Ivan Petrovich Kulibin Russian inventor, self-taught mechanic. What did Kulibin I invent?

There are many expressions in Russian that have a double meaning. For example, the expression was heard: “ Hey, I'm from Kulibin, I came up with this"! To understand the meaning of what was said, you must at least know who Kulibin is, and perceive the correct meaning of these praiseworthy words in relation to yourself! The inventions of Ivan Petrovich Kulibin amaze with the depth and breadth of thought of that time. He tried to learn all the exact sciences, constantly improving not only his creations, but also other complex technical mechanisms.

Ivan Petrovich Kulibin: short biography

The life of the Russian inventor covers the period from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century. The future scientist was born in Nizhny Novgorod in the family of a tradesman; his father sold flour, and this occupation was destined for his son. The young boy did not want to spend his whole life in the bazaar; from an early age he was drawn to studying mechanics and its practical application in life. He did not attend school, but learned to read and write on his own from a sexton. Ivan had a great thirst for knowledge, so he independently learned sciences such as physics and chemistry.

In addition, he learned to play the piano, wrote odes and sang well.

The talents of the future great mechanic began to appear at an early age. Ivan Kulibin, with his invention, convinced his father that he should choose another profession, and not sell flour.

A little later, I.P. Kulibin designed and presented to Empress Catherine II a watch that was amazing at that time. She appreciated the invention, and by her order he was transferred to St. Petersburg. For a long time, Ivan Petrovich served at the Imperial Academy of Sciences, was a member of the Free Economic Society, and for a long time headed the work of the Instrumental Chamber at the Academy of Sciences.

For outstanding services, I.P. Kulibin was awarded cash prizes by Catherine II and Alexander I and awarded a special gold medal.

Throughout his life, Ivan Petrovich was married three times, the last marriage took place when he was 70 years old. From all marriages to I.P. Kulibin had 11 children: four sons and seven daughters.

All his life, Ivan Petrovich Kulibin worked tirelessly, spending his own money on his projects, which is why he died in poverty. The grave with the greatest Russian inventor is located in Nizhny Novgorod at the All Saints Cemetery, where a monument to the greatest man is erected.

Inventions of the great Russian mechanic

Kulibin Ivan Petrovich and his inventions amaze with the breadth of their thoughts and originality. Thus, the great Russian mechanic designed and modernized the following projects.

Hydraulic water pumping device.

At the age of 13, I. Kulibin created a hydraulic device for pouring water into a pond and pumping excess liquid from the source. The introduction of this device helped normalize the process of fish reproduction in the pond.

Cuckoo-clock.

At that time, he came up with a combination of clock mechanics and sound.

New functional watch.

In the period from 1764 to 1769, he came up with and implemented his rationalization ideas when creating a new watch mechanism. The original shape of the clock was in the form of a goose egg. The most unique thing is their design. The clock showed not only seconds and hours, but also seasons and phases of the moon, while it opened every hour, and music played at noon. The dial depicted the Church of the Resurrection.

Spotting scopes, telescope, microscope and electric machine.

An incomplete list of rather complex technical devices that Ivan Petrovich made based on samples.

Project of bridges across the Neva and Volga rivers.

He designed a one-span bridge across the Neva River, while the length of the bridge was assumed to be 298.704 meters (140 fathoms, 1 fathom - 2.1336 meters). The famous academician Leonhard Euler checked all the calculations of I.P. Kulibin, noting the accuracy and correctness of all mathematical calculations. After that, he published about this to the Academy of Sciences. Practical tests of the model, which was reduced by 10 times, were carried out on December 27, 1776 in the courtyard of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Empire. And they were successful.

The design of an iron bridge with three openings across the Volga was perfect.

And in our time, many outstanding engineers speak of I.P. Kulibin’s designs as the most rational, since the bridge is supported by an arch, and the bracing system prevents it from bending.

Lantern with reflective glass.

I.P. Kulibin improved the lantern by installing reflective glass, which increased the light intensity to 25.5 km. This invention began to be used to light beacons, illuminate long galleries, etc.

