A device that detects cancer in 6 minutes

Cancer strikes without mercy; doesn't matter who you are and what you did - everything happens with devastating speed. The most times, it is a war with one winner: death. Each year, eight million people die of cancer in the world. More than those killed by HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Annually 12 million people are stroked by this disease. In the U.S., cancer kills 1,500 people a day and is the second most prevalent disease after heart disease. In Romania, the latest statistics monitors 420,000 patients, and are diagnosed annually between 95,000 and 96,000 other people, of which more than half in an incurable phase. The number of patients increases, however, by 8-10% every year.

However, the problem has a much closer solution than we imagine. The Romanian engineer, researcher and businessman Tudor Mircea (53), owner of MB Technology, will release in 2011 the first device that will detect the predisposition for cancer in the very early stages, when treatment is more effective and easier to apply . The device identifies in a blood sample, in four to six minutes, the specific bio-markers of cancer, six months before the disease begins. The MB Technology team works with the Romanian researcher Raluca van Staden, the inventor of a revolutionary sensor for cancer detection, and the device is registered as a common patent.

In a first stage, the device may provide clues to susceptibility for four types of cancer: gastrointestinal, breast, prostate and ovarian cancer. The prototype will be validate by the end of 2010, then the device will enter clinical testing, and in mid 2011 will come into production. MB Technology is working on three versions: the simpler, for mass production (which will cost less than EUR 1,000), a medium variant, for medical offices (EUR 5000-6000) and a laboratory version, with maximum capacity of processing and entering into the detection area (EUR 20,000 to 25,000). Thus, cancer test could be done by anyone, even at home - and that could save millions of lives. Early detection of cancer is an important step in clinical diagnosis because it reduces the number of patients. There is medication for this early stage of cancer that can cure from 80% to 100% of the patients.

The device includes three components: the sensor itself (which can be used for about a hundred tests), covered by a round semi-elastic plastic hood; the input preamplifier input; the data processing unit. One drop of blood is placed on the sensor and the analysis sequence triggers automatically (it takes four to six minutes). Showing results can be achieved in three ways. The basic version offers only quantitative results (YES or NO), the medium variant displays he concentration and the type of bio-marker, while the laboratory version allows the user access to plasmograma. About 85% of production will be exported, mainly to USA, Germany and Israel.

Images from here.

Rodrig Goliescu

Rodrig Goliescu (1882–1942) was a Romanian inventor, engineer, and Lieutenant, who built the Avioplan, the first airplane with a tubular fuselage. The model, with a length of 1.2 m was successfully tested in 1909, having a take off angle of 30 degrees. The originality of this aircraft was the shape of the fuselage, designed for minimum drag and acting as a tube fan, similar to the way the modern vertical take off aircraft and helicopters are designed.

This shape reduced drag and increased the efficiency of the propeller. Helped by the Minister of Education, Spiru Haret, who also helped Aurel Vlaicu, in 1909 he went to France to acquire an engine for his aircraft. In Paris he sent a survey "Laws of air dynamics" to the French Academy, study that was published in "La France automobile et aérienne" magazine, on 15 May 1909. Goliescu patented his invention in France (patent no. 402329). In the same year he learned to fly and he built an updated version of his aircraft, this time in full size. The aircraft had a half cylinder fuselage, but still the air from the propeller flowed through as in the first model. He flies with his aircraft for the first time, in November 1909, on Juvisy airfield, near Paris, and he reaches an altitude of about 50 m. It was for the first time to fly an aircraft with a tubed propeller. Between 1932 and 1936 he flight tested his Aviocoleopter, the first aircraft to have a toroidal wing.

After his flights, only in 1932, the Italian engineer Luigi Stipa will build an aircraft with a "barrel fuselage" under the name of Stipa-Caproni but the concept will reach its dedication after the Second World War, being successfully implemented in helicopters like SA-365 Dauphin, RAH-66 Comanche or the new X-35 fighter.

Sources: Wikipedia, Early Aviators.

A Gold Invention

The Romanian Corneliu Birtok-Băneasa was awarded the Gold Medal at the current edition of International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, the young inventor from Deva presenting a Dynamic Device for Air Transfer that provide a higher efficiency of internal combustion engines. The invention can be used in the automotive industry and provide better engine cooling while reducing fuel consumption and emissions.

