Improvements in the Art of Aerostation, and Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 20th July, 1894-Accepted, 15th Sept., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Art of Aerostation, and Apparatus therefor.
A communication by RAMIRO DE PALACIOS, Engineer, formerly Consul, of
No. 15°, Albrechtstrasse, Steglitz, Prussia, and WILHELM GOETJES,
Engineer, of No. 28, Joachimsthalerstrasse, Berlin, both in the Empire of
Germany.
1, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of The Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street,
Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster and 323 High Holborn, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, 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 :-
This invention relates to an improved method of aërial navigation and to
apparatus for carrying said method into practice. By the new method of this
invention, loads may be raised perpendicularly into the air, free of any connection
to the ground, and in its horizontal motion the air-ship may be steered in any
desired direction and at any desired level above the ground, in close proximity to
the same, as well as at any desired height.
All methods hitherto practised of rising into the air and moving in a desired
direction, if such direction is not dependent on the wind, as is the case with
balloons, are only practicable at a considerable elevation from the ground, so that,
in case of accident, a fall would prove fatal or at least involve the greatest danger.
This refers particularly to those trials which have been made in imitation of the
flight of birds, or which consist in directing inclined surfaces against the wind,
utilising the principle of the toy kite.
By means of this invention, horizontal motion may be given to the air-ship or
flying machine at such proximity to the ground that a fall by accident will scarcely
injure the person falling; the ship or machine, nevertheless, may, as desired, be
raised to any required height for passing obstacles of any kind, such as towns,
woods, or hills which would stop forward motion in a straight line at a uniform
level close to the ground. In rising to considerable height and keeping it, any
desired security is given to the navigators.
This invention, further, admits of the raising and carrying to considerable
distances of loads, which will enable the invention to be used in conveying persons
and goods in the way of trade, while aërial navigation, hitherto, only served for
scientific observations and for sport.
For solving the long sought for problem of navigating the air and being also
without danger independent of the elevation from the ground, and in a manner
capable of being made universally useful, the new system hereinafter described has
been invented, independent of all the methods hitherto tried and found deficient
by experience. The new system has reference only to providing vertical motion,
while to obtain horizontal motion, recourse may be had to methods and means
known and used before; in some cases, too, such known methods and means may
serve to support and assist this invention.
The said system is based on giving vertical or approximately vertical motion to
horizontal or approximately horizontal surfaces, preferably of a circular shape,
which surfaces may be called "wheels," though they do not turn, as wheels do
commonly speaking. In the following Specification, the expression "wheels" will
further be used for brevity's sake, for the surfaces, which partly serve as driving
and partly as supporting surfaces.

page_text: Before the nature of this invention, and. the result obtained by the reciprocal
motion of horizontal wheels or surfaces are more fully explained, the following
general rules should be stated, which must be observed to secure success :-
I. The agent or medium supplying the driving power must find a point of
support in due proportion to the total weight of the machine, to furnish the
momentum of motion of the surfaces, the resultant of which causes the machine to
rise or to remain at a desired level in the air. The horizontal motion must be
quite independent of the lifting power. The said agent or medium need not be a
single one, two or more agents may be alternately or simultaneously employed,
such as steam, explosive matter, compressed air, carbonic acid in a fluid state,
etcetera.
II. To maintain the position of equilibrium and to avoid undue oscillations, the
resultants of the driving power, as well as of the resistance thereby caused or
encountered by the working surfaces in their ascent, or descent, or lateral motion,
must pass through the centre of gravity of the machine. As a matter of course,
the said centre of gravity must be placed below the supporting surfaces and driving
surfaces and at the centre of the horizontal plane of the machine. A strictly
symmetrical construction and arrangement of parts of the machine is of great
importance.
The principle of this invention will be best understood if explained with reference
to the accompanying drawings.
Figures 1 and 2 are diagrams showing two wheels A and B, preferably of exactly
circular form, said wheels or surfaces being constructed of light material, consisting,
for instance, of a hollow tyre and wire spokes, covered with thin, waterproof
fabrics forming flap-valves which readily open downwards as the wheel rises, but
close to form a resisting surface in the descent. C is a cylinder, which represents
the driving engine and is so arranged with reference to the wheels A and B that
the centre of gravity or the total machine may be supposed to be at a.
The said
cylinder C has a central partition D, dividing it into two separate cylinders, each
holding a piston E E'; to the piston-rod of the upper piston E, one of the
wheels A is secured, the other piston-rod F' carries the other wheel B, being
connected to it by suitable rods.
