John Stringfellow

John Stringfellow (* 1799 in Sheffield, † December 13, 1883 in London ) was an English inventor and aviation pioneer of the 19th century. Stringfellow was known for his work on a steam-powered model aircraft and is thus regarded as one of the first pioneers of powered flight.

Life

Stringfellow earned his living in Chard as a manufacturer of Webspulen for the local wool industry. His interest in aviation, he shared with his friend William Samuel Henson. Since there were no internal combustion engines in his time, flight tests were made with steam-powered models. After a series of failures and the subsequent emigration of Henson in the U.S. Stringfellow succeeded in June 1848 a monoplane model ( wingspan 3 m), a successful 40 yd ( 36.58 m ) Flight in a factory hall.

Building on the insight that in the near future a viable aircraft was not to build, he relocated to other areas of activity. Stringfellow invented, among other things, electric batteries, which found use in medical treatments. The work Stringfellows were shown in 1868 at a large exhibition at the Crystal Palace in London.