Patent GB-1842-9478

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Airplane with steam-powered airscrews. Built by John Stringfellow as a model in 1848.

Albert Francis Zahm calls this the first airplane:[1]

The power-driven airplane was invented by William Samuel Henson, engineer, of London, England. Previous persons indeed had flown glider models, and had published accounts of their structure and performance. But these craft lacked automotive power and strictly are not classed as airplanes. Henson is the inventor of the true airplane. [footnote: The U.S. official nomenclature defines the airplane as "A mechanically driven fixed-wing aircraft, heavier than air, which is supported by the dynamic reaction of the air against its wings."]
On September 29, 1842, Henson was awarded British patent No. 9478 for an airplane covering all, and more than all, the organs essential to pioneer flying. As shown in his patent its cardinal features comprise: (1) a closed-cabin body housing pilot, cargo, and controls; (2) a tricycle under-carriage to taxi and take off; (3) a fixed wing for support in flight; (4) a rear horizontal rudder for steering in pitch; (5) a rear vertical rudder for steering in yaw; (6) twin pusher airscrews cord-driven by a central "steam or other proper engine."
These six broad disclosures may be called Henson's primary claims. Some are indispensable; for no avion can fly without wings and propulsive means. All six are requisite in today's landplanes; all except wheels are requisite for seaplanes. In patent law they broadly anticipate all equivalent devices later invented.

Zahm observes that Henson provided rudders for pitch and yaw, but not for roll, but argues that the latter is actually unnecessary for flying, as exemplified by the performance of Louis Paulhan at the 1909 Reims Air Meet, who flew for two hours and forty-five minutes without any movable element to control roll.

Zahm also wrote, regarding this patent, in 1944: "This is the first centenary of his invention. If the nation should revive his patent, even for one year, the license fees could erect to him the mightiest monument on earth."[2]

Balloonist John Wise commented on Henson's design in 1850:

The principal feature of the invention is the very great expanse of is sustaining planes, which are larger, in proportion to the weight it has to carry, than those of many birds; but if they had been still greater, they would not have sufficed of themselves to sustain their own weight, to say nothing of their machinery and cargo; surely, though slowly, they would have come to the ground. The machine advances with its front edge a little raised; the effect of which is to present its under surface to the air over which it is passing, the resistance of which, acting on it like a strong wind on the sails of a windmill, prevents the descent of the machine and its burden. The sustaining of the whole, therefore, depends upon the speed at which it is traveling through the air, and he angle a which is under surface impinges on he air in its front; and this is exactly he principle by which birds are upheld in flight with but slight motion of their wings, and often with none.
But, then, this result, after the start, depends entirely on keeping up the speed, and there remains beyond that, the still more formidable difficulty of first obtaining that speed. All former attempts of this kind have failed, because no engine existed that was at once light enough and powerful enough to lift even its own weight through the air with the necessary rapidity. Mr. Henson has removed this difficulty, partly by inventing a steam-engine of extreme lightness and efficiency, and partly by another very singular device, which requires particular notice.[3]

(The latter "singular device" is a system for takeoff using an inclined plane to get up speed beforehand.)

Fallout from the patent according to E.C. Vivian:

The publication of the patent attracted a great amount of public attention, and the illustrations in contemporary journals, representing the machine flying over pyramids and the Channel, anticipated fact by sixty years and more; the scientific world was divided, as it was up to the actual accomplishment of flight, as to the value of the invention.[4]

See: Arial, w:Aerial steam carriage

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Year filed 1842
Year granted
Office GB
Patent number 9478
Inventors William Samuel Henson
Inventor country GB
Applicant person
Applicant firm
Applicant type INDIV
Applicant is inventor? Yes
Original title Mechanical flying machine
English title Mechanical flying machine
Tech fields airplane, propulsion, propeller, steam, cargo, frame, navigation, rudder, car, wheels, takeoff, landing, whole, stability, automatic stability
Filing date 1842/09/29
Full specification filed date
Application number
Grant date
Granted? Yes
Publication date
Supplementary to patent
Related to aircraft? Yes
Serial number
Patent agent
Assigned to
National tech categories
IPCs
CPCs
Family year 1842
First filing? Yes
Cites these patents
Citations from after 1930
Application ID
INPADOC family ID
Number of text pages
Number of diagram pages
Number of figures
Number of claims