1843 SIR GEORGE CAYLEY

Picture above: machine for vertical flight designed by Sir George Cayley,
one of the great precursors of flight.
In 1843 Sir George Cayley, the father of British aviation, invented his
"Aerial Carriage" which had four "rotors" arranged coaxially in pairs. This
strange vehicle was an improve-ment on other contemporary projects,
but Sir George did not succeed in finding a suitable engine, so the
machine remained on the drawing board.
G.Apostolo "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Helicopters", 1984

Cayley made these drawings for a vertical take-off and landing aircraft in
1843. Although the design looks fanciful by modern standards, it has
features that have appeared in successful heli- copters (the wide fanlike
rotors resemble those used on the de Bothezat machine flown by the
U.S. Army in 1922; the lateral side- by-side arrangement of the rotors is
similar to the recordbreaking Focke helicopters built in Germany in the
late 1930's). One especially interesting feature is the design of the
blades: they flatten down to form a solid disc and act as a wing in forward
flight. The bird's- head bowsprit may have been a deliberately humorous
touch.
C.Gablehouse "Helicopters and Autogiros", 1969

HENRY BRIGHT

The first helicopter patent granted by the British Patent Office related to
an aircraft with two contra-rotating co-axial two-bladed rotors mounted
on a vertical shaft. The patentee was Henry Bright.
This configuration has been adopted by numerous twentieth-century
workers: Berliner, von Karman, Asboth, D'Ascanio, and also by several
recent makers, including Bendix, Breguet, Gyrodyne, Kamov, LualdiTassotti, etc.
In 1859, the British Patent Office awarded the first helicopter patent to
Henry Bright for his coaxial design. From this point, coaxial helicopters
developed into fully operational machines as we know them today.

AMECOURT
If practical results were not forthcoming, there was one memorable advance
achieved during this period by an enthusiastic French pioneer, Viscomte Gustave
de Ponton d'Amecourt, who was responsible for the creation of the word
"helicopter". D'Amecourt was instrumental in further rotating-wing research,
heading a small band of prophets and enthusiasts who were passionately
involved with the dream of the helicopter. Others in the group included Gabriel
de la Landelle and the early photographer Felix Nadar. A contemporary
description of these three proponents of vertical flight was the "Triumvirat
Helicoidal". D'Amecourt built a small steam-driven model of his design (still in
the French Air Museum) in 1863 and took out French and British patents on it.
Impressed with the work of the group, Jules Verne later wrote a science-fiction

novel, published in 1886, that was titled Robur le conquerant. The hero of this
epic cruised the skies in a giant helicopter.

Very shortly after Giffard successfully made a circular flight with his
airship, Ponton d'Amecourt started his work on helicopters in the
conviction that they were the only possible way to solve the problem of
aerial navigation. He encountered the difficulty which until the start of the
twentieth century baffled all workers with heavier-than-air craft: in Ponton
d'Amecourt's time there was no engine light enough for flying.
Ponton d'Amecourt therefore built a small aluminium, model driven by the
steam from a coil-shaped boiler. This model with its two contra-rotating
co-axial rotors is still preserved in the French Aeronautical Museum.

lodygin
XIX century was the century of the huge technological progress. The
improvement of the steam engine, the invention of the internal combustion
engine, the introduction of electricity, construction and the first flight of an
airplane, the invention of radio, the appearance of the propeller on the boat all these successes showed great achievements in science and technology. In
Russia in the XIX century, work continued on a helicopter.
In 1869 of AN Lodygin famous Russian electrical engineer, presented the
project "Electrical summer", which took two screws - pulling and carrying that
had to be rotated by an electric motor 300 l. from.
Elektrolet, according to calculations, should weigh about 500 pounds (8000
kg).

Academician MD Rykachev, a prominent Russian meteorologists, 1870-1871

years. conducted a study of horizontal rotating propellers of the helicopter at
the facility, which allows to determine the screw and pull the power needs for
its rotation. Rykachev worked on the helicopter that would have changed the
direction of flight by changing the direction of the axis of the screw.
In 1895, the master Sestroretsk factory VP Konovalov suggested a helicopter
with two screws that are cited by the rotation of two petrol engines with a
total capacity in liters 37. from. Screws with three steel blades, each rotating
in a horizontal plane, should, according to the author of the project, to
provide lift and a helicopter flight with a total weight in kg 600.
In 1897, the inventor of P. Bykov offered helicopter project, which was
supposed to fly with the help of human muscle power. Helicopter-bike,
pictured, it was equipped with a "Archimedes screw", changing the inclination
of the axis of rotation, which, the author of the project thought it possible to

carry out all kinds of flight - from the climb and make up to level flight. This
unit could weigh with the man some more 100 kg.

All of these and many other projects which were born in this country, despite
its sometimes fantastic, have almost all of the design elements that were
later used in the construction of modern helicopters.
Thus, in the project "aerodromic machine" Lomonosov torque reaction
quenched by installing two coaxial propellers, which are widely used at
present. Lomonosov also applied to four-bladed propeller, which are installed
on helicopters of modern design. Block scales by Lomonosov to test its model
used to study the propellers.
Driving Lodygina with one screw as the carrier, and the other as pulling, used
in the construction of gyroplanes.
Driving helicopter Konovalov is a prototype is now widespread twin screw
helicopter with longitudinal screws.
Tilt rotor, the type of project Bykov, to create a single screw both lift and
thrust, albeit in a somewhat modified form, (used on each helicopter.
Even in these, not all projects belonging to Russian inventors, can judge the
genius of the Russian people, the creative thought that far ahead of the art of
his time.

However, the absence of the theory of flight and helicopter first theory of
operation of the rotor, and the lack of material resources for the construction
of helicopters hectares experiments did not allow all these inventions come
out of scope of the project.
In fact, a general lack of projects was Lodygina LN, V. Konovalov, AI Bykov?
Low power density, ie. E. A huge discrepancy between the weight of the
helicopter and of the power of the propulsion system, by means of which the
air was supposed to lift this weight. For every kilogram of body weight had to
0,005 0,062 from l. from.
With a power density (installed power) up in the air it was impossible. It will
become clear.
Considering that modern helicopters have a power density of about 0,2-0,25
l. a. / kg and aircraft piston engine - up to 0,7 l. p. / kg.
The draft also Lodygina, Konovalov and Bykov per kilogram of body weight
accounted for a much smaller capacity than today's helicopters. Obviously,
the reason for this is not enough to bury in clear view of the rotor and its
capabilities.
In order to resolve this contradiction, it was necessary to spend huge
research work, it was necessary to build prototypes of helicopters, "and what
was needed cash. The tsarist government, kowtow to all foreign, stubbornly
refused to funds for research and experimental Russian inventors.
Thus, the Chief Engineer's Office denied the means to build "elektroleta"
Lodygina; We did not receive funds for projects Konovalov and Bulls.
The last years of the XIX century and the first years of the XX century were
marked by important scientific and experimental work on the theory of the
propeller, which were conducted by Russian scientists and especially Nikolai
Zhukovsky.
These studies served as the basis for further development of the helicopter.

: http://en.avia.pro/blog/lodygin-rykachev-konovalov-lyudi-vmire-vertoletov