Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer

This pusher propeller was built by Professor Samuel P. Langley in 1897, and used in unsuccessful experiments mounted on a special rail hand car to determine the effectiveness of the device. Charles Manley, Langley's colleague, described this experiment in 1911 memoirs. A gasoline engine "said to have furnished over six horse-power on Prony-brake tests, evidently did not furnish anything like this amount of power at this time." Furthermore, the railroad car was very heavy, offering too "strong a tractive resistance," and "the propeller was evidently far too large to permit the engine to run at the speed at which it would develop a reasonable amount of power."

Langley's famous Aerodrome experiments were not successful in developing a piloted aircraft before his death in 1906; however, a later experiment conducted by Glenn Curtiss and sponsored by the Smithsonian, extensively modified the Aerodrome and made a few short flights in it in 1914.

 Display Status

This object is on display in Early Flight at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

Early Flight
Object Details
Date 1897 Country of Origin United States of America Type PROPULSION-Propellers & Impellers Designer Samuel P. Langley
 Physical Description Type: Two-Blade, Fixed-Pitch, Wood and Fabric Diameter: 251.5 cm (99 in.) Chord: 83.8 cm (33 in.) Engine Application: Gasoline, 4.5 kw (6 hp) Dimensions Rotor/Propeller: 251.5 x 83.8 x 6 x 14cm (99 x 33 x 2 3/8 x 5 1/2 in.)
 Materials Wood and Fabric
 Inventory Number A19320020000 Credit Line Found in the collection Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
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