René Lorin

Who was René Lorin?

René Lorin, a graduate of the Ecole Centrale Paris, invented the ramjet. In 1908 he patented a subsonic ramjet design.

Lorin published the principles of a ramjet in articles in the journal L'Aérophile from 1908 to 1913, expressing the idea that the exhaust from internal combustion engines could be directed into nozzles to create jet propulsion. He could not build this invention since there was no way at the time for an aircraft to go fast enough for a ramjet to function properly.

When René Leduc applied for a patent on a ramjet design in 1933, he discovered Lorin's publications and tried to contact him, only to learn that he had recently died. Leduc thereafter paid homage to Lorin's work.