Viewing page 22 of 140

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Balloon Farm," Carlotta retired from public exhibition work in 1891. She did continue to test fly balloons at the "Farm" which continued operation until about 1910.

Probably the first women to invent her own aircraft was Miss E. Lillian Todd of New York City. In December 1906 she brought to the Aero Club of America's exhibition an airship and an airplane which she had designed and built herself.

The airplane was unique in construction, being really more of a glider, since it had no engine. The pilot would take a running start along an inclined plane, causing the fans to revolve and catch the air. This would activate the two propellers, and the aircraft would, theoretically, lift off. To land, the pilot opened a valve which reduced the amount of air to the fans, causing the propellers to slow their revolutions, and the aircraft would gradually settle to earth, pneumatic wheels cushioning the impact.

Miss Todd had begun designing and building mechanical objects as a child, with no training at all in the use of tools. She taught herself by trial and error. Her decision to build an airship came early in her life. She had bought a toy which was supposed to soar through the air when wound up.