Karl Gustaf Patrik de Laval (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈɡɵ̂sːtav dɛ laˈvalː]; born May 9, 1845; died February 2, 1913) was a Swedish engineer and inventor. He helped design steam turbines and machines used to separate liquids from milk in dairy production.

Life

Gustaf de Laval was born in Orsa, Dalarna, Sweden, into the de Laval Huguenot family. This family moved to Sweden in 1622. Claude de Laval, a soldier in the family, was knighted in 1647. In 1863, Gustaf enrolled at the Institute of Technology in Stockholm, which later became the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). He earned a degree in mechanical engineering in 1866. In 1867, he began studying at Uppsala University.

After completing his studies, he worked for the Swedish mining company Stora Kopparberg. He later returned to Uppsala University and finished his doctorate in 1872. He then worked at Kloster Iron Works in Husby parish, Sweden.

In 1886, de Laval became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He was a successful engineer and businessman. He also served in the Swedish parliament from 1888 to 1890 and later joined the senate. Gustaf de Laval died in Stockholm in 1913 at the age of 67.

He is buried at Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm, Sweden.

Contributions

In 1882, he developed his idea for an impulse steam turbine and in 1887 built a small steam turbine to show that such machines could be made on that scale. In 1890, Laval created a nozzle to increase the speed of steam to very fast speeds, using the energy from steam movement instead of its pressure. This nozzle, now called a de Laval nozzle, is used in modern rocket engines. De Laval turbines can spin as fast as 30,000 revolutions per minute. The turbine wheel was attached to a long, flexible shaft with two bearings placed far apart on either side. Because the turbine spun so quickly, new methods for reduction gearing were needed, and these designs are still used today. At the time, materials were not strong enough to handle the powerful forces from spinning, so the turbine's power output was limited. Large electric steam generators used a different design called the compound steam turbine, developed by Charles Parsons.

Using high-pressure steam in a turbine with oil-fed bearings caused steam to mix with the oil. To solve this, he created an effective oil/water separator. After testing many methods, he found that a centrifugal separator was the most cost-effective and useful. He made several versions of this device, and its success showed that centrifugal separators could be used in many other applications.

De Laval also helped the dairy industry by inventing the first centrifugal milk-cream separator and an early milking machine. He patented the first of these in 1894. However, the first commercially practical milking machine was not sold until 1918, after his death. In 1883, de Laval and Oscar Lamm started a company called Alfa Laval, which was known as AB Separator until 1963, when it was renamed.

In 1991, Alfa Laval Agri, a company that makes dairy and farming equipment, was separated from Alfa Laval when it was purchased by the Tetra Pak Group. When Alfa Laval was sold, Alfa Laval Agri stayed part of Tetra Pak and was renamed DeLaval, after the company’s founder.

Image gallery

• Gustaf de Laval when he was about 50 years old.
• An impulse turbine designed by Gustaf de Laval. Built in Sweden in 1888. Located at Deutsches Museum in Munich.
• A special submarine created by Gustaf de Laval.
• The former De Laval steam turbine factory in Nacka, outside Stockholm. Now used as a conference center.