GC Open #34 Traditional Cache

Ludvik Ocenasek (in Czech: Ludvík Očenášek, 4 August 1872, Czechia – 10 August 1949, Czechia) was a self-made man, jack-of-all-trades, entrepreneur, designer and inventor, who contributed significantly to the development of aviation and rocket technology.

Already as a third-grader, he built a functional carousel for children with a manual drive. Other children could ride with him for a bag of cherries.

In 1888, he began an apprenticeship as an electromechanic at a factory for mechanical and physical instruments. Later, while working, he began attending a secondary technical school in Prague.

In 1898, Ocenasek became independent and founded a mechanical workshop for repairing bicycles, later motorcycles and even cars. In addition, the workshop was used to carry out his experiments. After 1906, he founded an electrical engineering plant, engaged in the production of electrical devices, installation of lightning conductors, complete electrification of factories and trade establishments, and electrical power substations. In addition to high-current equipment, the factory also produced mechanical, optical and electrical teaching aids for schools.

In 1898, he built a monocycle in a mechanical workshop - a bicycle without a traditional frame, placed eccentrically inside a large wheel. When pedaling, the big wheel moved along the road, while the small bicycle inside moved in the lower part of the inner circumference of the big wheel.

Between 1905 and 1906 Ocenasek designed and built a prototype of a radial air-cooled rotary gasoline engine. In 1907, he patented a torpedo controlled by light beams. With the development of radiotelephony, he obtained a license in 1926 to establish and operate a receiving radiotelephone station. He subsequently patented a crystal detector and receiving apparatus with a variable frequency using an induction coil. In 1930, he publicly tested the single-stage and two-stage solid-fuel rockets he had developed, which were able to reach a height of 1,500 meters, later up to 2,500 m. This made Ocenasek one of the pioneers of rocket technology.

Between 1933 and 1935, Ocenasek experimented with three types of reactive water boats on the Vltava. The goal was to develop a boat without a classic rudder, wheel or propeller with a minimum draft of 15 cm. From 1934 he worked on silencers for rifles and machine guns, and in 1936 he completed the development of a machine gun with a silencer in his factory. For the pharmaceutical industry, he developed a machine for counting down and filling flat tablets into tubes.

Ludvik Oenasek died in 1949 of a heart attack. In 1978 he was enrolled as the only Czech in an honorary position in International Space Hall of Fame at the Museum of Space History, New Mexico, USA. Asteroid 61404 Ocenasek is named in his honor.