Author: JAMES L G FITZ PATRICK
Title: 1960- Design Construction Full Scale Ornithopter
Description: Self Published. 0, 1st Edition. Comb binding. Book, Author's signed inscription appears on title page, and dedicated to 'To my esteemed friend Tom Robertson with thanks for the use of the field for testing'. The title page also notes the testing was done at Hadley Field in N Brunswick NJ. 8.5" x11", 81 pages. Stiff covers/wraps with comb binding. Illustrations, diagrams, drawings, scientific data and text. Prof. James L. G. Fitzpatrick was a faculty member and administrator at the Staten Island Community College from 1959 to 1976. He taught and served as Head of the Department of Mechanical Technology. Fitz Patrick's greatest research project focused on the ornithopter. The ornithopter is a type of aircraft that relies on the movement of flapping wings for lift, thrust and flight. Fitz Patrick sought to develop the ornithopter as a safer and more efficient means of transportation than automobiles and other types of aircraft. Ideally, the ornithopter would need little room for take off and landing and be more fuel efficient than other aircraft due to its folding wings and gliding capabilities. The difficulty of converting the technology of natural flight and beating wings into a functional ornithopter is an ongoing challenge in the field. Fitz Patrick's work spanned several decades, ending only after he suffered a stroke in 1992. Fitz Patrick studied natural flight, especially in birds, and conducted experiments at Princeton University's Forrestal Flight Research Center. Fitz Patrick experimented with flow studies, gliders, model wings, beating wing free flight devices, swinging arm studies, hand dynamometers and full-scale ornithopters, and he did complete a successful ornithopter flight late in his research career. The full-scale ornithopter was stored at Princeton University for many years, but unfortunately it has been lost. This is the manual & blueprint for the design and construction of the full scale ornithopter that was lost at Princeton University. The manual is stamped "Bill Rhode Aeronautical Collection". Very Good. Inscribed by Author(s).

Keywords: aviation, aeronautics