Helicopter designs before 1900


Leonardo da Vinci helicopter project Leonardo da Vinci helicopter project

1493

The first studies on helicopters were well in advance of the first airplanes. Leonardo da ...

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The very first self-propelled model of a lifting airscrew seems to have been the spring-driven ...

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Lomonosov helicopter project

1754

Lomonosov helicopter project

Launoy & Bienvenu helicopter project Launoy & Bienvenu helicopter project

1784

A year after the first successful ascent by a hot-air balloon, Launoy, a naturalist, helped ...

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Another model of a vehicle for vertical flight invented by Lambertgye ...

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Lambertgye helicopter project

1818

Lambertgye helicopter project

Sarti helicopter project Sarti helicopter project

1828

Surviving designs of the "Aereo Veliero" (aerial sailing ship) by Vittorio Sarti, a Florentine cobbler ...

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Picture above: machine for vertical flight designed by Sir George Cayley, one of the great ...

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Cayley helicopter project

1843

Cayley helicopter project

Cossus helicopter project Cossus helicopter project

1845


The first helicopter patent granted by the British Patent Office related to an aircraft with ...

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Bright helicopter project

1861

Bright helicopter project

Nelson helicopter project Nelson helicopter project

1861

Long before the Wright brothers were sailing in their experimental gliders over the sand dunes ...

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Captain Powers was inspired to invent his flying machine by the Union blockade of Confederate ...

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Powers helicopter project

1862

Powers helicopter project

Crowell helicopter project Crowell helicopter project

1862

In West Dennis, Massachusetts, meanwhile, another inventor was pressing the New Yorker for the honor ...

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If practical results were not forthcoming, there was one memorable advance achieved during this period ...

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Amecourt helicopter project

1863

Amecourt helicopter project

Wootton helicopter project Wootton helicopter project

1866

The mid-1800's was a banner time for American inventors to try their hand at designing ...

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Shortly before his death at the age of thirty Penaud revived a sort of "Chinese ...

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Penaud helicopter project

1870

Penaud helicopter project

Rykachev helicopter project Rykachev helicopter project

1871

As early as 1860, M.A.Rykachev, a Russian, began investigating "aerial propellers able to propel themselves ...

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The model produced by these two French workers had a "gunpowder engine", which may be ...

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Pomes & Pauze helicopter project

1871

Pomes & Pauze helicopter project

Achenbach helicopter project Achenbach helicopter project

1874

Achenbach, a German, designed an aircraft with a single rotor to ensure lift and also ...

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Other American inventors during this era who sought to solve the problem of mechanical flight ...

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Ward helicopter project

1876

Ward helicopter project

Dieuaide helicopter project Dieuaide helicopter project

1877


The second autogyro built by Vuitton had a small engine which drove a tractor propeller ...

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Vuitton helicopter project

1877

Vuitton helicopter project

Forlanini helicopter project Forlanini helicopter project

1877

An Italian professor, Enrico Forlanini, had an ingenious idea for overcoming the weight of a ...

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In the same year as the Italian Forlanini, Gastel used a compressed air engine to ...

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Castel helicopter project

1877

Castel helicopter project

Melikoff helicopter project Melikoff helicopter project

1879

In 1879 Melikoff designed a model helicopter fitted with an airscrew having the shape of ...

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In 1879 John Greenough came out with a patented design that was a slight improvement ...

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Greenough helicopter project

1879

Greenough helicopter project

Quinby helicopter project Quinby helicopter project

1879

A month before Greenough received his helicopter patent, another was issued to Watson Quinby on ...

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In 1888 another Southerner, Edward Johnston of Alabama, entered the aviation field with his ideas ...

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Johnston helicopter project

1888

Johnston helicopter project