Victor Tatin (1843-1914) “Experiences sur la reproduction mechanique du vol de l'oiseau”, in Comptes Rendus, volume 83, p 457-8 in the issue of pp 407-462, 14 August 1876. The weekly issue, extracted from a larger bound volume. Offered with:
“Nouvel aeroplane, mu par une machine a sir comprime; determination experimentale du travail necessaire pour faire voler cet appareil” in Comptes Rendus, volume 89 no. 24, 15 December 1879, pp 1024-1027 in the (extended) issue of pp 1083-1189, p 204, the Tatin appearing in the "Prix Decernes" section. This short notice identifies Tatin along with Tissandier and Duroy receiving the Prix Penaud (equally shared) for their work in aeronautics.The weekly issue, extracted from a larger bound volume.
- [AS it turns out, the word "aeroplane" in English is relatively new when Tatin writes it here in 1879, the word evidently making its first appearance in 1866, according to the Oxford English Dictionary: "In the flying mechanism of beetles..when the..wing-cases are opened, they are checked by a stop, which sets them at a fixed angle. It is probable that these serve as ‘aeroplanes’, for carrying the weight of the insect."--1866 F. H. Wenham in 1st Ann. Rep. Aëronaut. Soc. 33 And "airplane": “We have yet to see the ‘aëroplane’ with buoyancy sufficient to sustain 150 lb., or with apparatus sufficiently light and portable to make headway on an ‘air plane’. “--1868 Eng. Mechanic & Mirror of Sci. 24 Apr. 91/2. Airplane as a verb doesn't appear until 1906.
The two papers: $300
“Victor Tatin of France was a superb mechanician and an active aerial experimenter who made a series of important test model flying machines in the 1870's. About 1875 he began his series of experimental models building ornthopters ("Oiseau Mechanique" - "artificial birds"), the flapping wings of which were powered by rubber bands. Arguably his most important flying machine of that period was the Tatin Monoplane of 1879. This large machine (with a wing span of some 6 ft. 3 in.) made public circular flights tethered to a pole on the grounds of the French Army compound at Chalais-Meudon. The Tatin 1879 Monoplane, powered by compressed air, would take off under its own power, rise into the air, fly perhaps 50 feet through the air and then land, often causing damage to the fragile wheeled landing gear.”--Carroll Gray, from the website flying machines dot org
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