2-888-022 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ascent of Bell's Aerial Machine, from Vauxhall Gardens, [London], 1850. 'The machine which Mr. Bell has constructed...is capable of sustaining a weight of between 500 and 600 lb., when inflated with the ordinary carburetted hydrogen. The propellers are on the principle of the screw-propeller. If two are used, they are placed one on each side of the car...This apparatus is so constructed as to have a hinge and a rotating motion, so as to obtain the necessary movements of an extended surface or fan, in all respects similar to the tail of a bird, so that the guiding or directing of the machine may be under the control of the aeronaut...the balloon ascended in the presence of a considerable number of spectators - among them several individuals of scientific eminence...We did not observe that the aeronaut had any specific control over the machine...It seemed to drift along...like any other balloon...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.