Paul Schmidt (inventor)

Paul Schmidt (born March 26, 1898 in Hagen/Westfalen; died October 18 1976 in Munich) is mainly known for his contribution to the development of the Pulsejet. Schmidt was an engineer and inventor, based in Munich.

His early work involved efforts to get improved force and efficiency and performance out of aircraft power plants. In 1928 he decided the most promising efforts relied on intermittent thrust generation. With meagre resources, he worked on developing Pulse engines German ministry officials visited his early work in the early 1930s to make an assesmment

He initially started pushing the concept of the pulse engine in 1931. Patent DE523655 contained the first sketch of an impulsive duct. In the mid 1930s, the Luftwaffe was interested in Schmidt’s work in relation to aircraft propulsion. His development of the Pulse Engine was referred to as the Schmidtrohr (Schmidttube) and he obtained both German and British patents for it. He used the term "pulsating incineration" in reference to the re-ignition principles.

While his early versions of the pulse engine performed poorly, he lost control of the project, though still remained involved. However, the project got more attention and government funding, following the start of the war. The Luftwaffe supported the project, and Schmidt’s pulse engine, with extra development, was used to power the V-1 flying bomb, the first cruise missile. The engine was based on a 3.6m long tube resonator. It had a valve matrix at its entrance, and a laval nozzle at its exit, and used it for periodic re-ignition (at about 50 HZ). Apart from the use in the V1 flying bomb, the principles of Schmidt’s pulse engine were used in a smaller version in the experimental Himmelstürmer Flightpack, and was used after the war in the United States for guided rocket development.

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