Inflated wing aircraft

An inflated lighter than air craft comprising an elongate airfoil shaped involucrum, the involucrum having a rounded leading edge, a substantially tapered tail, an upper surface and an undersurface extending between the leading edge and the tail, the upper surface including means for permitting solar radiation to enter the involucrum, means within the involucrum for retarding heat loss through the upper surface, radiated solar energy entering the involucrum and heating gases contained therein, expanding such gases thereby increasing the buoyancy of the craft, means forming a bladder within the involucrum, the bladder containing gases, means pressurizing the gases within the bladder to a pressure greater than that of the gases contained within the involucrum, the bladder providing a skeletal support for the involucrum, the bladder being of generally elliptical cross sectional configuration, the craft further including means for adjusting the configuration of the involucrum relative to the bladder to vary the airfoil from a lighter than air mode to a heavier than air mode to maximize propulsion of the craft on both ascent and descent.

An inflated wing aircraft comprising an elongate airfoil formed of a lightweight plastic involucrum, the involucrum having a relatively blunt rounded leading edge, a substantially tapered tail, an upper surface and an undersurface extending between the leading edge and the tail, the width of the involucrum exceeding the distance between the leading edge and the tail, the upper surface including a translucent zone for permitting solar radiation to enter the involucrum, means within the involucrum for retarding reradiation of energy through the upper surface, radiated solar energy entering the involucrum and heating gases contained therein, expanding such gases and thereby increasing the buoyancy of the craft, the volumetric capacity of the involucrum being in the order of one million cubic feet, means for changing the airfoil shape from a lighter than air mode to a heavier than air mode, and means for maneuvering the craft to obtain forward propulsion upon both ascent and descent.

An apparatus for condensing water from water vapor, the apparatus comprising a large fog broom, the fog broom comprising means for condensing atmospheric water vapor, the condensing means including a multiplicity of strands and means supporting the strands from an elevation above ground level, the strands being spaced from one another adjacent the supporting means and converging toward one another at the lower ends thereof, the apparatus further including a liquid collector positioned at the area of strand convergance, water vapor being condensed on the strands and draining to the collector.

A man powered inflated aircraft for propelling an operator in the absence of external motive power, the craft comprising an elongate involucrum, the involucrum including a pair of opposed wing segments, each of the wing segments having a rounded leading edge and a tapered tail, means providing a central longitudinal flex axis between the wing segments, means for carrying an operator adjacent the wing segments, control means interconnecting the operator with the wing segments for oscillating the wing segments about the flex axis at a period of oscillation, the control means comprising means interconnecting an upper body extremity of the operator with the wing segments adjacent the longitudinal flex axis and means interconnecting a lower body extremity of the operator with the wing segments spaced outwardly from the upper extremity interconnecting means, each of the wing segments including means forming a lateral flex zone, the tail of each wing segment flexing with respect to the remainder of each wing segment to provide ciliary forward thrust to the craft when the wing segments are oscillated.