AN IMPROVED MILITARY APPARATUS OR AERIAL BATTERY
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Ogle Rogers at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th October 1877. A communication
from abroad by Alfred W. Gittens, of New York, in the United States of
America.
CHARLES OGLE ROGERS, of New Wanstead, in the County of Essex. "AN
IMPROVED MILITARY APPARATUS OR AERIAL BATTERY." [A communication
from abroad by Alfred W. Gittens, of New York, in the United States of
America]
This Invention relates to an aerial battery capable of destroying the strongest
fortress, in the most otherwise inaccessible place, without any means of prevention
or retaliation.
It consists in the combination of a sheet or sheets of canvas, wood, or other
material, or of a sail or kite, with one or more balloons, either joined together or
separate, and of a line or lines of metal, hemp, or other material connecting the
same with suitable apparatus on the earth. This combination is herein-after referred
to as a "vehicle." The said line or lines are used as a means or medium of commu-
nication by electricity or in any other way, between the said vehicle and the earth,
or for any mechanical purpose in connection with or in the use of the said vehicle,
or the purposes it may be put to. The said line or lines are used as a means of
communication, or as a means of conveyance of person or material by means of
sheet, kite, sail, or balloon, either separately or in connection with each other (one
or more). The said sheet, kite, or sail, either separately or joined to the balloon or
balloons, is used as a means of navigation in the air, the said vehicle being
connected by a line or lines with the earth; it is thus held in position in the air,
and the said sheet, sail, kite and balloon are made of such avail and use as would
not be possible without such connecting line with the earth.
Rockets are used attached to the said vehicle in such a way, that when fired off,
the said vehicle will be forced through the air in the opposite direction to the
mouth of the rocket.
The battery is employed as a means of projecting or dropping missiles or
compounds, explosive or otherwise, and for other similar purposes.

page_text: A sheet, sail, or kite, is used either separate or in conjunction with a balloon or
balloons, as a means of holding up in the air at one or more points the line or lines,
connecting the said vehicle with the earth.
The firing off or forcible projection of missiles or compounds is resorted to not
only as a means of destruction to an enemy, but also as a means of forcing the said
vehicle through the air in the direction desired.
Not only may the air ship carry up a large quantity of explosive bombs, but a
continuous quantity can be conveyed up by means of supply balloons, which
traverse the wire, being connected by means of a pulley or wheel, as they ascend
in the air.
An air ship manned by two or three skilled men, who are in telegraphic commu-
nication by the connecting wire with others on the earth, floats off, ten miles or
more, out of reach of all hostile force and pours destruction on the place beneath.
The effect of a hundred or thousand shells of great size, filled, say with nitro-
glycerine, thrown down upon any fortification, would be to raze it to the ground.
The difficulty of placing and retaining in position this air ship is overcome by
means of the oblique sail held by the line, the ascending power is gained by the
balloons, and the air is held in by the oblique sail front-kite fashion. The wire lino
is paid out from a windlass on the earth, is held in the air at certain points by other
balloons, and the extent to which the such line can be given out is thus indefinite.
A moderate wind only is necessary, blowing of course in the direction needed; say
the air ship is comprised of three balloons, a large one in the centre, a smaller onc
at either side, an oblong car below. In front of the large balloon is the principal
sail connecting with the line which extends to the earth. This sail is held in an
oblique or standing position, kite fashion, and will also act as means of raising or
lowering the whole air ship by adjusting the surface to a more or less oblique
pressure of the wind. The whole vehicle being held steadily in the air, the sails at
either side in front of the smaller balloons can be so worked as to cause the air to
forcibly press upon them with a side pressure, and thus urge the vehicle to one side
or the other. The particular spot, fortress, armed camp, &c., is reached by paying
out the line as to distance by adjustment of the principal sail as to height, and the
smaller side sails as to location to the right or left. If the wind blowing is not
sufficient to do the latter, then the use of rockets fired from one end or the other,
according to the direction wanted, will accomplish the same end. Having reached
the exact position in the air, it then becomes necessary to project or let fall the
explosive bombs at regular intervals of space, so that beginning at a given point the
destruction may be step by step rendered complete. The line can be given out or
drawn in the distance required by the occupants of the car telegraphing to the
officers in charge of the windlass. The direction to right or left can be obtained by
their sails firing off their projectiles, and thus gaining a reaction of motion, or by
firing off rockets.
When the supply of bombs or nitro-glycerine canisters gives out, a new supply
can be furnished by causing carriers (balloons to which a car is attached containing
as many bombs as can be carried, and yet admit of a free ascension) to traverse
the connecting wire up to the air ship; or these carrier balloons can be despatched
at regular intervals.
In case of a storm coming up which would destroy the air ship, held as it would
be in fixed position, all the projectiles could be thrown overboard, and the carrier
balloons despatched without any car so as to raise the air ship out of reach of the
storm. Failing to do so, the wire must be cut to allow the vehicle to float off on a
chance of landing on friendly ground.