IMPROVEMENTS IN AERIAL NAVIGATION AND IN THE MACHINERY FOR THE SAME
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Boyman Boyman, late of Park Crescent,
Stockwell, but now of Park Hill, Clapham Park, in the County of
Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AERIAL NAVIGATION
AND IN THE MACHINERY FOR THE SAME."
Sealed the 4th December 1868, and dated the 9th June 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Boyman
Boyman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 9th June 1868.
I, RICHARD BOYMAN BOYMAN, late of Park Crescent, Stockwell, but
now of Park Hill, Clapham Park, in the County of Surrey, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AERIAL
NAVIGATION AND IN THE MACHINERY FOR THE SAME," to be as follows:-
In a combination of new and old things for navigating the air. The
new thing is the use and application of the air we breathe, cold
or heated, in a steel or other envelope, strong enough to bear the
pressure, and light enough for buoyancy; and in reducing such air to the
required lightness for the ascending power instead of using gas for such
A

page_text: 65
purpose. The old things now combined with such air as the ascending
power are also my Inventions for aerial navigation, and are described in
my Patent for "Improvements in Applying Jets of Steam by Action and
"Reaction to Propel Vessels and Aerial Conveyances, with other Improve-
"ments in the latter, and in the Machinery for both; Parts of which are
applicable for other Hydro and Aero Purposes; " which Patent is dated
the 12th December 1866, No. 3262. But as some of the Inventions therein
contained are not here combined with my new Invention of the use of
air as the ascending power, it is proper I think to point out what parts
of my old Inventions, before patented, are here combined with the
new, for aerial navigation.
Aeronauts at present can do no more than rise and fall at will, and
this only to a limited extent, depending on the weight of ballast and
quantity of gas they can take up to discharge. Blown about by every
breath of wind which they cannot resist, they have no more lateral
controul over the machine than an insect on a log of wood in a stream.
Aerial navigation therefore, distinguished from mere ballooning, does not
exist as a science reduced to practice for the general purposes of man-
kind. It has to be created; and its four principles seem to me as follows,
all of which are applied by my Inventions contained in the said Letters
Patent before referred to, and are intended to be hereby combined. It is
therefore proper to mention them. The fundamental principles of aerial
navigation are:-
1. To rise and fall at will with no expenditure of power to overcome
gravity to rise, but with only the propelling power, also without dis-
charging gas or ballast. For ballast requires a larger and greater weight
of envelope, and more gas to take up both weights, and also entails the
waste of gas let out to descend, equivalent to the weight of ballast
discharged to rise.
2. To keep the aerial machine at the required height with little or no
expenditure of power.
3. To steer in any required direction independent of the wind. And
4. To make the aerial machine of such shape as will combine the
greatest cubical contents, or carrying power, with the form of least
resistance.
These principles were I believe first discovered or applied by me, and
are contained in the Specification before referred to; but my present

page_text: combination will be better understood by explaining how those principles
are there applied.
The first principle is applied by using gas for the ascending power, and
moveable ballast on rails laid down in the long car of the aerial ship,
to incline its bow up. to rise, and down to ascend; and also by moving
to the required angle the reaction tubes called elevators and depressors.
Specification of 1866, No. 3262, p. 9, line 21 to 34, and p. 42, line 10
to 15.
The second principle is applied by using gas for the ascending, gene-
rating, and renewing power. Such ascending power saves the cost of
steam power which would otherwise be required to overcome gravity, and
also the weight of engines, water, boiler, and fuel for such purpose. Gas,
as the generating power instead of fuel to raise steam for propelling, saves
the weight of fuel, and weight of a large envelope for the gas to take up
the fuel and weight of the larger envelope. Gas fuel saves also the
difficulty of letting out the gas equivalent to the decreasing weight of the
machine as coal or other heavy fuel is consumed; saves also the cost of
the gas so let out and wasted. Now the very process of utilizing the gas
to generate the propelling power enables the aeronauts to keep the aerial
ship at the required height. For as the weight of the aerial ship becomes
less as the weight of water evaporated becomes less, the ascending power
of the gas also becomes less by its consumption, though not quite in the
same proportion as the water is evaporated, which is just what is required
for aerial navigation. For from some cause or another the diffusion of
gas through the pores of the machine, its mixture with atmospheric air,
or some thing else, the ascending power of gas is found to deteriorate,
and therefore requires renewal to maintain the same ascending power.
Now more gas is required to raise a given weight of water than to
convert it into steam; first ascertained I believe by me. We have
therefore a surplus quantity of gas over and above what is required to
generate steam, which surplus becomes the renewing power to restore
the waste and deterioration of the ascending power of the gas, and so
maintain its original power. Thus, by my principle and its application,
the aerial ship takes up with it its own gas generator, as it were, to feed
it with fresh supplies, until all the water is turned into propelling
power, when the machine must take in fresh supplies of water and gas
fuel, as locomotives and steamers take in fresh supplies of their motive
power.

page_text: I have thus explained how one and the same fluid, gas, combines
3 things in one, the clevating, generating, and renewing power;
and how much such a combination saves over heavy fuel, were such
used instead of gas. Specification of 1866, No. 3262, p. 9, line 35 to
p. 10, line 13; p. 47, line 7 to 30; p. 48, line 1 to 33.
The third principle of aerial navigation, the power of steering,
depends on the power of propulsion. This is applied by my Invention
of making the element of resistance, the air, the means of overcoming
it, pursuant to the principle enunciated by me in August 1849, and
carried out by reaction; the true principle of propulsion both for air
and water, discovered by me in. April 1866, by induction from my
experiments on action and reaction in July 1842. See Letters Patent
of the 29th of May 1866, No. 1497, "Improvements in Propelling
"Vessels by the Reaction of Water, and in the Machinery for the
Purpose," p. 6, line 10 to p. 7, line 33; p. 30, line 15 to p. 31,
line 10. See also the Specification before referred to, 1866, No. 3262,
p. 3, line 10 to p. 4, line 23; and p. 9, line 11 to 20. And for the
equivalent for the steam jet and air propulsion there described,
see p. 45, line 13 to p. 46, line 22 of such Specification.
"
The fourth principle of aerial navigation is applied by making the
machine in the form of a double coned cylinder, instead of the present
globular form. Specification of 1866, No. 3262, p. 10, line 15 to 24.
Now an aerial ship of this form, 1955 feet in diameter, and 1303 feet
long, will weigh (with the car and its machinery and 200 passengers,
and luggage of half a hundredweight each) 600 tons. Yet its
resistance, at 30 miles an hour, will be only about 5068-85 lbs., as shown
by my formule for aerial navigation. Specification of 1866, No. 3262,
p. 37, line 20 to p. 40, line 3; and p. 49, line 11 to p. 50, line 21.
I have thus referred to the principles of aerial navigation and their
application to show what things before patented I now combine
with my present discovery and application of unheated air instead of
gas as the ascending power. No one I believe has before thought
of or applied air for such purpose; and most persons think that if no
power be used for aerostation only gas can be used, because of its
expansive and upward pressure. It is proper therefore to establish
the law of nature, the knowledge of which led me to apply light air for
the ascending power for aerial navigation, instead of gas.

page_text: Suppose we scoop out in imagination a quantity of fluid, air, or
water, and in its place put the same bulk and weight of steel, iron,
stone, or any other substance, it will be as completely buoyed up by the
surrounding fluid as the same bulk and weight of fluid was, and will
have no tendency either to rise or fall. If however we make such sub-
stance somewhat lighter than the weight of air or water so displaced, up
the iron or stone must go into the air with the same certainty as wood
or cork set free under water will rise in it. Now as these substances
have no gas or other extraneous power to help them to rise, we see that
the Creator of all things has endowed every substance lighter than
the same bulk of fluid with an inherent power of rising in it; and
since this is a power of great utility to man, and without which he
could not navigate the air, the river, or the ocean, I call it the Power
of Buoyancy.
As the Aeronautical Societics of England and France and experi-
menters in the United States ignore this principle altogether as a
false one, and adopt that of gravity, it is proper to observe that, in
my opinion, the power of buoyancy is the only true foundation of
aerial navigation, without which it is impossible; because this power
of buoyancy gives to man for navigating the air what the water gives
him for navigating the ocean, and what the earth gives him for
locomotives and other vehicles, vast carrying machines without weight;
that is, machines which require no expenditure of power to support,
leaving therefore the whole power at disposition merely to overcome
the frictional resistance of the wind and water in the case of vessels,
and the axle friction and the wind in the case of locomotives and
carriages. In short, the benificent and wondrous power of buoyancy
turns weight into mere frictional resistance, and so makes aerial
navigation certain, but by no other means. See the two powers of
gravity and buoyancy investigated, Specification of 1866, No. 3262,
p. 32 to 36; p. 58 to 62; p. 68; and p. 69, line 27 to p. 70, line 16.
Now the object of using gas is simply to drive out the atmospheric
air in balloons, and to supply its place with lighter, so that the difference
in weight between the gas in the balloon, and the weight of air which
the balloon displaces, shall be somewhat greater than the weight of the
material of the balloon and its appendages. See Specification and
formulæ of 1866, No. 3262, p. 36, line 21 to p. 37, line 14. But the
objection to gas is its limited application and inflammability. Now the

page_text: aim of science is to make discoveries universal and safe, not confined
to a class or people, but for the use and benefit of all. If however the
principles of aerial navigation here enunciated could only be applied by
gas as the elevating, generating, and renewing power (three things
indispensable for aerial navigation) this art would be confined only to
the most civilized nations, so great would be the capital and time
required to erect huge gas works in all parts of the world, capable
of supplying many million cubic feet of gas at a time.
It occurred to me therefore a few days ago (on the 30th ultimo) to
use common atmospheric air, reduced in weight by exhaustion, as the
elevating and renewing power, and gas or heavy fuel as the generating
power for propulsion, preferring the latter when air is used as the
elevating power. For the Creator has given for our use an inexhaustible
store of air, and free of cost, in all parts of the world. This he has
endowed with weight, and when confined has enabled man to reduce it
to a much less weight than the surrounding atmosphere. Wherever
therefore multitudinous man can live, there will he find air, water,
and fuel of sonie kind or another; the most abundant and cheapest
materials in all parts of the habitable globe. And these properly
applied are all he requires to make aerial navigation as universal as
steam navigation and railways. I will now show how I propose to do
this, by making air the elevating and renewing power, and so apply
the 4 fundamental principles of aerial navigation before enunciated.
I have four valves, three connected with the aero-propellers and
the aerial envelope, which I call the cut-off, rising, falling, and re-
gulating valves. The aerial ship is to be fitted with suitable boilers,
and 2, 4, or more aero-propellers for propulsion. These may be the
steam jet and equivalent tubes, as shewn in my Specification of 1866,
No. 3262, p. 15, line 26 to p. 18, line 8, and Drawings thereto annexed,
Sheet No. 1, Fig. 8, the equivalent tubes in which are to be enlarged
for aerial navigation; shown also in Sheet No. 3 and 4. Or the machine
may be fitted with aero-propellers and tubes, similar to those contained
in my Letters Patent of the 1st of August 1867, No. 2223, for "Improve-
ments in the Machinery for Propelling Vessels and Aerial Conveyances
hy Reaction," and shown in the Drawings thereto. I think however
that to reduce the great velocities of the aero-propeller floats required
for aerial navigation the reaction tubes should be fitted with my ex-
panding and contracting valves, explained in my said Specification of

page_text: the 29th of May 1866, No. 1497, before referred to; p. 9, and p. 44,
line 33 to p. 45, line 36, and shown in the Drawings thereto annexed;
which valves can also be applied to my screw aero-propellers contained
in my said Patent of the 1st of August 1867, No. 2223, before referred to.
The modus operandi will be as follows:-
To Rise. Fitted with boilers and aero-propellers the cut-off valves
will close the communication between the aero-propellers and the ex-
ternal air; and the rising valves will open a communication between
the inside of the aerial envelope and the propellers. These will then act
as an air pump, and reduce the weight of the air inside to the required
lightness; say to about of the weight of atmospheric air. The huge
machine will then rise, with a lifting power equal to the difference
between the weight of air inside the envelope, and the weight of the
quantity of external air displaced by such envelope. The rising valves
will then be closed, and the cut-off valves restored to their place that
the aerial ship may be propelled.
To Descend.-Falling valves, as large as the rising valves, or larger
for, rapid descents, will open a communication between the external
air and the inside of the envelope, when the heavier air will rush in
with the velocity due to the difference of pressures inside and out, and
soon weigh the machine down. Suppose the fall be to rapid, or
the aeronauts want to rise again, the falling valves will then be closed,
and the cut-off and rising valves will be used, as before explained;
when the aero-propellers will again reduce the weight of air inside the
envelope to the required lightness, and the machine will again ascend.
To Keep the Aerial Ship at the required Height as its Weight
becomes Less by the Consumption of the Fuel.-The regulating valve
opening into the envelope will be used for this purpose. The weight
of fuel and water consumed per second will be ascertained, and the
area of the regulating valve will be so proportioned that the area and
velocity of the air per second will let in a stream of air whose weight
will be about equal to the weight of fuel and water consumed. If too
much should enter the cut-off and rising valves can be used as before,
when a few turns of the aero-propellers will restore the equilibrium. Or
one or two falling valves, opening a little, may be used as the regulating
valve.
As regards the Elevating and Renewing Power in my present appli-
cation, and which I have said is indispensable for aerial navigation.

