A rocket soars into the air to a great height and with great force. What does it? It is simply the combustion of the material used turned into gas as it is forced out of the tube as it is created, and the expansion creates an impact against the atmosphere while the rocket is speeded by a continuous recoil until the explosives are consumed. I suppose nearly every one is aware that rockets are employed in carrying lines from distressed ships to the shore, and from the shore to ships. Thinking over this, it has occurred to my mind that gas exploded in a chamber and discharged out of a bell-mouthed tube again the atmosphere would propel the vessel in proportion to the amount of gas used at each explosion and the surface of the atmosphere covered by the mouth of the discharging tube. We also know what great force is exerted to expel a cannon ball of a ton weight for miles from a cannon; it is simply the combustion of the powder into gas, and this same force will drive balls through plates of steel a foot thick. The power is there, if it can be controlled and harnessed.
My idea for an aerial machine is to have a cigar-shaped cylinder with folding aeroplanes on each side of it fastened to the car that would cover a large surface and open immediately, like parachutes, to prevent a too rapid descent and also a rudder on the forward end of the car and the exploding chamber and tube on the other, as per sketches of side and end views. No matter how fast the machine was going through the air it could not create any vacuum and as it were there would always be air for the gas to operate upon as a fulcrum.
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