This year's graduate of Faculty of Engineering in Hunedoara, Corneliu was able to experience his invention on 20 different cars with different engine types. The cars were monitored for three years, while being conducted measurements in the Engine Laboratory of the Faculty of Engineering Hunedoara. "The device creates an easy supercharging effect which increases proportionally with speed of the vehicle and increase volumetric efficiency of internal combustion engine. The combustion of the fuel mixture is complete, the pollutant emissions and fuel consumption are lower", said the device inventor awarded in Geneva, cited by Agerpres.

His invention was awarded a Gold Medal at the Inventika International Exhibition in 2009, the Special Prize of the National Association of Inventors from Poland at the same event, and the Silver Medal of Eureka International Salon, Brussels 2009. The young inventor was noted also for another interesting invention: The "Super-vacuuming inverted filter", a device for cars to help reduce fuel consumption by up to 20%. With this invention Corneliu Birtok-Băneasa won gold, silver and bronze medals at various exhibitions of inventions.

Photos: Mesagerul Hunedorean, Impact News.

Best Woman Inventor in 2010

The Romanian Raluca-Ioana van Staden won this year the Golden Trophy of the World Intellectual Property for the Best Woman Inventor at the International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva.

She invented a sensor that determines the existence of cancer in humans at the molecular level. Astonishing is that the sensor detects cancer in less than six minutes and the estimated cost would be less than one euro. Raluca-Ioana van Staden said that lack of funding has allowed the approach of only four types of cancer, because bio-markers are very expensive and all the tests to be made require a fairly large quantity of bio-markers. The device produced on large-scale would be very easy to use, as easy as a glucometer. "We've already done experiments on various types of cancer, as ovarian, breast, gastrointestinal and prostate cancer, as well with general markers of cancer. We make a determination before the disease is triggered in the body", she said in an interview. The device can be reused, there is no danger of contamination from one person to another, and last more than six months.

Raluca-Ioana van Staden (b. Ştefan) was born on July 16, 1969, in the city of Câmpulung, Argeş County. She obtained the baccalaureate in his hometown, then she followed the college. She has a doctorate in chemistry and a masterate in music composition. Raluca-Ioana is married with the scientist Jacobus Frederick van Staden, both working in the sole laboratory for analytical technology of processes in Romania, PATLAB, located in the Institute of Electro-Chemistry and Condensed Matter in Timişoara.

Photo: HotNews.

Dumitru Văsescu

Dumitru Văsescu (1859 - 1909) was a Romanian engineer, professor and inventor.

Born in Iaşi in 1859, Dumitru Văsescu followed school and high school courses in his hometown. Animated by the desire to study engineering, he went to Paris, where he studied at the "École Centrale". In Paris young Văsescu installed a small workshop on Michelet Street, where he tried to build a machine capable of traveling on land or by rail, by its own means. After great efforts, managed to achieve in 1880 a steam car, which became after the tests one of the curiosities of Paris.

Steam car built by Dumitru Văsescu was composed of a multi-tubular boiler heated with coal, with connecting pipes, pressure valves and pressure gauges so disposed, that they can be handled easily. Very characteristic for this car were the rear wheels made of metal alloy with steel spokes and solid rubber tires. Front wheels were smaller and were made of metal, with tires. Dumitru Văsescu's car was fitted with two independent brake systems. Water tank was located under the driver's seat and steering wheel was on the right side of the car.

After graduating in Paris, Dumitru Văsescu returned in Romania in 1906, bringing with him his steam car, which circulated in Bucharest. The car was exhibited at the School of Bridges and Roads, where D. Văsescu teaches as professor. Dumitru Văsescu died on October 29, 1909, in Bucharest.

Tache Brumărescu

Dumitru (Tache) Brumărescu (1872, Vălenii de Munte - 1925 or 1937, Bucharest), designed and built the first aircraft vertically taking off in the world which flew on May 27, 1911.

During his lifetime, Tache Brumărescu had around 150 inventions, and participated in Romania's General Exhibitions in 1904 and 1906. One of those inventions was an unusual airplane, named helicopter-airplane, actually the world's first airplane with vertical takeoff, patented in 1909 (Patent no. 02218). The airplane was a mono-motor biplane, which had three propellers: one tractive, one propulsive, and a horizontal one for sustentation. His airplane model was exhibited at the Paris Air Show in 1910, near the Henri Coandă's jet powered aircraft.