Prototypes of future prostheses.

Ivan Petrovich was the first in the world to develop and begin to make mechanical arms and legs for amputated body parts. This idea of ​​prosthetics began to be implemented on a full scale in France after the war with Russia (1812-1813).

A device for opening vents on windows.

The modern method of opening and closing windows using ropes was first invented by I.P. Kulibin. He proposed opening the windows in the Tsarskoye Selo Palace, which were located high from the ground, using laces.

Lighting rooms using mirrors.

Ivan Petrovich came up with the idea of ​​illuminating dark rooms and corridors in the Empress's palace with the help of mirrors that enhance daylight.

Unique fireworks.

He created indoor fireworks, fire fountains, and rockets that were original at that time. When they were launched, there were no traces of gunpowder or smoke left in the room.

Project of a ship that moved against the current.

An advanced design of a vessel at that time, which, due to the movement of oncoming water, moved without sails against the current. This invention successfully passed all tests in 1806, and Ivan Petrovich petitioned for the construction of this type of ship in Russia.

And this is not a complete list of I.P. Kulibin’s inventions.

Our compatriot not only invented complex mechanical devices, but also successfully solved other problems related to mechanics. Moreover, other scientists could not cope with such tasks. So he easily solved the following problems:

• repaired the complex mechanism of a machine that demonstrated the movement of planets at the Academy of Sciences;
• created a machine that played checkers and gave visitors various tips;
• designed a device for the safe movement of containers with molten glass in a factory;
• invented and made a lifting machine along a spiral staircase for the Empress, and the chair moved without any ropes or chains;
• solved the problem of lowering the ship "Grace" with 130 cannons on board, which was stuck on a boathouse, and the builders “gave up.”

Kulibin Ivan Petrovich himself and his were unique for that time. Their projects were based on deep knowledge of the laws of mechanics and physics. Unfortunately, many ideas were not brought to life.

The ideas of the “Russian Leonardo da Vinci” have found application in modern mechanical engineering, medicine and construction. His very name became a household name. But what exactly did he invent?

1 “Vodokhod”

In 1804, Kulibin built a watership - a river boat with a water-repellent motor, allowing it to move against the current. The idea came to him in childhood: as a little boy, he was shocked by the picture of the hard work of the Volga barge haulers. Since then, he dreamed of creating something that could make their lives easier.

2 “Single arch bridge”

The first ever model of a 298-meter single-arch bridge was designed by Kulibin in 1769-1787. A wooden model with lattice trusses was placed in the Tauride Garden, connecting the banks of the river canal for several years. The real bridge was never built, but Ivan Kulibin went down in history as the person who introduced the idea of ​​modeling structures into bridge building practice.

3 “Scooter cart”

In 1791, Kulibin assembled a mechanical carriage, the movement of which was provided by a person turning the pedals, and not by the usual team of horses. Moreover, he equipped it with a gearbox, brakes and a flywheel. The Kulibin three-wheeled scooter turned out to be the “mother” of Karl Benz’s car.

4 “Rising chair”

The elevator for Catherine II was also invented by Ivan Kulibin. It was a small chair that moved up and down on screws, and served both for the entertainment of the courtiers and for the convenience of the Empress herself.

5 “Mechanical leg”

Kulibin improved the prosthetic system. He created a “mechanical leg” for Lieutenant Sergei Nepeitsyn, who was injured during the assault on Ochakov. Since then, Nepeitsyn has been nicknamed “the iron leg,” and Kulibin’s idea was later developed in France.

6 “Clock in Easter egg”

In 1764-1767, Ivan Kulibin created a watch that was unique for that time, which, according to his idea, should have been worthy of Catherine II herself. The body became a golden egg. The self-taught master equipped it with clock, strike and chime mechanisms. There was also an automatic theater: every hour, moving figures of the Myrrh-Bearing Wives and an Angel played out a scene from the Gospel about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ to the sound of “Christ is Risen” three times. To assemble such a watch, Kulibin needed 427 parts and 5 years of work.

