Solomon Andrews of Perth Amboy, New Jersey

Perth Amboy, New Jersey

Perth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The City of Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 50,814. Perth Amboy is known as the "City by the Bay", referring to Raritan Bay.-Name:The Lenape...

 invented the first dirigible airship

Airship

An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...

. The difference of specific gravity between the balloon and the surrounding atmosphere could be converted by a system of inclined planes to steer the craft, without a motor. He referred to his propulsion as "gravitation." The craft was not normally trimmed to be neutrally buoyant. Instead it would be cycled between positive and negative buoyancy. The resulting airflow across the body of the craft and attached airfoils would propel it. (Picture a glider alternately rising and falling through the air.) He claimed to sail it as one would a sailboat. Mention is made of the movement of pilot and passenger fore and aft in the basket to control attitude.

Biography

He was born in 1806.

His first "Aereon" flew over Perth Amboy on June 1, 1863. This had three 80-foot cigar-shaped balloons, with a rudder and gondola. Buoyancy was controlled by jettisoning sand ballast or releasing hydrogen lift gas. Dr. Andrews wrote Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

 later that summer offering the Aereon for use in the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

; after much discussion, he arranged a demonstration early in 1864 before the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

. He was informed, nearly a year later, that the Government had little interest in his invention, and by that time the war was nearly over.
Andrews then organized the Aerial Navigation Company to build commercial Airships and establish a regular line between New York and Philadelphia.

The "Aereon #2" had one "lemon-shaped" balloon, sharply pointed at the ends. It controlled buoyancy with a system of lines and pulleys that compressed the gas or allowed it to expand. This flew over New York City on May 25, 1866 and June 5, 1866. The second trip, carrying a passenger-assistant (a news reporter had to be left out at the last minute because of weight problems) ended at Oyster Bay, Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

. At this point, the post-war economic collapse and its bank failures destroyed the company, and he never flew again.

Andrews also invented a sewing machine, a barrel making machine, fumigators, forging presses, a kitchen range, a gas lamp, a nicotine-filtering pipe, rekeying

Rekeying

Rekeying normally refers to the ability to change a lock so that a different key may operate it. Rekeying is done when a lock owner may be concerned that unauthorized persons have keys to the lock, so the lock may be altered by a locksmith so that only new keys will work...

 and a padlock which has been used by the U.S. Post Office

United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

 since 1842.

He was a medical doctor and three times Mayor of Perth Amboy, New Jersey

Mayor of Perth Amboy, New Jersey

Mayor of Perth Amboy, New Jersey:*Wilda Diaz 2008 to present*Joseph Vas 2007 to 2008.*George John Otlowski 1976 to 1990.*James J. Flynn, Jr. 1950-1970.*Edward James Patten 1934 to 1940.*William C. Wilson 1921-1926.*U. B. Watson 1881....

; he constructed the city's first sewer system. He died in 1872.

Legacy

The Aereon Corporation attempted, in New Jersey in 1969, to replicate and improve on the airship designs of Solomon Andrews. This was written about in the book "The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed," by John McPhee (ISBN 9780374516352). This book and Andrews' work provided the inspiration for development of the Hyperblimp, and various embodiments of an underwater gliding toy, by inventor Daniel Geery.

Andrews was the first person known to demonstrate directional human flight; he did so decades before Alberto Santos-Dumont

Alberto Santos-Dumont

Alberto Santos-Dumont , was a Brazilian early pioneer of aviation. The heir of a wealthy family of coffee producers, Santos Dumont dedicated himself to science studies in Paris, France, where he spent most of his adult life....

 or the Wright Brothers

Wright brothers

The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...

.

External links

• Stevens Institute of Technology
  Stevens Institute of Technology
  Stevens Institute of Technology is a technological university located on a campus in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA – founded in 1870 with an 1868 bequest from Edwin A. Stevens. It is known for its engineering, science, and technological management curricula.The institute has produced leading...
  
  page on 1992 Pioneer inductees, Solomon Andrews (1806-1872)
• hyperblimp, Daniel Geery, 2007