A year later he managed to buy an Gnome-Rhone 50 HP engine and learned to fly an aircraft. The first and only flight made by Columba (the name of his airplane) took place on 27 May 1911 at Bucharest, on the Cotroceni field. The aircraft rose to a height of 6 m and flew a distance of approximately 80 meters. During the flight he noticed the airplane was loosing its balance and decided to land, but the sudden maneuver resulted in a crash. The propeller broke, the engine was blocked, and he was injured at one leg. The accident marked the end of his aviation experiments.

Other notable inventions of Brumărescu were: a rescue system for submarines (pattented in France in 1911), the automatically coupling system for railway wagons, a skid-car, and the reed cutter.

Dumitru Daponte and the 3D cinema

Dumitru Daponte (1894-1956) was a Romanian engineer, who invented in 1924 the 3D cinema.

After World War I began the boom of film industry. It was the silent film era, black and white, interrupted every 10 minutes to change the film coil. The dialogues were designed separately, on a black background and some film scenes were interrupted to provide the necessary explanation for the action understanding. However, the theaters were full and it was obvious that the new industry had a golden future.

One of the problems that Dumitru Daponte tried to solve is related to playback images in relief (the classic projection has only width and height, not depth, making the screen to be viewed as a sequence of shots). Techniques used in this way were different: the use of glasses with colored lenses, the projection of images on a curved screen etc.

Before Daponte, another Romanian had made a similar attempt: N. Iliescu Brînceni developed a kind of binoculars, which each spectator had to hold to eyes to see on a screen two distinct sets of images superposed to obtain the sensation of relief.

Dumitru Daponte began to work on his invention in 1916, doing research and experimentation in Italy and England, countries where the film enjoyed a great interest. He then made a device for obtaining a stereoscopic effect, based on the idea that the relief conditions must be created since the time of registration of the film. Daponte built a camera with two objectives (the ones by then had one), at approximately 6 cm distance from each other, trying to get the relief effect by projecting simultaneously each pair of captured images. The engineer based his invention by the fact that man sees with two eyes and the perception of relief is due to this double simultaneous reception of the image. His apparatus also contained a device allowing the adjustment of the distance between the two objectives. The two films thus obtained were then entered into a special recording device, such as the two images to be implemented on a single film. His invention was patented in France (Patent no. 592963) and England (Patent no. 222173).

Daponte's invention, introduced in 1924, enjoyed great interest and represented a step forward in addressing this crucial issue for the future of film industry.

Anastase Dragomir

Anastase Dragomir (1896-1966) was a distinguished Romanian inventor, most famous for his patent registered together with Tănase Dobrescu, an early version of the modern ejection seat.

Anastase Dragomir was born on February 6, 1896, in Brăila, being the sixth child of the family. He was interested, as many of the young people of that period, of aviation issues. He went to France, where he worked on several aircraft factories. There he perfected his own system to save the pilots and passengers in case of accidents. On November 3, 1928, he recorded in France the patent application "Nouveau système de montage des parachutes dans les appareils de locomotion aérienne" and obtained patent no. 678,566 in April 2, 1930. This invention was "a new system of parachuting from the apparatus for air locomotion, each passenger having his own parachute that allows, in critical moments, the detaching of the whole ensemble from the plane, so the parachute along with the passenger installed in the seat go through a opening in the floor" and the patent require that this set of cell-parachute to have more controls, operated by the pilot.

Since there was not a favorable financial time for aviation, the idea of this system rescue was for a long time regarded with suspicion by officials and companies, due to significantly more expensive planes built. After several interventions, Anastase Dragomir managed to obtain necessary financing and began construction of "catapulted cabin". He experienced the invention in August 28, 1929, at Orly airport near Paris. For this purpose was modified a Farman airplane in which was installed the catapultable cockpit, after the indications of the inventor. The plane was piloted by Lucien Bossoutrot, owner of record of a flight without stopover. The experience was a success, confirming the usefulness of this invention. After the demonstration, French newspapers have emphasized the world priority of the invention.

After the experiment, Anastase Dragomir returned home, where, with the help of captain Constantin Nicolau, engineer of the Romanian aviation technical services, repeated the demonstration at the Băneasa Airport in Bucharest, in October 26, 1929. This time he used an AVIA plane, and the newspapers reported in detail about this ingenious and practical means of rescue. Based on the results obtained, he developed and refined the initial solution. In 1950 he obtained a new patent, Romanian, no. 40658/1950, for the "parachuted cell". In 1959 he recorded a new application, for a transport aircraft with cabins equipped with ejection, for rescuing the passengers (Romanian patent no. 41,424 from 1960). Anastase Dragomir died in 1966 in Bucharest.

