Improvements in Apparatus Designed for Aerial Navigation and for Towing Vehicles or Vessels over Land or Water.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Aug., 1889-Accepted, 7th Sept., 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus Designed for Aerial Navigation and for
Towing Vehicles or Vessels over Land or Water.
I, DAVID THAYER, residing at Number 200 Columbus Avenue, in the City of
Boston, County of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, United States of America,
Physician, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
My invention relates to an aerial apparatus of novel construction by means of
which a car or carriage together with its appurtenances, passengers, instruments and
appliances may be sustained at any convenient elevation in the air and moved onward
through the same from place to place as desired; said apparatus being also adapted
for towing or moving vessels and vehicles over water, land, and ice. To this end my
invention consists in an aerial apparatus comprising a series of aeroplanes or kites
suitably connected and provided with draft ropes. the lower ends of which are secured
to a suitable drag, clog, or retarding device which serves to keep the said draft ropes
approximately taught or strained as tightly as is desirable, in combination with a
car or carriage for containing the voyagers &c., which is attached to and suspended
from said draft ropes at any convenient elevation above the surface of the water, land,
or ice over which the apparatus is travelling, suitable controlling ropes or braces con-
nected with the right and left-hand kites of the series being provided, by means of
which they can be flexed or inclined to the right or left in order to change the
course or direction of motion of the apparatus as may be desired.
My invention also consists in the combination with the said series of neroplanes or
kites, of one or more balloons, preferably attached to the uppermost kites of the series
for the purpose of sustaining the same and preventing them from dropping into
the water or onto the land in case of the failure of the wind; and my invention
furthermore consists in certain novel combinations of parts and details of construction
as hereinafter more particular set forth and specifically pointed out in the claims.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a view of my improved aerial apparatus, illustrating the same as it will
appear in actual use.
Fig. 2 is a plan view, enlarged, of the system of aeroplanes or kites illustrated in
Fig. 1, said kites being inclined at the angle which they assume when in the air.
Fig. 3 is a side elevation of my system of kites.
Fig. 4 is a side view of one of the "pilot kites" and its sustaining balloon.
Fig. 5 is a horizontal section of one of the tiers or rows of connected kites.
Fig. 6 is a horizontal section of the same, representing the manner in which
the right and left-hand kites are inclined at the desired angles to the main or
central kite of the tier by means of their controlling ropes or braces.
Fig. 7 is a horizontal section on the line of Fig. S.
"
Fig. S is a front elevation of the upper or pilot kites" and their sustaining
balloons.
Figs. 9 and 10 details illustrating devices by which the kites are linked or hinged.
together at the sides.
Fig. 11 is a front elevation of one of the lower or draft kites, illustrating the
weighting and steadying device by means of which the lower end of the kite is
depressed and kept down.
Fig. 12 is a rear elevation of the same.
Fig. 13 is a vertical section of the same.
Fig. 14 is a horizontal section of the same.
Fig. 15 is a view illustrating my improved aerial apparatus attached to a vessel for
the purpose of towing the same.

page_text: Fig. 16 is a view of my improved aerial apparatus illustrating its use in carrying
lifelines from the shore to a stranded vessel.
In the drawings A B C, Fig. 1, represent a series or system of aeroplanes or kites
which, when in the air, are arranged in horizontal rows, one row slightly above and
in advance of the other as seen in Figs. 1 and 2. These kites are provided with
suitable draft ropes D, which are secured thereto as hereinafter described, and fastened
at their lower ends to a drag or clog, whereby a sufficient amount of tension is
maintained to keep them strained as tightly as is desired. When the kites are
travelling over a body of water, this clog or retarding device will consist of any
suitable floating object of sufficient weight to maintain the required tension on the
draft ropes, as for instance, a boat or a series of boats G having preferably attached
thereto, logs or portions of trees, as represented in Fig. 1, or a heavy float or raft;
but if the apparatus is to pass over land or ice, a drag or sledge would be employed
to maintain a sufficient tension upon the draft ropes D. From these draft ropes
at any convenient and suitable elevation, is hung or suspended by means of ropes b
or otherwise, a car or carriage E for containing the voyagers together with their
supplies, luggage, and other impedimenta, the said car or carriage being carried or
wafted through the air as rapidly as the onward movement of the kites will permit,
and being kept from descending into the water by the tension on the draft ropes D
from which it is suspended.
