a. WILLIAM SAMUEL HENSON
We love our neat little history snippets, but history — especially the history of invention — does not occur in a vacuum. There is the story of William Samuel Henson and John Stringfellow, two nineteenth century Englishmen who built an aerial steam carriage.
Henson was an inventor. In 1835 he received a patent for a better lace making machine. In 1843 he patented a design for a steam powered flying machine. It actually flew as a model, but weight prevented it from working as a full-scale aeroplane.
1843 Illustration of the Aerial Steam Carriage. — Public Domain
Henson was confident, however, that one day the weight problem would be overcome. That is why he applied for the patent. Sixty years later, it would be. A lightweight gasoline engine would finally make heavier-than-air flight possible.
(my series on aviation/space history continues here)
