Edwin Pynchon Discussion
Edwin Pynchon – not known yet if this is a genuine Pynchon ancestor – appears to have invented an airship in 1893.
This appears to be a picture of it: [1]
Here's a description: The Pynchon, designed by Edwin Pynchon. National Archives [...] Albatross 1893 = Yes, that date is correct, and this patented airborne hotel — the 747 of a century ago — is included in Aerofiles as an interesting example of the creative approach to manned flight taken by one of the early, albeit obscure, visionaries. Data unknown, but note the suitcase rollers for ground movement. [...]
[2] supplies the following links:
[4]
[...] Edwin Pynchon: Air Ship November 14, 1893[...]
[5] [...] In 1993 the Library of Congress published its"FLIGHT BEFORE WRIGHT" calendar, Susan Sharp, editor: "…History also shows that, alas, pivotal accomplishments are not always immediately recognized or appreciated. For the Wright brothers, it took more than four years - from late 1903 to early 1908 - for the world to become fully aware that they had achieved sustained mechanical flight. Thus Flight before Wright in a practical sense encompasses the continuing experimentation that took place through the years leading up to 1908…" with an interesting assemblage of photographs and drawings:
January: "R. J. Spaulding's Flying Machine,
Patented March 5, 1889;" February: "Israel Ludlow's `New Aeroplane,' July 15, 1905;" March: "Gustave Whitehead's Triplane, September 19, 1903;" April: "Henri Giffard Balloon Ascension, 1878;" May: "Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896) In His Plane No. 14, 1895;" June: "Wright Brothers' Glider, Wrecked by wind, 1900;" July: "G. Curtis Gillespie's Aeroplane, June 24, 1905;" August: "Frederick R. Merritt's Airship, Patented December 6, 1898," and "Edwin Pynchon's `Albatross,' Patented November 14, 1893;" [...]
Also this one, from The Laryngoscope (founded 1894) called "On the Origin of Tonsillectomy and the Dissection Method"; the Abstract mentions an "attempt to remove the entire tonsil intact was described by Edwin Pynchon in 1890 with the use of galvanocautery."
<http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0041-462X(197510)21%3A3%3C278%3ATQFP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-9> "Admirers of Dr. Schoenmaker's nose job in V. may not be sur- prised to learn of a Dr. Edwin Pynchon (1856-1914), who invented numerous surgical instruments ..."
