A NEW FLYING ENGINE OR PRO
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Kinnersley Smythies, of 57, Belsize Park, in the
Parish of Hampstead and County of Middlesex, and of the Tye, in the Parish
of Great Bentley, Essex, for an Invention of "A NEW FLYING ENGINE OR
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Kinnersley Smythies
nt the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd January 1882.
JOHN KINNERSLEY SMYTHIES of 57 Belsize Park in the Parish of Hampstead
and County of Middlesex and of the Tye in the Parish of Great Bentley
Essex. "A NEW FLYING ENGINE FOR CONVEYING PASSENGERS THROUGH THE
AIR."
My new flying engine is to be raised and driven through the air without a
balloon gas or hot air to give it buoyancy solely by the reciprocating action of
wings flapped by a steam engine, gas engine or other prime mover.
Believing the steam engine to be the best adapted for this purpose I take a
multitubular boiler with very small vertical flue tubes and vertical chimney and
fix to it over its centre and in the chimney a double acting engine or cylinder
without a crank, whose reciprocating action is effected as in the steam hammer or
other steam engines without fly wheels, to give a flapping motion to a pair of
structures resembling the wings of a bird, bat or insect and hereinafter called
wings one on each side above the cylinder and the centre of gravity of the machine
and its load. These wings are to be made of one or several long, flexible, elastic
steel rods largest at the end nearest the engine and tapering to the tip straight or
slightly curved. The rods are to be bent backwards by a light cord or wire
fastened to the tip of each and extending under the rods behind it to a fixed point
of the framework of the machine behind them one on each side in the same
horizontal plane with the joints, round which the wings turn. The wings are to be
jointed by a hinge to the framework of the machine so as to turn round a pair of
parallel pins at the same distance above and on each side from the piston rod,

page_text: either horizontal giving a vertical motion to the wings or slightly inclined so that
the wings may move backwards in descending. The space between each bent rod
and its cord is to be filled with a silken or linen web stretched between from the
tip nearly to the joint, the front of each lying on the web before it like the primary
feathers of a bird's wing so as to be pressed together on the wings descent and to
open on its ascent.
The wings are to be so connected with the piston rod that when they are pulled
down their joints are thrust up by jointing the connecting rod with the lever and
link shewn in the figure annexed hereto.
In this A B is the arm of the wing turning round a hinge at A and AD is a
lever turning independently round the same pin as the arm and linked to the arm
by the link BC jointed at both ends and jointed at D to the connecting rod D E,
which is jointed at E to a cross head on the top of the piston rod. The pin passing
thro' the arm and lever at A will on the descent of the wing be pressed up by
the downward pull of the engine on the lever AD tending to turn it round the
joint C, and it will be pressed down by the resistance of the air on the under
surface of the wing tending to turn it round B. The upward pressure should not
be less than the downward and according to the lengths AB, BC, AC and CD may
be made to equal or exceed it in any ratio.
That the engine should lift itself it is necessary and sufficient that the steam
pressure on the top of the cylinder added to the upward pressure on the joints
(if any) and diminished by the resistance of friction should exceed the weight of
the machine and its load.
That it should drive itself forward it is necessary and suflicient that the anterior
margin of the wing or of each featherlike part when it has more than one part,
should be above the posterior margin during the wing's ascent, and below during its
descent.
That it should have a stable equilibrium the joints of the wings and the top of
the cylinder should be above the centre of gravity of the engine and its load when
the wings are highest.
The engine may be guided by shifting the centre of gravity backwards to
ascend, forwards to descend and to one side to turn towards that side or by putting
lines tied to the cords of the wings so as to alter their form and efficiency on one
or both sides, or by varying the admission of steam to the cylinder, or by all these
modes combined. If the efficiency of the stroke of either wing be in any way
diminished the engine will turn to the side of the less efficient wing, and it will
descend by cutting off steam. Any convenient form of light carriage with springs
and wheels for conveying passengers may be fitted with any number of such
engines cach working one pair of wings.
The novelty of my Invention consists in so uniting the engine with the wings
that when they are pulled down their joints are thrust up at the same time; and
also in combining the separate parts of the mechanism described into an engine
able to carry passengers through the air.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Kinnersley Smythies in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd July 1882.
JOHN KINNERSLEY SMYTHIES of 57 Belsize Park in the Parish of Hampstead
and County of Middlesex and of the Tye in the Parish of Great Bentley,
Essex. "A NEW FLYING ENGINE OR APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING PASSENGERS
THROUGH THE AIR."
