From an interview with Doru Todericiu, who, upon invitation, analyzed the manuscripts of the archive, and also published the first book on the manuscript:
What does it (the manuscript) look like?
Collage tied to the skin, fashion age. Three special manuscripts in a thick volume. Three consecutive authors and one topic. The first was named by Hans (author of the first 36 Manuscript tabs) from Haasenweins (from Haasenluff, Bavaria), 37-110 tabs belong to the second author. He will likely remain the anonymous author of the manuscript. His portion of the manuscript drags on in chronological order over the next hundred years, up to 1529. Only the last part of Varia II 374 contains calligraphy by Konrad Haas.
Who is Hass?
I see myself in 1963, more than 40 years ago, in Sibiu, in the archives of Sibiu … I carefully go through Haas's manuscript - a tab with a tab. In 201, things get more complicated … Incredible drawings, both technical execution and theme, and the fact that, like all handwritten drawings, they are dated and marked with the initials of the author's capital letters, C and H. (Konrad Haas).
Nobody noticed them …
I was trying to understand why the manuscript was not a priority. I am in front of the oldest images known so far of several rockets with several successive stages of ignition, they have appeared since 1529.
Promotional video:
E. Carafoli, M. Nitta (CPP)
ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROCKETS IN ROMANIA IN THE XVI CENTURY
The report, which was made at the XVII Congress on Astronautics (Madrid, 1966), reported the discovery in the city of Sibiu, located in the central part of Romania, an interesting medieval manuscript containing valuable information on the level of development of rocketry in the XVI century. Later in Romania, extensive research was carried out to examine the contents of the manuscript and its correspondence with other documents of the time.
In this article, the author presents the most interesting results of this study. Among these results, the book by D. Toderichiu "The Prehistory of the Modern Rocket" [1], published in 1969, should be mentioned first of all. It provides a translation of the manuscript from German with interesting comments of a historical and technical nature.
After studying the said manuscript, written by Konrad Haas, and comparing its content with about thirty works on pyrotechnics of that time, preserved in the form of books or manuscripts, Toderichiu expressed the opinion that the manuscript found in Sibiu is a valuable document in the aggregate of the achievements of European pyrotechnics, which analyzes the medieval concepts of pyrotechnics, ballistics and missile design.
The above manuscript was written in the Old German language by K. Haas, who from 1529 to 1569. served as chief of the artillery arsenal in Sibiu.
The chapter "On Rockets" of this manuscript describes Haas' rockets during this period in Sibiu, together with local fireworkers.
The significance of the manuscript found in Sibiu lies, firstly, in that it provides information about the most interesting technical achievements, many of which are of priority character in the history of the development of rocket technology.
Studies carried out in recent years in Romania have confirmed the fact that the mentioned manuscript is one of the oldest documents containing information and certain data on the design of multistage missiles.
In fig. 1 shows a sketch of a "double" (in modern terminology - two-stage) rocket, described by the author of the manuscript, Konrad Haas. The operating principle of this rocket resembles that of a modern two-stage rocket. At the beginning, a powder charge is ignited in the first engine, which ensures the movement of the rocket (a combination of two rocket engines together with a payload). As soon as the first engine stops working, the fuel of the second engine is ignited, which ensures further movement of the rocket. An interesting conclusion can be drawn from considering the sketch - the separation of the first stage after the combustion of the corresponding fuel charge is unnecessary. The principle of operation of this rocket contains a rather interesting idea of complete combustion of the first stage while the fuel charge of this stage is burning. For this purpose, Konrad Haas proposed to make a rocket body from paper impregnated with various substances, which burns as fuel is consumed. Thus, when the first stage burns out, the second engine remains on the trajectory as an independent rocket.
Figure: 1.
Successful research on such rockets allowed Haas to design a three-stage rocket (Fig. 2). The principle of operation of this rocket is similar to that of a two-stage rocket.
Another result of the development of technical thought in Sibiu in the first half of the 16th century. consisted in the study of the possibility of transferring with the help of missiles at a certain distance a barrel of powder, which was to explode at the site of the fall (Fig. 3).
Figure: 2.
In addition to increasing the range of the rocket system with sequential ignition of the stages, interesting technical solutions can also be noted to ensure the stability of the rocket flight. Moreover, the technical solutions described in the manuscript are far superior to the ancient Chinese "fire arrow". It can be seen from the photograph that, according to the idea of the Sibiu pyrotechnics, the rocket had the same basic elements as modern rockets, namely: the rocket body, the engine system, the payload and the stabilization system in the form of an expanding tail section.
The manuscript expresses the idea of using a rocket as a vehicle with surprising clarity. In fig. 1 shows the front of the rocket with the payload in the form of three cores under the shell. It should be noted that there is an analogy between the decision taken four centuries ago in the city of Sibiu and the use of rockets for transporting goods today.
The pages of the manuscript reflect valuable expertise in pyrotechnics, borrowed from the local gunpowder and powder components. The author of the manuscript describes the methods used by the Romanians in Transylvania to produce saltpeter and coal in order to ensure controlled combustion of gunpowder.
Figure: 3.
K. Haas indicates in the manuscript the recipes of the famous Romanian pyrotechnic Hans Walach, whose name is found in historical documents of the late 11th century. and is mentioned in ancient studies by well-known Romanian historians (for example, N. Iorga and S. Tiurascu). X. Valach (translated into Romanian means Ion Romanian) proposed five recipes for gunpowder, which were called "hard powder" at that time, and one type of gunpowder, which, as they said, burns "like water flows", that is, gunpowder with stable burning,
At the same time, it should be noted that the powder for many missiles, as described in the manuscript, was star-shaped, which is very similar to the shape of the burning surface of modern solid-propellant rocket engines.
The use of the experience of the craftsmen to obtain the components of gunpowder, in particular the well-known experience of Ion of Romania, suggests that Konrad Haas tried to implement these ideas in Sibiu during his work in the arsenal of the city for more than 40 years - from 1529 to 1569. The manuscript from Sibiu is a very valuable document of missile manufacturing technology. In addition to the above, the manuscript also includes numerous details regarding each element of the rocket body, the rationale for the distribution of fuel in the rocket stages, tests and various experiments.
Haas's work had a tremendous impact on other authors who were his contemporaries or represented the next generation.
The work of Biringuccio.
In chronological order, Haas's work should be considered before the works of such famous authors as V. Biringuccio (Venice, 1540), I. Schmidlap (Nuremberg, 1561), L. Fronsperger (Frankfurt, 1557 and 1566) and Kazimir Simenovich (Amsterdam, 1650). An analysis of the works of these authors in comparison with the text and drawings of Haas's work emphasizes the similarities and shows the spread of his ideas among his contemporaries and future generations. In light of the above, Sibiu in 1529 can be considered the starting point in the history of modern rocket. Numerous specialists in the field of the history of technology, for example, Professors M. Subbotovich, R. Taton, F. Klemm agreed with this proposition, which reflects Haas's worthy place in the history of the development of multistage rockets.
Figure: 4.
In contrast to other military engineers of the time, Haas and his staff constantly cared about the use of technology, in particular missiles, for peaceful purposes.
The drawing in fig. 4 is significant in this respect, as it shows an image of a small flying house, which can be interpreted as a naive foresight of the idea of future manned spacecraft flights2.
Konrad Haas concludes the manuscript with these words: "But my advice is about peace, not war."
This appeal, which has come down to us through the centuries, is embodied in modern society and is the hope of all mankind.