Albert Fonó

Albert Fonó (born 2 July 1881 in Budapest, d. 21 November 1972 in Budapest), a Hungarian mechanical engineer who was one of the early pioneers of turbojet and ramjet propulsion and was first to patent a ramjet engine and a turbojet engine in 1928 (granted in 1932). Fonó graduated from the József Technical University in Budapest in 1903 and travelled widely, gaining experience working for German, Belgian, French and Swiss manufacturers, before attaining his Ph.D. His main specialty was energetics. He had 46 patents in 20 topics of research, including a steam boiler and an air compressor for mines. In 1915 he devised a solution for increasing the range of artillery, comprising a gun-launched projectile combined with a ramjet propulsion unit. This was to make it possible to obtain a long range with low initial muzzle velocities, allowing heavy shells to be fired from relatively lightweight guns. Fonó submitted his invention to the Austro-Hungarian Army but the proposal was rejected. He summarised the essence of his innovation for the military officers: "The projectile stores chemical energy in the fuel it carries, instead of simple kinetic energy. On the way, the fuel is burned by the air flowing against it, the…Citește mai mult