The two pistons E E' are reciprocated in opposite directions by a suitable
driving agent, such as steam, compressed air, explosive gases or the like, distributed
by suitable valve-motion symmetrically arranged with reference to the cylinder.
The effect of the reciprocating motion of the pistons will be as follows:-
1. As the pistons are forced away from each other, Figure 1, the upper wheel A
is readily lifted, offering no resistance to the atmosphere, which presses through the
flap-valves of the wheel. The lower wheel B, on the contrary, having the tendency
to be forced down, presses with its closed surface on the atmosphere below, which
resists the downward stroke of the wheel, the resistance being proportionate to the
extent of surface of the wheel.
By the fact that there is no resistance to the upward pressure of the agent,
while its downward pressure encounters the resistance, as described, a surplus
pressure or a resultant is obtained which has an upward tendency acting against the
lower surface of the diaphragm D, and this resultant raises the cylinder C (or the
centre of gravity) the said cylinder sliding upwards along the piston E', which
keeps its place owing to the resistance offered by the surface B. The centre
of gravity, or the machine, except the wheel B, is being lifted accordingly.
2. As the pistons are forced towards each other (Figure 2) the lower wheel B
offers no resistance to the lifting power, while the upper wheel A resists and remains
stationary (or approximately so) owing to the resistance of the atmosphere against
the downward stroke. As in the former case, a resultant of force is obtained, which
acts against the lower surface of the upper cylinder-head. The centre of gravity is
again raised, as, the cylinder C, together with the whole machine, except the
wheel A, slides upwards along the piston E, kept stationary by its resisting wheel A.
The play of the two pistons E E' in opposite directions being continued, it will be

page_text: seen that the machine will rise at every stroke, provided the agent yields sufficient
lifting power. The two wheels A and B alternately are stationary, or more
properly speaking, offer the required resistance or point of support, which allows
the agent to exert a pressure in one direction, and the same wheels alternately are
lifted without resistance to the atmosphere, to repeat the same movement from their
raised position.
If the power developed by the agent be only sufficient to equipoise the resistance
of the wheels to the atmosphere below, that is, if the said wheels, by their natural
tendency, sink as much as they had been raised before, the machine will continue
to keep the same level, and, if horizontal motion be imparted to the machine, the
latter will move on in a horizontal plane. And if the lifting power be inferior to
the resistance of the wheels, a downward motion will ensue, which however, even
if the driving agent should entirely fail, cannot proceed faster than allowed by the
combined resistance of the two surfaces or wheels, which, closing against the
atmosphere in the descent, act as a double or large parachute.
It will be understood then, that, according to the amount of driving power
applied, the machine will either rise, or remain at the same level, or gradually
descend, or land, all movements being under immediate control of the operator.
Landing may be effected without the least shock, and the machine may rise from
the ground without requiring an impulsion or an elevated position, as required by
apparatus on the same principle as the kite, or imitating the flight of birds:
oscillations and all danger of an overthrow being also prevented.
The system of a double cylinder having two pistons working in opposite directions,
as explained with reference to Figures 1 and 2, is preferable from the point of view,
that the lifting motion is more uniform and steady, but objectionable for the reason
of a greater weight, a complicated distribution of the agent, a shorter stroke of the
pistons and the use of connecting rods securing the lower wheel B to the lower
piston-rod. The double cylinder is not necessary, it may be replaced by a single
one, having but one piston, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. In this case, one of the
wheels, A, is secured to the piston-rod F, and the other, B, to the cylinder C.
Accordingly, the two wheels may be called the "piston-wheel" and the "cylinder-
wheel."
up
The piston E, being reciprocated by the agent entering alternately above and
below the same into the cylinder C, produces essentially the same effect as before
described with reference to the double cylinder. If the piston be forced from
its lower position, the piston-wheel A will be lifted without material resistance to
the atmosphere, which passes through the valves in the upward stroke. The
pressure of the agent working against the lower cylinder-head, instead of forcing
the cylinder down, finds a point of support, as the closed surface of the cylinder-
wheel B, resists the downward stroke.
Then, if the agent enters above the piston E, forcing the same down, the piston-
wheel A meets with the resistance of the air on its downward stroke by means of
its closed surface, and a resultant is obtained working against the lower face of the
upper cylinder-head, thereby lifting the cylinder-wheel B, the cylinder sliding
And in this manner the
along the piston E, kept stationary by the wheel A.
working continues, the centre of gravity of the machine is lifted, if the agent yields
sufficient power, or it continues to keep the same level, or gradually sinks, according
to the power applied, as has been described before.