page_text: The elevating power is the lighter air inside the envelope, and the
renewing power is the power of the aero-propellers to keep the inside
air at the required lightness. Thus, so long as any fuel and water are
left for propulsion, the aeronauts would always carry with them their own
self-sustaining power, just as the birds do until they are tired, and they
too must descend for fresh supplies of power in rest. To keep the air
at the required lightness donkey engines might be separately employed.
These, or the aero-propellers are intended as equivalents for the gas
remaining over and above that required for generating steam for the
purpose of renewing the waste and deterioration of gas as the elevating
power, and which was my first application of the elevating and re-
newing power in one, as before described, and contained in my said
Specification of 1866, No. 3262. It will be seen, therefore, that I still
work on the same principles, with the same forces, with the same
machinery, and for the same end as are contained in such Specification,
applying only light air instead of light gas. But the improvement and
change it will produce is very great; for the new elevating and renewing
power for aerial navigation is not confined, like gas, to clime or people,
but is universal; free as the air we breathe, costless, and inexhaustible.
.
Connected as my system of aero-propulsion is with my system of
hydro-propulsion, out of which the former rose, it may be desirable to
point out the close connection between the two, to show that the laws of
nature embodied in my Inventions are the same for both. Water and
air are both fluids. The ships in both are supported by the same power,
buoyancy; are propelled by the same power, steam; and on the same
principle. This is by making the element of resistance the medium of
overcoming it, as predicted by me in 1849. Specification of 1866,
No. 3262, p. 3, line 26 to 34. This too is done by reaction, also foretold
in my letter to Mr. Airey of the 5th of March 1851. Specification of
1860, No. 1155, p. 14. These two principles morcover are applied, both
for air and water, by the same machinery, pursuant to the same dynamic
laws; and the areas and proportions, expense, and useful effect of both
are ascertained by the same formulæ, taking different values for the
different densities of the two fluids.
Thus the same laws of nature which, when properly applied, made
steam navigation certain, will when properly applied (as they are in my
Specification of 1866, No. 3262, and here) make steam navigation of the
air certain also. Such then is the unity of principle which more or less

page_text: connects the physical sciences, and shows that however different the
manifestation they are but parts of one great whole, diversity in unity.
So close indeed is the analogy between steam navigation of the ocean and
the air, that there will be air leaks in the aerial ship, as there are water
leaks in the water ship, and the aero-propellers or donkey engines will
discharge the former, as the hydro-propellers will the latter. And
lastly, there is now no gas for either, but the same iron or steel, fuel and
water, the last two being found for both in all parts of the habitable
world. Thus the aeronautic engineer with the barometer before him,
and the handles of the different valves, will have as much controul over
the navigator of the skies as over the ship of the sea, and will rise and
fall at pleasure, and keep at the same height, without discharging gas
or ballast, but merely by availing himself of the air around him; the
difference in weight outside the envelope and in.
I now come to the other part of my new Invention, which is the use
and application of heated air in a metallic envelope, as the elevating
power for aerial navigation, as distinguished from mere ballooning. I
found on calculation that with air at the ordinary temperature and
lightness for the elevating power, the pressure inside would be so reduced
as to make the outside pressure, tending to crush in the envelope, very
great indeed. Hence the present resources of metallurgic art may be
unable to make metal shects strong enough to resist the pressure, and
light enough for buoyancy. I propose, therefore, to heat the air in the
envelope, that its expansive pressure'inside may tend to counteract the
atmospheric pressure outside.
One way of doing this is as follows:-Shafts will lead from the inside
of the envelope to the ash-pits of the boilers, and shafts with lead from the
funnels to the envelope, and valves will close all communication between
the external air, and open that between the envelope, ash-pits, and
funnels. The air in the envelope will then descend to feed the fires, and
after passing through them rise into the envelope; and thus the circula-
tion will be kept up until the air in the envelope is sufficiently heated to
expand and drive out the air in the envelope through exit valves.
Should the machine not then rise, the aero-propellers must be set to
work to exhaust the air until it is light enough to become the elevating
power, as before explained for cold air.
I propose to build up the aerial ship something like an iron ship with
hoop ribs inside and metallic plating out, and to make the under part

page_text: concave, something like a parachute for greater resistance of tlie air in
descending, should the pipe spring any considerable air leak which the
aero-propellers could not quite keep under. If gas be used to generate
the steam power instead of fuel there must of course be a gas holder
for it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Boyman Boyman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th December 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
BOYMAN BOYMAN, late of Park Crescent, Stockwell, but now of Park
Hill, Clapham Park, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the 9th day of June 1868, in the 31st
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Richard Boyman Boyman, Her éspecial license
that I, the said Richard Boyman Boyman, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Boyman Boyman,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AERIAL NAVIGATION AND IN THE MACHINERY FOR THE
SAME," upon the condition, among others, that I, the said Richard
Boyman Boyman, by an instrument under my hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Boyman Boyman, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, that is to say, my combinations of

page_text: new and old things for navigating the air, pursuant to my Provisional
Specification, are of two kinds :-
First. The use and application of the air we breathe, cold or heated,
reduced to the required lightness for the ascending power, confined in a
steel or other rigid envelope, strong enough to bear the pressure, and
light enough for buoyancy. Also a method of descending by using the
air for such purpose, instead of discharging gas or ballast; which means
of ascending and descending, with moveable ballast, are combined with
my system of reaction propulsion contained in the three following
Letters Patent granted to me; namely, one dated the 29th of May 1866,
No. 1497, for "Improvements in Propelling Vessels by the Reaction of
Water, and in the Machinery for the Purpose;" another Patent dated
the 12th of December 1866, No. 3262, for "Improvements in Applying
Jets of Steam by Action and Reaction to Propel Vessels and Aerial
Conveyances, with other Improvements in the latter, and in the
"Machinery for both; Parts of which are applicable for other Hydro
"and Aero Purposes;" and the third Patent dated the 1st of August
1867, No. 2223, for "Improvements in the Machinery for Propelling
"Vessels and Aerial Conveyances by Reaction."
66
My second combination is the use and application of rarefied air and
gas in separate compartments, as the ascending and generating power
for aerial navigation, in a similar envelope to that described; also the
same method of descending by admitting air as is referred to in the first
combination; which means of ascending and descending, with moveable
ballast, are combined with the same system of reaction propulsion as is
contained in the said three Letters Patent before referred to.
In my Provisional Specification I have enunciated the laws and
principles of aerial navigation. I will now give the mathematics of
aerial navigation approximately, and then describe the machinery for
its application.
THE SURFACE AND RESISTANCE OF THE ENVELOPE.
In the Specification of my Patent of December 1866, No. 3262,
p. 40, it is shewn that by the laws of geometry the capacity or ascending
power encreases as the square of the diameter, whilst the weight and
surface of resistance are only as the circumference. It follows, therefore,
that the larger the diameter of the envelope the more economical the

page_text: that were it not for such properties of figures aerial navigation, as
distinguished from mere ballooning, would be impracticable; because
the weight and surface of resistance would be too great compared with
the capacity or lifting power. We will therefore take the diameter of
the aerial envelope at 200 feet, and of the same form and proportions of
a double-coned cylinder as are given at p. 39 of such Specification,
No. 3262. The diameter (d) being 200 feet, the length of each cone (1)
will be 2.5 d=2.5×200=500 feet, and the length of the intermediate
21
cylinder (c):
=
2 x 500
3
=333 333 feet.
Consequently the length of
.
the whole envelope, from apex to apex =21+c=2x500+333 333=
1333 333 feet, and the diameter = 200 feet.
The surface of resistance of an envelope of this form will be found
approximately by the formula constructed for the purpose, given in the
said Specification of 1866, No. 3262, p. 39.

page_text: =47-124 feet in one revolution.
The axle and radius of drum here given may be considered unneces-
sarily large, but the principle or method of finding.the dimensions and
velocity is the chief thing. Moreover this analysis is given to show that
we may find the mean velocity of float by the simpler formula f=d,
d being the internal diameter of the case in which the drum and floats
revolve; because though the axle goes through the middle of the drum
it does not go through the middle of the case. For instance, the drum
is 2x(15-p+a)=2x (15x35+5)=11.5 feet. Add projection of
float p 3.5, and we get the internal diameter of the case d=11.5+
3.5 15 feet, and this multiplied by =3.1416x15=47-124 feet a
second in one revolution as before.
We require however a mean velocity of float V=88 feet a second,
which we can get in three ways:-
I. By encreasing the number of revolutions of aero-propeller
=1.8674 a second.
to
88
47-124
II. By encreasing the diameter in the same proportion to 1.8674 ×
15 281 feet.
III. By doubling the area of the floats, reducing their velocity,
and getting the required velocity V=88 feet per second,
by means of my permanent contracted vein application
thus:-
140
The area of the contracted vein will be the same area as the floats
before being doubled, namely 70 square feet. Consequently area of
floats will be 2x70-140 square feet, which will also be the area of the
rectangular tube in which the floats will work. Suppose the projection
of the float be 4-5 feet, then the length will be=31·11 feet; and if
the radius of drum be p+, and radius of axle be 25 of a foot, the
diameter of drum will be 2 (p++25)=2× (4.5+5+.25)=14 feet.
And the diameter of propeller and case inside will be 14+45=185 feet.
Let now the floats move at a velocity of f=44 feet a second; and the

page_text: number of revolutions required to give a velocity of 7-88 feet a second
at the contracted vein, will be 60=19.1=1×19·1-45.42 revo-
lutions per minute.
We can thus get the quantity of air required with a velocity of
propeller equal that of the vessel v, the only way I know of doing so,
and this forms part of my Invention contained in my Patent of
November 1866, No. 1497, p. 13, line 11, p. 41, line 20, p. 45, line 1 to
15. For instance, Af (area and velocity of float)=140 x 44-a V (area
and velocity of the contracted vein)=70x88. These proportions of
contracted vein and float refer only to the cam aero-propellers, not to
the screw acro-propellers.
These three different methods of getting V=88 feet a second are given
to show how the science of aero reaction propulsion can be varied to
adapt it to all the exigencies of aerial navigation now and to come.
I prefer the second way of getting V, namely by encreasing the diameter
of the propeller to 281 feet, because there is plenty of room for it; for
a diameter of twenty-eight fect to the diameter of machine propelled
=200 feet, and 1333 feet long, is considerably less than the proportions
of paddle wheel screw or driving wheel of a locomotive to the machines
they propel. But the chief reason for the large diameter is this:-By
encreasing it to 28 feet, we can still keep to one revolution a second,
which will allow the engines to make two revolutions a second for
emergencies, for which purpose the boilers must be large enough to
supply at least twice the quantity of steam, and at an encreased pressure.
The resistance each propeller will have to overcome, except on emer-
gencies, is small compared with screw, locomotive, and other engines
5500 =910-66 lbs.
working at 60 revolutions a minute; namely, only 6
Hence the engines of the aero-propellers can easily be run at 120
revolutions a minute.
SCREW AERO-PROPELLERS.
We have
ne propo
320
united area of 600-280-320 square fect=3=160 square feet each.
Here the velocity required, 7-88 feet per second, will be obtained by
means of the permanent contracted vein nozzle, as shown in Sheet I.,
in the middle of the aerial envelope. We will therefore take 160 square
feet as the area of such nozzle, and double it for the area of the screw

page_text: propeller, each of which will then be 2×160=320 square feet. The
diameter of this is about d= √4=20-2 feet, and the mean velocity
2
7854
3-1416 x 20 2 2=31-73 feet per second in one revolution. Consequently
the number of revolutions required to give a velocity of 88 feet, at the
contracted vein nozzle will be
a V
Af
160 x 88
320 x 31-73
=1.387 per second.
The dimensions and weight of the six aero-propellers can be greatly
reduced by encreasing the velocity of the propellers V. But this would
encrease the horse power, weight of engines, boilers, water, and fuel,
besides their first cost, and cost of working; so that it is better to have
the weight of such huge propellers, because it is better to have weight
with economy than weight without it.