My new flying engine is to be raised and driven through the air without a
balloon, light, gas or hot air to give it buoyancy, by the action of wings flapped by
asteain engine gas engine or other prime mover. Believing a steam engine to be
the best for this purpose I will describe my Invention in connection with such a
motor. I take a vertical multitubular boiler and fix on its top a vertical engine
with the axis of its cylinder concentric with that of the boiler to flap a pair of
structures resembling the wings of a bird, bat, or insect and hereinafter called
wings placed symmetrically on each side above the cylinder and turning round
joints or hinges in any suitable framework fixed to the boiler. The top of the
cylinder is to be above the centre of gravity of the machine and its load when the
wings are in the highest position. To avoid the weight of a fly wheel the recipro-
cating action of the engine may be effected by the direct action of steam on
its slide valve as in the steam hammer and other steam engines without a fly
wheel. Each wing is to be connected with the piston rod so that it shall be pulled
down when the piston descends and at the same time an upward thrust applied to
the joint or hinge round which it turns, or to some point between the joint and the
place where the downward pull is applied or to both.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation and Figure 2 is an
end elevation (with part removed) of so much of a machine or apparatus con-
structed according to my Invention as will be necessary to illustrate the manner in
which the same may be conveniently carried into effect.
Figure 3 is an end elevation shewing the complete apparatus drawn on a smaller
scale to the previous Figures. Figure 4 is a plan of the same and Figure 5 is a
detail view in plan shewing another arrangement of wings. Similar letters of
reference refer to like parts in all the Figures. The arms A B and levers A D are
to turn independently round the common joints A and A. A, D, is linked to the
wing by the link C, B jointed at both ends. The end D of the lever A D is
connected with the top of the piston rod by the connecting rod D E. When A D
is pulled down by the descent of the piston a pull is applied to the wing at B in
the direction B C and a thrust applied at A in a direction perpendicular to A D
and the ratio of the downward pull at B to the upward thrust at A may be
regulated by the length of A B which is to be adjustable during flight by
jointing B C (Figure 2) to a sliding collar B' made to traverse on the wing
arms A by the screws A³ fixed to the arms and working through an internal screw
in the top of the collar B and turned by cords E E round pulleys F F fixed to
the end of the screw nearest to A. The ratio of the lifting power of the engine to
the driving power increases when A B increases. Starting with the maximum
lifting power the speed can be increased by bringing the sliding collar nearer to A
till no superfluous lifting power remains.
On each side of the central cylinder G (Figure 2) two smaller cylinders H H of
equal size are fixed on the top of the boiler with the axes of the three parallel and
in a vertical plane each of the two having a small hole through its bottom into the
boiler. Each is provided with a piston to the centre of the top of which is jointed
a connecting rod J J jointed at the other end to the arm of the wing at ek so as
to move only in the said vertical plane. The sum of the areas of the smaller
cylinders multiplied by Ak should be nearly equal to the area of the central
cylinder multiplied by A D. The steam in the smaller cylinders with or without
a small amount in the lower part of the central cylinder will lift the wings and the

page_text: steam in the upper part of the central cylinder and the weight of the wings will
bring them down and press back the steam in the smaller cylinders into the
boiler.
The wing may be of any form found in a flying animal or of many others. It
may consist of a long flexible and elastic steel rod tapering from the joint to the
tip bent from a straight or slightly curved form by a light cord or wire fixed to the
tip and to or near the end of the top of the condenser the space between the
cord and rod being filled with a web of silk or linen tightly stretched between
them. Or as shewn in Figure 5 several of these may be placed over one another
like the primary feathers in a bird's wing so that each rod A after the first lies on
the web of that before it and each cord lies under the rods and cords behind it.
In this case the large ends of all the rods must be fixed to one rod to which the
connecting rods are jointed as before described. The wing may also be made to
rotate in a socket round an axis, dividing the surface of the wing unequally so that
the resistance of the air on the surface behind the axis of rotation over balances
that on the surface before it causing the anterior margin to be above the posterior
when the wing ascends and below when it descends and this must be done by
rotation where the flexibility of the wing is not sufficient to effect it.
Any furnace or fuel may be used but I prefer a cylindrical furnace L made of
light nickel plated sheet steel with a diaphragm of nickel plated sheet copper
perforated with holes not exceeding its thickness in diameter on which benzoline
vapour supplied from below and mixed with enough air to burn with a blue
smokeless flame is burnt.
A condenser M like a multitubular boiler but much lighter should be fixed
behind the boiler N with its tubes horizontal to condense the steam and guide
the flight like the feathers of an arrow and the water of condensation returned into
the boiler as fast as it collects by the usual incans.
The engine may be guided by shifting the centre of gravity backwards to ascend,
forwards to descend and to one side to turn to that side and this can be done by
the motion of the driver or inclination of his body, the seat O (Figure 1) being in
front.
To alight gently the driver should turn his engine's head to the wind and pull
up the safety valve just enough to make the pressure of the steam insufficient for
support.
Any form of light carriage with wheels and springs such as that shown in the
Drawings for carrying passengers may be fitted with one or more of these engines
each working one pair of wings.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed I declare that I claim as my Invention.
First The application of an upward thrust on the joint of the wing while it is
pulled down.
:
Secondly The application of an upward thrust on the wing between the joint
and the point where the downward pull is applied.
Thirdly The power by the node and means described to vary during flight the
proportion of the engine's power applied to lifting and driving respectively.
Fourthly. The combination of all the parts of the mechanism described into an
engine able to fly as set forth.
In witness whereof I the said John Kinnersley Smythics have hereunto set
my hand and seal this Twentyeighth day of June in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.