AN AERIAL CHARIOT, OR APPARATUS FOR NAVIGATING THE AIR
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Godwin Mende. Pratt Swift, Viscount Carlingford,
of Swiftseath, County Kilkenny, for the Invention of "AN AERIAL CHARIOT,
OR APPARATUS FOR NAVIGATING THE AIR."
Sealed the 9th June 1857, and dated the 17th December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Godwin Meade 'Pratt
Swift, Viscount Carlingford, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 17th December 1856.
I, GODWIN MEADE PRATT SWIFT, Viscount CARLINGFORD, of Swiftseath,
County Kilkenny, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
AERIAL CHARIOT, OR APPARATUS FOR NAVIGATING THE AIR," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in combining several ribs or frames into a convenient
form, and covering the same with some light material to form a body and
extended sides.
..I fit a moveable tail, formed of similar materials, to the body, and so fit it
as to allow of its being moved to steer or guide the apparatus. The forward
motion of the chariot is effected by means of a peculiarly formed screw, fitted
on a shaft connected with the bottom of the apparatus, and brought up in front
thereof at or about an angle of. 45 degrees. This screw, being rotated by
manual or other power, draws forward the apparatus.

page_text: The peculiar screw I employ is known as the Carlingford screw. The
blades of this screw become more straight as they approach the centre, or, in
other words, their edres become more direct towards the centre.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Godwin Meade Pratt Swift, Viscount Carlingford, in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, GODWIN
MEADE PRATT SWIFT, Viscount CARLINGFORD, of Swiftseath, County Kilkenny,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Godwin Meado Pratt Swift, Viscount Carlingford, Her special licenco
that I, the said Godwin Meade Pratt Swift, Viscount Carlingford, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Godwin Meade
Pratt Swift, Viscount Carlingford, 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 "AN AERIAL CHARIOT, OR APPARATUS FOR NAVIGATING THE AIR," upon tho
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Godwin Meade Pratt Swift,
Viscount Carlingford, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Godwin Meade Praft Swift, Viscount
Carlingford, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
The aërial chariot in form is something of the shape of a boat, extremely

page_text: light, with one wheel in front and two behind, having two wings slightly con-
cave fixed to its sides, and sustained by laths of a half hollow form pressing
against them, and communicating their pressure through the body of the
chariot from one wing to the other, and supported by cords, whose force, acting
on two whoops nearly of an oval shape, hold the wings firmly in their position,
using a force that cannot be less than ten tons, on the principle of corded
musical instruments. The aërial chariot is provided with a tail, that can
be raised or lowered at pleasure, and which serves for giving an elevating
or declining position, and worked by a cord that communicates into the interior
of the chariot, which is drawn forward by an aërial screw of the perfect form of
the screw propeller, discovered by the same Inventor, and presented by him to
Government the 16th June 1854, and which screws into the air at an elevation
of forty-five degrees, similar to the bird's wing; and is turned by means of a
winch acting on three multiplying wheels. The wings of the chariot are covered
with a net work of a lengthened square shape, which produces the effect of
birds' feathers when the chariot floats on the air, covered with silk, at which tine
may be seen its impression with the points forward and the same backwards,
by which no pocket, as it were, can be formed by the pressure of the silk
on the air. The upper part is finished in the same manner, and both sides of
the wings are covered with varnish. The body of the chariot, the wings, and
all of it in general is made of very light wood with few exceptions, weighing in
all from four to six stone, and covering a space from twenty-five to thirty feet
square, or according to the weight it is intended to carry. It can also be
constructed and considerably increased in size to carry very superior weights,
yet the wings will not require to be increased in the same proportion; as, for
instance, we see the eagle weighing eighty pounds and upwards, while the rook
only weighs one pound, yet the eagle has only four times the floating surface
of the rook. There is also a rudder to the aërial chariot, that has something of
the appearance of a small sail, but, contrary to the rudder, it is worked at its
distant extremity by a cord that communicates into the chariot. The cords
that are seen externally are for the purpose of fixing the wings in a precise and
equal position, from which they cannot become displaced.
As the manner to start the aerial chariot will no doubt be, asked, and as it
It is here intended to convey the idea that the bird strikes the air at the same angle as the aerial screw does
from the chariot, and that the stroke of the wing is merely a section of the circle which in the bird is repeated,
while with the screw it is continuous; for it must be recollected that while the bird strikes downwards with
the front edge of his wing he makes a considerable advance through the air, so that the angle must be as i
state.

page_text: may be considered to belong to this Invention, and also that it is very important,
and is besides an Invention of itself, it shall therefore be described here as its
proper place, and is as follows:-When the chariot can be placed on an.
elevated position, where there is a strong wind, a pole from six to nine feet
high will suffice, and supported on the opposite side by two ropes, looped and
fixed on two stakes driven slantways into the earth, then in fastening the
centre of the rope to the top of the pole, and the two ends looped and then
hooked to the crooks that turn downwards, and are placed at the front edges
of the wings. The wind will then raise the chariot to the height of the pole, and
in compressing the tail or by turning the winch it will start immediately; but
under any circumstances the chariot can always be made to take its flight by
using the apparatus represented in the Illustration, which, having prepared,
first fasten the back part of the chariot to the hind pole, then draw up the
weight in front by the two ropes which are to be hooked to the two reversed
crooks of the wings; then the rope behind is to be hooked to the trigger
of the chariot, and the other end of it is to be pulled, by which the chariot with
the person inside is raised nearly to the height of the pole, and the rope is then
to be made fast to the loop near the trigger; afterwards the key that holds
the trigger in security -from-accident is to be drawn, and then by pulling
the trigger cord the chariot is detached, falls upon the air, and is drawn
instantly forward with great velocity by the falling of the weight in front.
The aërial chariot thus receives its first impetus, which is easily sustained
and increased by turning the aërial screw, while the two ropes falling
from the crooks leave the chariot in perfect freedom. The weight to
be used may be about one-tenth the weight of the person and chariot
included; this I found amply sufficient when there was a pretty strong wind,
but without wind I should suppose it might require about four times that
weight, so that the stronger the wind the less weight it will take, and it will
afterwards be seen what little force it requires to keep up the velocity of
a body that floats on the air; perhaps it may be asserted, with perfect truth,
that thero will be the same proportion of force required between the air and
the water as between the latter and the earth. Upon the earth a horse will
draw about a ton, on the water a hundred tons, and upon the air it would be
⚫ I have proved by experiment that an aerial screw of only five inches long can give a pull greater than a
ten pound weight suspended to a cord and drawing through a pulley; and as it will only take such a small 3
force to maintain the flight of the aerial chariot, that what we look upon as fabulous may hereafter come to
pass, and that, like the chariot of Jupiter. we may yet behold two eagles trained to draw the aerial chariot.-
N.B. This observation may give the witty an opportunity of showing off.

page_text: found to be as many thousands were it to be tried. This may give some idea of
the small force required to continuo the flight of the aerial chariot, nor will it
be requisite to be continually turning the winch or working the pedal with the
foot, for when a certain altitude is attained the chariot may go several miles,
perhaps fifty or sixty, as it were, upon an inclined plane of air, and if the
person be expert he may take advantage of it for the distance stated, or even.
more, or according to the height he has attained.
CARLINGFORD. (L.S.)