Gustaf de Laval facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gustaf de Laval
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de Laval 1875
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| Born | 9 May 1845 |
| Died | 2 February 1913 (aged 67) Stockholm, Sweden
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| Nationality | Swedish |
| Alma mater | KTH Royal Institute of Technology |
| Known for | Steam turbines, dairy machinery, and the de Laval nozzle for rocket engines |
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Karl Gustaf Patrik de Laval (9 May 1845 – 2 February 1913) was a brilliant Swedish engineer and inventor. He created many important things, especially for steam turbines and machines that separate liquids, like milk and cream. His inventions changed how industries worked, from power generation to dairy farms.
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Life of Gustaf de Laval
Gustaf de Laval was born on May 9, 1845, in a place called Orsa in Dalarna, Sweden. His family, the de Lavals, had come from France in the 1600s.
When he was 18, in 1863, he started studying at the Institute of Technology in Stockholm. This school is now known as the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). He earned a degree in mechanical engineering in 1866. After that, he continued his studies at Uppsala University in 1867.
He worked for a Swedish mining company called Stora Kopparberg. Later, he returned to Uppsala University and finished his doctorate degree in 1872. He also worked at the Kloster Iron works in Sweden.
Gustaf de Laval became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1886. He was a very successful engineer and businessman. He also held a national office, serving in the Swedish parliament from 1888 to 1890. Later, he became a member of the senate. De Laval passed away in Stockholm in 1913 when he was 67 years old.
Gustaf de Laval's Inventions
The de Laval Nozzle
In 1882, Gustaf de Laval came up with an idea for a special type of steam turbine. In 1887, he built a small steam turbine to show that his idea could work.
By 1890, de Laval had developed a special nozzle that could make steam shoot out at very high speeds, even faster than the speed of sound! This nozzle uses the steam's movement energy instead of its pressure. Today, this nozzle is called the de Laval nozzle, and it's used in modern rocket engine nozzles.
De Laval's turbines could spin incredibly fast, up to 30,000 rotations per minute (rpm). To handle these high speeds, he also had to design new ways to slow down the spinning motion using gears. These gearing methods are still used today.
At the time, the materials available were not strong enough to handle the huge forces from such fast spinning. Because of this, the amount of power his turbines could produce was limited. Other types of steam turbines, like those designed by Charles Parsons, became more common for large electric power generators.
When using high-pressure steam in a turbine, some of the steam could mix with the oil that lubricated the parts. This meant de Laval also needed to invent a way to separate the oil from the water. After trying different methods, he found that a machine called a centrifugal separator worked best and was affordable. He developed several types of these separators, and they became very useful for many different jobs.
Dairy Machines and Alfa Laval
De Laval also made big improvements for the dairy industry. He invented the first machine that could separate milk from cream using a spinning motion. He also worked on early milking machines. He patented his first milking machine in 1894. However, the company he started didn't sell the first successful milking machine until 1918, after he had passed away.
In 1883, Gustaf de Laval and Oscar Lamm started a company together. It was first called AB Separator, but in 1963, it changed its name to Alfa Laval.
DeLaval Company
In 1991, a part of Alfa Laval that made dairy and farming machines was sold to the Tetra Pak Group. This part of the company was then renamed DeLaval, in honor of its founder, Gustaf de Laval.
Tributes to Gustaf de Laval
On May 9, 2013, Google celebrated Gustaf de Laval's 168th birthday with a special drawing on its homepage called a "doodle."
Images for kids
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Gustaf de Laval at around 50 years old.
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Impulse Turbine by Gustaf de Laval. Built in Sweden, 1888. Deutsches Museum, Munich.
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A unique submarine invented by Gustaf de Laval.
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The former De Laval steam turbine factory in Nacka outside Stockholm, now a conference center.
Gustaf de Laval is buried at Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm, Sweden.
See also
In Spanish: Gustav de Laval para niños
