Russell Colley invented aviation stuff

Piloting aircrafts can be a daunting task but Russell Colley invented aviation stuff that would make the aviators flight safer.

Who was Russell Colley ?

Alan B. Shepard Jr, the American astronaut should be able to tell you that Russell Colley invented the pressurized suit. But that was just one of the this American inventor's invention. Try gadgets like the Riv-nut, the rubberized pneumatic deicer and other such devices.

Russell Colley was born in 1899, in Stoneham, Massachusetts. Surprinsingly enough Colley had shown interest in becoming a fashion designer early on in life. He also was showing himself to be very mechanically inclined. Supposedly, peer pressure led him to the Wentworth Institute of Mechanical Engineering where he graduated in 1918.

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Wiley Post and Russell S. Colley testing a pressure suit in 1934.

In 1928 the mechanical engineer was working in Akron, Ohio, for BF Goodrich the rubber people.

Russell Colley witnessed the entire birth of the aircraft industry and the massive WW1 aircraft innovations and then more. By 1935 he was married and using his wife's craft kits to put together a flight suit for a pilot called Wiley Post.

Russell Colley invented aviation stuff but he also designed. How much better can one combine his skills.

Wiley Post on the other hand was more of a dare devil and broke altitude and distance records for a living.

After his work at BF Goodrich Russell Colley joined NASA where he continued to innovate on his designs and invent new ones. In 1994 he received the Distiguished Public Service Award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

His love for form and design never left him. Until his death in Springfield, Ohio, in 1996 Colley continued to dabble in the creative process.

He left behind many artifacts of his existence including water colour paintings, unique jewelery which he'd designed, and a list of 65 patents accredited to Russell Colley who invented aviation stuff.




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DaVinci's catapults

This is information on Davinci's catapults.

Leonardo DaVinci, the Rennaissance man, needs no introduction. Most people know of this genius through the many books of history that mention great inventors, thinkers, and people who have influenced change. 

Are DaVinci's catapults the invention of these cross bow like war machines?

DaVinci lived from 1452 to 1519 and the catapult was in use in much earlier times. The Romans used them in war. As the legions of soldiers moved about to conquer or defend they would carry the ropes and fasteners and would use local wood to built and erect the foundation of the catapult.

Leonardo's drawings of catapults show that he was considering the spring action of leaf springs in the redesigning of a much older weapon. (1)

Leaf springs are simple springs that are built up of layers or leaves. One advantage of a leaf spring is that the end of spring can be designed in a way to send a trajectory along a guided path. Another advantage of a leaf spring is that it can be built of wooden layers which gives Davinci's catapults the same potential as a cross bow.

Catapults are like ballistas. The ballista was likely a Greek invention and came into being when inventors gained knowledge about tension spring. The Romans inherited the tension powered ballista technology from the Greeks.

The difference between a ballista and a catapult is that a ballista shoots a projectile on more of a curved arc than a catapult. War weapons like Davinci's catapults throw a trajectile more like a heavy cannon. The Romans ended up using the word ballista to describe all such weapons. (2)

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Resources

1 - A Leonardo DaVinci leaf spring catapult
2 - Encyclopedia Americana - popular dictionary of arts and science...Vol. 2, p.575