208- tir91
Bronze medal from the Paris Mint (cornucopia hallmark from 1880).
Minted in 1983.
Some minor defects.
Engraver / Artist / Sculptor : Lucien GIBERT (1904-1988).
Dimensions : 68mm.
Weight : 199 g.
Metal : bronze.
Hallmark on the edge (mark on the edge) : cornucopia + bronze + 1983.
Quick and neat delivery.
The stand is not for sale.
The support is not for sale.
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François Isaac de Rivaz, known as Isaac de Rivaz, born in Paris on December 19, 1752, died in Sion on July 30, 1828, was a Swiss artillery officer and politician, known for the invention of the internal combustion engine.
Coming from a half-Savoyard, half-Valais family, he was born in Paris where they lived. In 1763 the family settled in Moûtiers in Tarentaise, but the last two boys, Anne-Joseph and Isaac came to settle in Saint-Gingolph, in Valais. Isaac, during this period of adolescence, completed his studies, but we do not know which schools he attended. In any case, he acquired a certain culture: he mastered Latin, arithmetic and geometry. He possesses the elements of mechanics, a discipline that he will continue to study throughout his life. From 1775 to 1782 he worked as a surveyor for various owners in Valais and for the town of Sion1, but his health deteriorated and he devoted himself to more sedentary activities: first printing (1777-1780) then from 1782, clockwork mechanisms, notably the Duchesne marine chronometer. In 1802, Valais became an independent republic. In this context, Isaac de Rivaz was appointed Chief Inspector of bridges and roads, road commissioners and “salt tinier” for the tenth of Saint-Maurice1.
Among multiple occupations, Isaac, gifted with an intuitive and extremely curious mind, is haunted by the "demon of discovery" and follows the example of his father, the inventor Pierre Joseph de Rivaz who had already tried to develop machines. His experimental activity was overflowing.
The internal combustion engine
The Rivaz engine is a primitive form of reciprocating piston engine: this machine, which is undoubtedly the first internal combustion engine (1804), had several features of modern engines including an ignition device and ran on hydrogen.
From a stationary pump engine recovered in 1804, de Rivaz assembled an experimental motor vehicle in 1807, which was the first wheeled tank equipped with an internal combustion engine. Over the following years, de Rivaz improved this project until, in 1813, he obtained a 6 meter long dray, weighing almost a ton.
Context
First version of the Rivaz engine for a drainage pump.
Around 1775, de Rivaz, inspired by his father's tests, saw the development of the automobile and would never stop working on it from then on. His experience as an artilleryman had suggested that he replace the expansion of steam with an explosive mixture to set a piston in motion1. In 1804, he carried out this project and, inspired by the operation of the Volta gun, he tried his hand at a fixed motor for a drainage pump2. The engine consumed an explosive mixture of hydrogen sulfide and oxygen, the explosion of which drove out a piston guided in a cylinder
Coming from a half-Savoyard, half-Valais family, he was born in Paris where they lived. In 1763 the family settled in Moûtiers in Tarentaise, but the last two boys, Anne-Joseph and Isaac came to settle in Saint-Gingolph, in Valais. Isaac, during this period of adolescence, completed his studies, but we do not know which schools he attended. In any case, he acquired a certain culture: he mastered Latin, arithmetic and geometry. He possesses the elements of mechanics, a discipline that he will continue to study throughout his life. From 1775 to 1782 he worked as a surveyor for various owners in Valais and for the town of Sion1, but his health deteriorated and he devoted himself to more sedentary activities: first printing (1777-1780) then from 1782, clockwork mechanisms, notably the Duchesne