page_text: "the required lightness donkey engines might be separately employed,
" and that these or the aero-propellers are intended as equivalents for

page_text: "the gas (remaining over and above that required for generating steam)
"for the purpose of renewing the waste and deterioration of gas as
"the elevating power." These remarks refer to my system of aerial
navigation contained in my said Specification, No. 3262, p. 9, line 21, to
p. 10, line 13, and p. 47, line 6 to p. 49, line 10.
For the surplus gas. there used for the purpose of maintaining the
elevating power, now use donkey engines and separate rarefiers, or
else the aero-propellers themselves, to get the ascending power, and to
maintain it when got; and I will now show how to do so.
Suppose the air inside the envelope be rarefied, either by separate
rarefiers or by the aero-propellers, to one eighth of the atmospheric
weight, its pressure will be reduced in the same proportion to 14.7 -
1 837 lbs.; so that the steel or other material for the envelope must be
able to bear a pressure of (14.7-1.837=) 12.863 lbs. per square inch,
and yet be light enough to rise. Now the united area of the six
propellers is 600 square feet, so that they would have to bear a terminal
pressure 144ap = 600×12-863 × 144 = 1111363 lbs. per second, and
require a nett effective power of 1111303-2020 horses, independent of
the 30 per cent. losses of my system, and 20 per cent. further for
engine friction. If therefore the aero-propellers were used for rarefying
the air, the area is so large that they could only move at one foot per
second. Consequently so slow a motion would require engines far. too
large and heavy for aerial navigation, where concentration of power
and lightness is more essential than for any other application of power.
550
It follows that to have small and light engines they must be run
at as many revolutions per minute as practicable, and so make up in
velocity what they want in power. But we have seen that the aero-
propellers must run at as slow a velocity as possible for economy of
working; and that at 88 feet a second we require so large an area aș
600 square feet. We have also seen that a high velocity of piston would
not work this area against even the mean pressure of rarefication, much
more against the terminal pressure of 1111363 lbs. If therefore we
wanted to make the aero-propellers the rarefiers as well, we must so reduce
the area as to enable the propellers to overcome the terminal pressure
at a high velocity. Now this would so encrease as to make the cost
of propulsion considerably more than with at only 88 feet a second,
and entail more weight of engines, boilers, water, and fuel, besides their

page_text: cost. I prefer therefore to have separate donkey engines and rarefiers,
and this extra weight, because, as before observed, it is better to have
weight with economy than weight without it. Such then are the
reasons for having donkey engines in pursuance of my Provisional
Specification.
Suppose now we have two pair of donkey engines and two rarefiers,
one at each cone worked by the same boilers as work the aero-pro-
pellers; and that these will supply steam enough for 2500 horse power
effective. And suppose the mean velocity of the floats of the rarefiers
be 88 feet a second. We have seen that the terminal pressure is
12-863 lbs. per square inch=144 x 12-863-1853 lbs. nearly per square
Hence the area required for each rarefier will be about
43 square feet nearly, the diameter of which will
be d,f being the velocity of float in feet per second, n the
number of revolutions, and π=3.1416. If now n 2 a second, then
=14.04 feet.
foot.
h. p. 550
2 pv
88
2500 x 550
2 x 1853 x 88
d=
2 x 3.1416
The area of the rarefiers is proportioned to overcome the terminal
pressure of rarefication of 1853 lbs. per square foot, for if they were
enlarged to overcome only the mean pressure, they could never reach
the terminal, and so never rarify the air in the envelope sufficiently to
rise. But as they will begin to rarify with about the same pressure
on each side of the float, their primary velocity may be as fast as the
engines can run, which will gradually be brought down as the pressure of
rarefication encreases, until they find their terminal pressure of 1853 lbs.
per square foot, and velocity of 88 feet a second. Now as the nett horse
power is (2500x550=) 1375000 fect lbs., we will take a mean velocity
of float of 100 feet a second, for the purpose of having some guide to
the time required for rarefying the mass of air in the envelope. This
is 20,944,689 cubic feet. Consequently t=.
Q
2 av 3600
-
20,944,689
2 x 43 x 88 × 3600
=6-7,
x20,944,689 205781-75 lbs. Consequently the further burden thrown
upon the donkeys will be (1646252-55-205781-75-)1440471 lbs. in
=104 only of a horse power per second, and
7 hours =
1440471
7 x 550 x 60 x 60

page_text: therefore not worth while to include in the previous rough estimate at
the time of rarefication to ascend.
TO KEEP THE AERIAL SHIP AT THE REQUIRED HEIGHT.
With gas in a balloon, in a flexible envelope, further ascent is
prevented by letting out gas. The balloon then becomes smaller by
the pressure of the external atmosphere, displaces less bulk of air,. and
so remains in equilibrium if of the same weight as the mass of air it
displaces, or descends if heavier. But without gas or a flexible envelope
we have no such means of checking the ascent, or of descending. Hence,
as the weight of water and fuel become less and less as they are
consumed for propelling, the aerial ship would rise higher and higher,
until it found its equilibrium, and there remain floating about in the
freezing, lonely, still, and solemn skies, until its occupants were starved,
and frozen to death. We have therefore to find some weight to put
into the envelope, gradually encreasing as the weight of water and fuel
decreases, and so keep the ship at the required height, or, by a greater
weight than that consumed, descend.
Now the surrounding air seems to have been expressly designed for
these, as well as other purposes, by His All-knowing and beneficent
wisdom who made all things for man's use and advancement in mind,
body, and estate, and endowed him with the vision and the faculty
divine to discover them, in his own good time. For it is a vain and
ddle thing to imagine that man has any such power of himself; so that
every discoverer is more or less divinely inspired in proportion to the
greatness of his work, and divinely supported to establish it. He must
indeed give the self-devotion and self-denial, the labour and the toil, the
ceaseless thought and sweat of brain, "bearing all things, enduring all
And who
things, hoping all things," in spite of the ridicule and scorn.
can tell of mine, on my recent discoveries in the paddle wheel and
screw and hydro propulsion. But every discoverer it would seem must
go through the same ordeal, enduring hardness, use all the means and
"nec
seek a higher power; but beyond this he can no further go,
amplius scit aut potest." For Paul may plant and Apollos water, but
It is so, and
God alone giveth the encrease, and unto whom He will."
'tis better so.
As regards the details of the principle of using air to keep the
navigator of the skies at the required height, and to descend. Assume

page_text: that one cubic foot of water evaporated per hour, at a pressure of
240 lbs. above the atmosphere, will give an indicated power of 3 horses;
that sufficient water be taken up for a run of 2 hours, and that the
indicated power be 1500 horses. The weight of water required would
then be 21 = 2 × 1500 × 62.5 = 62500 lbs. And the weight of coal
required, at 4 lbs. per h.p. per hour, would be 2 x 4 x 1500=12000 lbs.,
for the 2 hours' run. Thus the weight of air required to be introduced
into the envelope in this time would be 62500 +12000 = 74500 lbs. =
74500
2 x 60 x 60
d
10.4
10.4 lbs., nearly a second,= 0786132.3 cubic feet a second.
74500
0786
For the area of equilibrium valve to admit this quantity we must find
the mean velocity of the entering air. To do this we must first find the
space required to hold the whole quantity of equilibrium air required
in two hours, = =947835 cubic feet, in order to ascertain its
density. Now when all this is in the envelope, and the additional
quantity to descend, which I call the descending air, we must get it out
again before we can ascend. If therefore partitions can be made strong
and light enough to permit of divisions in the conical parts of 115 feet in
diameter or so (the dimensions of which will be found by and by, it
will be better that the air to be withdrawn should be as near the density
of 0786 lbs. per cubic foot as can be obtained, because it will then take
less time to rarefy. For this purpose the entering air must be kept
from mixing with the whole body of 20,944,689 cubic feet of air in the
envelope. If then it can be done strong and light enough we must
partition off from each cone end sufficient space to hold the equilibrium
and descending air. We have seen that the former will be 947835 cubic
feet, and I shall show by and by that the latter will be about *0786
420,000 cubic feet more, making 947835 +420000 = 1367835 cubic feet
-=683917, say 684000 cubic feet for each cone; provided that
the descent be not made before the two hours consumption of fuel and
water.
=
1367835
33000
Now this air will enter a space already filled with rarefied air weighing
009825 lbs. per cubic foot. We require therefore a larger space than
will merely hold the equilibrium and descending air. We will then
take the same quantity of 684000 cubic feet at 009825 lbs., which will
weigh 009825 × 684000 = 6710-3 lbs. = = 85373 cubic feet at 3
6710-3
0786
the atmospheric density. We require therefore to cut off such portion

page_text: -
mean internal pressure in the envelope 4.5 lbs., the mean velocity of
influx of the equilibrium air will be about
V = 2000 √ log. () = 1019 feet per second.
183
==1019
10.4
0786-132.3,
13 square feet.
We have seen that the quantity of air necessary during the 2 hours
run, to keep the aerial ship at the required height, is about
say 133 cubic feet per second. Therefore the mean area of the equi-
librium valve to admit it will be about a =
So far as regards my first combination of unheated air rarefied, as the
power of buoyancy for aerial navigation with my other Inventions before
patented, referred to in my Provisional Specification and here, I would
now remark that in my Provisional Specification I have said, "No one I
believe has before thought of or applied air for such purpose." I was
there referring to and meant unheated air, for it is well known that
heated air was used by Mongolfier and others for the ascending power
of balloons, though never I think for aerial navigation, as distinguished
from mere ballooning.
. In winter however it may be found necessary to heat the air for the
purpose of preventing the rain and snow from freezing on the huge
surface of the metallic envelope, which would diminish its buoyancy.
As regards lightning upon such an envelope, if we may judge by analogy,
of the concentration and diffusion of power, lightning would be so
diffused over such a large surface as to be innocuous. But if this be
erroneous, conducters must be used, as they are for ships at sea, and
buildings on land, and the envelope may be created with some thin
non-atracting substance or liquid.
THE POWER OF DESCENDING AT WILL.
In mere ballooning this is done by making the machine heavier than
the mass of air it displaces, by letting out something lighter, which is
gas, to reduce the bulk of the balloon, and so makes it specifically heavier
than the bulk of air displaced. But it has been shown that with an
inflexible envelope we cannot do so. We can therefore only descend by
making the machine heavier than the air it displaces, by letting into the
envelope something denser than the air inside, which constitutes the
ascending power. Now when in the air, away from all solid substance,
I know not how to get an unlimited and costless supply of weight for
the purpose of descending, except from the surrounding air. If there-

