Wing Flappers

aerohydro · 25 January 2005, 05:55 PM

Hi

Yes, I liked the last photo as well - its a dark foreboding picture full of pathos. Regarding the crash, as George White lived on til 1980, I suspect it was his pride that was hurt more than anything else. George had kept hold of the wings right til the end, but his son, who settled his estate, had them thrown out!

Cheers,
aerohydro

18 March 2005, 07:19 AM

This is George White's ornithopter patent. On page 9, he describes the flights that were done before applying for the patent.
http://v3.espacenet.com/origdoc?DB=E...&QPN=US1783029
Cheers,
Patricia

AAC Cadet Leader · 18 March 2005, 04:49 PM

Patricia,
Thanks for adding the interesting link to George White's patent application and tests.

Please link all of us here to your own very interesting involvement with flight testing a real ornithopter. Wow!! I found your website and video fascinating! Please give us details and tell us the status of your testing. Thanks for finding us and for your valuable contribution to ornithopter research. Good luck with successful flights!

R Pope · 19 March 2005, 04:41 AM

In the early 60's I built a rubber-band powered ornithopter that had tandem wings. The rigid wings tilted on a center pivot so the right one went up as the left one went down. The front and rear wings were geared to move opposite to each other, thus cancelling out any bobbing or torque. It was too heavy to gain altitude, but it seemed to my young mind to travel a lot farther with all the frantic wing flapping than it did as a glider! Has anybody else tried this approach?

Mudflap Aviation · 18 April 2005, 12:06 PM

Hi, I'm new. Never been on a forum. I'm currently translating several books about early aviation from German and French into English and I have trouble with the nomenclature from time to time. Can anyone out there help me with the terms Schwingenflieger and Rudderflieger? The latter is literally "oar flyer" and I thought from my other internet searches that it meant "bat wings," but I can't seem to catch what the difference is between the two.

franzkait · 21 April 2005, 07:44 PM

Mudflap ?Texas ? you did not fix Richards roof in Ponder very good !

Mudflap Aviation · 23 April 2005, 01:02 PM

Why, yes, I've been in Germany for the past 13 some years, and doing some translating, among other things. Yes, I remember fixing Richard's roof. In the rain, I believe. So whom do I have the pleasure of addressing, and what do you know about these old birds, the Ruderflieger and the Swingerflieger? - Shirley, in Stuttgart

franzkait · 23 April 2005, 04:13 PM

what is a ruderflieger ? all my german friends do not know this word. a swingenflieger is easy, it is a ornithopter.

Mudflap Aviation · 27 April 2005, 07:35 AM

That's what I'm trying to figure out. Here's the sentence: "Manche deutsche Flugrechniker scheinen aber der Meinung zu sein, sie müßten das Fliegen gewissermassen noch einmal von neuem erfinden. Sie quälen sich mit Ruderfliegern, Schwingenfliegern, Schraubenfliegern und wie sie alle heißen und auf dem Papier in der flugtechnischen Literatur zum Teil seit Jahrhunderten ein verschwiegenes Dasein geführt haben.

My internet searches have only given me descriptions of bird flight.

Perhaps "R

Ruderflieger" was a term being kicked around which means the same as Schwingenflieger, but never quite caught on. I've run into it more than once in the books and articles I've translated, but nothing in detail.

aerohydro · 10 June 2005, 09:06 PM

Hi All

'twas doing some web browsing yesterday, and came across an interesting online catalog of 18th and 19th century aeronautical prints. The catalog consists of some 420 images from the Tissandier Collection and it has been put online by the Library of Congress. Click here for the website, with the index being accessed at this spot.

The Tissandier Collection has also been packaged up onto a CD-Rom, and sold commercially under the title "Early History of Ballooning". A search on eBay should yield a few listings for it.

Though primarily about ballooning, the collection does contain several prints of ornithopters - hence this posting! One of the more interesting ones, I thought, was of Jean-Pierre Blanchard's "Vaisseau Volant", an ornithopter which he had built and tested in Paris in 1783, just prior to the Montgolfiers coming onto the scene. Below is a snippet of the online image - the full print can be accessed by pointing your mouse here

The second image is one showing a plan of a small human-powered ornithopter designed by Bourcart in 1866. This, too, is a snippet from the full print, which shows a second ornithopter design, plus various schematic drawings. For me, a humble enthusiast of early aviation, and of all things unusual, this print is simply quite amazing.

Cheers,
Paul