7 “Perpetuum mobile”

In recent years, nothing has been heard about Kulibin. It was rumored that before his death he was working on a perpetual motion machine project, but never managed to complete what he started.

Drawing on the screensaver: Olga Gromova.

Ivan Kulibin was born in Nizhny Novgorod on April 10 (21), 1735 in the family of a small flour merchant. Since his father was an Old Believer, his upbringing was strict. From an early age the boy was taught to work. Having mastered reading and writing early, Ivan stood behind the counter to help his father. However, the most interesting thing for him was reading books and creating various toys. The father favorably accepted his son's hobbies and allowed him to engage in plumbing and turning.

In 1758, his father died, and Ivan opened a watch workshop in Nizhny Novgorod. The fame of the wonderful master spread throughout the city after he repaired the “intricate projectile showing the plots of the day” of the governor himself. After this, Kulibin had no end to clients.

In 1767, he was presented to Empress Catherine II, who was touring the Volga cities. The master demonstrated his inventions to the queen and also talked about the watch that he wanted to make in her honor.

And just two years later he presented the empress with a telescope, a microscope, an electric machine and an amazing watch the size of a goose egg. The empress was especially struck by the automatic theater, in which biblical scenes were played out.

The master's gifts made an indelible impression on Catherine II. She invited Kulibin to head the mechanical workshops of the Academy of Sciences, and he accepted the offer. This was the brightest stage in the life of the Nizhny Novgorod master. The main creative direction of the “Chief Mechanicus of the Fatherland” remained watches. They were of various sizes: from very small “ring watches” to giant ones.

In addition to watches, Ivan Petrovich was also interested in other areas of technology and mechanics.

In St. Petersburg, for obvious reasons, the problem of building bridges was acute, and Kulibin took up bridge construction. In the 70s, he designed the first single-span wooden bridge across the Neva, and already at the end of 1776 his model was successfully tested.

Without Ivan Kulibin, not a single design of carnivals, special events, festivals and balls took place. It was he who organized all kinds of attractions, optical amusements, and “light crackers.” The spotlight he invented provided strong illumination even with a weak light source. The system of mirrors used by the master was able to illuminate the darkest passages of the Tsarskoye Selo Palace.

It was Kulibin who took the lead in inventing a mass of mechanisms without which it is impossible to imagine modern life. In 1791, the prototype of a modern bicycle and a passenger car appeared. Kulibin made the first leg prosthesis, which was intended for officer Nepeitsin, the hero of the Battle of Ochakov. The first elevator, or, as it was called at the end of the 18th century, a “lifting chair,” is also the merit of the master. These inventions can be listed for a long time. Among them are the optical telegraph, the “vodokhod”, machines for extracting salt, mills, water wheels, geodetic and acoustic instruments, telescopes, sundials and other clocks, precision scales and even a piano and much, much more.

Catherine II appreciated the master’s merits and awarded him a medal on St. Andrew’s ribbon with the inscription: “To the worthy. Academy of Sciences - mechanic Ivan Kulibin."

In 1801, Ivan Petrovich returned to Nizhny Novgorod and began work on improving self-propelled ships. At this time, the master faced financial problems. There was a catastrophic lack of money - large projects were not cheap. To work on self-propelled ships, Kulibin took out a loan, which he repaid using his pension.

This is the glorious biography of the outstanding Russian inventor Ivan Kulibin. He passed away on July 30 (August 11), 1818 in Nizhny Novgorod.

A brilliant, self-taught Russian inventor—that’s what they said about Kulibin. Ivan Petrovich Kulibin truly made a huge contribution to Russian and world science, far ahead of his time.

Kulibin was born in 1735 in Nizhny Novgorod. His father was a small trader. Kulibin did not receive a school education. He learned to read and write from a sexton. I studied mechanics on my own from books. He was especially interested in watches. And already at the age of 17 he began making wooden and copper cuckoo clocks on his own. Convinced of his son’s extraordinary abilities, his father allowed him to engage in turning and plumbing.

