IMPROVEMENTS IN AERIAL LOCOMOTION
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
F WARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain and Ireland;
bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of February, in the tenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Edward Newton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein mentioned; should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, an Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AERIAL LOCOMOTION," being à communication from
a Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said William Edward Newton, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immédiately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent; as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Edward Newton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The Improvements in Aerial Locomotion, for which I have obtained Her
Majesty's Letters Patent, as aforesaid, are the Invention of Dr. Van Hecke,
of Brussels, and are called by him "A new System of Aerial Locomotion or
Aeronautic Carriage, containing a Motive Power, and a Point of Resistance
or Fulcrum, by means of which Passengers may be conducted through the
Air in any required Direction. Before proceeding to a detailed description
of the apparatus which the Invention proposes to employ for the purpose of
moving through the air, it may be as well to remark, that in the atmosphere
there are currents of air which constantly blow in the same direction, other
currents which are periodical in their action, or monsoons, and currents which
are variable. These currents blow in different directions, and exist over nearly
the whole surface of the globe; their velocity varies considerably, and there
are some currents which attain the velocity of upwards of one hundred and
eighty thousand yards per hour. The horizontal extent of these currents is
very great, but science has not yet been able to determine satisfactorily their
average height; from all the observations however that have been made it
appears that these currents are not very deep. From this it will be under-
stood, that at different altitudes there are strata of currents of air blowing
either periodically or constantly in different directions. The object therefore
of the Inventor of the present system is to construct an apparatus whereby
he may be enabled to ascend or descend into either of these strata of currents
of air, and advance or recede, and avail himself of their agency to carry
the aerostatic machine along horizontally.
I will now proceed to describe the apparatus which the Inventor makes use
of in his system of aerial locomotion. Fig. 1 in the accompanying Drawings
represents a side elevation of the locomotive part of the apparatus, and Fig. 2
is a plan view of the same. A, A, A, A, is the framing or car which is
intended to contain the passengers, and is of course made as light and strong
as possible.
The propelling or locomotive apparatus, which is also shewn detached in
elevation at Fig. 3, consists of two steel rods a, a, which are set horizontally
in the form of a cross on a vertical shaft or axis b that turns in bearings c, c
in a suitable framing or support extending from the car. This hafts b is also

page_text: furnished wheel or pulley d, by which it is actuated, and to the rods a, a, are
attached, by screws or otherwise, silk sails or wings f, f, stretched upon
a wire frame. These wings are so formed and disposed as to be in an
oblique direction to the vertical axis of the small wheel or pulley d, as seen
best in Fig. 1, and are so arranged that upon being put in motion by means
of bands or cords passing from a large driving wheel in the car, the
apparatus, when moving through the air may be made to advance or recede,
ascend or descend, at pleasure; and as this apparatus will allow the balloon
to be maintained in equilibrium at any practicable height in the atmosphere,
travellers will be carried in the same manner as a bird flies in the direction
and with the speed of the atmospheric currents. The apparatus shewn in
Figs. 1 and 2, and also in perspective in Fig. 4, together with the car, is
attached to or suspended from the balloon by cords or ropes passed through
holes e, e, in the upper part of the car or framing A, A. If one of the
apparatus shewn in Fig. 3 is allowed to act freely in the air, and is attached
to the end of a framing suspended horizontally by its middle, this apparatus
on being put in motion will make circumvolutions, according to the direction
of its axis, either forwards or backwards at pleasure. In order therefore
to obtain a point of resistance a second apparatus must be placed at the other
end of the framing, and the two apparatus must be worked simultaneously in
opposite directions. It is evident that these propellers (Fig. 3) being affixed
to inflexible bars will be unable to move the whole car or framing round a
centre, as, by revolving in opposite directions, the one will completely neutralize
the other, and therefore the two apparatus must necessarily propel the balloon
or other resisting body in the required direction, according to the degree
of power or speed which may have been communicated to the propellers.
The centre of the framing A is therefore the point of resistance, and forms
by the arrangement of the apparatus and the balloon, from which the
said framing or car is suspended, a double lever of the second order. A point
of resistance and a motive power having been obtained, it now only remains to
explain the means of applying the same. In order the better to make this
latter part of the Invention understood I will point out some of the principles
which have served as data:-First, to keep an ordinary balloon in equi-
librium at a given height, the aeronaut is obliged continually to throw
out ballast to prevent it from descending, or to let out gas to prevent it
from ascending. This is always the case when he wishes to ascend or
descend, and has always been and still is one of the greatest inconveniences,
or, more properly speaking, the real obstacle which stands in the way of aerial
navigation. Up to the present time all attempts to remedy this have proved

