Thomas Moy’s Aerial Steamer
Photograph of Thomas Moy’s Aerial Steamer aircraft, which was tested in London in 1875. It’s main innovation was the propellers, originally built with wooden slats that formed a helix-like pattern. As the propellers rotated, the slats were made to pivot about their central axis to provide two types of lift.
Pictured above is Thomas Moy’s 1875 design for a flying machine, called the Aerial Steamer. It’s an unmanned tandem wing aircraft, with two pairs of wings: one pair at the front and one pair at the rear. Between the two pairs of wings were two massive propellers, which were made of wooden slats as first designed, and pictured above. Subsequent versions were made of stretched fabric.
The wooden slats were one of the most interesting innovations of the original craft. They were designed with a helix-like pattern, and each rotated a bit about the central axis from the previous one. The slats were then made to rotate as the propeller rotated, so that they would provide two types of lift. Along one half, they would provide both a lifting (downward) and propelling (forward) force, while on the other side they would provide only a lifting force. Moy believed this double-duty would drive the Steamer forward and up at the same time.
Moy was an Engineer from London, and he’d been interested in flight for some time before designing the Steamer. He was a member of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, and he’d previously spent time studying and writing about albatross flight. He first dabbled in ballooning before turning his attention to heavier-than-air flight. After building the prototype pictured above, he refined the design and ended up testing it at the Crystal Palace in June 1875. He was unable to achieve flight, however, because the Steamer couldn’t reach the ground speed needed for takeoff. Some time after the attempt, the Society described the tests as one of the most determined attempts at solving the problem which has yet taken place.[1]
He subsequently rebuilt the Steamer after it got damaged in a storm. The new design changed the propellers and turned them upward, effectively creating a helicopter. He had some success at generating enough lift after adding a counterweight, but this would be the last design of the Aerial Steamer that Moy experimented with.
Even though it never actually flew, the Aerial Steamer is an interesting design that catches the eye with its helix-shaped propeller blades, and it deserves its place in the history of human flight. Moy spent a good chunk of his life testing and refining the design, which goes to show just how determined he was to lift off the ground.
Read more about other ideas for flying machines here.
[1]: Chanute, Octave. Progress in Flying Machines. New York: M.N. Forney, 1899. 124-125.