page_text: fore Providence had not given us this unlimited and costless means of
descending, and of again ascending at will by simply rarefying the air
again, I cannot see the practicability of aerial navigation as distinguished
from mere ballooning.
=
33000
= 14.73 tons.
It has been shown that the surplus ascending power to a height of
This
600 feet is about 32,009 lbs. say 33,000: 2240
therefore is the weight of air we must let into the envelope to descend
from 600 feet, and this we can do as quickly as may be required by
encreasing the area of the descending valve. Now we will assume that
the resources of metallurgy cannot roll out metal thin and strong enough
to divide the conical ends into air holders of one million cubic feet each;
or, if it can, that it will be better on the whole to let the descending and
equilibrium air into the whole mass of air in the envelope. Having
shown the principle and details of letting the equilibrium air into the
conical air holders, we will now show the results of letting the equili-
brium and descending air into the full envelope, holding 20,944,689 cubic
feet of air.
This weighs 009825 x 20,944,689 =205781-75 lbs.; the equilibrium
air 0786 x 947835=74500 lbs.; and the descending air = 33000 lbs.
Consequently the terminal density of the whole mass, when they are all
combined, will be
205781+74500+ 33000 =015 lbs. nearly per cubic foot.
20,944,689
Therefore the internal pressure would then be
'015 x 14.7 2.8 lbs. per square inch.
p= -0786
Now we have seen that the internal pressure of the ascending air,
before the admission of any equilibrium or descending air, is 14.7-
12.863 1.837 lbs. We will therefore take the mean internal pressure,
which the entering air for descent will have to overcome, at about
2.4 lbs. per square inch. Consequently its mean velocity will be about
V=2000 log. (=
=2000 log. () =1395 feet per second.
33000
0746
14-7
The weight of the descending air required is approximately 33000 lbs.
== 420,000 cubic feet of air nearly; so that the time of descent
can be regulated by the size of the descending valve. Suppose for instance
it is required to descend in one minute, then the mean opening of the
Q
420000
descending valve must be about a = 60 v 60 x 13955-02 square feet

page_text: TO KISE AGAIN.
We will suppose that the descent is after the two hours run,
when the fuel and water are pretty well consumed. The weight of
equilibrium air being 74500 lbs., and of the descending air 33000 lbs.,
the total weight of air to be got out of the envelope again will be about
74500+33000=107500 lbs. This must be done in order to take up
again fuel and water weighing 74500 lbs., which will then leave 33000 lbs.
for the surplus ascending power to a height of 600 feet, as before. We
have therefore to find about what time it will take the rarefiers to get
this weight of 107500 lbs. out of the envelope. The terminal density of
the air we have seen will be about 015 lbs. per cubic foot, which would
decrease until the ascending density or lightness of 009825 lbs. were
reached. We will however begin with air of this rarity to be on the
safe side, so that the quantity required to be withdrawn would be
about 009825-10,941,476 cubic feet.
H' 107500
Now we have seen that the area of the two rarefiers is 4.3 square
feet each, that they bear the final pressure of rarefication of 1853 lbs.
per square foot, and move with a velocity of 88 feet a second. Con-
sequently they would take t=2a V 60 x 60 2 x 4-3 x 88 x 3600
10,941,476
60 =
=402 hours to
draw out this quantity of air, before the aerial ship could rise again, to
pursue her voyage. To diminish this time we must have one of three
things. 1. Stationary engines and rarefiers of far greater power than
those on board. 2. Cones partitioned off for the equilibrium and
descending air to enter; for then the air would be so much denser
that a much less quantity need be drawn out, and so take much less
time. 3. The condensation of the steam for propelling so as to use the
same water over again to diminish the weight of air now required to
make good the weight of water. For we have seen that this is for the
two hours run only about 2500 of the weight of fuel. If then we
required a weight of air only equal to that of the fuel and of the
descending air the quantity of air to be withdrawn to rise again would
be considerably less, especially if this could be confined in a separate
division of the envelope, or be compressed by mechanical means when
12000
=

page_text: 1
in the air. Suppose for instance we compress one cubic foot of air until
it weighs 1 lb., we must compress it 0786 =12.7 times; and so have a
cylinder strong enough to bear a pressure of say (12.7 x 14.7=) 187 lbs.
per square inch. The weight of the descending air is 33000 lbs., and the
weight of one cubic foot of air so compressed being 1 lb. we require
33000 cubic feet of such air. If then the diameter of the condensed air
holder be 20 feet we must partition off in the envelope 20³× 7854-100 feet
nearly long, and 20 feet in diameter. This method would make the time
longer to descend but shorter to ascend, for the compressed air could
then be let out by its own pressure until the air in its receptacle were
reduced to atmospheric pressure for the rarefiers to work upon.
33000
I by no means despair of condensing the steam sufficiently for high-
pressure engines, by exposing an ample metallic surface to the current
of air caused by the velocity of the aerial ship. The weight of this
surface would be about equivalent perhaps to the weight of water. At
any rate it would be a permanent weight requiring no equilibrium air to
make good, like the weight of water evaporated, and therefore need no
engine power or time to draw out again.
To see how far it may
cessa
at the interna
its pressure, to counteract the external air pressure, we must first find
about what weight per square foot the envelope would be. Now I have,
in my Specification of December 1866, No. 3262, p. 42, given a rough
estimate of the weight of the steel aerial ship, 200 passengers with half
a hundredweight of luggage each, furniture, fittings, engines, boilers,
and ballast to trim the ship; also the weight of steel wire and hoops to
support it, and to strengthen the aerial envelope. These come to
138 tons. We have seen that the gross load, capable of being raised
to a height of 600 feet by 20,944,689 cubic feet of air, rarefied to
009825 lbs. per cubic foot, is about 628 tons. Hence we have left for
the weight of the acrial envelope alone about 628-138=490 tons; but
by reducing the number of passengers and luggage from 200 to 50 at
a time, we shall have more weight for the envelope, say 500 tons.
Since therefore the surface of this envelope is about 529883 square feet,.
the weight of metal will be about =2.11 lbs. per square foot.
2240 × 500
529883

page_text: In my Provisional Specification I have spoken of using gas to generate
the steam, and in the last part have said, that "there must of course
be a gas holder for it." Now as we cannot have gas for fuel, without
also having an ascending power as shown in my Specification of 1866,
No. 3262, I propose to apply air and gas in the manner shown in
Sheet 3, Fig. 6, by making the intermediate cylinder the gas holder,
and the two cone ends hold the rarefied air. If then we heat the gas
we can get a pressure inside the envelope above or below the external
For this purpose we
pressure, and so neutralize it in a great measure.
must not have too pure a gas. For instance, if I have rightly calculated
from the learned and multiform Professor Rankine (Steam Engine and
other Prime Movers, p. 554) the density of one cubic foot of pure
hydrogen gas, at a temperature of 32°,
sphere=2116 lbs. per square foot, is 005592 lbs. Now suppose this be
encreased to the same density as our rarefied air, namely 009825 lbs.
and be heated to only summer heat, say 70°. Then, by our first formula,
the pressure will be about
and
pressure
of one atmo-
P=772 53 d (458+)=772-53 × 009825 x (458+70)=4007.75 lbs.
per square foot.
But this is (4007-75-2116=) 1891-75 lbs. per square foot more than
the external air, more therefore than we want. Besides which it is a
costly thing to get some millions of cubic feet of pure gas. What we
want is such an internal pressure that the two forces acting on the
envelope, in and out, shall be in equilibrium, or nearly so, to allow of
the envelope being made strong and light enough. We will then take
the temperature of the gas at 100 degrees, as a convenient one.
Required the density of impure gas, heated to 100 degrees, to give a
pressure about equal to that of the atmosphere. Then, by our second
formula, substituting P for d, we get
d=
024157 (458+)
=
P
024157 x (458 +100)
2116.8
=
0063679 lbs. per cubic foot.
TO KEEP THE AERIAL SHIP AT THE REQUIRED HEIGHT WHEN
TO KEEP THE AERIAL SHIP AT THE REQUIRED HEIGHT WHEN
GAS IS USED TO GENERATE STEAM.
We have shown approximately the quantity and weight of air
necessary for this purpose when heavy fuel is used to generate steam,
and the water is not condensed and used over again. We will now

page_text: show the quantity of air required to be let into the conical ends of
the envelope when gas is used to generate steam, and the water is
condensed and used over again.
2 x 60 x 60
2
The weight of water evaporated in the two hours run would be
about 62500 lbs. as before shown. For this we should require about
1.5 x 62500=93750 cubic feet of gas. Now suppose the two conical
ends of the envelope held one half of the ascending power = 20,944,689
=10472344.5 cubic feet of rarefied air, and the intermediate cylinder
10472344.5 cubic feet of gas. The consumption of 93750 cubic feet of
gas in two hours, to generate steam, would be only 93750 =13.02 say
14 cubic feet a second, the weight of which, at the density found for
the pressure, would be only 0063679×14=08915 lbs. per second.
Considering then how little lighter the issue of 14 cubic fect of gas a
second would leave nearly ten million and a half, which would
expand as its density decreased, and considering also the deterioration
of the buoyant power of gas, it is probable that little or no weight of
air would require to be admitted to keep the aerial ship at the required
height. In this case only the descending power of air, equal to
33,000 lbs. need be admitted for descending, and of this we have already
treated.
When the laws and principles of science are discovered, the resources
of mechanics do not leave us with only one method of applying those
laws, I propose therefore showing some of the equivalent applications
for those herein-before referred to, and described hereafter.
For the Motive Power.-Instead of the aero propellers and rarefiers,
the steam jet may be used, the dynamics of which I believe I was the
first to discover and reduce to an exact science by my experiments
in 1842, but chiefly by subsequent investigations. The velocity of the
steam jet will be found by my formula to be about

page_text: B+14.7
1214-7
For finding I use Tate's formula, thus expressed in
logarithms for convenience.
Then W=
Log. (c-12-5)=4.3132343- {log.(B+14.7) 9301}.
See Specification of 1860, No. 1155, p. 8 and 9.
The application of the steam jet formula for reaction propulsion, by
equivalent tubes, is treated of in my Specification of December 1866,
No. 3262, p. 15 to 18, and in the Drawings thereto. And the number
of equivalent tubes, between the diameter of the steam jet d, and that
of the reaction pipe D, will be found by the formula therein given and
explained: n= log. D-log. 1, m being the multiplier of the diameter of
the equivalent tubes, each 1-5, 2, 2.5, 3, or so on of the diameter of
the preceding tube. This may be greater for air propulsion than for
water.
log.
For the Rarefiers.-The air may be withdrawn and rarefied by the
steam jet applied without equivalent tubes or with them, as shown in
my Specification of December 1866, No. 3262, Sheet No. 2, Figure 5.
The Drawing represents an injector or steam jet pump with equivalent
tubes and is described at p. 53; and any competent draughtsman or
engineer can apply the same principle for drawing out air or water, as
well as for forcing it into a boiler.
For Ascending and Descending.-There can be I think only two ways
with my system. 1st, the difference in weight between the air inside
the envelope and the same bulk out, rarefying the air to ascend, and
letting it in again to descend as before described; and 2nd, its equivalent
of a flexible envelope on each side of the car or ship, to furl and unfurl
like a ship's sails; to unfurl to ascend, and to furl to descend, as shown
in Sheet No. 1, Figs. 1 and 3, where is the flexible envelope attached
to the cylindrical envelope, while over it is a tighter sheet attached
by its upper side to the envelope, and by its lower side to the rollers m.
These receive motion through the upright n, which communicates with
the lay shaft n', and this is provided with fast and loose riggers at the
other end of it. Now a belt n³ connects these riggers with a driving
A cross shaft 22³
rigger on the eccentric shaft of one of the engines a'.
connects the upright shaft n, which is on the other side of the car, with
the roller on the other side of it, by which means both rollers are wound
and unwound simultaneously. Sheet No. 2, Fig. 11, is a transverse
section showing the general arrangement and method of winding in

