all bureaucratic correspondence with higher authorities, Polzunov appears as a highly gifted person who cares about domestic industry and the public good. He was encouraged, promoted, but, unfortunately, did not provide serious assistance.

In England, with the invention of the same (two-cylinder) steam engine, made two decades later (in the 1780s) by James Watt, the industrial revolution began, which then swept Europe. The name Watt (Watt) has been given to the unit of power.

Where Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov is buried is unknown. His portrait has not been found. Name I.I. Polzunov is now worn by the Altai State Technical University, near the main building of which there is a monument to the inventor.

The first two-cylinder vacuum steam engine in Russia was designed by mechanic I.I. Polzunov in 1763 and built in 1764 in Barnaul. James Watt, who was a member of the commission for the acceptance of Polzunov's invention, received a patent for a steam engine in London in April 1784 and is considered its inventor!

Polzunov Ivan Ivanovich - a mechanic who arranged the first steam engine in Russia; the son of a soldier of the Yekaterinburg mining companies, ten years old he entered the Yekaterinburg arithmetic school, where he completed the course with the title of a mechanical student. Among several young people, Polzunov was sent to Barnaul to the state-owned mining factories, where in 1763 he was a chief master. Being engaged in the construction of machines with water engines used in smelters and mines, Polzunov drew attention to the difficulty of arranging such machines in areas remote from rivers, and settled on the idea of ​​using steam as an engine. There is some evidence that suggests that this thought did not come to him independently, but under the influence of Schlatter's book: "A Detailed Instruction to Mining" (St. Petersburg, 1760), in the tenth chapter of which the first Russian description of a steam engine, namely, a machine Newcomen. Polzunov energetically took up the implementation of his idea, began to study the strength and properties of water vapor, drew up drawings, and made models. Convinced, after lengthy research and experiments, of the possibility of replacing the driving force of water with the power of steam and proving this on models, Polzunov in April 1763 turned to the head of the Kolyvano-Voskresensky factories, Major General A. I. Poroshin, with a letter in which , outlining the motives that prompted him to find a new force, asked for funds for the construction of the "fiery machine" invented by him.

Polzunov's project was reported to the Cabinet of Her Majesty with a request for the release of the amount necessary for the construction of the machine. According to the report of the Cabinet, a decree of Catherine II followed, by which she, "for greater encouragement", granted Polzunov to the mechanics with a salary and the rank of an engineering captain-lieutenant, ordered to issue 400 rubles as a reward. and pointed out, "if he is not needed at the factories, send him to St. Petersburg, with silver" for two or three years to the Academy of Sciences, to replenish education. But the authorities did not let Polzunov go and asked that he be sent to the Academy of Sciences for some time to be canceled, "because there is an extreme need for him here, in order to bring that machine operating in pairs into practice." In view of this, Polzunov had to stay in Siberia until the end of the case. Until then, the issuance of the above-mentioned 400 rubles was also postponed. He was released, according to the estimate presented to him, the necessary amounts and materials, and he got the opportunity to start construction. On May 20, 1765, Polzunov already reported that the preparatory work had been completed and that the machine would be put into action in October of that year. But by this time the car was not ready.

A mass of unforeseen difficulties and the inexperience of the workers slowed down the progress of the work. In addition, many of the materials needed to build the machine could not be obtained in Siberia. I had to write them out from Yekaterinburg and expect them to be sent within a few months. In December 1765, Polzunov finished the car, having spent 7435 rubles on it. 51 kop. However, he failed to see his invention in action. The test of the car was scheduled in Barnaul for May 20, 1766, and on May 16 of the same year, Polzunov had already died "from severe laryngeal bleeding." Polzunov's machine, under the guidance of his students Levzin and Chernitsin, melted 9335 items of Zmeinogorsk ores in Barnaul within two months, but soon its operation in Barnaul was terminated "as unnecessary", and there is no information whether it was used on those who did not have water-acting engines Zmeinogorsk plant and the Semenovsky mine, where it was originally intended by the inventor himself and his superiors, In 1780, "the machine built by Polzunov, operated by steam, and the structure were broken."

The Barnaul Mining Museum has a model of Polzunov's machine. Polzunov cannot be credited, as some do, with the honor of inventing the first steam engine. Nevertheless, Polzunov's machine was, in fact, the first steam engine built in Russia, and not ordered from abroad; the use in 1765 of a steam engine not for lifting water, but for another industrial purpose, should be considered an independent invention, since in England the first use of a steam engine for pumping air was made only in 1765.