The difference of the double cylinder and the single cylinder-systems, still, as
regards their working order, is remarkable, and is as follows:-
With the double cylinder, the agent finds its point of support alternately on both
sides of the diaphragm D, and on the inner faces of the cylinder-heads. The agent
simultaneously entering both cylinders in opposite directions, they mutually support
each other, and, accordingly, the resultant of force acts inmediately on the wheels.
Both wheels, therefore, alternately offering resistance to the atmosphere, are actual
driving-wheels operating to lift the centre of gravity, that is, the whole machine.
The point of support for the agent is furnished by the opposite position of the solid

page_text: parts of the machine, namely, the two cylinders and the distribution working in
opposite directions. In the double cylinder system then, the centre of gravity
is being lifted by each stroke of the pistons downwards and upwards, the machine,
accordingly, will rise steadily and without any noticeable trembling or vibration.
With the single cylinder system, the conditions are essentially different. The
agent can find its point of support for delivering driving power, only by offering
the required resistance by the wheels proper. If the agent enters below the piston,
the machine does not move down, because the cylinder-wheel B closes and
resists; the piston-wheel A, owing to its opening valves, is lifted. The upward
stroke of the piston fails to raise the centre of gravity, and this is a remarkable
difference in comparison with the double cylinder system. Now, if the agent
enters above the piston, the level of the machine is not lowered, either as the
piston-wheel A closes and resists against the downward stroke; but if the power
developed by the agent is of sufficient strength, a resultant of force is obtained,
which, as the wheel A remains stationary, works against the lower face of the
upper cylinder-head and forces the cylinder upwards; the said cylinder, sliding
along the piston E, is lifted and with it the centre of gravity of the machine. In
its ascent, the cylinder-wheel B opens and offers no resistance.
It will be seen,
then, that the machine is raised only after a complete play of the piston. During
the upward stroke of the piston, the machine keeps its level, and during the
downward stroke, it is lifted, or, in other words, the machine moves the opposite
way of the piston, while the piston keeps its position. The cylinder and the piston
alternately stop and alternately are raised. In this case, a trembling or vibrating
motion of the machine may be felt.
In the single cylinder system, the piston-wheel is working both as a driving
wheel and as a supporting-wheel, while the cylinder wheel exclusively serves as a
supporting-wheel. In the double cylinder system, each of the two wheels works
both as a driving and as a supporting-wheel, alternating their function as before
described.
A machine for aërial navigation, constructed according to the system before
described, comprises a cylinder or double cylinder and two wheels acting as driving,
namely, supporting surfaces. A pair of wheels of this kind acts on the space as a
rolling wheel acts on a plane, the new method of this invention appears to transform
the tangential motion of a rolling wheel or roller on a plane surface into a
continual motion of two surfaces making contact with the air or atmosphere.
To increase the supporting power of the ship or machine, two or more pairs of
wheels of the kind described may be employed. The more and the larger surfaces
are employed in an air-ship, the greater loads may be lifted and carried by the
ship. As a matter of course, all wheels or pairs of wheels employed in one aërial
ship or flying machine must be symmetrically arranged, all must be of the same
size and of the same weight, and develop equal power, their motion must be
coincident. In some cases, indeed, deviations from strict uniformity may be
allowed, if symmetry in the whole thereby is not destroyed.
Figures 7 and 8, illustrate an air-ship or flying-machine provided with two
pairs of wheels; Figure 7 is a side view and Figure 8 a plan of the complete
arrangement.
Figure 9 represents a general plan of a similar ship or machine having eight
pairs of wheels.
In the same or in a similar manner the number of pairs of wheels, symmetrically
arranged, may be increased, as convenient, and thereby the supporting power so
increased that a considerable number of persons or heavy loads may be lifted.
Instead of placing a cylinder-wheel B of equal size immediately opposite a
piston wheel A. two or more piston wheels A, may be placed opposite one or more
cylinder wheels B, symmetrically arranged with reference to the piston wheels and
of a larger size, an arrangement of this kind is illustrated by Figure 10.
And in order to obtain a large supporting power without necessitating wheels or
surfaces of great extent, the surfaces of each wheel may be doubled or multiplied,

page_text: by placing two or more wheels of the same kind one above another, all of said
wheels having flap valves opening downwards and closing upwards. An arrange-
ment of this kind is illustrated by Figures 5 and 6, A A" Figure 5 being the
wheels carried by the upper piston rod, and B' B" the wheels carried by the lower
piston rod, or AA" A Figure 6, the set of piston wheels, and B B B the
set of cylinder wheels in the single cylinder system. Each set of wheels A¹A"A"
and B B B acts as one to replace the single wheel A or B, of a proportionately
larger size.
