George Pocock

1827 Publication of a work by George Pocock entitled 'The Aeropleustic Art of Navigation in the Air' by the Use of Kites or Buoyant Sails.

Pocock had harnessed a pony chaise to a pair of kites and discovered that, according to wind strength, it was possible to move up to half a ton on the carriage.

Special 'charvolants' were made for these first horseless carriages, and the largest held sixteen lads who no doubt enjoyed a thrilling ride until the arrival of telegraph wires and railway bridges, it was claimed that the Pocock kite carriages could race mail-coaches from Bristol to London and back.

The basic kite design used was the peg-top but with modifications for a four-line control to capture an angled wind. This was the heyday of sail; a mastless aerial rig would not have been so unusual a spectacle at the time. A pilot kite went aloft first, then the main kite, and then, if needed, another. Any number could be used, but for carriage work two were usually enough. To stop, a line was slackened, the main kite collapsed, and a shoe-like brake stopped the carriage.

Pocock's other claims to fame were to send his daughter Martha aloft in an armchair to a height of 300 ft; and to become the grandfather of the renowned W. G. Grace, who travelled to some of his cricket matches by kite carriage.

In 1828, two years after he obtained patent 5420 in partnership with Colonel James Viney, RA Pocock demonstrated the char-volant at Ascot racecourse to King George IV Immediately afterwards, he raced against horse-drawn coaches on the road between Stained and Hounslow, handsomely beating them all.

At the Liverpool Regatta on 18 July 1828, one Alfred Pocock and nine others traversed the Mersey against strong tides and winds with a kite-drawn two-masted boat, to register great surprise among the nautical parties who witnessed it' (The Engineer).

Viney and Pocock proposed that the kite carriage should have a dandy-cart to carry a pony in the event of the wind failing or being of an unfavourable direction', but the plan does not seem to have been carried out,

Traction by kites continued to attract interest up to the turn of the century. but by then internal combustion and steam had been harnessed to provide more reliable means of propulsion.

Long after Pocock's carriage first raced, the kite was put to another use when Samuel Cody conducted man-carrying kite trials.

Manchester, 1837
'KITE CARRIAGES
On Wednesday, about five o'clock, one of these ingenious vehicles was seen proceeding through our streets at a moderate pace. The carriage, which was conducted by Mr. William Yates, of Dale-street, had started from the residence of Mr. Lockett, Kersal Grove, and having come down Greengate, over Blackfriars' Bridge, Market-street, and along Piccadilly, proceeded beyond Ardwick without interruption. The vehicle was one which Mr. Yates has been accustomed to use as a poney phaeton, and the only alteration of consequence that had been made upon it was the addition of a pivot to the two fore-wheels, which Mr. Yates turned at pleasure with apparent ease. The kites were attached to the front of the carriage, and were flying in the air, one above the other, at the height of two or three hundred feet, in exact accordance with the published descriptions of Mr. Pocock's mode of travelling. The carriage proceeded up Market-street at the rate of 2 3/4 or 3 miles an hour but we believe it would have moved with considerably greater velocity on smooth or level ground. The vehicle, at the time saw it, was not moving exactly before the wind, but at an angle of about 45 degrees from it. Besides Mr. Yates, Mr. and Miss Lockett, and a young boy, were seated upon the carriage, and they were attended by a considerable number of persons, whom the novelty of the spectacle had drawn together.'

See Also

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Sources of Information

• 'Kites' written by Ron Moulton and published by Pelham Books Ltd
• Engineers and Mechanics Encyclopedia 1839: Railways: James Viney and George Pocock