George Pocock (1796 - unknown) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
schoolteacher and inventor of the "Charvolant", a
kiteA kite is a flying tethered aircraft that depends upon the tension of a tethering system. The necessary lift that makes the kite wing fly is generated when air flows over and under the kite's wing, producing low pressure above the wing and high pressure below it. This deflection also generates...
-drawn
carriageA carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, these being litters or wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be...
.
Pocock was interested in kites from an early age, and experimented with pulling loads using kite power, gradually progressing from small stones to planks and large loads. He taught at a school in Prospect Place,
BristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London, and east of Cardiff.With an estimated population of 416,400 for the unitary authority in mid-2007, and a surrounding urban area with an estimated 561,500 residents, it is England's sixth, and...
and continued his experiments with his pupils. By 1820 he had determined that in combination they could support considerable weight and began experimenting with
man-lifting kiteA man-lifting kite is a kite designed to lift a person from the ground. Historically, man-lifting kites have been used chiefly for reconnaissance and entertainment. Interest in their development declined with the advent of powered flight at the beginning of the 20th century.-Early history:The first...
s.
George Pocock (1796 - unknown) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
schoolteacher and inventor of the "Charvolant", a
kiteA kite is a flying tethered aircraft that depends upon the tension of a tethering system. The necessary lift that makes the kite wing fly is generated when air flows over and under the kite's wing, producing low pressure above the wing and high pressure below it. This deflection also generates...
-drawn
carriageA carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, these being litters or wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be...
.
Pocock was interested in kites from an early age, and experimented with pulling loads using kite power, gradually progressing from small stones to planks and large loads. He taught at a school in Prospect Place,
BristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London, and east of Cardiff.With an estimated population of 416,400 for the unitary authority in mid-2007, and a surrounding urban area with an estimated 561,500 residents, it is England's sixth, and...
and continued his experiments with his pupils. By 1820 he had determined that in combination they could support considerable weight and began experimenting with
man-lifting kiteA man-lifting kite is a kite designed to lift a person from the ground. Historically, man-lifting kites have been used chiefly for reconnaissance and entertainment. Interest in their development declined with the advent of powered flight at the beginning of the 20th century.-Early history:The first...
s. In 1825, he used a 30-foot (9 m) kite with a chair rig to lift his daughter, Martha (the future mother of
cricketCricket is a bat-and-ball team sport that is first documented as being played in southern England in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century, cricket had developed to the point where it had become the national sport of England. The expansion of the British Empire led to cricket being...
er W.G. Grace) over 270 feet (82 m) into the air. Later the same year and continuing to use his family as subjects, he lifted his son to the top of a cliff outside Bristol; his son briefly dismounted from the chair at the top of the 200-foot (60 m) cliff and then concluded the test by releasing a clip on the kite line which allowed him to slide down the line in the chair and return to earth.
Having concluded that kites were capable of lifting humans, he turned again to experimenting with them as a way of pulling loads, this time as a method of pulling vehicles. Using kites in various arrangements he determined that a small number of large kites were capable of pulling a carriage with passengers.
In 1826, he patented the design of his "Charvolant" buggy. This used two kites on single line 1,500 to 1,800 feet (457–459 m) long to provide enough power to draw along a buggy carrying several passengers at considerable speed, similar to the modern sport of kite buggying. In his book,
The Aeropleustic Art or Navigation in the Air by the use of Kites, or Buoyant Sails, Pocock records that it performed at the rate of 20 miles an hour (32 km/h) over considerable distances and that a mile could frequently be covered even over heavy roads in 2¾ minutes. A group of three Charvolants made a trip of 113 miles (182 km) together, and on a run between Bristol and
MarlboroughMarlborough is a market town in the English county of Wiltshire on the Old Bath Road, the old main road from London to Bath. It is well known for having the widest high-street in Britain.-History:...
one of the buggies sailed past the
mail coachIn Great Britain, the mail coach or post coach was a horse-drawn carriage that carried mail deliveries, from 1784. In Ireland, the first mail coach began service from Dublin in 1789. The coach was drawn by four horses and had seating for four passengers inside. Further passengers were later allowed...
, which at the time was the fastest passenger transport. On another trip, a Charvolant passed the coach of the
Duke of GloucesterPrince William, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh was a member of the British Royal Family, a great-grandson of George II and nephew of George III.-Early life:...
, a breach of etiquette that was considered so rude that the occupants had to stop to let the Duke pass them.
Four control lines to the kite provided a method of steering; these lines were paid out or drawn in from large spools mounted on the front of the carriage. Large wheels allowed the carriage to utilise the power from the kites effectively. In addition to controlling the kites, the driver had to steer the carriage by means of a T-bar which controlled the direction of the front wheels, and was responsible for the brake, an iron bar mounted on the carriage which dug into the road when the lever was pulled. Controlling the Charvolant was difficult, and this may have been why it never became successful commercially, even though it escaped the
tollA toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
s levied on the roads for horse-drawn carriages: tolls were applied according to the number of horses and since the Charvolant had none it incurred no charge.
Pocock advocated other uses for kites in his book, including auxiliary sail power for ships (similar to modern traction kites), a means of dropping anchor and effecting rescues from
shipwreckA shipwreck is the remains of a ship that has wrecked, it having either been sunk or beached. A shipwreck can refer to a wrecked ship or to the event that caused the wreck, such as the striking of something that causes the ship to sink, the stranding of the ship on rocks, land or shoal, or the...
s. He also used his book to advertise other of his inventions, including a celestial globe for viewing the stars that a teacher and pupils could stand inside.