engineering

George Constantinescu

George Constantinescu is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand George Constantinescu rather than just read about it. In short: George "Gogu" Constantinescu (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈdʒe̯ordʒe konstantiˈnesku] ; last name also Constantinesco; 4 October 1881 – 11 December 1965) was a Romanian scientist, engineer, and inventor. During his career, he registered over 130 inventions.

Key takeaways

George Constantinescu belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect George Constantinescu to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of George Constantinescu from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

George "Gogu" Constantinescu (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈdʒe̯ordʒe konstantiˈnesku] ; last name also Constantinesco; 4 October 1881 – 11 December 1965) was a Romanian scientist, engineer, and inventor. During his career, he registered over 130 inventions. Constantinescu was the creator of the theory of sonics, a new branch of continuum mechanics, in which he described the transmission of mechanical energy through vibrations.

Biography

Early years Born in Craiova in "the Doctor's House" near the Mihai Bravu Gardens, Constantinescu was influenced by his father George, born in 1844 (a professor of mathematics and engineering science, specialized in mathematics at the Sorbonne University). Gogu Constantinescu settled in the United Kingdom in 1912. He was an honorary member of the Romanian Academy.

Family He married Alexandra (Sandra) Cocorescu in Richmond, London, in December 1914. The couple moved to Wembley and, after their son Ian was born, they moved to Weybridge. The marriage broke down in the 1920s and ended in divorce. He then married Eva Litton and the couple moved to Oxen House, beside Lake Coniston. Eva had two children, Richard and Michael, by a previous marriage.

Inventions and designs

Synchronization gear His hydraulic machine gun synchronization gear allowed airplane-mounted guns to shoot between the spinning blades of the propeller. The Constantinesco synchronization gear (or "CC" gear) was first used operationally on the D.H.4s of No. 55 squadron R.F.C. from March 1917, during World War I, and rapidly became standard equipment, replacing a variety of mechanical gears. It continued to be used by the Royal Air Force until World War II – the Gloster Gladiator being the last British fighter to be equipped with "CC" gear.

Sonics In 1918, he published the book A treatise on transmission of power by vibrations in which he described his theory of sonics. The theory is applicable to various systems of power transmission but has mostly been applied to hydraulic systems. Sonics differs from hydrostatics, being based on waves, rather than pressure, in the liquid. Constantinescu argued that, contrary to popular belief, liquids are compressible. Transmission of power by waves in a liquid (e.g. water or oil) required a generator to produce the waves and a motor to use the waves to do work, either by percussion (as in rock drills) or by conversion to rotary motion.

Internal combustion engines He had several patents for improvements to carburetors, for example US1206512. He also devised a hydraulic system (patent GB133719) for operating both the valves and the fuel injectors for diesel engines.

Torque converter

He invented a mechanical torque converter actuated by a pendulum. This was applied to the Constantinesco, a French-manufactured car. It was also tried on rail vehicles. A 250 hp petrol engined locomotive with a Constantinescu torque converter was exhibited at the 1924 Wembley Exhibition. The system was not adopted on British railways but it was applied to some railcars on the Romanian State Railways.

Other Other inventions included a "railway motor wagon". The latter ran on normal flanged steel wheels but the drive used a road vehicle powertrain with rubber tyres pressed against the rails. This is similar to the system used on many modern road-rail vehicles. He also designed the Grand Mosque of Constanța (a project completed by the architect Victor Ştefănescu, then known as the Carol I Mosque).

Recent developments Research on a sonic asynchronous motor for vehicle applications (based on Constantinescu's work) has been done at the Transilvania University of Brașov. The date of the paper is believed to be 5 October 2010.

Death He died at Oxen House, beside Coniston Water on 11/12 December 1965, and is buried in the churchyard at Lowick, Cumbria.

Recognition The Dimitrie Leonida Technical Museum in Bucharest has exhibits relating to George Constantinescu.

References

External links

Biography Patents of G. Constantinescu George (Gogu) Constantinescu (ro) Autoturism Homepage Archived 15 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine YouTube showing operation of Constantinesco-Colley synchronising gear for WW1 aircraft

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with George Constantinescu

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what George Constantinescu claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to George Constantinescu before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about George Constantinescu ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of George Constantinescu

In research: George Constantinescu appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses George Constantinescu in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: George Constantinescu is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1881 births, 1965 deaths, 20th-century Romanian engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for George Constantinescu outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study George Constantinescu in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what George Constantinescu means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain George Constantinescu out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is George Constantinescu in simple terms?

Why does George Constantinescu matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study George Constantinescu?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on George Constantinescu.