The possibility of raising, lowering and landing the ship or machine, being thus
given, its moving in horizontal direction may be easily performed. The horizontal
wheels A B as well as all other parts of the machine offer but very slight resistance
to horizontal motion, and a boat calculated to carry two persons, as illustrated by
Figures 7 and 8 may, without difficulty, be driven through the atmosphere by two
oars e, worked by hand, or by pedals and cranks, the said oars being long and
broad at the outer ends, balanced in their fulcrum and provided with flap valves
opening in the return stroke and closing in the forward stroke. The said oars may
be used to steer, to stop and to turn the boat, as usual with water oars, or they may
be employed to form sails utilizing the pressure of the wind.
In flying machines of a larger size, propellors driven by hand, or foot, or by
mechanical means, or paddle wheels may be employed as well as sails and rudders
to utilize the pressure of the wind and to regulate its resultant of resistance. In
all cases the power required to move the machine in horizontal direction will be
exceedingly small in comparison with the load to be moved.
Figures 11 and 12 illustrate a pair of wheels drawn to a larger scale. Figure 11
is a plan, showing but one of its sections provided with flap valves, of course, all
sections or the greater part of them, have flap valves opening downwards and
closing upwards like the feathers of a bird's wing.
It need scarcely be mentioned, that, in constructing the machine, all superfluous
weight should be carefully avoided. The working parts proper for obtaining
lifting power, that is the wheels and mechanism for reciprocating the same, have
but a trifling weight in proportion to the supporting power obtained. The boat
may best be made of skeleton or trellis work offering but little resistance to the
atmosphere encountered in the forward, as well as in the upward motion.
As has been stated before, any driving medium or agent to impart motion to the
pistons of the wheels may be employed but it is preferred to use a mixture of
gas and air, as employed in the so-called gas engines, because a large quantity
of gas may be carried along by the ship without materially increasing its bulk and
weight.
In order to fully control the upward and downward motion of the machine, or to
keep it at a desired level in the air, a suitable distribution of the agent is
required, placing the play of the pistons under full and immediate command of the
operator.
Distributing mechanism of known construction might suit the purpose, if
properly adapted, but a special construction of valve motion is preferred, as herein-
after described with reference to Figures 13, 14 15 and 16; Figures 13 and 14
being central vertical sections taken at right angles to each other, Figure 15 being
a plan and Figure 16 a cross section drawn to line of Figure 15.
Symmetrically arranged at both sides of the main cylinder C are two smaller
cylinders G G each holding a piston H H' to alternately draw in the mixture of
gas and air supplied by the pipes S₁ S' in adjustable quantities, and force the said
inixture out into the distributing cylinders L L'.
Above and below said pistons H'H' a suction valve I and a delivery valve K are
provided. The mixture of gas and air drawn in through the suction valve is
delivered by the following stroke of the piston into the distributing cylinders L L'
the said cylinders having, each a solid partition M dividing the cylinder into two
separate compartments.
In the drawings, the piston E, of the main cylinder C is in its lowest position.

page_text: .
The two pistons H H are connected to each other by a cross-bar and also to the
rod of the piston E so that the working of the three pistons E H H¹ is
simultaneous.
When the piston E from its lower position is driven upwards by an explosion,
the pistons H'H' rising along with it, draw the mixture of gas and air through the
lower suction valves into the cylinders G G' and simultaneously deliver the mixture
previously drawn in at the other side of the pistons, through the delivery valves K
into the upper space of the distributing cylinders L L'. Towards the outer end of
each space of the said cylinders L La partition is provided having a valve P.
The space above said valve has an aperture y which registers with the aperture p
of the main cylinder C as soon as the frame R of the valve motion is reversed.
The mixture of gas and air, having been forced into the cylinders L L' and kept there
under pressure till the apertures qp are made to register, now passes into the main
cylinder C, and mixes with the atmosphere therein contained. Explosion of the
mixture is now obtained through the electrical contacts kk or by other suitable
means. The valves P, of the communicating cylinders L L close by the pressure
of the exploding mixture and prevent the waste products from entering into the
cylinders L L.
By the explosion above the piston E, the latter is forced down again, carrying
along with it the two pistons H H. By the downward stroke of piston E, the
waste products below the same are forced out of the registering apertures ppp"
which, by the previous ascent of frame R, have been placed opposite each other.
These apertures continue to register, till the frame R, is again reversed to take the
position indicated by the drawings.
