2-361-701 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Design for an aerial steam carriage, 1843 (1956). William Henson, a follower of English aviation pioneer Sir George Cayley, patented his proposed Aerial Steam Carriage in 1842. The machine would never have been able to fly as the wings would not have been strong enough to carry the weight of the steam engine needed to power it. The design did however establish several of the features used in modern aeroplanes, including monoplane wings, the fuselage, and tail-unit. A print from Things, a volume about the origin and early history of many things, common and less common, essential and inessential, by Readers Union, the Grosvenor Press, London, 1956.