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Penaud’s aëroplane toy, 1871

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In 1871 M. A. Penaud produced the interesting toy aëroplane shown in the figure. The model is propelled horizontally forward by a single screw, actuated by twisted rubber, and is fastened, as shown, to the middle of a long stick or backbone. The center of mass of the machine is well to the front, tending to plunge the model earthward like a heavy-headed arrow; but this down-diving is promptly checked by the tiny rudder which is so inclined as to counteract the diving proclivity. That is to say the rudder dips so as to receive the aërial impact on its upper surface; which impact increases with the speed of flight and causes the bow to rise, until the weight before the wings just balances the impact on the rudder at the rear. The equilibrium is thus automatic, on the principle expounded by Sir George Cayley sixty years earlier.

Author
Aërial Navigation
A Popular Treatise on the Growth of Air Craft and on Aëronautical Meteorology
By Albert Francis Zahm
Published in 1911
Available from gutenberg.org
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750*408
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