IMPROVEMENTS IN AERONAUTICAL APPARATUS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Hullett at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
February 1868.
I, JOHN HULLETT, of Purbrook, in the County of Hants, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN AERONAUTICAL APPARATUS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the means of raising and
moving persons, substances, and materials in and through the air,
a rope, line, or cord being the medium upon which the persons,
substances, or materials are moved.
The improved apparatus is of a twofold character, and consists, first,
of the elevator by which the line, cord, or rope is raised to the required.
altitude or carried from one point to another; and, secondly, of the
propeller for raising or drawing bodies or substances up or along the
said rope.
I propose to construct the elevator or primary part of the apparatus
of light skeleton frames covered with cotton, silk, or other light or
suitable fabric. The frames are somewhat similar in form to that of an
ordinary kite, upon which the woven fabric is fitted so that it may be

page_text: reefed or furled at pleasure. Two or more of these kites are connected
by a line, cord, or rope, upon which they are fixed at certain distances
apart, so that when raised one will be behind and above the other, the
rear or furthermost kite being of lesser dimensions than the others, and
their size increased in succession to the fore or main kite, to which one
end of the elevator rope is made fast, the other end being secured to
suitable winding and running mechanism for hauling in and letting out
the same; from this mechanism to the main kite bridle lines are fitted
for regulating the pitch of the kites to the wind and altering their
position in the air. I also propose to make the elevator of one main
kite only or with a vapour holder, to be charged with gas, attached
thereto to assist in raising the said kite; or the elevator may consist of
one or more balloon cases attached to the clevator rope.
I propose to construct the propeller or secondary part of the
apparatus of a light frame suspended from the elevator rope upon
grooved wheels or pullies. I attach a spar carrying a sail to this frame
for propelling it and raising or drawing bodies or substances up or along
the rope; or I fit one or more screw blades upon a hollow shaft placed
upon the rope to turn thereon by the force of the wind. Upon the axis
of the screw blades, or directly to the blades themselves, I fix a wheel
or pully and cause the same to give motion to wheels or pullies upon
the axes of the bearing pullies upon which the propeller frame before
mentioned travels, and thus cause the screw or fan to propel the frame.
This frame or the propeller has clips fitted thereto for securing it to
the rope and for the purpose of a break to be used when descending
the said rope.
The propeller may also consist of a kite or kites attached to the
travelling frame. The frames of these kites, as also the skeleton frames
of those already described, I prefer to make in sections or parts to fold
together, or be separated and fitted together, for portability and
convenience of transport.
The mode of raising the multiple kite elevator is by first letting up
the rear or hindmost and smallest kite a certain distance, and when
up making it assist in letting up the next of the series, and so on in
succession until the lesser kites are all up, when they serve to assist in
raising and supporting the main kite and elevator rope, and also assist
in sustaining the weight thereon.

page_text: I prefer to use a main kite of large dimensions singly or assisted as
herein-after described, but when practicable a number of kites of
uniform dimensions connected in a similar way, raised and supporting
each other in succession, may be used as the elevating and sustaining
part of the apparatus. The elevator rope may be made to taper, or may
consist of ropes of different thicknesses joined together.
The apparatus herein described is intended to be employed for
establishing a means of communication between ships or other vessels
at sea, and between the same and the land. The elevator may also be
employed with or without the propeller for establishing a rope con-
nection over and between inaccessible places and other analagous or
useful purposes. A car may be suspended from the frame, elevator,
or rope by a line or pulley, so that the car may be raised and
by the latter when required. A toy screw constructed according to the
plan herein-before described, or to consist of a bladed hollow axis only,
may be produced to rotate upon and run up or along the line of an
ordinary kite or inclined line the ends of which are otherwise secured.