Watch for the Empress

After the death of his father, Kulibin, who was 23 years old at the time, opened his own watch workshop in Nizhny Novgorod. His clients were nobles, merchants, and landowners.

In 1767, Empress Catherine II visited Nizhny Novgorod. The governor introduced her to the master, whose fame had already spread far beyond the city. Kulibin showed the empress some of his inventions.

And in 1769, he brought as a gift to the queen an electric machine, a microscope, a telescope and an extraordinary watch the size of a goose egg. These hours at noon played a hymn, the author of which was Kulibin himself. And every hour, a special built-in mechanism opened small doors, behind which an image of the Holy Sepulcher was visible. A closed door led there, on both sides of which stood two warriors with spears. An angel appeared. The door leading to the Coffin opened. The warriors fell on their faces. Myrrh-bearing women appeared. The chimes performed the prayer “Christ is Risen” three times. The doors were closing. After noon, every hour another church verse was heard: Jesus has risen from the tomb.” All the figures in this watch were made of gold and silver. This clock is still kept in the storerooms of the Hermitage.

Shocked by the miracle clock, the Empress appointed Kulibin head of the mechanical workshop of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. And in this workshop, for 17 years, he created his inventions and brought them to life.

The first bridge project across the Neva

In those days, all bridges were built with a span of 50-60 meters. The wooden bridge across the Neva, designed by Kulibin, had only one span, 298 meters long. It touched the ground only on the right and left banks. If this bridge were built, large ships could enter St. Petersburg at any time of the day, and not just at night, when the bridges are raised. In 1776, Kulibin built, according to his calculations, a model of the bridge 1/10 of its natural size.

Spotlight

The prototype of the modern spotlight is the semaphore telegraph.

Before the semaphore telegraph appeared, signals on ships during the day were transmitted using special multi-colored pennants. And at night, fires were lit at the lighthouses. But since the ships in those days were made of wood, lighting a fire on the deck was very dangerous. And on ships they used candles or wicks in pots of oil. At a great distance such a signal was not noticeable.

Kulibin studied this problem. And then one night in 1779, over Vasilyevsky Island in St. Petersburg, people saw a fireball that illuminated the Promenade des Anglais. It was a lantern invented by Ivan Petrovich Kulibin. Kulibin's lantern was equipped with a reflector, which made it possible to produce powerful light even from a weak source.This invention of Kulibin was used in fleets around the world before the invention of radio communications.

"Self-running stroller"

The self-running carriage invented by Kulibin had a brake, a gearbox, a steering wheel, and a cardan mechanism. In short, almost everything is like a modern car. But it was set in motion by pedals that the driver turned with his feet. The flywheel spun, and the stroller developed a fairly good speed.

Such strollers were made in the mechanical workshops of Kulibin. Aristocrats walked in them quite often.

Smaller copies of the strollers are preserved in the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow.

Self-propelled barge

Ivan Petrovich Kulibin created a barge that went against the flow of the river on its own. The driving force was the flow of the river itself.

The ship's anchor was carried forward with the help of a boat and securely fastened. And the anchor chain was wrapped around the propeller shaft on the ship. Two propeller wheels were attached to the propeller shaft. The wheel blades were set in motion by the current, which pressed on them. The wheels rotated and wound the anchor chain onto the shaft. And the barge moved against the current.

Subsequently, the idea of ​​​​Kulibin's self-propelled barge became the prototype of a steam ship, which was called a tuer. Such a vessel selected a chain laid on the river bottom and moved forward.

Kulibin's workshops produced telescopes, telescopes, astrolabes, ready-to-use instruments, hydrodynamic and acoustic instruments, barometers, watches of various designs, thermometers and much more.

Not a single festival in St. Petersburg took place without attractions, fireworks, and optical amusements that Kulibin came up with. One of the most favorite entertainments of the palace servants was a lifting chair, which can be called the world's first elevator.

A water wheel, a salt-mining machine, mills, an optical telegraph - all this was invented by the great Kulibin.

