Philippe Henri de Girard (born February 1, 1775 in Lourmarin, Provence, died August 26, 1845 in Paris) – French engineer and inventor.
He was born into a wealthy Calvinist bourgeois family. At the age of 14, he constructed a device for obtaining energy from sea waves. In 1810, he took part in a competition announced by the French government to build a flax fiber spinning machine. The spinning machine he invented was able to spin 150 km of thread from one kilogram of flax[1]. This device revolutionized the process of producing linen fabrics. In 1812, he launched a plant with 2,000 spindles in Paris. In 1818, while living in Vienna, he constructed a flax combing machine and a machine for producing flax yarn from tow.
In the years 1825–1844, he lived in Poland. In 1825, he was appointed by Prince Franciszek Ksawery Drucki Lubecki, Minister of the Treasury of the Kingdom of Poland, to the position of Chief Mechanic at the Mining Department of the Government Commission of Revenue and Treasury. His duties included installing mechanical devices in mines and steelworks and improving existing ones. He modernized, among others, mechanical plants in Białogon, Samsonów, Sielpia and the zinc smelter "Ksawery" near Będzin. In 1828, he installed a water turbine of his own design in Dowspuda. He got involved in the November Uprising - he developed a technique for producing rifle stocks, and the linen factory in Marymont, of which he was the technical director, switched to the production of weapons. The linen factory in Marymont near Warsaw was moved to the village of Ruda Guzowska in 1833. The town of Żyrardów, established on the territory of Ruda Guzowska and the surrounding villages, took its name from him. In 1880, 16,000 spindles were working in this spinning mill.
Translated by Google •
In the know? Log-in to add a tip for other adventurers!