First Spaceship Patent

When was the first patent issued for a spaceship? And what was it and
who was it issued to?

By spaceship I mean a manned vehicle for traveling beyond the Earth's
atmosphere, either as an orbiter or as a means for traveling to
another planet. I would even include suborbital vehicles since things
like the Sanger antipodal bomber were meant to operate above the
atmosphere.

RM

On Apr 19, 5:35 pm, Ron Miller wrote:
When was the first patent issued for a spaceship? And what was it and
who was it issued to?

This an ongoing search for me. There are patents for "rocket"
devices that are mostly fireworks, going back to the early 19th
century. Manned stuff doesn't seem to appear untill the 30s. My
guess is that the idea was subconsciously deemed impossible until
after the Army balloon flights to 60,000 feet and the success of the
large rockets (either solid or liquid). You might have a look at
1840541 and 1879187.

By spaceship I mean a manned vehicle for traveling beyond the Earth's
atmosphere, either as an orbiter or as a means for traveling to
another planet. I would even include suborbital vehicles since things
like the Sanger antipodal bomber were meant to operate above the
atmosphere.

In the 30s, the popular mind called "space" anything above about
55,000 feet. Defintion must be nailed down, first, of course.


Mike

wrote:
In the 30s, the popular mind called "space" anything above about
55,000 feet. Defintion must be nailed down, first, of course.


I assume he means anything meeting today's definition of space - 100 km.
If international patents are also included, //Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky
might be a pretty good point to start looking around for patents.

Pat

On Apr 20, 10:38*am, "
wrote:
On Apr 19, 5:35 pm, Ron Miller wrote:

When was the first patent issued for a spaceship? And what was it and
who was it issued to?

This an ongoing search for me. * There are patents for "rocket"
devices that are mostly fireworks, going back to the early 19th
century. *Manned stuff *doesn't seem to appear untill the 30s. * *My
guess is that the idea was subconsciously deemed impossible until
after the Army balloon flights to 60,000 feet and the success of the
large rockets (either solid or liquid). *You might have a look at
1840541 and 1879187.

By spaceship I mean a manned vehicle for traveling beyond the Earth's
atmosphere, either as an orbiter or as a means for traveling to
another planet. I would even include suborbital vehicles since things
like the Sanger antipodal bomber were meant to operate above the
atmosphere.

In the 30s, the popular mind called "space" anything above about
55,000 feet. * Defintion must be nailed down, first, of course.

Mike

Thanks for the patent numbers. I've always included stratosphere
balloons in the history of spacecraft!

Ron

Ron Miller wrote:
Thanks for the patent numbers. I've always included stratosphere
balloons in the history of spacecraft!


Yeah, but although Project Man High made some hay out of the concept, a
balloon by its very nature can't float up into space, as it needs a
atmosphere to operate in, tenuous as that atmosphere might be.

Pat

OM wrote:

On Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:12:00 -0700 (PDT), Ron Miller
wrote:

Thanks for the patent numbers. I've always included stratosphere
balloons in the history of spacecraft!

...You'd be surprised at the number of people who don't.

Why would include them in the first place?

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

http://derekl1963.livejournal.com/

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

On Apr 22, 4:29*pm, Pat Flannery wrote:
Ron Miller wrote:
Thanks for the patent numbers. I've always included stratosphere
balloons in the history of spacecraft!

Yeah, but although Project Man High made some hay out of the concept, a
balloon by its very nature can't float up into space, as it needs a
atmosphere to operate in, tenuous as that atmosphere might be.

Pat

That's true, of course, but the design of stratosphere balloon
gondolas and capsules laid a good deal of important groundwork for
spacecraft life support design.

R

On Apr 22, 5:49*pm, (Derek Lyons) wrote:
OM wrote:
On Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:12:00 -0700 (PDT), Ron Miller
wrote:

Thanks for the patent numbers. I've always included stratosphere
balloons in the history of spacecraft!

...You'd be surprised at the number of people who don't.

Why would include them in the first place?

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

http://derekl1963.livejournal.com/

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

One reason is that at the extreme altitudes reached by manned
stratosphere balloons the technology developed for life support
systems laid the groundwork for those in manned spacecraft.

R

On Apr 19, 5:35 pm, Ron Miller wrote:
When was the first patent issued for a spaceship? And what was it and
who was it issued to?

By spaceship I mean a manned vehicle for traveling beyond the Earth's
atmosphere, either as an orbiter or as a means for traveling to
another planet. I would even include suborbital vehicles since things
like the Sanger antipodal bomber were meant to operate above the
atmosphere.

That restriction does limit things a bit, but you might check patent
508, 753, issued to Edwin Pynchon, on 24 November 1893. It's a rocket-
powered "airship." Airship in this case does indeed include a
LTAesque "buoyancy compartment" which is only one aspect of the
overall ship. Propulsion is air-indepedent, as best I can tell.