turbo powered shorty

Sir Charles Algernon Parsons, developer of the steam turbine, tried his hand at many things. Oh, he was successful with the steam turbine, refining it and modifying it until it was a practical power source in increasingly power hungry industrial Britain.

Some of his ideas included a thing called an Auxetophone, a mechanical device for amplifying music. It sucked. he also came up with a method for making artificial diamonds, though not sucking never really worked. He went it this idea for over 30 years before giving up. He was on the right track but could not produce the pressures needed.

But what interests this writer is his model aircraft: a steam powered helicopter and airplane, both of which flew in 1893. He also built a steam powered go kart. Nice.