Catherine II awarded the brilliant Russian inventor a gold medal, on the ribbon of which was written: “ To the worthy one. Academy of Sciences - mechanic Ivan Kulibin."

Ivan Petrovich Kulibin was born in Nizhny Novgorod on April 10 (new style - April 21), 1735 in the family of a poor flour merchant. Kulibin's father did not give his son a school education. He taught him how to trade. But the son was languishing in an unloved activity, and as soon as he had a free minute, he indulged in an unloved activity: he made various wonders - toys, weather vanes, gears. The father complained about his son, often repeating “God punished me, the boy will be of no use.” Kulibin grew up as an introverted dreamer, obsessed with the idea of ​​inventing something unusual. Everything related to technology worried him greatly, the young man was especially interested in clock mechanisms. But the education Kulibin received from the sexton was not enough to understand these complex mechanisms. Books came to the rescue. The young man tested the knowledge gained from books through experiments.

Kulibin's trip to Moscow on business at the city hall gave him the opportunity to become familiar with watchmaking, purchase tools, a commercial bow lathe and a cutting machine. Upon returning from Moscow, he opened a watch workshop and began to achieve significant success in watchmaking. Constantly studying physics and mathematics, the inventor improved his skills and soon became convinced that he had enough strength, knowledge and skill to create a clock of his own design with numerous mathematical devices.

In this matter, he was helped by the merchant Kostromin, who took upon himself all the costs of maintaining Kulibin’s family and purchasing materials and tools

Making such complex watches as the egg-shaped watch was extremely difficult. The details were so small that final processing had to be done under a magnifying glass. In addition, Kulibin was not only a watchmaker, but at the same time a mechanic, a tool maker, a metal and wood turner, a model carpenter and, in addition, a designer and technologist. He was even a composer, since the clock played a melody composed by him.

When the production of the “egg figure” clock was coming to an end, Kulibin managed to get acquainted with the microscope, electric machine, telescope and telescope brought from Moscow by the merchant Izvolsky. Kulibin was extremely interested in these devices, and he made the same ones with his own hands. On May 20, 1767, Empress Catherine arrived in Nizhny Novgorod. Governor Arshenevsky and merchant Kostromin, who patronized Kulibin, introduced him to the queen. She examined an electric machine, a telescope, a microscope and a wonderful watch, which the mechanic had spent more than two years making.

This watch was the size of a goose egg. They consisted of thousands of smallest parts, wound up once a day and chimed the allotted time, even half and quarter. The queen praised the inventor's talent and promised to summon Kulibin to St. Petersburg.

Catherine II kept her word. In March 1769, Ivan Petrovich was summoned to St. Petersburg and appointed head of the mechanical workshop of the Academy of Sciences with the title of mechanic. The watch, electric machine, microscope and telescope he presented to Catherine were transferred to the Kunstkamera, a unique museum established by Peter the Great. In which various curiosities were stored.

For the benefit of the state and society

The St. Petersburg period of I.P. Kulibin’s life (1761-1801) was the heyday of his talent for bold daring. The provincial inventor-watchmaker approached the source of the country's highest scientific thought, from which he could now draw knowledge through direct communication with major scientists. He received at his disposal workshops with numerous departments (tooling, turning, carpentry, barometric, optical, punching), with a staff of qualified craftsmen

At the same time, Kulibin, one of the remarkable inventors of the 18th century, who devoted all his thoughts to solving major technical issues, had to live at the beck and call of the academic authorities and spend a significant part of his time on work that was very far from grandiose inventive plans.

