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Reprint 1840 Richard Oglesby Davidson "The Great Steam Duck" Aerostat Booklet

$6.91 CAD
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Shipping options

Seller handling time is 10 business days Details
No shipping price specified to CA
Ships from United States Us

Return policy

None: All purchases final

Purchase protection

Payment options

PayPal accepted
PayPal Credit accepted
Venmo accepted
PayPal, MasterCard, Visa, Discover, and American Express accepted
Maestro accepted
Amazon Pay accepted
Nuvei accepted

Item traits

Category:

Airships

Quantity Available:

Only one in stock, order soon

Condition:

Used

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No combined shipping offered

Posted for sale:

More than a week ago

Item number:

762323820

Item description

Thirty two pages about 5x7, very likely made in the seventies and almost certainly not later than that judging by the paper and quality of photostat. That it is a machine photocopy is verified by the ghost print seen on copy pages which came from a slight charge remaining on the drum in the earlier machines. What they copied this from was probably photo negatives of an original copy although I am not sure how that accounts for the illustration, I have never seen an original copy. Reference to this conceived aircraft is not uncommon due to the attempt of the "inventor" to sell his device to the Confederacy during the Civil War. It is not without some merit despite how plain it is to us today it would never work; the fellow being a dentist and not an engineer never worked out the figures for the weight and how much hydrogen was needed to displace that. There are some fanciful notions though that add to the novelty of interest including lever-accentuated beating wings to drive you through the air not unlike rowing a boat. In addition he proposes two other methods to power a piston machine to drive the wings, one being steam. Interesting and unusual item to say the least, either the concept or the history or this reprint booklet.