SCHWARTZ - LABORATOIRES GUSTAVE EIFFEL AERIAL... Lot 315

SCHWARTZ - LABORATOIRES GUSTAVE EIFFEL AERIAL HELIX Molded wood. Signed Schwartz. Engraved mark: LABO EIFFEL. Numbered U. 120 P. 63. Metal clock added in the center. Height. 60.5 cm; Width. 7.5 cm; Depth. 5.5 cm. At the beginning of the 20th century, Gustave Eiffel was fascinated by the budding world of aeronautics. The tower, designed for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, was still not universally acclaimed. To prove its usefulness beyond mere tourist attraction, Gustave Eiffel, who retired in 1893, used it for scientific purposes. After installing a meteorological laboratory at the top in 1898, he experimented with dropping various objects along a cable from the second floor, in order to study the air resistance he had encountered throughout his career. In 1909, at the age of 77, he had a modest laboratory built at the foot of the tower, housing a small wind tunnel designed to study the effect of wind on more precise fixed points. But the Town Hall took over the concession of the tower. His wind tunnel had to go. So in 1912, at his own expense, he built the oldest aerodynamic testing laboratory still in operation, the Gustave Eiffel Laboratory, on rue Boileau in the Auteuil district of Paris. Under a steel-framed hangar, an impressive 23-meter-long wind tunnel, powered by an electric motor, is installed, along with control and measurement equipment to study the movement between an object and the air. Experiments can also be carried out indoors, without endangering the pioneers of aviation. In addition to aeronautics, this laboratory has led to major advances in a wide range of fields, helped to establish the rules of aerodynamics and, thanks to its aerodynamic tests, has been of immense service in many fields: aeronautics, automobiles, construction, ships, thermal power stations, bridges and radar. The Eiffel wind tunnel is a listed historic monument.