Real 'Flying Saucer' Plans Date Back to 19th Century (1898 patent!)

It was an era when the nation was enamored of the prospect of one day building our own versions of saucer-shaped aircraft. But the idea actually dates back to an obscure patent granted in 1898 to one F.A. Jone -- a rare bit of archival history recently highlighted by blogger John Ptak. Ptak notes (based on the patent drawings): "From the ladder that led to the major axle we can infer that the aircraft was at least 60 feet high, which made its disk apparatus a very ferris-wheel-like 40' or 50' in diameter."

Unfortunately, almost nothing else is known about the mysterious Mr. Jone (including why there's no "s" at the end of his surname). But I think we can safely assume that his patent design was never built -- and even if it was, it wasn't operable.

It's that whole vertical takeoff and landing thing, combined with sharp, sudden forward propulsion, that's the main sticking point (and also the biggest advantages if we could just overcome those technical challenges). Those are difficult maneuvers for an aircraft to pull off in quick combination, even for helicopters, which can become unstable especially in high winds. Physics always demands some sort of tradeoff, it seems.

Source: news.discovery.com...
You will have to go to the source to see the pic.. computer on fritz again....

But, I took the time to track donw the ENTIRE US Patent submission (pdf.) Enjoy. Pretty amazing when you read all through it. Engineer types will love it.
pdf link: www.google.com/patents/US605579.pdf (Copy & Paste):

Well, someone had their thinking cap on back in 1898 *and sooner maybe. Well, I am no engineer but reading over the patent info... I think they were onto something. But, I have to assume lift and fuel were the main problems.

I wonder if this patent could be copies today and made to work with the materials and fuel/engine sources we possess now-a-days. thoughts?

reply to post by anon72


I wonder if some of the patents are Haunebu related. In the vid below it shows German crafts/saucers, enjoy.

Is it possible Tesla have some involvement with this? After all he has been involved in many projects. I wouldn't be surprised if he does

I did some more reading. He was from Dresden Germany. This patent is the ONLY thing I can find on him. Nothing else published. Odd.

Odd when you read the patent info. This guy was way ahead of his time.... or was he. Read the first few paragraphs.

I can see how the Germans had such a leap on the rest of the world with minds like Jone's...

Which is why I find it odd there is no other history or writing or inventions. Maybe an ATS member over in Germany can dig around a bit.

15 years ago i went thrue a period were i just could not sleep,yet crazy ideas pouring into my head,so i decided to start drawing it,lol.turns out i was making a print of fliying saucer.must understand,these ideas were like imposing them self in me or i was taping into it.anyway long story short,i started searching for the materials to make a small prototype ,two weeks into it my cusin shows up with a book called,bridge to infinity.i was shocked to see my drawings in that book,not just of the body but as well of the components mechanizms.and it had a usa patent on it and prohibited the reproduccion of it.so i droped it,didnt want men in black on my door steps or something like that. by the way,that book is a old one but very interesting and eye opener. brilliant minds ,now days get squashed down,surpressed,killed ,and robbed.

reply to post by anon72


Then Jone ripped off Da Vinci, who ripped off the ancient Indian Hindu texts.

The Samara Sutradhara is a scientific treatise dealing with every possible angle of air travel in a Vimana. There are 230 stanzas dealing with the construction, take-off, cruising for thousand of miles, normal and forced landings, and even possible collisions with birds. In 1875, the Vaimanika Sastra, a fourth century B.C. text written by Bharadvajy the Wise, using even older texts as his source, was rediscovered in a temple in India. It dealt with the operation of Vimanas and included information on the steering, precautions for long flights, protection of the airships from storms and lightening and how to switch the drive to "solar energy" from a free energy source which sounds like "anti-gravity."

The Vaimanika Sastra (or Vymaanika-Shaastra) has eight chapters with diagrams, describing three types of aircraft, including apparatuses that could neither catch on fire nor break. It also mentions 31 essential parts of these vehicles and 16 materials from which they are constructed, which absorb light and heat; for which reason they were considered suitable for the construction of Vimanas.

Ancient Indian Texts

Seems to be pretty damning that the ancient texts were "re-discovered" in 1875, and Jone came out with his "patent" almost 25 years later.....
just sayin'

reply to post by stupid girl


Oh, well, read the patent info (the cut and paste link info). If the others were talking about that stuff then... then history is all wrong.

Example. Gas storage tanks? I don't think so...

Originally posted by anon72
You will have to go to the source to see the pic.. computer on fritz again....

Here you go:



Looks more like an amusement park ride than a flying saucer though.

reply to post by SavedOne


Thank you. Star!

Now, be sure to go to the pdf. link. All 5 pages of the patent application/submission is there. More detailed than that one.

Then read the description provided by him.

I found a website for the city of Dresden. I wrote to them and asked if they could provide more info on him. I can't believe that he didn't do other things of such engineering designs etc. Anyway, see what they say-if they respond.

Originally posted by stupid girl


Ancient Indian Texts

Seems to be pretty damning that the ancient texts were "re-discovered" in 1875

I'm afraid this is nonsense. A fantasist/fringe writer called David Childress made this claim in 1991, without any supporting evidence at all.

The texts you linked to were actually written between 1918 and 1923 by a man called Pandit Subbaraya Shastry who claimed he was channelling some ancient mystic. As the wiki put it:

A study by aeronautical and mechanical engineering at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1974 concluded that the aircraft described in the text were "poor concoctions" and that the author showed a complete lack of understanding of aeronautics.

Read the rest of the story here: en.wikipedia.org...

OMG looks like nobody cared to read the actual patent. It is a friggin lens-shaped balloon!

Yes, balloons have been quite popular in the 18-19th century.

Originally posted by moebius
OMG looks like nobody cared to read the actual patent. It is a friggin lens-shaped balloon!

Yes, balloons have been quite popular in the 18-19th century.

Was just about to post the same thing. Fairly obvious by looking at the picture as well....

Originally posted by moebius
OMG looks like nobody cared to read the actual patent. It is a friggin lens-shaped balloon!

Yes, balloons have been quite popular in the 18-19th century.

I was going to remark the same thing -- it's a balloon, and clearly says so! It's not terribly revolutionary and is just a modification of balloon design.