Patent GB-1867-1392
The Lilienthal museum site, citing Seifert's research, characterizes this design saying that there were large wings at the fore and aft ends of the fuselage. A "pressure screw" (propeller) and a "tension screw" (propeller) advanced the craft in the air, and there was also a "hatch screw" at the top and bottom. The terms pressure screw, tension screw, and hatch screw come from automatic translation by google translate, and I (econterms) don't know what they mean. The propellers would be powered by "electrically ignited" "powder" that are "housed in strong rubber covers. The expansion of the hulls should then be translated into work performance. Modifying the concept, Smyth then dispensed with the screws and changed the rigid wings to flapping wings."
Brewer and Alexander, 1893, Aëronautics, p40 say:
- The car, which is of cylindrical form with tapered ends, is provivded with horizontal propellers for propulsion, and vertical propellers for elevating.
- Aeroplanes are employed for sustaining the machine [in the air] and one pair of these aeroplanes may be extended at the bow and one at the stern or several pairs may be arranged one above the other, in order to save length and weight.
- The propellers are actuated by a motive-power machine, in which the explosive force of the combustion of mixed gases . . . expands concertina-like chambers.
Not sure where Seifert finds flapping wings; maybe that was another idea, not in this patent. If we see evidence of it, characterize this patent/craft as an ornithopter too.
Sources
- Brewer and Alexander, 1893, Aëronautics, p40
- Neilson, 1910, Aeroplane Patents, p71
- Archive record of this patent at the Lilienthal museum patents web site
- Abridgment of patent specifications 1867–76 (1903), Class 4, p. 3.
| Year filed | 1867 |
|---|---|
| Year granted | 1867 |
| Office | GB |
| Patent number | 1392 |
| Inventors | William Smyth |
| Inventor country | GB |
| Applicant person | William Smyth |
| Applicant firm | |
| Applicant type | INDIV |
| Applicant is inventor? | 1 |
| Original title | Flying machine |
| English title | Flying machine |
| Tech fields | helicopter, whole aeroplane |
| Filing date | 1867-05-22 |
| Full specification filed date | |
| Application number | |
| Grant date | 1867 |
| Granted? | 1 |
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| Supplementary to patent | |
| Related to aircraft? | 1 |
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| National tech categories | GB 4 |
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| Family year | 1867 |
| First filing? | 1 |
| Cites these patents | |
| Citations from after 1930 | |
| Application ID | |
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