D
The fastening device, by means of which the car or carriage is secured to the draft
ropes D, may be made movable and adjustable thereon, and be provided with suitable
means for clamping the said car or carriage securely in place when adjusted in the
desired position upon said draft ropes, so that if in the course of the voyage it bo
found that the car is fastened to the draft ropes too low down, or so near the water
that the roughness of the waves causes seasickness, the car can be easily drawn up
farther from the water and nearer to the kites where the motion of the sea will be
felt much less, and consequently the seasickness will be cured or prevented.
The car
can thus be drawn up by means of halyards a and pulleys a² made fast to the draft
ropes at any suitable point above the car as seen in Fig. 1.
The kites A B C are all preferably of the same dimensions, and are constructed in
the following manner. The frame c is of oblong form, and is preferably made of
small spruce or hackmatack poles about two inches in diameter more or less, braced at
the corners for additional strength. This frame is covered with any suitable material d
impervious to air and water, as for instance water-proof paper, varnished cloth, or
rubber tissue. To properly support this covering d and form a strong backing there-
for to enable it to withstand the force of the wind and to prevent it from presenting
too great a concavity, the frame c is provided with a lacing e composed of rope or
other suitable material which passes through eyes or around the poles of the frame in
such manner as to form a network as seen in figs. 2 and 12, the meshes of which
may be made of any desired size according to the requirements of the case. If it
should be desired to give additional strength to this backing, the frame c may be
filled up with bamboo poles secured thereto in any suitable manner and arranged
parallel to each other or crossed to form wicker-work as preferred.
•
Three of these kites are linked or hinged together side by side as seen in Figs. 2, 5, 6,
and 8, to form one of the tiers or horizontal rows shown in Figs. 1 and 2, but a
larger number may be linked together in a row if desired, and any desired number of
these tiers or rows of kites may be employed as the weight of the car and the persons
and impedimenta to be carried therein may require. The said kites may be connected
or pivoted together by rope links tied near the upper and lower ends of the frame,
as seen in Figs. 8 and 9, or they may be connected, like the leaves of a screen, by
means of metal straps or plates g, Fig. 10, or in any other suitable manner. Trans-
versely across the back of each kite, a little above the centre, and secured by bolts or
otherwise, is a cross-bar H to which, at the centre of its length, is fastened by means
of an eye-bolt or otherwise, one of the draft-ropes or lines D. From each of the
four corners of the kite, and from the center of each side, a guy-rope k extends to
the draft-rope to which it is firmly secured, the said guy-ropes supporting, bracing,

page_text: and balancing the kite in such manner that it will receive upon its inferior concave
and oblique surface, the force of the wind which sustains it and keeps it aloft. It is
essential that each aeroplane or kite shall be so constructed that the oblique impact
of the wind shall always be received upon a concave surface.
The three uppermost aeroplanes or kites A floating abreast, which I term "pilot
kites," are each provided with a halloon K of any suitable form and size, secured
thereto on the upper side by fastening its lower end to the cross-bar H or in any
other suitable manner. These balloons are of sufficient size and capacity to sustain
the pilot kites A in the air ready at all times to receive the impact of the wind; said
pilot kites forming the nucleus or main portion of the system to which the remainder
of the kites are attached both while at rest and in active operation. If desired a
balloon or balloons may be attached to the kites of the lower rows as well as to the
upper or pilot kites.
The second and third tiers or rows of kites B, C, I term "draft kites," and these
may be increased by the addition of other rows of draft kites if desired. Each of the
kites is steadied by means of a small weight I, suspended from its lower edge. This
weight is preferably a metallic ball having a hole through its center to enable it to be
easily secured upon a cord m looped from one lower corner of the kite to the other.
This weight serves to steady and balance the kite and keep its lower edge depressed
and serves the same purpose as the tail of an ordinary toy kite.