The case of Ion Basgan

Ion Basgan (June 24, 1902, Focşani - December 15, 1980, Bucharest) was a Romanian engineer and inventor, famous for the discovery of the effect that bears his name.


He obtained the high school diploma in 1920 in Iaşi. With a scholarship, under contract with the oil company "Romanian Star", Basgan followed between 1920-1925 the Upper Austria School of Mining and Metallurgy in Leoben, and after graduation he worked on construction sites of the "Astra Română" Oil Company, becoming in 1930 the director of the sites in Moldova. In 1933 he obtained a Ph.D. at Montanistische Hochschule Leoben in Austria with the thesis entitled "Die Arbeitsweise und Form des Rotary Meissels", published in 1934 at Hans Urban Publisher in Vienna with a preface written by the famous engineer and inventor Gogu Constantinescu. The same year, he followed the political economy courses of the University of London and began his teaching career as an honorary professor at the Department of Petroleum Economics at the Academy of Commercial and Industrial Advanced Studies. Between 1944 and 1949 he was director of the company "Petrolifera" Wallachia, and between 1949 and 1954 he worked at the Ministry of Agriculture, to design and execute the boreholes for water supply of cities.


The research of Ion Basgan in oil drilling with sonicity combined with the "Basgan effect" started in 1932. Essentially, he developed a system for drilling for oil which used principles of sonics to drill wells cheaper, faster, and better. The theory was that using percussive as well as rotary drilling, and a counter-weight, oil wells could be drilled extremely quickly and be perfectly straight down as well. This invention also allowed for drilling up to and exceeding 15km of depth. His most important patents are: "Method for improving the efficiency of advanced rotary drilling, by rotation percussion and the depreciation of hydro mechanic pressure", patented in Romania (Patent no. 22789/1934) and then in the U.S., "Rotary Well Drilling Apparatus", patented in U.S. (Patent no. 2103137/1937) and refined later in Romania, "Rotary Hammer Drilling" (Patent no. 37743/1945). These inventions have revolutionized the oil drilling techniques, helping US oil drillers to reduce production costs by over 30 per cent. In 1967, Basgan patented in France, USA, Portugal and United Arab Emirates the invention "Rotary and percussive drilling system with sonic frequency, limiting the effect of Archimedes pressure, and the corresponding plant and equipment", which permitted the exceeding of the critical barrier of 8000 m depth. Ion Basgan published over 60 works, consisting of articles, topics discussed at conferences and treatises on drilling equipment.


Initially, these inventions were used in Romania. Since 1937, they were applied in the U.S. by all major oil companies. During the period of the Second World War, the inventions of the Romanian engineer were seized and freed only in 1965, by the Order 838/13.10.1965 of the Ministry of Justice of the United States. Basgan died without ever receiving any money for his invention. He wanted to use the fees to help young Romanian inventors, regardless of their field of activity. Over the past few years however, Basgan's sons has been fighting in court for the reparation of royalties from 200 US oil companies, with royalties totaling $8,634,836,458.00, to fulfill his father’s dream.

Gheorghe Botezatu

Gheorghe Botezatu, known as Dr. Georges A. de Bothezat (1893, Jassy, Romania - February 2, 1949, Dayton, USA), Romanian inventor, engineer and mathematician.


Gheorghe Botezatu was born in Iaşi, Romania 1883 or 1882. He studied in Iaşi, Petrograd and Sorbonne, Paris, and obtained here a PhD (Étude de la stabilité de l'aéroplane - 1911), first of its kind. He was an aeronautical engineer and mathematician, professor of the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute in the beginning of the WWI, worked for DEKA in Petrograd between 1916 and 1917 and next he stayed in Iaşi at the turn of 1918. In 1918 Botezatu wrote the letter and report "General Theory of the Screw" (air-screw i.e. propeller of an aircraft), after he wrote off to Subcommittee on Buildings, Laboratories and Equipments in Feb. 1919 and the US Army Air Corps awarded a contract in January 1921 to Dr. George de Bothezat and Ivan Jerome to develop a vertical flight machine.


