[JoeF]

Leonardo Da Vinci had the A-frame with pilot prone and holding the basebar. Vertical side parts of the A-frame frame the pilot's head and neck. Pilot is behind the A-frame mostly.

[JoeF]

Pilot in position behind A-frame in Flying Flea.
Parasol. Suspended cockpit.
Note: When power is off or when motor is removed, then have design tease for hang gliders and other kite systems.

[JoeF]

A-frame rudiments with pilot behind ... in Emil von Némethy efforts 1901-1907 circa. Three or four experiments occurred.

[JoeF]

Donald E. Hewes
1961
The stiffened biconical in the NASA circles was called Rogallo parawing sometimes and when in glider: paraglider. Many engineers in NASA understood that the principles of limp wing could be stiffened; and since Francis Rogallo was communicating the same, then the items were seen naturally as evolutes of the Rogallo wing influence; and indeed, even though biconicals were in kites by others, the deep studies were carried on by engineers and technicians on the basis of understanding the wings as resonant with stiffened Rogallo wings when stiffened. And cylindrical evolutes were studied likewise, not just conicals; all were respected as being topics because of Rogallo's personal inputs; the art was old, but the careful study was new ...from low speed to supersonic speeds of flight in gliding. Many powered versions were explored. Some shapes of the wing were the wing for sport gliding in 1960 and following.

Donald explored serveral large models for radio-control under contract.
The A-frame was used to hold the mass of the glider format.
TN D-927 is attached. Technical Note D-927
Notice that studies and thought was done in preamble even to getting the study contract.
Indeed, deep studies over the wing that would become important in hang gliding was deeply studied in 1960 by the NASA-related agents in several ways.
To get a rich feel for the A-frame related to flexible battened wings, one goes back into the 1800s.

[JoeF]

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1088&p=4897 This post partly duplicates, but with a different focus for study and discussion.
Looking at the A-frame in that early machine.

328 http://www.earlyaeroplanes.com/br.pre19 ... 14-328.jpg
Fyodorov Split-wing Machine.
Designed and built by Yevgeny Stepanovich Fyodorov [Евгений Степанович Фёдоров] during the period 1895 until 1903. Fyodorov had a career in the military as an engineer, where in 1895 he presented a model aeroplane project with a “split-wing” [самолёта-пятиплана]. This model was successfully flown behind an automobile, which towed the model. On the results of the tests with this model Fyodorov decided to built a full scale aeroplane at his own expense. According to sources (Shavrov / Шавров) it was finished, but never flight tested. The machine of Fyodorov is considered the second constructed flying machine after the one of Mozhaiski [Можа́йский].

[JoeF]

Pilot on platform that hangs from upper airframe while he operates an A-frame for flight operations:

The uprights or downtubes are nearly parallel which would have the apex of the A-frame be the infinite zenithal point.

[JoeF]

Fig. 14.—Projet d'homme volant de C. F. Meerwein (1784). This is an early 1784 looong basebar in glider A-frame arrangement. Looks like there is some cable-staying of the basebar. Considerable anhedral in this hang glider or is that sweep; notice the upper ribbing fronts in the front view. Pilot seems to be hanging from the keel of a sailed hang glider that he might pump to flap; but after he gets tired he has a fairly good start on a good glider.

C. F. Meerwein

[JoeF]

Ruric W. Jordan
1918
of Holderness, New Hampshire, USA

Patent number: 1369746
Filing date: Mar 13, 1918
Issue date: Feb 22, 1921

"My invention consists essentially in means for automatically controlling the plane whenever the engine stops, or some other accident happens, so that the plane instead of dropping as a dead weight in a vertical line, will be caused to gently glide down an incline, or in other words, to volplane to earth. The means for doing this consists essentially of a weight-carrying frame hung beneath the plane, which will automatically tilt the plane when the propelling action of the motor ceases; and further the ..."

Volplane with A-frame cable-stayed for pendulum control with mass pressing at the basebar:

http://www.google.com/patents/US1369746

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kitepatents/message/876

This Jordan sub-use of the control A-frame was 10 years after the most simple hang glider in 1908 in gliding club at Breslau that featured A-frame as we still use in hang gliders today cable-stayed and pilot hung from keel grasping the A-frame to control aerodynamic and mass centers.

[JoeF]

W. E. Quinby
Flying Machine

Let the legs be the two queenposts of A-frame in 1869 by Quinby? Perhaps.
Let the kingpost be the pilot; rig from his neck.

[JoeF]

Neil Larson's great-grand uncle Hector McNeil (MacNeil) played some core roles in Alexander Graham Bell's kite works--worthy of following.
Neil has a neat photo of his great-grand uncle Hector with the A-frame in tetrahedral form in 1902.
Thanks to Don Liddard for forwarding a Neil-Larson-held photo of his great-grand uncle. Maybe he will post here.

Hector's involvement in patents: http://www.google.com/patents/US856838

In one sense, A.G.B. and Hector McNeil were A-frame-in-Aviation kings, if one counts passion over the A-frame and time and money invested over the A-frame tetrahedronically embedded!!!


A powered version left the ground. SOURCE here.

The following link holds some of Hector P. McNeil HERE

The basics of A-frame in HG with wing as tetrahedron and control frame as A-frame (using at least the 1908 Breslau control system)

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The Gyro hang glider shown uses the A-frame within the tetrahedral form