In the ascent of frame R as described, the two partitions M of the cylinders L L'
have closed the apertures leading from the pipes S S into the upper portion of the
cylinders L L and opened the apertures leading into the lower part of said
cylinders. It will be seen, then, that by the downward stroke of pistons H H¹ the
mixture of gas and air contained in the cylinders G G below the said pistons, is
forced into the lower portion of the cylinders L L' where it remains under
pressure, till the frame R is shifted to make the apertures p q register, whereupon
the mixture is discharged into the main cylinder below its piston E there to be
exploded.
The working continues as described.
The cylinder C, is being cooled principally by the surrounding atmosphere, but
auxiliary means may be employed, such as a pipe carrying carbonic acid in a fluid
state, discharging which at proper intervals will produce an immediate cooling
effect.
The speed of the piston is controlled by the more or less quick succession of the
explosions produced by the electrical spark at the desired intervals, for instance by
the agency of a make-and-break-wheel operated by the hand of the navigator to
change the speed at any moment, as desired, or it may be turned by mechanical
means, if a constant speed is desired.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The method of dynamical aërostation, consisting in producing vertical
or approximately vertical, reciprocal motion of horizontal or approximately
horizontal surfaces, which, in their ascent allow the atmosphere to pass through,
but close in their descent and form a supporting surface, substantially as and for
the purpose set forth.
2. The method of dynamical aërostation, consisting in producing vertical, or
approximately vertical reciprocal motion of horizontal or approximately horizontal
surfaces having downward opening valves, said surfaces being alternately forced
from each other and towards each other, both surfaces serving alternately as
driving and supporting surfaces, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

page_text: 3. The method of dynamical aërostation, consisting in producing vertical or
approximately vertical reciprocal motion of horizontal or approximately horizontal
surfaces having downward opening valves, one of which surfaces, or sets of surfaces,
receiving the impulsion and alternately serving as a driving and as a supporting
surface, while the other surface or set of surfaces only serves as a supporting
surface substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
4. Apparatus for aërostation or lifting loads into the air, consisting in horizontal
or approximately horizontal surfaces or wheels, one or both of which are adapted
to receive impulsions in their axial line and having valves or their equivalents
opening downwards in the ascent and closing to form a supporting surface in the
descent, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
5. Apparatus for aërostation or lifting loads into the air, consisting in a pair or
pairs of horizontal or approximately horizontal surfaces or wheels having downward
opening valves or their equivalents, the two wheels belonging to a pair being
connected respectively, to a piston, said pistons working in opposite directions within
a common vertical cylinder having a central partition, substantially as and for the
purpose set forth.
6. Apparatus for aërostation or lifting loads into the air, consisting in a pair or
pairs of horizontal or approximately horizontal surfaces or wheels having downward
opening valves or their equivalents, one of the said surfaces or wheels of each pair
being connected to the piston of a vertical or approximately vertical cylinder, and
the other surface or wheel to the cylinder itself, substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.
7. Apparatus for aërostation or lifting loads into the air, consisting in two or
more pairs of horizontal or approximately horizontal surfaces or wheels
symmetrically arranged with reference to each other, each pair of wheels comprising
two or more surfaces having downward opening valves or their equivalents and
acting substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
8. Apparatus for aërostation or lifting loads into the air, consisting of horizontal
or approximately horizontal surfaces or wheels reciprocated in the direction of their
axis, each surface or wheel being composed of two or more surfaces having
downward opening valves or their equivalents, the several surfaces of each wheel
working as one substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
9. Apparatus for aërostation or lifting loads into the air, consisting of two or
more horizontal or approximately horizontal surfaces having downward opening
valves or their equivalents, said surfaces being symmetrically arranged opposite one
or more surfaces of the same kind and capable of reciprocating motion in the axial
line, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
10. In apparatus for aërostation, the combination, with two or more horizontal
surfaces receiving reciprocating motion by a vertical or approximately vertical
cylinder, of a valve motion comprising two or more auxiliary cylinders G, G¹
symmetrically arranged with reference to the main cylinder C, pistons H H¹
working within the said cylinders G G¹; two or more distributing-cylinders L L'
symmetrically arranged with reference to the main cylinder C, conducting pipes S,
leading from the cylinders G G¹ to the cylinders L L', partitions M, dividing the
said cylinders L L₁ into an upper and a lower chamber, suction valves I and
discharge valves K at both ends of the cylinders G G¹, valves P in the upper and
lower chambers of the distributing cylinders L L', and apertures p p p q in the
main cylinder and distributing cylinders, operated by the distributing frame so as
to come in and out of register, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 19th day of July 1894
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.