The 1678 kg "X"-shaped structure supported a 8.1m diameter six-blade rotor at each end of the 9m arms. At the ends of the lateral arms, two small propellers with variable pitch were used for thrusting and yaw control. A small lifting rotor was also mounted above the 180HP Le Rhone radial engine (which it also cooled) at the junction of the frames, but was later removed as unnecessary. Each rotor had individual collective pitch control to produce differential thrust through vehicle inclination for translation. The aircraft weighed 1700 kg at take-off and made its first flight in October 1922. The engine was soon upgraded to a 220HP Bentley BR-2 rotary. About 100 flights were made by the end of 1923 at what would eventually be known as Wright Field near Dayton, Ohio, including one with three "passengers" hanging onto the airframe. Although the contract called for a 100m hover, the highest it ever reached was about 5m. After expending $200,000, de Bothezat demonstrated that his vehicle could be quite stable and that the practical helicopter was theoretically possible.


He studied Earth-Moon-Earth routes and made a large number of calculations on the likely trajectory variations. Subsequently, calculations of Botezatu were consulted in preparing the U.S. Apollo Space Research Program.

In 1936 Gheorghe Botezatu published a revolutionary book, Back to Newton: A Challenge to Einsteins Theory of Relativity - Critical Discussion of The Three Great Cognitive Issues: Infinity, Absolute Time, Absolute Motion, Including the Rigorous Proof of the Fallacy of Einstein's Theories of Relativity, in which de Bothezat explores even more fundamental issues as human cognition, rationalism versus realism, the meaning of number, infinity, continuity, and, of course, absolute time and motion. Only after eight chapters of rigorous discussion of these fundamental concepts does he turn his attention to the Special Theory of Relativity and the concept of ether. Waxing philosophical in the tradition of the Greeks and Poincaré, this book walks through the necessary steps to understand nature at a fundamental level. The discussion of how Einstein's ideas fail is almost a side benefit.

World's thinest LCD

Eugen Onac, a Romanian from Luduş (yes, from our town) is behind the prototype developed by Philips, whose dimensions revolutionize the industry: with a diagonal of 81 inches, the screen is only 8 millimeters thick and have a weight of 5 kilograms.


Employed for almost three years at Philips, Eugen Onac is 33 years and is a graduate of the Faculty of Physics at the University of Bucharest, where has also followed a master program. He then did an internship for several months in Germany at Cottbus, and continued with a PhD in the Netherlands, at the Technical University of Delft. Immediately after the end of 2005, Philips Research Eindhoven has committed to. Eugen remembers the first contact with the cathode tube, in his childhood: "The first TV set that I remember was a black and white one, with lamps".

The record reached by the Dutch company Philips, currently translated by a prototype, was "approved" at the IFA Fair, held in Berlin during September 4-9 2008. The screen is a real delight for users, who will hang on the wall as a commonplace painting. The previous record in terms of thinness was a Sony LCD (9.9 mm), launched at the end of August 2008. Philips preferred to keep the response for Sony's product in secret: "The World (from Philips) was very enthusiastic, and the model has been shown for the first time at internal level for several months now. Only later it was decided to be presented for the public at Berlin".


The difference is made by Philips in the screen lighting. "Normal LCD screens have backlightning, which has a thickness of 20-30 millimeters. We managed to do 20 times thinner, reaching a millimeter. I used a light guide, which is a plastic light conducting. We got 30 LEDs at the bottom of the screen and another 30 in the top. They inject their light into the light guide, which then spreads all over the screen in a uniform layer". The biggest challenge for Onac's team was the point where the light links with light guide, "because the guide is just a millimeter thin, and it is very difficult to do a coupling effectively without losing much light".

Dragomir Hurmuzescu

Dragomir M. Hurmuzescu (March 13, 1865, Bucharest - May 31, 1954, Bucharest), physicist, inventor, professor at the University of Iaşi, member of the Romanian Academy, founder of the electrotechnics education in Romania, collaborator of the Curie spouses. He had contributions in the fields of electricity and the physics of the X-Rays.


He invented and built the electroscope which bears her name (1894). He invented also a very performant dielectric, named dielectrina. He founded the first laboratory of electricity in the country, then turned in the School of Electricity of the University of Iaşi, the first school of experimental physics. He was the founder of Romanian Broadcasting Society and he repeated and performed in Iaşi in 1901 the experiments of radio communication what Guglielmo Marconi, Alexander Popov and others made between 1895-1901.


In 1922, under his leadership, began to operate Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company (the radiotelephone broadcasting company in Romania), which on 1 November 1928 to run first air show with the ad: Hello, hello, here Radio Bucharest, followed by a speech of the Society President, Dragomir Hurmuzescu. At this time, that was practically the first national radio station in Romania.