page_text: the tightening sheet , which, pressing on the elastic envelope 1, and
compressing the gas, has a flattened appearance for descending. Now
by unwinding such tightening sheet the gas expands the flexible
envelope for rising.
Another and perhaps simpler way is this. Leave an opening under-
neath the inflexible envelope, say 300 feet long and 50 broad; keep the
air out by flexible sides, bottom, and ends (these angled to diminish
the resistance) of vulcanized or other material, which may have a metal
plate at the bottom, and let the depth of this vast bag be, say 30 feet.
If the gas inside be of greater pressure than the air out it will keep
the bag expanded for rising, whilst for descending it must be drawn
up by the engine like a collapsed pair of bellows, or venetian blind. If
however rarefied air be used for the ascending power, or gas of less
pressure than the atmosphere, the bag must be kept expanded to ascend,
and be gradually loosened to descend, when the external pressure will
make it collapse. I call this bag the elevator and depresser. It must
be sufficiently capacious to displace a bulk of air equal the surplus
ascending power, equal 420,000 cubic feet, and may be worked
by a hydraulic press. This equivalent for the descending air and
exhausting it to ascend would not take so much time as the former
method.
33000
For the Moveable Ballast.-This is run on rails to the bow to incline
it down to descend and to the stern to incline the bow up to ascend.
The equivalent for descending is to let in more of the descending air
at the bow than at the stern, when there are partitions the greater
weight of which will incline the bow down.
DESCRIPTION OF MACHINERY.
Sheet I. Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the navigator of the skies. It
shows the general arrangement of the machinery, when the ascending
power is obtained, either by rarefied air only, or by heating such air to
encrease the internal pressure in the metallic envelope, to counteract
the external pressure. The principle of propulsion is that of making
the medium of resistance the means of overcoming it by reaction, as
discovered by me, and referred to in my Provisional Specification. The
principle is here applied by means of six aero-propellers; two screw
acro-propellers, one on each side of the middle of the long car under-
neath the envelope lettered a, and by four cam aero-propellers, one on

page_text: each side of a separate car underneath the cone ends of the envelope,
lettered b, b. All the reaction tubes of these aero-propellers are diver-
gent at both ends, to prevent the formation of the contracted vein when
the air enters for propelling, to save the loss of power consequent
thereon. The screw aero-propellers have permanent contracted veins,
so that the screws move at a less velocity (f) than that of the entering
air ; but the cam aero-propellers have no contracted veins, so that
their floats (f) move at the same velocity as that of the entering air V,
making a clear sweep through the reaction tubes. Fig. 1 also shows
the cam rarefiers c, c, and steering rudders j, j.
Fig. 2 is a sectional plan of the screw aero-propellers, showing that
my screws are not the ordinary screw propellers, either in principle or
application. For such are without a reaction tube, and if they had
one it would not prevent the escape of water past the blades, because
those of the ordinary screw propeller would not fill up the whole
diameter of the reaction tube, as my screw propellers do. These are
similar in principle and application for aero-propulsion, as those for
hydro-propulsion, contained in my Specification of 1867, No. 2223, and
shown in Sheet I. in the Drawings thereto.
Fig. 2 also shows that the permanent contracted vein of the aero
screw propeller is moveable, to give a free entrance to the propelling
air equal nearly to the area of the cylinder in which the screw works.
Fig. 2 shows also the general arrangement of the engines, boilers, and
apparatus in the middle part of the long car, underneath the envelope,
and intended for first-class passengers.
Fig. 3 is an end view of Fig. 2.
Sheet 2. Fig. 4 is a part plan of one of the engine rooms, that on
the left-hand side of Fig. 1, Sheet I., which is there the bow end, with
the cone sloping towards the intermediate cylinder, showing the general
arrangement of the cam aero-propellers b, and cam rarefiers c; and
Fig. 5 is part plan of the same.
Sheet 3.-Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the envelope and ship under-
neath. It shows the general arrangement of aero-propellers and
rarefiers, when gas is used for fuel, and that forms part of the ascending
power with rarefied air, from which such gas is divided by partitions.
With the exception of using gas for these purposes, all other things are
about the same as when rarefied and heated air are used as the ascending
nower.
'

page_text: Fig. 7 is an end view of the envelope, showing the ship underneath,
and its two cam aero-propellers at the cone ends, and the middle car
with its two screw aero-propellers, one on each side.
Fig. 8 shows the angle given to the aerial ship for ascending, and
Fig. 9 for descending, by means of the moveable adjustor, a tank filled
with water or sand running on rails in or under the car.
Fig. 10 is a view of the under side of the envelope and ship with the
propelling machinery. It shows also at the conical ends where the
side arrows are the means of turning the aerial ship by the side reaction
of the air instead of rudders. This method of turning will be seen on
a larger scale in the Drawing Sheet 3, annexed to my Specification of
1867, No. 2223.
The same letters in all the Figures indicate the same parts of the
machinery, which I will now briefly describe, referring to Sheet 2,
Fig. 4. The rarefiers c, at each conical end, rarefy the air in the envelope,
and are worked by separate engines c¹, so arranged as to turn the
rarefiers either way, and are supplied with steam from the same boiler
that works the propelling engines. The rarefiers have a pipe e leading
into the envelope, to draw down the air, at the base of which pipe are
the valves e and e. When the rarefier is driven in direction of the
arrow (in the horizontal tube) the screw valve el is opened, and the
air is drawn down the vertical pipe e through the passage c² and dis-
charged through the valve c. When the rarefier is driven the other
way the valve e must be closed, and the valve e opened, and then the
air will be drawn down the vertical pipe e and passage c³, and discharged
through the valve c'.
To rarefy the air in the intermediate cylinder there is a valve d', at
each conical end of the partition d, worked by the hand wheel d², when
the air from the intermediate cylinder will rush into the conical end,
and be drawn down the pipe e as before described.
EQUILIBRIUM AND DESCENDING VALVE.
This is a screw valve e, shown in Sheet 2, Figure 4, at the top of the
rarefier. When opened, to keep the aerial ship at the required height,
or to descend, the external air will rush in and up the pipe e, and so
into the envelope at the conical ends, whence it can be passed on
through the valve d¹ to the intermediate cylinder.

page_text: The cam aero-propellers b, at each side of the ship under the conical
ends of the envelope, are driven by a pair of horizontal engines 6' in
either direction, which are supplied from the boiler i, which must be
large enough to supply the donkey engines c¹ also. The floats of these
propellers and rarefiers are moved in and out of a drum by means of
rollers running in a cam on each side of the case which encloses them,
and are sufficiently described in my previous Patents of 1866, No. 1497,
and of December 1866, No. 3262, and in the Drawings annexed thereto.
For the purpose of turning tue aerial ship without the aid of rudders,
the exit and entrance of the reaction tubes of the cam acro-propellers (b)
are fitted with balanced valves 62, which, by means of levers and
rods 63, can be made to close such reaction tubes. These valves are
so arranged that by levers and bevel wheels b', they-in closing-open
the balanced valve on the side of the reaction tubes, that the air
may be discharged sideways by the cam aero-propellers, the reaction
of which, at opposite sides of the tubes, and with so long a leverage
between as a thousand feet or so, will turn the ship with far greater
facility than the rudder. This method is shown in operation in Sheet 3,
Figure 10, at the conical ends.
SCREW AERO-PROPELLERS.-SHEET I.
These are placed about the middle, one on each side of the car or
ship underneath the envelope, and lettered a. They are driven direct
by the horizontal engines a', and derive their steam from the boiler f
which may be generated by gas or fuel, and this can be stored in any
convenient place, such as g. These screw aero-propellers have a
permanent contracted vein at each end of the reaction pipe a². But
to prevent the formation of the contracted vein in the air at entrance
for propelling, and the consequent loss of power, the contracted vein
pipe a is moveable at each end, as shewn in Fig. 2, to allow the air to
enter more freely. This is done by means of the racks, pinions, and
worms a³, which cause the pipes a to slide on the rods a'. The
contracted vein pipe is shown on the left, moved away from the screw,
so that the air for propelling enters between the pipes, as well as
through the contracted vein a².
The air or gas, with which the intermediate cylinder of the envelope
is filled for ascending, is heated by the apparatus k, in Sheet I. Fig. 3,
which consists of a number of tubes contained in a rectangular box:
c 2

page_text: Through these tubes the hot air and gases from the boiler f pass,
being regulated by the dampers f, in the flue leading from the boiler.
It will be seen that by placing the dampers or valves f' as shown in
Fig. 3, the hot gases are turned aside from the main flue, and can
only escape by passing through the heating apparatus. The air or
gas enters it by the pipe k¹, and when heated rises up the long pipe k.
Water tanks for supplying the boilers may be put in any convenient
part, those for supplying the boilers at the conical ends in Sheet 2,
Fig. 4 and 5, are shown by the letter i'.
The rudders are worked by the steering gear . A truck or
cistern h, filled with water or sand, is made to run on rails under or at
the side of the long car or ship, by means of pulleys at either end,
thence to a crab h³, to keep the machine in equilibrium, and to incline
the bow to ascend, or down to descend. A look-out place may be fitted
underneath the car, in which may be the barometers for the height, the
thermometers for the temperature of the air or gas in the envelope, and
the telegraph for the captain to telegraph his orders to the pilots,
engineers, and others. Look-out lights will be required at night, and
long light streamers hanging from the car will indicate the rise or
fall of the aerial ship, and be a sensitive check on the barometer.
Those who expect, in a Specification of six months, a perfect and
exhaustive treatise on a new science, expect an unreasonable thing.
The mathematician for instance will see, that I have given no formula
for finding the horse power required to convert a given quantity of air
from the atmospheric pressure in the envelope to the lower pressure
necessary for ascending. I have not done so because unwilling to use
a dynamic formula without first proving it, by tracing it to its primary
in the laws of physics, or by some other independent process. Now
although I have just devised a formula for the above purpose, from
Weisbach's Mechanics, vol. 1, p. 373, I have no time to test its accuracy,
and therefore prefer directing the reader to that admirable work.
But as some guide to find the time of rarification, I have taken the
horse power at 2500 (and it ought scarcely to be less for aerial navi-
gation, to have a store of surplus power for emergencies) and to consider
that the terminal pressure of 1853 lbs. per square foot, will be the
primary pressure on the floats of the rarefiers, as before shown.

page_text: My aim has been more to enunciate general laws and principles
than to make exact calculations, and to give ideas rather than details,
in order to save, as much as in me lies, men's thought and time in dis-
covering the fundamental principles of this new science, and in applying
them. One of these principles, never I believe before thought of for
aerial navigation, and which therefore distinguishes my system from
all others, is that of reaction propulsion. The superiority of this
principle to that of paddle wheel and screw impulse was discovered by
me in April 1866, by induction from my discovery of the law of plane
and fluid impulse of equal areas in 1842, and is fully explained in my
Provisional and Complete Specification of May 1866, No. 1497. This
principle of reaction, applied by my method, will save about 50 per cent.
of fuel, besides something of the cost, weight, and stowage of engines,
boilers, and water, both of steam and aerial navigation, where saving
of weight is most needed. Now the consumption of fuel for steam
navigation in England only is estimated, in the Civil Engineer and
Architects' Journal of May of this year, to be about ten millions of tons
of coals per annum. An Invention therefore that will save about half
of that every year, of only one nation, a saving of the life blood, as it
were, of England, and no little of her exports of the same commodity,
for the steam navigation of other nations, may be considered of some
importance.
This discovery however is denied by the first mathematicians and
men of science to whom it has been submitted. When therefore a
discovery is made which will supersede any department of science, it
is proper I think to put on record the present state of that science,
especially in a Specification, the better to distinguish what is new and
what is old in the Invention.
ON THE LOSS OF PRIMARY VELOCITY IN PADDLE-WHEEL AND SCREW
PROPULSION.IN AIR AND WATER.
The Regius Professor of Engineering and Mathematics, Fellow of
the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, is the first author and
authority on the steam engine, steam navigation, the resistance of
vessels, and kindred sciences. He is also of European reputation, nulli
When therefore so learned and
secundus, if not primus in orbis.
distinguished a man has written against this discovery, and therefore
against the superiority of reaction propulsion, it is I think due, as well

