W.C. Coup: The Great Flying Machine
Maker
Unknown
Datecirca 1878
MediumInk on paper
Dimensions1/2 sheet (H): 16 x 23 3/4 in. (40.6 x 60.3 cm)
ClassificationsPosters
Credit LineTibbals Circus Collection
Object numberht2004419
Charles Ritchel (c1840 – 1911) patented over 150 inventions in his lifetime, including the funhouse mirror and the automated monkey bank. Some even credit Ritchel with innovating the roller skate.
The most spectacular of Ritchel’s inventions was his one man dirigible. This flying machine was recognized as the first man-carrying dirigible in the U.S. when it flew in a large exhibition hall in Philadelphia in 1876. In June of 1878, the machine took its first flight outdoors near Hartford, Connecticut, manned by Mark Quinlan. Less than two months later, W.C. Coup was displaying the machine at his show in Burlington, Vermont. Ritchel’s dream of a transcontinental airline of large dirigibles, cranked by 11 men never came to pass and the inventor died in poverty.
On View
Not on view
The Strobridge Lithographing Company
1881; September 6, 1881
