6189

Gustave Eiffel Letter Signed

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD
Gustave Eiffel Letter Signed

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Auction Date:2018 Dec 13 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
LS in French, signed “G. Eiffel,” two pages on two adjoining sheets, 8 x 10.25, January 21, 1904. Letter to the president of the Commission Scientifique de l'Aero Club, concerning his submission for a "projet d'Aerodrome a la Tour Eiffel," an aerodrome at the Eiffel Tower, intended to safely allow experiments for heavier-than-air flying machines. Includes a 12-page booklet documenting the proposal, entitled "Projet d'Aerodrome a La Tour Eiffel," bearing a stamped Eiffel signature on the first free end page, containing several plates diagramming the proposed mechanisms: an aircraft would be attached to a transport cable fixed at the bottom of the tower and be released, gaining speed during its descent, and lifting off at the finish. Also includes an original vintage 7 x 5 photograph of the interior of Eiffel's wind tunnel laboratory. In very good to fine condition.

Though best known for his eponymous tower, Eiffel made significant contributions to the scientific study of aerodynamics, and held a strong interest in early aviation. Early on, he conducted 'drop tests' of various objects from the Eiffel tower's 377-foot high second platform, and in 1909 expanded his research by building a wind tunnel at its base, where he used fans driven by electric motors to study air resistance in connection with aviation. Known as the 'Eiffel-type' wind tunnel, the designs he developed are still in use today.