page_text: to truth and science, to give his opinion. In his Paper, of the 7th
September 1866, the learned professor observes among other things:-
"There are, of course, other losses of work in the action of propelling
"
instruments, besides that denoted in the preceding articles by R 8;
"R being the resistance of the vessel, and & the slip =-, viz., the
"work lost in driving the water vertically upwards and downwards, by
"the paddle, or transversely by the screw; but R s is the only possible
"loss of work connected with the longitudinal motion of the water.
"Whatsoever resistance the water opposes to the direct backward
horizontal motion of the propelling instrument can only be a forward
pressure of the water upon that instrument; which forward pressure
must, in every conceivable propelling apparatus, be only transmitted
"to the ship, as there is no other body to receive it. If by any means
"the forward pressure exerted by the water through the propeller to
"drive the ship is diminished, precisely to the same extent is the
horizontal resistance of the water to the motion of the propeller
" diminished; and the engine (as practical engineers say 'runs away,'
or encreases its speed, until those two equal quantities have again
"attained amount corresponding to the pressure of the steam."
66
On this part of the professor's paper I shall speak by and bye, but
with all deference and respect for so great an authority, I am unable
to admit what the learned professor enunciates in another article of his
paper (444, not here given), that "the equation for uniform motion is
RP; R being the resistance of the vessel, and P the pressure or
propelling force exerted by the paddles." The maximum power
transmitted to the vessel is, by my discovery, only lbs. Hence
R = lbs. Nor can I admit what the professor advances in article
55, that "the work of driving the propeller is R (+8), so that
." work lost is Rs." The work of driving I affirm is only R (v +
and the work lost only R (). Such, I beg to say, are the true formulae,
and will be found in my Specification of 1866, No. 3262, page 15.
The scribe's or printer's error of R Vin such Specification, line 7
from the top, should be R (), for this alone can equal its equivalent
of (Vad in the same line; and RV, in the 10th line, should
be omitted, errors which are at once obvious to the mathematical eye.
But the most important part of the learned professor's paper, which

page_text: I must needs demur to most, is this: "Rs the only possible loss of
work connected with the longitudinal motion of the water." This I
cannot admit, because it is contrary to the law of physics discovered by
ne in 1866 by induction, as before mentioned; a law which I then
called the law of plane and fluid action of equal areas. By this law a
fluid cannot impart to a plane of the same area more than one half of
its force of motion, because the other half is carried away in the motion
of the remaining half of the water, which escapes past the plane. For
all motion in the wrong direction is power lost equivalent to such
motion.
The same mutual action, and therefore the same loss, must necessarily
take place when the plane acts against the fluid as when the fluid acts
against the plane. For the mere way in which the fluid is set in motion
cannot alter the laws of force and motion, whether the motion is by
gravity of the fluid against the plane, or by the plane against the fluid.
When this is the case the fluid reacts or rushes back again against the
plane, and pushes the vessel on, and so becomes an impulse like an
independent jet or stream of water moving against the plane and entails
the same loss. It is therefore evident that no different means of giving
motion to the fluid can change the laws of its being. For the laws
which govern the universe are fixed and uniform; so that all bodies,
brought together under the same circumstances, are constrained to act
always in the same way. Hence there cannot be a loss of 50 per cent.
when a fluid impinges upon a plane of the same area, and no loss at all
when the same plane impinges against the same fluid, merely because
set in motion in a different way. Since therefore it is only the reaction,
reimpulse, or back rush of the water set in motion by the paddle wheel
and screw that pushes the vessel on, I cannot agree with the Regius
Professor that "Rs is the only possible loss connected with the
longitudinal motion of the water."
"Whatsoever resistance," to the end,
But his argument beginning,
is a necessary truth, and therefore I cannot see how it applies to show
that my discovery of the loss of primary velocity is not true. The area
and power of all propellers, paddle wheel, screw, and hydro-propulsion,
5 must of course be sufficient to overcome the resistance. Now as this is
a constant quantity, and can not decrease, the engine can not "run
away "with the paddles. But, as I have said, these exert upon the
water a further force, equal the resistance, which escapes past the

page_text: propellors, by virtue of the law of plane and fluid action before shown
and as this fact does not seem to be known, it is proper I think t
explain, according to my discovery, the action of the present metho
of propulsion.
The resistance of the water to the floats of the paddle wheel, and t
the blades of the screw, is equal to the resistance of the water to th
vessel, and the engine power, equal to such resistance, is the only part o
the propelling power which is beneficially exerted to propel the vessel
The other part is expended in doing useless work upon the water, in
giving motion to a body of water, which, as I have said, escapes pas
the floats of the paddle wheel and blades of the screw towards the bow
of the vessel; the force of which, not being imparted to the propeller
offers no resistance to it, and is therefore lost. For it is an error to
suppose that the whole area of water set in motion by the propeller is
driven towards the stern, by a mere plane like the paddle, and inclined
plane like the screw, as if they were enclosed, and acted as a pump. It
cannot be. For water is so mobile and slippery a fluid, so sensitive to
the least action of force, and so free to move in all directions, that an
unbordered and unconfined board cannot get such a grip of the whole
slippery fluid as to send it all in one direction only, and that towards
the stern. Nothing but a pump can do this, and a pump therefore my
hydro and acro propeller is.
For these reasons no hydraulic machine is used like the paddle
wheel and screw, but is confined in as close a channel as possible, to
prevent any of the water set in motion escaping in the wrong direction;
and for no other purpose do I enclose the paddle wheel and screw. For,
as I have said all motion in the wrong direction is a loss of power;
consequently one half of the water escaping in the wrong direction
past the paddle wheel screw entails just so much loss of power. These
are, in truth, the very babarism of science, being the only fluid
machines remaining which are not enclosed, except indeed the windmill
and undershot water wheel; but the former is too large, and both are
unnecessary to enclose, because the motive power costs nothing. All
pumps, however, fans, blowing, or other fluid machines are enclosed,
nor can the puddle wheel and screw being the only exceptions to theory
and practice without entailing an exceptional loss, which they do. They
need enclosing therefore as well as all other fluid machines, to turn them
into pumps, to prevent all escape of water and lost of power. For all

page_text: saving in weight of fuel, engines, boilers and water, and their stowage,
is more needed in steam navigation, whether for air or water; being a
saving also of immersion, and consequently of resistance and power to
overcome it in water, and a saving of surface resistance and power in
the air.
HYDRO-PROPULSION AND THE LORDS OF THE ADMIRALTY.
The whole value of hydro and aero propulsion instead of the present
method depends on the loss of primary velocity in the paddle wheel and
screw; because the losses of my system, amounting to 20 per cent.,
would make it a far more expensive and inconvenient application of power
than screw or paddle, if these do not entail the loss of 50 per cent. to
begin with, due to the escape of one half of the water set in motion by
them. I stand or fall therefore by my discovery. If then the scientific
advisers of the Admiralty are the first scientific authorities in the nation
for which they act, I have them also against me, as well as the Regius
Professor. For I sent a full account of my discovery to the Lords of the
Admiralty, in a printed folio paper of 30 pages, dated November the 30th,
1867. And I venture to think, that I have there proved the truth of my
discovery, by as logical a chain of inductive and deductive reasoning as
can be found in the whole history of inductive and deductive science.
But so much harder is it to unlearn than to learn, that on the 9th of
April 1868, I received a letter from Mr. W. G. Romaine that he "was
commanded by my Lords to acquaint me that my communication
contained nothing of any value to this department"!
Such then, after some months' consideration, is the debiberate opinion
of the scientific advisers of the Admiralty, of the greatest discovery in
steam navigation since its existence; of an Invention that will save
some millions of tons of coal a year in this country alone, besides a large
expenditure for engines; that will enable the fleets of England to
remain twice as long at sea without coaling; that will give them an
invulnerable propeller; the greatest possible security against the greatest
dangers of the sea, leaks, and fire; a system of propulsion which, founded
on the primary laws of nature, is the ultimate reach and development of
science for propulsion; which will therefore supersede all other systems,
and never be itself superseded. Considering too the much greater con-
sumption of fuel now than half a century ago, my simple hydro-propeller
will do for steam navigation what Watt's separate condenser, did for

page_text: the steam engine, and Stephenson's locomotive for railways. Hence
the calm and satisfaction of all Lords of the Admiralty, present and
future, that there will be no more waste of time & money in trying
different screws, or any other system of propulsion. And all this will
be found in my said paper of the 30th of November 1867, proved, as
I have said, by a rigid demonstration, and logical induction, by many
experimental facts of undoubted accuracy, and by exact mathematical
analysis!
The Specification of a discovery of an Invention based upon the
laws of nature must necessarily be different to an ordinary one. For
those laws must be clearly explained and established. Not like the
mere mechanical Invention of to-day which may be superseded by that
of to-morrow, or improved upon, the laws of nature can never be super-
seded or improved. Watt's separate condenser is the separate condenser
still, and will be to the end of time, just as it was born of the conceiving
brain of its first father. So will it be with my system of reaction
propulsion for the navigation of the vast realms of air and water. Hence,
far more importance and interest attach to philosophic discoveries than
to mere mechanical ones, for it is only the former that produce great
revolutions in the thought and science of their age. It seems to me
right therefore to put on record the long considered opinions of scientific
men on my discovery, the more clearly to show how they have mis-
understood the laws applicable to it. I will therefore give one more
instance of the fact.
For two years and a half have I been in correspondence on this subject
with the Reverend Professor Blanc, who was the second wrangler of his
year, and has been Professor of Mathematics for 18 years in a venerable
and respected seat of learning. No one has written so much on hydro-
propulsion, but, judging by his papers, without understanding its
fundamental principles and their application if mine are the true ones.
In "Engineering," of the 30th of August 1867, the Professor observes,
"The only claim I have to form or express any opinion on hydraulic
propulsion is founded on a careful study of the subject for the last
"17 years, and my sole aim throughout has been to make science what
"it ought to be in such cases to the practical Inventor, the eye to the
"hand."
The Reverend Professor is considered "the first authority on this

page_text: 66.
66
of an important national Invention by denying my discovery, both in
public and private, and advocating the much greater economy of the
paddle wheel and screw. It is proper therefore to give some extracts
from his voluminous letters on this subject. The idea of saving 50 per
cent. of fuel, in these days of advanced science, when he maintains with
all others who have investigated the subject, that there is nothing at all
to save, in the best applications of the screw and paddle wheel, is
"a wild and visionary scheme." For thus he writes:-"Your notion of
primary velocity loss is a delusion, or phantasma of the mind, an ignis
fatuis, leading you to destruction, an assumption that no sanc person,
"acquainted with the ordinary principles of mechanics, will admit;"
and such like for two years and a half. On the 3rd of March of this
year the Reverend Professor again writes: "This phantasma of primary
"loss has taken such firm hold of your mind that I know it would be
"useless to make any further attempt to root it out, having so often
"shown you that it can have no existence in fact, but to no purpose.
Again, on the 23rd of April of this year, he writes: "The true
explanation, as I have stated again and again, of the loss of the Vixen
"and Viper, is to be found in the true doctrine of resistances, and it will
"account for the widely different apparent efficiencies in different
«
vessels; but by insisting on tying your strange and unknown theory
"about the screw and paddle wheel, like a clog around the neck of
your really valuable scheme of hydro-propulsion, you discredit your
"fair claims altogether, and so do all in your power to retard the
"introduction of your new principle."
It has however been shown that, in consequence of the losses of my
system amounting to 20 per cent., it is of no value unless there is the
still greater loss of primary velocity amounting to 50 per cent. in the
paddle wheel and screw.
"
66
The Professor observes again, on the 14th December 1867:-" If you
can establish your doctrine, and convince the world, your reputation
"would be great, and it would be unquestionably all your own; but, as
"far as my understanding and grasp of the subject goes, I cannot
accept it."
And so difficult is it, for even so able a mathematician
as Professor Blanc to get out of the narrow groove of mathematics, that
on the 27th of February of this year he writes: "If you convince
"the world as I have before said- of a primary loss of 50 per cent.
"of engine power, from the very nature of the action of the paddle

