Who's a grouchy Gus then?
First off: congratulations to Rod, for his perserverence, and for identifying the
Botts' Flying Machine. I'll present the information I have about the inventor and his machine in chronological order. Anyone who has more information, that can cast light on this mysterious machine, is welcome to add details.
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In 1857, the inventor was born
Barnet Nixon Botts in Indiana.
In 1897, he wrote a small book called
Botts' Air Ship: The Problem of Aerial Navigation (all text, no illustrations). Now out of copyright, this publication is available as a free
download.
Much of what we know now of Botts' work in actually building his flying machine is thanks to a local historical society, the
PRHA, in the Point Richmond area of California. One of the PRHA booklets,
This Point in Time, and which is also downloadable as a
very large (3.2Mb) PDF, contains quite a useful account of Botts' project.
According to the booklet, and now apparently styling himself as Professor Robert Botts, he arrived in Point Richmond, California, area in the winter of 1900. Six months later, he had announced plans for his flying machines, and touted the "World's Aerial Navigation and Construction Company" as his fund raising vehicle.
In 1901, and supplying addresses for both Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Point Richmond, California, he applied for and was granted two patents:
Note that the patented design has a single rear propeller, and a strong convex profile to the circular lifting surface. There is a single photo online showing this as a built design. The photo itself is a collage, but I am not sure if the machine is a model or was actually built. It does seem out of context with what else is known of his efforts, so I suspect it's a model:
By the time the flying machine - the one that's the subject of this challenge - was built, Botts' design had evolved. It had a tandem propeller arrangement and the flying surface became a somewhat flat disc.
By February 1902, he announced that he would complete two flying machines by June and use them to fly to the North Pole.
May 26,1902 saw Botts demonstrating his engines to the public.
August 1902 - public displays of a model and bits of his engine.
According to
This Point in Time, Botts tested his machine at Nicholls' Nob, which is a local high spot in the Point Richmond area, in late 1903, but fate, and some strong winds, worked against him and his flying machine proved a dismal failure.
Here are a couple of images from
This Point in Time,
Another account of Botts and his flying machine can be found in two online issues of PRHA newsletter:
As to the exact dating of the Botts Airship and when it was actually tested , one can take your pick of different options. One part of the PRHA website quotes January 1903, the
This Point in Time booklet says late in 1903, the PRHA newsletter articles simply has it as being "sometime in 1903".
I am, however, plumping for 1904. This is because of the only contemporary accounts I've found about the Bott's Flying Machine date from 1904. One of the accounts appeared in the September 10, 1904 issue of
Scientific American. I have not been able to obtain a readable copy of the actual article, so do not know if the text could cast more light on the matter for us.
I am happy to shift the date back to 1903, but would like a contemporary newspaper account, or the like, to substantiate that as being the case.
Cheers,
Paul