Thaddeus S. C. Lowe

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Thaddeus S. C. Lowe was an aero inventor best known for his involvement with the Union Army Balloon Corps in the American Civil War. After his death in 1913 he was posthumously granted Patent US-1913-1061484 (filed in 1910) for an elaborate LTA airship.

On 18 June 1861, from Washington, Lowe deployed the Enterprise, an LTA vessel connected by telegraph wires to an Alexandria station which relayed messages to the White House. From the air Lowe sent this telegram to the President:[1][2]

Sir: This point of observation commands an area nearly 50 miles in diameter. The city, with its girdle of encampments, presents a superb scene. I have the pleasure in sending you this first dispatch ever telegraphed from an aerial station, and in acknowledging indebtedness for your encouragement, for the opportunity of demonstrating the availability of the science of aeronautics, in the military service of the country. T.S.C. Lowe.


Publications by or about Thaddeus S. C. Lowe

References

  1. Randers-Pehrson, 1944, p. 308.
  2. "Balloon Reconnoisance and Aerial Telegraph." Scientific American Vol. IV. No. 26, 29 June 1861, p. 409.