page_text: 66
" and screw, you will indeed have achieved a great discovery, but it must
"be all your own; I cannot possibly have any share in it." And once
more, on the 12th of May of this year, the Professsor remarks:-" I do
"not know how far this may go towards convincing you of the fallacy
"of your views about primary velocity loss, but this I will tell you,
"it is strict and rigid reasoning, and that too from your own premises;
" and proves if I know what proof means-that there is no such
thing as the primary loss to the engines in the paddle wheel and screw,
"for which you are contending." My own premises" was one of
those analogies of science for which the discoverer always seeks to
fortify his hypothesis, trying to find that unity of principle in diversity
of operations which runs through all nature, and shows that all come
from the same divine hand. This analogy was the undershot water
wheel for the paddle wheel, and the windmill for the screw. But the
Professor could not see what is so obvious to me, and assuming, instead
of proving, was necessarily led to a fallacy.
66
66
66
The chief thing however that I pressed upon him was to prove that
the resistance of the vessel R is equal to the pressure on the paddles
P, RP; for all depends on this. "Prove this," I said, "and you
prove all, and that I am wrong. Fail in this, and you fail in all, and
"show that I am right." Thus constantly urged, Professor Blanc wrote
as follows, on the 31st of last month "The formula R=P for the
paddle wheel is only the fundamental principle of action and re-
"action expressed in symbols, applicable to the case, neither more nor
less. It is therefore what physical laws make it, not I. It wants no
proof, indeed it admits of none, unless you would have a proof of the
principle itself. Deny the formula, and you deny the principle, for
they are here identical." That you cannot see "this, or-seeing it-
"are content to put yourself in antagonism to the first physical principle
66 of mechanical science, is no fault of mine.
"
66
"
66
Here at last was something specific and tangible after two years and
a half of loose, lawless, vague, and intangible talk. Newton's third law
of motion is this:-"Action must always be equal and contrary to
reaction, or the actions of two bodies upon each other must be equal
and directed towards contrary sides." Now in dynamics this is
necessarily true, in every conceivable case in theory; and in practice
also whether the moving body be solid or fluid, provided such body
imparts, by its action or impulse, the same amount of force to the object

page_text: acted upon as is imparted by the reaction of the same force. But if,
from striking at an angle or any other cause, the same amount of force
be not imparted by the action of the body as is imparted by its re-
action, it is equally obvious that the force of action cannot be in such
case equal to the force of reaction in practice though absolutely true in
theory.
Now my discovery in 1842 was the great difference between the
theory and practice of Newton's law; the one particular instance, in
hydro-dynamical science, in which alone his law could be as true in
practice as in theory; and also the one particular instance in which it
could not be true in practice though true in theory. I found, for
example, that when the fluid impinges upon a plane of 6 or 7 times the
area of the fluid the whole force is imparted to the plane, and action
and reaction are then equal and contrary in practice as well as in
theory. But when the fluid impinges upon a plane of only the same
area as the fluid only one half of the force is imparted, and consequently
action and reaction are not and cannot be equal and contrary in
practice though true in theory. And it was my application of this
discovery to the paddle wheel and screw in 1866, as planes of the same
area as the fluid they impinged against, that will revolutionize the steam
navigation of the world, and be the only method of aerial navigation
for all time, as explained more fully in my Specification of 1866,
No. 1497, p. 7 and 13, line 30 to p. 14 and elsewhere.
Now to deny a formula is not to deny a principle. I admit the
principle, and have proved it in 1842, and deny the formula and have
disproved it in the same year. Theory and practice are widely different.
Professor Blanc however makes no difference in them, but applies
Newton's grand discovery to every case in practice as well as theory.
He thus violates one of the fundamental principles of mechanics; that
no machine can transmit all the power it receives, which the paddle
wheel and screw would do were R=P. On the contrary, they are the
most wasteful transmitters of power of all fluid machines. The age of
Newton was the age of theory: ours is the age of practice. That
illustrious astronomer and mathematican professed nothing more than to
enunciate the laws of motion, not their practical application. This is
the province of a different branch of science, which is to discover by
what application laws may be turned to the best account, and how best
utilized. This then constitutes my discovery, that when these laws of

page_text: force and motion are applied in hydro-dynamics by action or impulse,
as in the paddle wheel and screw, there is so great an escape of water,
because of equal area with the fluid they work in, as to entail a loss
of 50 per cent. Therefore, that such laws can only be turned to the
best account by applying them by reaction, where no water can escape.
The Reverend Professor however says there is no difference in effect,
though he has the Drawings of my experiments in 1842, which show
there is, and that to so large an amount as 50 per cent. So positive
indeed is he that in another communication he observes:-" As I have
"said before, you will get no one in the world, with the least claim to
acquaintance with mechanical principles, to agree with you, and fortify
your views about primary loss." All this is very authoritative, and
coming from so excellent a mathematician, of such long standing and
position, and after studying the subject, as he says, for 17 years, might
have led me to abandon all further thought, labour, and expense upon
my Invention. But I place more reliance on the fixed and invariable
laws of nature, and their generalization to new applications by induction
and inductive philosophy, by which alone all great discoveries have been
made, than on the opinions of any one, however distinguished.
66
"
Now the highest discoveries of the human mind, those of Copernicus,
Columbus, Galileo, Tycho Brache, Kepler, Newton, and Watt were
all established by pure abstract reasoning; so can mine be. Let us
for instance follow the action of a plane moving in a fluid, air or
water. This plane cannot of course be greater than the fluid it acts
against. Hence, every part of the plane must be covered by the fluid
to the very edges. As soon then as it begins to move it sets in
motion the whole area of water to the very edges of the float, at
which parts the water is forced and heaped up, whilst on the other
side it is not, so that the water so pressed and squeezed at the edges
must necessarily flow past the float to the lower level on the other
side, as well as to fill up the little hollows and eddies on that side.
Now this side is towards the bow at which these hollows are made by
the forcing motion of the floats towards the stern, and to that side the
squeezed water must rush pass the floats, because water is free to move
in all directions, and is constrained to take the line of least resistance.
Consequently all those particles of water so forced to the edges, top,
bottom, and sides which slip past to fill up such little hollows cannot
impart their force of motion to the floats, and therefore do not assist

page_text: to propel the vessel. It follows therefore that the engine power which
gave motion to this water in the wrong direction is just so much power
lost. And this is the true slip due to the slippery nature of water
when acted upon by an unbordered plane. For that which is called
slip is the residuary velocity, and is not owing to the water slipping
past the floats.
So far as regards the slip loss. But the particles of water in the
middle of the floats cannot slip over the edges; they are not allowed
time to do so to wait until the particles around them have slipped over,
but are at the same instant of time deflected or driven towards the stern;
and so, by their reaction against the float that gives them motion, push
the vessel on. In this way, from the beginning to the end of the stroke,
fresh particles of water already covering the float to the very edges, and
there crowding together, are forced past the unbordered edges on all
sides, and escape unutilized; whilst fresh particles are being driven in
the opposite direction, and are utilized. We have therefore to discover
what is that fixed and unchangeable law of physics which regulates and
measures the aggregate quantity of particles that escape unutilized, and
so find out what remain to be utilized. This law, as I have said, was
discovered by my experiments in 1842, and called the law of plane and
fluid impulse of equal areas; a law fixed and uniform in its action, like
all the other laws of nature, and which tells us that it is one half of the
whole body of water set in motion that escapes unutilized. Hence, as
a plane can only transmit what it receives, and this is only half of the
power expended upon it, we must double the power to overcome a given
resistance, in order to make up for the deficient propelling power of a
plane of the same area as the fluid.
Let us now follow up this law. Suppose a given force is applied
to the plane of such a hydro-propeller as is shown in the Drawings
annexed hereto, and endows it with a certain velocity. And suppose the
same force is applied to the same plane, but with the close channel
removed, which would then turn the hydro-propeller into a paddle wheel.
What result does the law of plane and fluid action lead us to expect?
That the same force cannot endow the same plane with the same velocity
out of a close channel as in it. Because as there is no channel to prevent
any of the water set in motion by the float from escaping past it, it will
set in motion twice the quantity of water which a plane in a close channel
would do. For if a plane of the same area as the fluid cannot receive, from

page_text: the fluid it sets in motion, more than one half of the power expended on it,
the other half must be expended on something, and this can only be in
giving motion to an equivalent power of water unutilized. Hence only
one half of the power is left to give a velocity to the float, which must
necessarily be diminished in exact proportion to the greater weight
of water set in motion. Since then the reaction would fall off as the
square of the diminished velocity, this would entail a loss in the resistance
overcome of about fifty per cent., compared with the same plane working
in a close channel; power, friction, and everything else being the same
in both cases.
Such a result, and which is sure to be found in practice,
must therefore show the superiority of the principle of reaction for
propulsion, which is a plane moving in a close channel, to paddle wheel
and screw,
which are planes moving in open water.
But the loss of power to begin with must be more than 50 per cent.,
because this is the smallest possible loss, being that due to the law of
plane and fluid impulse of equal areas, under the best possible conditions
of minimum loss, like those in my experiments of 1842. For there the
fluid impinged against a stationary plane, firm, fixed, und undisturbed,
subject to no perturbations or irregularities of action. But none of these
conditions can be observed in practice. The centrifugal velocity of the
paddle wheel and screw, the shocks of the sea from varying immersion,
and pitching and rolling, will cause a loss of power of their own, not due
to the law in question. It will then I think be found in practice, that
the maximum power of the engine (P), transmitted by the paddle wheel
and screw to the vessel, will be only, lbs. In this case the loss of
power to begin with, due to the loss of primary velocity and the
disturbing causes mentioned, will be about P-() lbs., such power
being uselessly expended in doing uscless work on the water.
2.5
Now a knowledge of the laws of hydro-dynamics, and of hydraulics for
the most economical application of those laws, enables us to determine,
before hand, approximate results of any given application of such laws,
with almost the accuracy of astronomical calculations. We will there-
fore show what velocity the same power will give to the same plane
moving in a close channel, like my hydro-propeller, and out of it like the
paddle wheel.
We will take the area of float (a) at one square foot for convenience
of illustration, the density of one cubic foot of salt water (d) at G4 lbs.

page_text: (and eliminating 2g=d), the velocity of the float, in my hydro-propener,
will be about-
V=√√2911=√=√640 = 25-298 feet per
second.
The same dynamic laws must necessarily apply to the same plane
moving in the same medium, as well out of a close channel as in it.
But by a fundamental law of mechanics in order to get the same results
the force due to these laws must be as fully imparted to the plane
moving out of a close channel as to the same plane moving in it. We find
however that by another law which regulates plane and fluid action of
the same area unenclosed such a plane can only receive, and therefore
only transmit or overcome, a reaction equal to one half of the power
expended upon it, and this only under the best possible conditions.
Since however these cannot be observed in practice, we will assume
the further loss of centrifugal action, and such like, to be about 20 per
cent. of the theoretical loss (not of the whole pressure P), and so
make our divisor = 2.5. Since however the whole pressure P can
only transmit to the plane by the reaction of the water set in motion
a force, whilst the same power P is expended upon the float, the
remainder of the power P-(2-5) must be employed in doing some other
work than that of propelling the vessel. This is in giving motion to a
weight of water =1.5 ad, the reactionary force of which escapes past
the float without imparting to it any force whatever. Therefore the
whole weight of water set in motion by an uninclosed plane of the same
arca and moved by the same power as in my hydro-propeller is 2-5 ad lbs.
Consequently the velocity here will be about-
P
2-5ad
2.5a
640
√√2.5×1
= 16 feet a second;
instead of 25-298 feet as in my hydro-propeller. Consequently the
beneficial resistance which this last velocity will overcome will be
V 25-298-639.98 lbs.; whilst the beneficial resistance which the
paddle wheel of the same area and power will overcome will be
V-16-256 lbs. only. Therefore, by the fixed and unchangeable laws
of nature, the paddle wheel and screw begin with a loss of!
60 per cent. compared with my system.
639-98-256 × 100
639-98
the friation of both pranellers