The right and left-hand kites of each row or tier have secured to the ends of their
cross-bars H, ropes or braces p, which extend down to the car E, as seen in Fig. 1,
whereby when the apparatus is moving before the wind, its course or direction inay
be readily changed by pulling on the port or starboard braces, which causes the kites
connected therewith to assume an angular position with respect to the central kites
of the system, as seen in Fig. 6, so that the wind will impinge on them in such manner
as to impel them onward in the desired direction and thus change the direction of
motion and the course of the voyage. The several cross-bars H of a row of kites are
hinged together at 9 9 to allow of this angular movement of the outside kites with
respect to the central kite, by means of the braces p as described; and if desired, a
single rigid bar L may be secured to the back of each of the central kites a little
above the bar H as seen in Figs. 7 and 8; said bar L being made of sufficient
length to extend across the backs of the two side kites and thus form a rigid stop
against which they will rest when in the position seen in Fig. 8, which will thus
prevent them from being carried backward out of the plane of the contral kite which
it is desirable to avoid.
The car or carriage E may be constructed in a form somewhat resembling a boat,
and may have attached to its bottom or sides, canoes M, as seen in Fig. 1, which, in
case of an accident resulting from the dropping of the car or carriage into the water,
would impart additional buoyancy thereto and enable the voyagers to reach the boats G
being towed by the draft ropes, or other object at a distance from the car.
These boats G are to be heavily loaded with the belongings, supplies, &c., of the
persons occupying the car or carriage E, but if the voyage is to be a short one, and no
supplies or luggage are to be carried, the boat or boats can be loaded with sufficient
ballast to render the draft ropes 1) sufficiently taught to keep the car or carriage E
suspended in the air; the safety of the voyagers depending on a proper tension of the
draft ropes being at all times maintained.
With the above described system of kites, the drag boats or retarding device being
well freighted and the draft kites well adjusted and trimmed before a stiff breeze,
great headway can be made without danger.
In sailing in and out of harbors where small vessels are numerous and where there is
danger of collision between them and the drag or retarding device, it will be necessary
to employ steering apparatus attached to the latter under the control of the voyagers
n the car, which may be accomplished by providing tiller ropes S leading from the
udder yoke of the drag ropes to the car as seen in Fig. 1.
It is obvious that the above described system of kites may be used to advantage in
owing a boat or a vessel as seen in Fig. 15, where it is not desirable to employ a car

page_text: or carriage E, and it is also evident that the said aerial apparatus may be used to
travel over land where there are level plains of great extent, and over ice, in which
case the draft ropes would be secured to a drag or a sledge of sufficient weight to
produce the required tension upon the draft ropes to keep the car or carriage at the
desired elevation.
If it should be desired to check the progress of the apparatus during the voyage
over water, land, or ice, the entire system of kites may be turned edge to the wind by
manipulating the braces p as before described, when the kites will descend by their
own weight against the buoyancy of the balloons K which will keep the pilot kites A
up out of the water or above the land in a position to again take the wind when
desired, the buoyancy of the balloons being so calculated as to be just sufficient to
accomplish this purpose, and when the kites are down in this position they can be
easily reached for repairs in case such should be required. When it is desired to
again raise the kites to renew the voyage, they are turned by means of the braces p
into a position to receive the full force of the wind, when they will rise, one tier or row
after the other, until they assume their proper position aloft, as seen in Fig. 1. This
method of lowering the entire series of kites by turning them edge to the wind by
means of the braces p, will be employed to prevent them from being carried away or
wrecked in case a gale of great violence should be encountered or seen to be
approaching. The descent of the kites against the buoyancy of the balloons K will
also take place if the wind should die away; but as above described, the balloons will
retain the pilot kites in a position ready to take the wind as soon as it again commences
to blow, when the apparatus will be in readiness to continue the voyage without any
further delay.
The above described apparatus when properly constructed on scientific principles,
will be capable of transporting persons over water, land, and ice, and may be found
of great utility in scientific explorations, as for instance in the Arctic Regions where
large bodies of ice are to be traversed in attempts to reach otherwise inaccessible
localities.
In Fig. 16 is illustrated the application of my improved aerial apparatus to the
life-saving service. In this case a number of life-lines are attached to the cross-
bars H of the several tiers of kites, after which the apparatus is carried out from the
shore by the force of the wind and its course or direction regulated by means of the
braces, until it is over the stranded vessel, when the life-lines will be brought
within reach of the persons on board, and can then be used to establish a communication
between the shore and the stranded vessel.
