Edward Purkis Frost on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Edward Purkis Frost (1842 – 1922) was an English pioneer of 
Frost had been a member of the Aeronautical Society since 1875 and became its president from 1908 to 1911.
aviation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...
. He built ornithopters
An ornithopter (from Greek ''ornis, ornith-'' 'bird' and ''pteron'' 'wing') is an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings. Designers sought to imitate the flapping-wing flight of birds, bats, and insects. Though machines may differ in form, the ...
, and became president of the Aeronautical Society.
E.P. Frost lived at West Wratting Hall in Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...
and became a Justice of the Peace.Kelly, Maurice. 2006. ''Steam in the Air''. Pen & Sword Books. Pages 49-55 are about Frost.
Frost began studying flight in 1868 and built a large steam-powered flying machine with both fixed and flapping wings from 1870 to 1877. Frost had intended to have a 20-25 hp steam engine but the actual engine with 5 hp was not powerful enough to lift the ornithopter from the ground. The experiment cost Frost £1000. In collaboration with several colleagues he started another large similar craft in 1902 with an internal combustion engine
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal comb ...
. Sources are conflicted about the success of this aircraft. One source alleges that it lifted from the ground in 1904. Another, however directly contradicts this assertion, claiming that it was suspended from a tree and could be observed to rise slightly on every downbeat of the wings. A wing from this craft is displayed in London's Science Museum
A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, Industry (manufacturing), industry and Outline of industrial ...
.
Frost had been a member of the Aeronautical Society since 1875 and became its president from 1908 to 1911.
References