page_text: at the same, to show the principle. Some correction will be required in
practice, because my system has losses peculiar to it, amounting to
about 20 per cent., as shown before. Now these calculations apply also
to aerial navigation, which show how great would be the loss with
the ordinary screw or paddle wheel. For as the resistance overcome by
the paddle wheel is 60 per cent. less than that overcome with my hydro-
propeller, we must encrease the power to the same amount to overcome
the same resistance, and so encrease the first cost, and weight of
engines, fuel, boilers, and water.
Now the reasoning that the resistance R can never be more than lbs.
at most is absolute in the very nature of things; because of the con-
tradiction and confusion which any other result would produce in other
branches of hydro-dynamics and hydraulics. For suppose that when the
plane moved against the fluid, the law of plane and fluid action instantly
changed, and entailed no loss at all, as the Regius Professor and Professor
Blanc assert, instead of a loss of 50 per cent. as the law asserts, all the
works on the theory and practice of hydraulic machines would be at once
swept away, and the first hydraulicians of England, France, and Germany
would be wrong in their practice. Because we should have in the
paddle wheel and screw the most perfect hydraulic machines in the
world, transferring all the power they receive (R=P) working without
friction, wear, or loss (except that of the mere axle), the simplest,
cheapest, and the best. And this superiority Professor Blanc maintains
in effect by asserting that R=P; because if such be the fact when we
call a machine a paddle wheel, it must also be a fact when we call the
same thing a pump.
But further, the Professor thus contradicts three fundamental laws of
physics. 1. That no machine can transfer all the power it receives.
2. The reciprocal action of fluids and solids, whereby the same results
take place whether the solid move against the fluid, or the fluid against
the solid. And 3. That motion in the wrong direction is loss of power;
in this case it is past the float towards the bow. My discovery how-
ever of such loss is confirmed by all these laws. It is therefore in
harmony with the laws of physics (plane and fluid action of the same
areas); the analogies of science (the undershot water wheel, windmill,
pumps, and hydraulic machines); and lastly, with experimental results;
the performance of the Volunteer paddle wheel, and Vixen and Viper
screw steam vessels. The paddle wheel and screw are thus brought

page_text: within the domain of physics for the first time, and their relations
shown to kindred branches of science, the undershot water wheel, the
windmill, and hydraulic machines; establishing the same unity of
principle, and showing therefore that they are governed by the same
laws and are subject to the same losses as other hydraulic machines and
pumps would be subject to if these had the same space for leakage and
escape of water past the floats.
One error leads to another, and the assumption that the paddle wheel
and screw transmit all the power they receive has led to a still greater
error, that the resistance of vessels is twice as great as it really is. For
the assumed equation' is R-P, as before shown. But the resistance of
vessels cannot be greater than the power that overcomes it, nor this
greater than the propeller can transmit. Since then by the law of
plane and fluid action of equal areas such a plane cannot receive more.
than half the power expended upon it, it cannot transmit more than half
the power. It follows therefore that the maximum resistance of vessels
cannot be more than half the engine power = or 3 lbs. at most, a fact
which is unknown to the naval architects and engineers of England and
the world, and which therefore may lead to the improvement of naval
architecture.
P
Mathematicians should prove all things, and assume nothing, but here
they assume everything and prove nothing, which has led them to the
further remarkable scientific error of measuring the efficiency of the
paddle wheel and screw by a wrong measure, the power of steam R=P
instead of by the science of hydro-dynamics. But the modulus of all
fluid machines should be found by the laws which govern the action of
the fluid they work in, and by none other.
Error is linked to error, and truth to truth, and there is no broken
link; so one crror leads to another, and one truth to another. We have
seen the former, and will now show the latter, how my discovery of
the loss of primary velocity has led to the further discovery of what is
more wanted in naval architecture than anything else. This is a fixed
and uniform standard measure of the resistance of all vessels, without
experiment, and without cost. For the indicated power of the steam
engine (I), the mean velocity of the propeller (V), and of the vessel (v),
D2

page_text: solved, once and for ever, by my discovery. It is solved also by my
system of propulsion, which will supersede all others, and never be itself
superseded. Because there are only two principles of propulsion possible
to man, the present one of paddle wheel and screw impulse without a
close channel, and mine of reaction propulsion with one; and mankind
will naturally choose the cheapest, most advantageous, and best. When
therefore the paddle wheel and screw shall belong to the barbarism of
the past, as they will, I shall leave, in my system of propulsion, as exact
a standard of the resistance of vessels as that of the paddle wheel and
screw now is, by my discovery that they cannot transmit to the vessel,
and therefore that its resistance cannot be more than one half of the
power expended upon them. For the same unerring laws of force and
motion which apply to such propellers, apply also to my system of hydro-
propulsion; but more simply, because such laws are not influenced by
that of plane and fluid impulse of equal areas. Consequently with my
system the standard measure of the resistance of vessels will always be
found by the still simpler formula-
The same laws, principles, formula, and application for propelling
vessels through the water, apply also for propelling them through the
air. Having therefore established the superiority of the principle of
reaction for propulsion in both elements, it is proper to establish the true
formulæ for by which such principle can be carried out in practice;
namely, how the resistance, areas of reaction, useful effect, loss, and
power expended can be ascertained. Especially as the Reverend
Professor Blanc adopts the formulae of the Regius Professor before given.
For the loss R (V-v), and for the power expended RV.
It would take too much space here to show why these are erroneous.
I will therefore merely observe that my own formulæ have been traced to
their origin in the laws of gravitation applied to falling bodies, as will be
seen in my Patent of May 1866, No. 1497, p. 21 to 25, and Patent of

page_text: December 1866, No. 3262, p. 13, line 26 to p. 15, line 10. I have before
shown in this Specification that RV, in p. 15 of the last-mentioned
Patent, is a clerical or printer's error for R (%), and that RV in
line 10 should be omitted. The formulæ RV and R (V-o) were first dis-
covered by me in April 1857, and sent to the Reverend Professor Blanc in
that month and year, and will be found, with my paddle wheel formula,
in my Patent of 1860, No. 1155, p. 17. That able mathematician
however still retains what I have abandoned, having found these two
formula were erroneous in the spring of 1867, as explained in my said
Patent of December 1866, No. 3262, p. 13 to 15. I will then give my
own formulæ for the paddle wheel, hydro-propulsion, and aerial naviga-
tion, by which I have gone in all my calculations for finding the
resistance (R), the areas of propulsion (a), the useful effect (U), the
loss of power (L), and the power expended PE.
Formula for the Paddle Wheel pursuant to the Law of Plane and
Fluid Impulse of Equal Areas.-
R==7381V a (V−v)
U=
L=
PE=
.
:
7381 av (V-v)=R v feet
7381(-) Va+Rv=R(V-v)+Rv=RV feet
*7381 V²—v² Vα=2 R (v+=³)=R(V+0)
33
lbs.
"
دو
وو
To find the indicated power 20 per cent. must be added to the power
expended PE for engine friction; on which addition the coefficient *7381
is partly founded. If there be further loss, due to the centrifugal
action of the paddle wheel and screw and other abnormal actions, as I
doubt not, the resistance will be only R= lbs. approximately; and
the power expended, PE=25 R (v+). By dividing by 550 we get
the horse power.
FORMULE FOR HYDRO-REACTION PROPULSION.
R=P=V-v+ (V-v)³ a=2 Va (V-o)
U-2 Vav (V-v)=Rv.
L=(V−vy² V a=R (7").
F
..
V-U
lbs.
feet
33
"
وو

page_text: and efficient area are one and the same for reaction propulsion, because
there is no escape of water. Hence the coefficient 7381, which gives
the dynamic area of the paddle wheel (that area whereby the engine
pressure P on the floats is found), is not required in the formula for
reaction.. Nor is the formula R=; because as the law of plane and
fluid impulse does not apply to reaction the resistance is here equal
to the propelling power, R=P. But to get P we must add 20 to 30
per cent. (for the losses of my system) to the power expended, and
then 20 per cent. on the whole for the engine friction.
2 g
The loss of residuary velocity is the same, in principle, both in the
paddle wheel and reaction propulsion; because in both it is the weight
of water, a d, floating away with the velocity of 7-o, the height
due to which is (V-2)². Therefore the formula is the same for both,
as shown in the tables, = (-) Va. But it will be in the paddle
wheel formula that this formula-R (V-v); whereas the same formula
in reaction propulsion =R (20) only, as shown in the table. The reason
is, that in the paddle wheel R is already halved, since R= only;
therefore (-) Va must equal R (V-v). But in reaction R is
not halved, for R=P; therefore here (V-v)³ Va=R (2) only.
We have now shown that the formulæ of the Regius Professor and
of the Reverend Professor Blanc for the loss R (V-v) and for the
power expended RV will equate with nothing, as the following analysis
will show more clearly. The power utilized R v, and the power lost
R(), must necessarily equal the power expended. We have there-
fore only to join the former two to find the latter, and so get the
formula R (+) before given, both for the paddle wheel and
reaction. And this equation is the most simple, elegant, and com-
For it combines four things. 1. The power
prehensive I know of.
utilized; 2. The power lost; 3. The power expended; and 4. The proof
of all.
All these formulæ are the same for acrial navigation, but the density
of a cubic foot of air is only 0786 lbs., instead of 64 lbs., the weight of
a cubic foot of salt water. Hence, although the resistance of the aerial
ship, at any given speed, is found by the same fundamental formulæ as

page_text: for the paddle wheel and hydro-propulsion, R=
V-+(V-0)³
29
ad lbs.;
this, reduced to its simplest expression, becomes for aerial navigation
R = .002441 Va (V-t) lbs.
Whatever saving my system of reaction propulsion will effect over the
paddle wheel and screw in water, it will also effect in the air. It is
proper therefore to correct an inaccuracy in the first Specification since
my discovery of the loss of primary velocity, which is in May 1866,
No. 1497. I say at p. 70, line 13, that "the propellors and pipes would
be far too large for any such saving," referring to the "saving of from
30 to 40 per cent." at line 10 in the same page. As I had been calcu-
lating the size of propellors and pipes for the contracted vein application
only (as will be seen in such Specification at p. 37, line 25 to p. 38,
line 2, and in the Drawings, Sheet 1, Fig. I.), I should have confined
my remark to such particular application of the contracted vein, because
it can refer to no other.
For instance in my subsequent Specification of 1867, No. 2223, I
say at p. 23, that "my system will save 86 per cent. of fuel in the Vixen
and Viper twin screws." Here I ought to have added, that the basis for
such saving was taken from Professor Airey's estimate of the resistance of
the Waterwitch, referred to at p. 31, line 6, of such Specification. He made
it about 5010 lbs. at 9.5 knots an hour. According to my own theoretical
calculations since then, my system will gain about 80 per cent. compared
with the paddle wheel and screw, both in air and water.
CONCLUSION.

page_text: tation from the fall of an apple or a leaf. This I have done, predicting
results which I believe are sure of realization. I have moreover shown
the originality of my discovery by the opinions of the Regius Professor
and Professor Blanc against it, having two more adverse opinions from
practical engineers, one of them the head of one of our first engineering
firms. I have thus shown the existing state of the science of propulsion
for air and water, as a stepping stone from the present to the future.
And lastly I have given the true formulæ for propulsion, which diffor
from those laid down by the first authorities on the subject.
Into these things I have gone so fully, because I know what a deal of
thought and labour such fulness will save others, from the years of thought
and labour these subjects have cost me to find out; which, as Herschel
says in his Natural Philosophy, are of an abstruse and difficult nature,
and to which I could no where find any cluc. I will now conclude
Ա, ՆԵԼԵԼ
as the ascending power for aerial navigation; but I claim it in com-
bination with the form of envelope, machinery, and proportionate parts
for reaction propulsion before invented and patented by me, applied
according to the laws, principles, and formulæ discovered by me, herein-
before referred to and described, and shown in the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
2. I claim the use of separate donkey engines and rarefiers, to rarefy
the air in the envelope for the ascending power, and to keep it rarefied
for the renewing power, should the acrial ship begin to descend when
not wanted, as herein-before described, and shown in the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
3. I claim the combined use of rarefied air and gas, in separate com-
partments, for the ascending power of aerial navigation, as herein-before
described, and shown in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
4. I claim, in combination with the form of envelope, and general
machinery referred to in Claim 1, the use or admission of air into the
envelope, to make the aerial ship heavier as the water, fuel, and gas are
consumed for propelling, in order to keep the ship at the required
height; and also for the purpose of making it still heavier to descend,
as herein-before described.

page_text: 5. I claim the use of moveable ballast, in combination with the
employment of rarefied air, and air and gas, and the form of envelope
and machinery referred to in my first claim, for the purpose of inclining
the aerial ship up to ascend, and down to descend, as herein-before
described.
I do not confine my claims to the mere details of this Specification,
because mechanical equivalents (some of which I have before pointed
out) can always be devised for carrying out the laws and principles
of a new science when once discovered; far more difficult to do than
to invent the machinery for their application. For the application
follows the principle, as the day the light.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Boyman Boyman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of December,
R. BOYMAN BOYMAN. (L.S.)