'buoyant sails.' This constitutes the first definitely recorded
experiment in the use of man-lifting kites. A History of the
Charvolant or Kite-carriage, published in London in 1851, states
that 'an experiment of a bold and very novel character was made
upon an extensive down, where a large wagon with a considerable
load was drawn along, whilst this huge machine at the same time
carried an observer aloft in the air, realising almost the
romance of flying.'

Experimenting, two years after the appearance of the
'kite-carriage,' on the helicopter principle, W. H. Phillips
constructed a model machine which weighed two pounds; this was
fitted with revolving fans, driven by the combustion of
charcoal, nitre, and gypsum, producing steam which, discharging
into the air, caused the fans to revolve. The inventor stated
that 'all being arranged, the steam was up in a few seconds,
when the whole apparatus spun around like any top, and mounted
into the air faster than a bird; to what height it ascended I
had no means of ascertaining; the distance travelled was across
two fields, where, after a long search, I found the machine
minus the wings, which had been torn off in contact with the
ground.' This could hardly be described as successful flight,
but it was an advance in the construction of machines on the
helicopter principle, and it was the first steam-driven model of
the type which actually flew. The invention, however, was not
followed up.

After Phillips, we come to the great figures of the middle
nineteenth century, W. S. Henson and John Stringfellow. Cayley
had shown, in 1809, how success might be attained by developing