Today in Wheeling History: June 1 — Lewis W. Riggs and Ashley M. Riggs of Wheeling file a patent for a hydroaeroplane (1916).
On June 1, 1916, brothers Lewis W. Riggs and Ashley M. Riggs, residents of Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia, filed U.S. Patent Application No. 101,081 for a hydroaeroplane — a revolutionary aircraft designed to operate on both water and land. The patent, numbered 1,281,661 and granted on October 15, 1918, described an ambitious flying craft capable of carrying heavy loads, ascending or descending vertically, hovering in midair, and reversing direction. Its swiveling propellers could rotate from horizontal to vertical positions, foreshadowing modern tilt-rotor and VTOL aircraft concepts by decades.
The hydroaeroplane patent was only one of three patents the brothers filed. Just a month earlier, on May 2, 1916, Lewis and Ashley had filed U.S. Patent No. 1,225,056 for a rotary internal combustion engine — the powerplant intended to drive their aircraft and other vehicles. Granted on May 8, 1917, the engine featured a rotating cylindrical piston delivering eight power impulses per revolution, eliminating conventional valves and camshafts while minimizing vibration. Ashley later refined the design independently, filing U.S. Patent No. 1,674,449 on November 24, 1925, granted June 19, 1928, listing his address as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
A 1915 Wheeling city directory listed Ashley at 3176 View Street, working as an auto repairman. Lewis served as president of the Riggs Rotary Motor Company, formed to manufacture their engine. According to the Wheeling Intelligencer of March 29, 1918, Wheeling was selected as the intended manufacturing site, with Ashley as vice president, trustees T. R. Young and Edward Ludewig, and an advisory board of O'Brien & O'Brien and T. R. Young.
To learn more: Google Patents (https://tinyurl.com/3tjf6de2) (https://tinyurl.com/3mu6xez6), Inquiry Into Operations of the United States Air Services, 1925 (https://tinyurl.com/mrya7cf7), Heritage Quest by Ancestry (https://tinyurl.com/2s397x7t), Aviation and Aeronautical Engineering, 1918 (https://tinyurl.com/3ntb56r3), Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/ycxpmmbp)
Photo credits: Wheeling Intelligencer, U.S. Patent Office
On June 1, 1916, brothers Lewis W. Riggs and Ashley M. Riggs, residents of Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia, filed U.S. Patent Application No. 101,081 for a hydroaeroplane — a revolutionary aircraft designed to operate on both water and land. The patent, numbered 1,281,661 and granted on October 15, 1918, described an ambitious flying craft capable of carrying heavy loads, ascending or descending vertically, hovering in midair, and reversing direction. Its swiveling propellers could rotate from horizontal to vertical positions, foreshadowing modern tilt-rotor and VTOL aircraft concepts by decades.
The hydroaeroplane patent was only one of three patents the brothers filed. Just a month earlier, on May 2, 1916, Lewis and Ashley had filed U.S. Patent No. 1,225,056 for a rotary internal combustion engine — the powerplant intended to drive their aircraft and other vehicles. Granted on May 8, 1917, the engine featured a rotating cylindrical piston delivering eight power impulses per revolution, eliminating conventional valves and camshafts while minimizing vibration. Ashley later refined the design independently, filing U.S. Patent No. 1,674,449 on November 24, 1925, granted June 19, 1928, listing his address as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
A 1915 Wheeling city directory listed Ashley at 3176 View Street, working as an auto repairman. Lewis served as president of the Riggs Rotary Motor Company, formed to manufacture their engine. According to the Wheeling Intelligencer of March 29, 1918, Wheeling was selected as the intended manufacturing site, with Ashley as vice president, trustees T. R. Young and Edward Ludewig, and an advisory board of O'Brien & O'Brien and T. R. Young.
To learn more: Google Patents (https://tinyurl.com/3tjf6de2) (https://tinyurl.com/3mu6xez6), Inquiry Into Operations of the United States Air Services, 1925 (https://tinyurl.com/mrya7cf7), Heritage Quest by Ancestry (https://tinyurl.com/2s397x7t), Aviation and Aeronautical Engineering, 1918 (https://tinyurl.com/3ntb56r3), Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/ycxpmmbp)
Photo credits: Wheeling Intelligencer, U.S. Patent Office
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