In addition to the halyards a and pulleys a' for drawing the car farther up from the
water as herein before described, a sail or kite may be employed as an auxiliary device,
which sail or kite is to be made fast at its lower end to the car and is preferably
secured to the draft ropes by means of rings which run or slide upon said ropes, the
opposite or free end of said sail or kite having halyards secured thereto by means of
which it can be raised into a position to take the wind, and by this device the force of
the wind may be advantageously employed in cases of emergency where it is desired
to draw the car up farther from the surface of the water with as little delay as
possible.
When said sail or kite is not in use for the above named purpose, it may rest upon
the draft ropes as a cover to the car to protect the same from the rain and
from the fierce rays of the sun; and in case the car should be too heavily laden,
the free end of the kite or sail may be elevated a little so as to be able to take
the wind and thereby help support the car.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. An aerial apparatus for navigating the air, comprising a series of aeroplanes or
kites connected together and provided with draft ropes, a clog or retarding device
attached to the lower ends of the draft ropes to maintain a constant tension thereon,

page_text: and a car or carriage attached to and suspended from said draft ropes, and adapted to
be carried or wafted thereby through the air above the level of the water, land, or ice
over which it is passing, substantially as set forth.
2. In an aerial apparatus of the character described, the combination of a series of
aeroplanes or kites connected together and provided with draft ropes, a clog or retarding
device attached to said draft ropes to maintain a constant tension thereon, a car or
carriage suspended from said draft ropes and made movable thereon, and a tackle
whereby the car can be moved toward and from the kites to vary its heighth above the
level of the water, land, or ice over which it is passing, substantially as set forth.
3. In an aerial apparatus of the character described, the combination of a series of
aeroplanes or kites arranged in a horizontal row and pivoted or hinged together as
described, said kites being provided with draft ropes, a clog or retarding device
attached to the lower ends of said draft ropes and acting to maintain a constant
tension thereon, a car or carriage attached to and suspended from said draft ropes, and
controlling ropes or braces extending from said car or carriage to the two outer or
side kites of the row, whereby they can be turned or inclined at an angle to the
central kite to which they are hinged, substantially as and for the purpose described.
4. In an aerial apparatus of the character described, a system of aeroplanes or kites
arranged in horizontal rows or tiers one slightly above and beyond the other, said
kites being provided with guy-ropes k, and draft ropes D, the latter attached at their
lower ends to a clog or retarding device, in combination with a car or carriage
suspended from said draft ropes, and controlling ropes or braces attached to the right
and left-hand kites of the system, all operating substantially in the manner and for the
purpose set forth.
5. In an aerial apparatus of the character described, the combination with a
horizontal row of kites provided with draft ropes D and hinged or pivoted together
as described, of the cross-bars H hinged together at q and baving the controlling ropes
or braces p attached to the outer ends of the outer cross-bars, substantially as and
for the purpose set forth.
6. In an aerial apparatus of the character described, the combination with a
horizontal row of kites hinged or pivoted together as described, and having the cross-
bars H secured thereto and hinged together at q, and provided with braces P attached
to the outer ends of the outer cross-bars, of the rigid bar L secured to the upper side
of the central kite and forming a rest or stop for the right and left-hand kites hinged
thereto when said braces are slackened, substantially as set forth.
7. In an aerial apparatus of the character described, the combination with an
aeroplane or kite provided with a draft rope attached to a clog or retarding device, of
a balloon secured to said kite and adapted to sustain the same in a position to receive
the force of the wind, substantially as described.
8. In an aerial apparatus of the character described, the combination with a
series of connected kites arranged in rows or tiers as described, and provided with
draft ropes, a clog or retarding device attached to the lower ends of said draft ropes,
and a car or carriage attached to and suspended from said draft ropes, of balloons
attached to the upper tier of kites and adapted to sustain the same above the water,
land, or ice in a position to receive the force of the wind when turned by means of
their braces, substantially as set forth.
9. In an aerial apparatus of the character described, a kite provided with a
steadying weight I suspended from its lower end by a cord m looped from the lower
corners of the kite, substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.
10. In an aerial apparatus of the character described, the combination with the
kite frame c, and its covering d, of the lacing e adapted to form a backing for said
covering, substantially as set forth.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.