page_text: fruitless. Secondly, the art of steering balloons consists in the means of keep-
ing the aerostat in equilibrium at any given height, that is, so nicely balanced
in the air, that he may be capable of ascending or descending at pleasure,
without altering the relative weight of the machine; that is to say, without
being obliged for that purpose to throw out ballast or let out gas. Thirdly,
there is no necessity for a balloon to travel against the wind; besides, the
surface it offers is so large, and the resistance so great, that to attempt it
would be perfectly absurd. It is by means of the various currents of the
atmosphere, and by maintaining the balloon in the currents (according to the
direction in which it is desired to proceed), that passengers may be carried
through the air in any required direction. Fourthly, the result of all these
observations is, that in order to proceed in a horizontal direction, it is only
necessary to be able to maintain oneself at a given altitude; that is to say,
to be able to move in a vertical direction in order to get into a favorable
current, whilst in order to travel by land or sea the principle is diametrically
opposite. This may be proved by one example: if a carriage be propelled
along a road, or a boat along a canal, no considerable deviation must be made
either to the right or left for fear of accident or stoppage, but it is necessary
to steer between the extreme points of the horizontal line of the road. If on
the other side a balloon be in a certain current, which as far as it is concerned
is a roadway or canal, the balloon must be kept between the extreme points of
the vertical line; that is to say, the aeronaut must avoid ascending too high
or descending too low, which would cause him to quit the favorable current..
These facts being known, it becomes necessary first to furnish the aeronautic,
carriage on each side with two apparatus, the axes of which rotate in a
vertical direction, and the small driving wheels or pullies in a horizontal
direction. Second, to put these four apparatus in motion by means of two
large vertical driving wheels actuated by manual labor. Third, in a word,
to arrange and construct the aeronautic carriage in such manner that either
apparatus, may be made to work separately, by means of which when two or
more persons are in the carriage, its action will be greatly facilitated, and two
apparatus may always be kept in reserve. The parts composing the apparatus
may be variously modified, both as regards dimensions and the nature of the
materials of which they are constructed, without however altering the position
of the wings relatively to the shaft and the small wheel. In the arrangement
shewn in the perspective view, Fig. 4, there are four propellers employed,,
each of which is furnished with wings about twenty inches square, and will
possess an ascending or descending power of about two pounds, at, the most,
which with the four apparatus which are adapted to the carriage, as seen in

page_text: the Figure, will constitute a power of about four pounds. In this manner
a power of about ten, fifteen, twenty-five, and even fifty pounds, may be
obtained. By means of this apparatus attached to or suspended from a
balloon, the aeronaut is enabled to ascend or descend without loss of ballast
or gas, the loss of which is evidently irreparable; and that consequently be
can with facility keep the balloon at any practicable height, and thus be
carried in the direction and with all the speed of the atmospheric currents.
The Figures in Sheet II. represent a number of cylinders of various dimen-
sions, made of some material which is impervious to air, in order to prevent
the escape of the gas. For this purpose the Inventor prefers to employ silk,
india-rubber, or gutta percha. These cylinders may be attached together or
suspended one above another in any convenient manner, as shewn in the
Drawing. The aerial carriages may be made of any suitable size, and with a
greater number of wings, if necessary; and some greater power may be
substituted for manual labor, if thought desirable.
Having now described the Invention which has been communicated to me
by my Foreign Correspondent as aforesaid, I would observe that I do not intend
to confine myself to the precise arrangement or construction of parts above
shewn and described, nor to the materials of which they are or may be com-
posed, as these matters may doubtless be varied without departing from the
nature and object of the Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.
W. E. (L.s.) NEWTON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of August, in
the eleventh year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said
William Edward Newton came before our said Lady the Queen in Her
Chancery, and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every
thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also the
Instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute