Home
Clip from a page on Renard: wrote:This type originated with Mr. F. H. Wenham, who patented it in England in 1866 (No. 1571), taking out provisional papers only. In the abridgment of British patent Aeronautical Specifications (1893) it is described as follows:
Two or more aeroplanes are arranged one above the other, and support a framework or car containing the motive power. The aeroplanes are made of silk or canvas stretched on a frame by wooden rods or steel ribs. When manual power is employed the body is placed horizontally, and oars or propellers are actuated by the arms or legs. A start may be obtained by lowering the legs and running down hill or the machine may be started from a moving carriage. One or more screw propellers may be applied for propelling when steam power is employed.
On June 27, 1866, Mr. Wenham read before the "Aeronautical Society of Great Britain," then recently organized, the ablest paper ever presented to that society, and thereby breathed into it a spirit which has continued to this day. In this paper he described his observations of birds, discussed the laws governing flight as to the surfaces and power required both with wings and screws, and he then gave an account of his own experiments with models and with aeroplanes of sufficient size to carry the weight of a man.
...and as it applies to Charles Renard (1847 - 1905)... [Ed]
My estimate is that hang gliding culture would enjoy a very robust disclosure on Wenham.
STRONG start is to study and analyze: http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/wenham.html The following paper, "On Aerial Locomotion and the Laws by which Heavy Bodies impelled through Air are Sustained," was read by F. H. Wenham, Esq., at the first meeting of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, held on the 27th day of June, 1866. His Grace the Duke of Argyll in the Chair.F. H. Wenham
http://invention.psychology.msstate.edu
VARIETY of attention by Wenham:
