Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 052-1 - January 1998 Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Collection Name: Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins # of Pages: 8 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

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Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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Did Gilmore Fly? Yes and No By David A. Comstock Laman GILMORE JR. WAS A PERSUASIVE promoter and visionary who believed anything was possible if you wished for it enough, He thought of himself as an inventor, but Gilmore’s real genius lay in his ability to describe vague or fanciful solutions to real problems and convince people they were practically ready to manufacture and market. His “inventions” were foolproof, 100% efficient, non-polluting, and usually automatic. Unfortunately, Gilmore was unable to perfect his creations, partly because he lacked the necessary tools and knowledge, and partly because they were flawed in concept. It did not worry him that important details were unclear even to him, for he had absolute confidence that God would supply the information when it was needed. Lyman was ever a believer in miracles; throughout his life he waited as patiently for rich deposits to show up in his Iowa Hill gold mines as for large infusions of capital to finance his experiments, or for the federal government to purchase his formidable military inventions. These miracles did not come topass. Gilmore’s ideas were more or less plausible, depending on the level of scientific sophistication of his listener. Before World War I there were few aeronautical experts in the entire world, and until Wilbur and Orville Wright approached the matter with extraordinary common sense, no other men correctly understood the fundamental differences between air and water—let alone why a machine could not fly like a bird. (Gilmore, like a few others, persisted in a notion that an unpowered airship could drift endlessly about in the air, just like a boat in the ocean.) It was years before the world eventually heard about the Wright brothers. Although they had filed a patent in March 1903, nine months before their first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, the patent wasn’t awarded until May 1906, by which time their rivals had begun appropriating their discoveries. For the next several years the Wrights spent most of their time and money fighting against these infringements in U.S. and European courts. By 1909 it was clear to hundreds of inventors throughout the world that the Wrights probably had won the race—unless Gilmore or someone else could establish some prior rights, heretofore unnoticed. And so it was that Gilmore spent the rest of his life endeavoring to prove the unprovable. He began pushing dates back. He persuaded his supporters and relatives to sign documents he had written after the fact, attesting to the truth of his claims. He claimed to have built an airfield at Grass Valley in 1907 or 1908, instead of 1910. But inevitably, each backdating ran into trouble, often contradicting what Gilmore himself told the press at the time. What follows in a chronology of what is verifiable: Oct 13, 1902 — Filed patent application for “Water Coolers and Purifiers.” June 15, 1907 — Patent Office returned “Water Coolers and Purifiers” application for revision. June 8, 1908 — Submitted amended application for “WaterCooler, Filter, Purifier and Storage apparatus.” The application was witnessed by M. C. Bobo and Samuel! Gilmore. Aug 15, 1909 — Demonstrated flight with model of unpowered (glider) airship at Cape Horn, near Colfax. Witnesses included Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marvin of the Marvin hotel; D. C. Gillen of the Gillen hotel; Captain Thomas Hooper, owner of the Annie Laurie mine; Dr. Broome of Spokane, Washington; “Billie” Neall, a retired capitalist from Oakland; Carl! G. Bell, Colfax businessman; D. McPhail, a Sacramento business man; and Earle Beattie, deputy city treasurer of Oakland. The Grass Valley Union referred to Gilmore as a “Colfax man.” (See page 3) Feb 1, 1910 — Charles, Samuel, and Lyman Gilmore were directors of what was described as the “Colfax Aeroplane Co.,” but in fact was the Gilmore Airship Company. Lyman was secretary and gen. mer. President was Ivan H. Parker (former publisher of the Colfax Sentinel), Daniel A. Russell, Iowa Hill and Colfax cattleman-butcher, was vice president; Jonathan Taylor, assistant secretary; Samuel Gilmore was treasurer; attorney was Lee Chamberlin. Funds were on deposit at Colfax Bank. The company put up a large shed at the Grass Valley field where the plane was to be built. Aug 15, 1911 — Gilmore’s “first attempt at a flight ... in an air craft of his own invention” took place at Gilmore Airship Company field in Grass Valley at 6 pm, and was witnessed “by about fifteen stockholders and interested parties,” including Ozro Twitchell, Sr., Ozro Twitchell, Jr., A. G. Peterson, L. Clark (of Alleghany), and Jerry Goodwin (of You Bet). “The ascent was made in a small machine weighing about 900 pounds and propelled by a 35-horsepower engine. .. . As soon as inventor Gilmore was stationed firmly in his seat, and the mechanicians pronounced everything in readiness, the small airship soared in the air to a distance of five feet above the ground and before dismounting Gilmore circumnavigated a circle with a 125 yard radius. It is estimated that a distance of one half mile was made before the machine was brought to a standstill after its first start.” The plane flew 5-8 feet off the ground and highest speed was 48 mph. When asked eo when he might fly it again, Gilmore told the Union, “if on enough money was offered the ascent would be made at the Labor Day picnic.” The airship had been undergoing construction for more than a year, but mishaps had