And yet Ivan Petrovich found time to develop his inventions. He designed a wooden single-arch bridge across the Neva. The capital was in dire need of a permanent bridge. But the construction of such a bridge with the then bridge-building technology presented exceptional difficulties. The Neva is wide and deep. Under these conditions, it was difficult to build supports (bulls) for installing spans. Kulibin managed to make the bridge single-span, from one arch. With funds obtained from Prince Potemkin, he began building the model. The creation of such a model was a major event in construction technology and attracted the attention of academician L. Euler. The world-famous scientist not only familiarized himself with the drawings of the bridge, but also checked Kulibin’s calculations to determine the load-bearing capacity of the bridge and found them correct. On December 27, 1776, a model of a single-arch wooden bridge was tested in the presence of a special academic commission. Three thousand three hundred pounds of cargo were placed on the bridge. The model withstood this load, which was considered to be the maximum load according to the calculations. Kulibin ordered to increase the weight to 3800 pounds. After that, he built a model and invited not only the commission of the Academy of Sciences, but also the workers who participated in the test. Everyone walked along the bridge several times together. The commission had no choice but to congratulate the inventor on his success. The commission recognized that according to his project it was possible to build a bridge across the Neva with a length of 298 meters. The queen, “with extreme pleasure,” accepted the report about such an important invention of the domestic mechanic, and ordered to reward him with money and a gold medal. What about the bridge? Nobody was going to build the bridge. His model was ordered “to be made a pleasant spectacle for the public, who flocked in large numbers every day to marvel at it.” Soon, interest in the model both among the government and the public cooled down. In 1793, a decree was issued to move it to the garden of the Tauride Palace and throw it across the canal there. Such was the fate of the model of a wooden single-arch bridge, about which the famous bridge builder D.N. Zhurakhovsky said “It bears the stamp of genius.”

The project of a three-arch iron bridge, created by Kulibin a few years later, was not implemented either.

Kulibin also invented an original lamp, which can be considered the prototype of a modern spotlight. For this lamp he used a concave mirror, consisting of a huge number of individual pieces of mirror glass. A light source was placed at the focus of the mirror, the strength of which was increased by 500 times.

Kulibin intended his searchlight primarily for practical purposes. He invented lanterns of different sizes and strengths: some were convenient for illuminating corridors, large workshops, ships, and were indispensable for sailors, while others, smaller ones, were suitable for carriages. But the St. Petersburg nobility was least of all interested in the possibility of using this lantern, which was at that time a miracle of technology, for the needs of the Russian fleet, for manufactories or urban improvement. Kulibin lanterns were used for decorative and entertainment purposes.

But Ivan Petrovich did not give up. Doomed to the position of court pyrotechnician, organizer of illuminations and props maker, he continued to create inventions in this area that could be of great importance in the national economy and in military affairs, if only his “patrons” did not interfere with this. Such an invention was, for example, his powered navigable vessel.

According to Kulibin’s plan, the structure of the “navigable vessel” was as follows. One end of the rope is tied to a stationary object on the shore (or an anchor carried forward), the other is wrapped around the propeller shaft on the ship. The current puts pressure on the wheel blades, they begin to rotate, and the rope is wound around the propeller shaft. The ship begins to move against the current.

The tests were carried out on the Neva by a special government commission. “A lot of people gathered on the banks of the Neva, wanting to see how the ship would sail without sails or oars, against the wind and current, with the single force of the same flowing water.” When it went so fast that the two-oared yawl could hardly keep up with it, a loud “hurray” rang out in greeting to the self-taught Russian, who, standing on his vessel, was driving the machine himself.

For the built vessel, Kulibin was awarded five thousand rubles, but his vessel was never put into operation. In the socio-economic conditions of that time, ships with barge haulage were more profitable than machine-powered ships. September 28, 2004 marked the 200th anniversary of the Vodokhod testing

But this did not discourage the inventor. He still directs “all his thoughts to the invention of useful machines for the treasury and society.” In 1791, Kulibin created a scooter, a three-wheeled carriage driven by pedals connected by an ingenious transmission mechanism to the driving wheels of the car. “The servant stood on the heels of the attached shoes, raised and lowered his legs alternately without almost any effort, and the monocar rolled quite quickly.” She could carry "one or two idle people."

In the same year, Kulibin designed mechanical legs (prosthesis). He made the first prosthesis for artillery officer Nepeitsin. The result amazed Kulibin himself. When the manufactured prosthesis was tied to Nepeitsin’s leg, he put on a boot, “for the first time, he went with a cane, sat down and stood up, without touching it with his hands and without any outside help.”

Military surgeons recognized the prosthesis invented by Kulibin as the most advanced of all those that existed at that time and quite suitable for use. But this invention did not bring anything to Kulibin. Besides the expense. While they were judging and dressing up, planning to test the prosthesis in an experiment. Applying it to the wounded, a certain nosy Frenchman stole this invention and, as they say, then sold it to Napoleon, receiving a hefty sum.

The development of these inventions required more than just time from Kulibin. but also the money needed to purchase materials. Payment of civilian craftsmen. Having no funds of his own and not receiving any amounts from the treasury, Kulibin was forced to borrow money. The path of a professional inventor became more and more thorny every year. Having given up managing the workshops, Ivan Petrovich began to receive only 300 rubles a year. And she already owned it new idea on the creation of a model of an optical telegraph. Kulibin developed both a telegraph of an original design and a secret telegraph code. But the state and social significance of this invention. Was not appreciated by those. On whom did the possibility of constructing a telegraph depend? The first telegraph in Russia was installed in 1835 by the Frenchman Chateau, to whom the Russian government paid 120 thousand rubles just for the “secret” of the design of his optical telegraph, although in Russia a more advanced telegraph had been developed by Kulibin long before that.

Project rejected

Already in 1791, Kulibin sought funds from the government to introduce machine-powered ships into Volga shipping. The clerical red tape with consideration of his requests dragged on for many years. The deceased Catherine was replaced on the throne by Paul, after Paul Alexander I began to reign. He became acquainted with Kulibin’s proposal, “how it would be more convenient and without burdening the treasury to introduce machine-powered ships on the Volga River, for the benefit of the state.” Kulibin asked for little: to give him two years' salary in advance for the construction of the ship. In case of failure, he assumed all expenses. The king granted the inventor's request. In 1891, Kulibin and his family left St. Petersburg for Nizhny Novgorod to begin building a navigable vessel.

Even before arriving in Nizhny Novgorod, he outlined the program and methods for carrying out his experiments and immediately began to design and build a test vessel. According to the son of Ivan Petrovich, “...he spent 1802 - 1803 - 1804 in this exercise, he worked sparing neither strength nor health, enduring severe winds, dampness and frost, trying to speed up the fulfillment of his ardent desire.” Ivan Petrovich was already 70 years old, and he “could barely overcome this not insignificant task.”

The official test of the test engine vessel by the government commission took place on September 28. Its results were quite favorable. With a cargo of eight thousand five hundred pounds, the ship moved against the current at a speed of 409 fathoms per hour. Nizhny Novgorod Governor A.M. Runovsky, noting “the excellent zeal and zeal of I.P. Kulibin,” informed the government that the use of this vessel on the Volga “would not be useless for navigation.” But hunters use a machine-powered vessel. Kulibin was never found. It stood near the shore and rotted, and on the Volga, as in the old days, ships were pulled with a tow and a barge hauler song was heard, “like a groan.”

In 1807, by order of the governor, Kulibin transferred the ship to the City Duma for safekeeping against receipt, and sent the drawings to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But it was not in the interests of the ruling class at that time to support measures to reduce the labor force through mechanization of labor. Kulibin's project was rejected, and the ship was sold for firewood for 200 rubles.

The inventor's last dream was a perpetual motion machine. Kulibin died surrounded by drawings, working until his last breath. In order to bury him, they had to sell the wall clock. There was not a penny in the house of the inventor, known far beyond Russia. He lived and died a beggar.

The fate of Kulibin, like the fate of other inventors, reflects the painful process of struggle between the progressive elements of Russian society, striving in the depths of the feudal-serf structure to develop domestic industry on the basis of advanced machine technology, and the conservative forces of noble Russia of the 18th century who want to suppress these elements, slow down progressive aspirations.

The tragedy of Kulibin is the tragedy of a genius who was unable to overcome the conservative forces of that time and therefore did not see his plans realized.

(Materials from the books by N. Kochin “Kulibin” and V. Pipunyrov “Ivan Petrovich Kulibin” were used.)