Solomon Andrews (inventor)
Solomon Andrews | |
---|---|
Mayor of Perth Amboy, New Jersey | |
In office 1849–1855 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Herkimer, New York | February 15, 1806
Died | October 17, 1872 Perth Amboy, New Jersey | (aged 66)
Solomon Andrews (February 15, 1806 – October 17, 1872) was a doctor, aviator and
Biography
Solomon was born on February 15, 1810, in
Solomon Andrew's daughter, Harriet Cornelia Andrews, married Frederick S. Hilton on June 15, 1858.[6] Later in his life in 1863, Solomon's airship, Aereon, would fly for the first time. He would also live to see his second one fly too in 1866. Solomon Andrews died on October 17, 1872, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.[4] His widow died in 1881.[7]
Airships
His first "Aereon" flew over Perth Amboy on June 1, 1863.[8] This had three 80-foot cigar-shaped balloons, with a rudder and gondola. Buoyancy was controlled by jettisoning sand ballast or releasing hydrogen lift gas.[2] Dr. Andrews wrote Abraham Lincoln later that summer offering the Aereon for use in the American Civil War, during which he served for a time as a volunteer surgeon with the Union Army.[4] After much discussion, he arranged a demonstration early in 1864 before the Smithsonian Institution. He was informed, nearly a year later, that the Government had little interest in his invention, and by that time the war was nearly over.
Andrews then organized the Aerial Navigation Company to build commercial Airships and establish a regular line between New York and Philadelphia.
The "Aereon #2" had one "lemon-shaped" balloon, sharply pointed at the ends. It controlled buoyancy with a system of lines and pulleys that compressed the gas or allowed it to expand.[2] This flew over New York City on May 25, 1866 and June 5, 1866. The second trip, carrying a passenger-assistant (a news reporter had to be left out at the last minute because of weight problems)[9] ended at Oyster Bay, Long Island. At this point, the post-war economic collapse and its bank failures destroyed the company, and he never flew again.
The difference of specific gravity between the balloon and the surrounding atmosphere could be converted by a system of inclined planes to steer the craft without a motor.[10][clarification needed] He referred to his propulsion as "gravitation."[11] The craft was not normally trimmed to be neutrally buoyant. Instead it would be cycled between positive and negative buoyancy. The resulting airflow across the body of the craft and attached airfoils would propel it.
Other inventions
Andrews also invented a sewing machine, a barrel making machine, fumigators,[1] forging presses, a kitchen range, a gas lamp, a nicotine-filtering pipe, rekeying and a padlock which has been used by the U.S. Post Office since 1842.
Legacy
The Aereon Corporation attempted, in New Jersey in 1969, to replicate and improve on the airship designs of Solomon Andrews. This was written about in the book "The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed," by John McPhee (
Notes
- ^ a b Daniel Geery. 2007. hyperblimp history
- ^ a b c pg. 20, Toland
- ^ pg. 23, Toland
- ^ a b c Steven D. Glazer (2014). "Rutgers in the Civil War". Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries. 66. Rutgers University: 102. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
- ^ "The Health Officer of Perth Amboy, New Jersey" (PDF). The New York Times. August 30, 1871.
- ^ "Hilton - Andrews" (PDF). The New York Times. June 16, 1858.
- ^ "Harriet Andrews" (PDF). The New York Times. June 25, 1881.
- ^ "Historic Perth Amboy Virtual Museum". 27 November 2011. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
- ^ pg. 22, Toland
- ^ Solomon Andrews, The Art of Flying, 1865
- ISBN 9780486213972(unabridged republication of the Holt edition 1957, titled Ships in the Sky: The Story of the Great Dirigibles)
External links
- New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame page on 1992 Pioneer inductees ... incl. Solomon Andrews (1806-1872)
- hyperblimp, Daniel Geery, 2007
- Solomon Andrews at Kook Science
- "He Flew an Airship Before the Wrights Were Born!", Roger B. Whitman, Popular Science Monthly, Vol. 120, No. 1, January 1932.