Justin Capră

Justin Virgilius Capră (born February 22, 1933 in Măgureni, Prahova County, Romania) - aviation mechanical engineer, Romanian inventor.


Justin Capră has made more than 72 prototypes of cars with little consumption, 7 non-conventional aircrafts which it has tested himself and 15 non-conventional engines.

Justin Capră created in 1956, at 25 years, the first flying backpack, in fact an individual flying machine (patented in 1958). After 7 years, the idea was taken over by three Americans, who manufactured it. In 1958, he invented the first version of 'rachetonaut', another individual flying machine, tested at the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest. The result: the invention and was taken over by Americans, and the engineer was arrested by the Secret Service who accused him that he planned to leave the country. He had the flying pack idea during his military service: "I was thinking that I can escape the barracks in flight, without my boss see me. I worked with a mechanic, Munteanu, and I presented the project at the Romanian Academy in 1956. Their response was that "we need tractors, not the people who fly". In 1958 I managed to fly, after many unsuccessful experiences".

The 'Portable device for individual flight' was patented in 1958. "I patented it four years before Wendell Moore, Cecil Martin and Robert Cunnings of Bell Corporation. The Americans have obtained the patent on 22 February 1962 and I, on July 27, 1958.
Justin Capră's priority has been recognized by the Americans in 2002. Meanwhile, 'backpack flying' was used by the astronauts on their Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA), or by Michael Jackson in his shows.


During his inventor career, Justin invented other amazing vehicles: the aerodina with vertical takeoff and landing, an aerodynamic vehicle with adaptable, fluid form (!), and a series of economic cars, Soleta, with little fuel consumption (0.5 liters / 100 km at 70 km/h). Unfortunately, none of his cars have been produced commercially. His latest vehicles are a lightweight electric tricycle (37 kg), presented at Bucharest Inventions Fair and a hybrid car, presented at 'Future Energy' Inventions Fair in Timişoara. The vehicle, named "Justin 1000" after the power developed, is a hybrid of fiber and aluminum, which weighs no more than 140 kilograms and can cater to both the pump, as a normal vehicle, and from any outlet. Outside the city the car consumes unleaded gas, 0.4 liters / 100 km. In town it uses an electric engine and has an autonomy of 250 kilometers, if it works with more than 30 km/h.


Justin Capră never wanted to leave his country. He was invited to work in Canada, USA, Germany, Italy, but he refused. "It seems more interesting to do something in a country where everyone says you can not do anything". After years in which he was treated with indifference (even hostility) from the authorities, he was decorated by the President of Romania and awarded by the Romanian Academy.

The inventor of sonicity

George "Gogu" Constantinescu (1881 - 1965)
Romanian scientist, engineer and inventor. During his career, he registered over 130 inventions. He is the creator of the Theory of Sonics, a new branch of continuum mechanics, in which he described the transmission of mechanical energy through vibrations. He discovered that these phenomena had their analogies not only with the properties of sound waves and the laws of harmony, but also with AC electrical circuits. Prototypes of rock drills working on the percussion system and polyphase rotary systems were already being demonstrated by 1913.

Born in Craiova and settled in the United Kingdom from 1912, Constantinescu was an honorary member of the Romanian Academy.

Among his inventions are a mechanical torque converter, a sonic engine and a hydraulic machine-gun synchronizer (or interrupter gear) - which 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. After WWI Constantinesco had an idea for a low cost "peoples' car" which would travel 100 km miles on 2.5 litres of petrol at the most commonly used road speeds of 50 to 70 km per hour. He considered that this performance and low cost could be achieved by using a cheap 500 cc single cylinder two stroke air cooled engine together with his unique Torque Converter transmission which would eliminate the conventional gear box and clutch. Experience in this field could then be applied to the transmission of much higher powers in heavy vehicles such as railway locomotives. The car was displayed at London and Paris Motor shows in 1925 and attracted more than one hundred articles in world press. General Motors acquired a licence to build the car in 1926. Unfortunately development of the transmission stopped as there was no need for infinitely variable transmission while car engines were large (4-5 litres) and had plenty of torque. His torque converter was however used in self propelling railcars.


He was the designer of the Constantinesco, a French-manufactured car, and of the Constanţa Mosque (a project completed by the architect Victor Ştefănescu).