THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
'Apparatus for
Navigating the Air'
Micajah Clark Dyer
My
However, a remarkable development has
occurred to add new light on Mr. Dyer’s invention and to authenticate
what had
only been passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation
about the
nineteenth century genius who watched birds fly and
mused (to quote a line from a popular song),
“Why, then oh why can’t I?”
Straightaway I have these to thank for
discovering the registered patent in the U. S.
Patent and Trademark Office and allowing me access to a copy. First, Jimmy Powell, cartoonist of note, went
on the Google search engine, typing “Micajah Dyer Patent.”
He followed the links to the
And speaking of patents, several of us
who have written about his flying machine have noted that the patent
application was evidently lost because there seemed to be no documents
in
Dyer’s papers to show that he received a patent. It
was believed by family members that the
patent was lost in transit between Choestoe and
The fact that it was not lost, and
that proof of the patent came into the hands of his descendants 130
years later
are wonderful authentications of this man’s outstanding work. In fact, September is a good month to be
writing about the title he gave to his patent, “Apparatus for
Navigating the Air,”
for the patent was granted on
Usually a model of the machine for
which the inventor was applying for a patent accompanied the drawings
and the
official application. So far, the model
has not been discovered at the patent office, but it may have been
burned in
the fire that devastated parts of the building in
Witnesses at Choestoe to Micajah
Dyer’s illustrated and written document were Francis M. Swain (a
neighbor) and
M. C. Dyer, Jr. (the “other” Micajah
Clark Dyer who, to distinguish the two,
signed Jr. after his name. He was
an uncle to the inventor Micajah Clark Dyer, but they were reared as
brothers
by Elisha Dyer, Jr., grandfather of Micajah).
The document was dated
The beginning of the written
description leads one to believe that there could have been prior
applications;
certainly prior attempts at an “Apparatus for Navigating the Air.” His opening statement reads:
Be
it known that I, Micajah Dyer, of Blairsville, in the county of Union
and State
of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in
Apparatus for
Navigating the Air; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear
and
exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled
in the
art to which it pertains to make and use it, reference being had to the
accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification…
In the
written account are minute details giving specifications for building
the
frame, the wings, the large balloon, the rotating paddle wheels,
shafts,
cranks, connecting rods—no part seems to have been omitted from his
description
of the apparatus which he so painstakingly thought through, drew and,
from
testimony of several who saw it, built
in his workshop. The description is far
too technical and long to include in this account.
No date is given for the “trial run”
Micajah Clark Dyer gave his ‘Apparatus
for Navigating the Air” on the runway he built to launch it on his property
at Choestoe underneath the shadow of Rattlesnake Mountain.
The fact that he did so is not a part of the
patent but by word passed from generation to generation by people of
integrity
and honesty.
His great, great granddaughter, Sylvia
Dyer Turnage, said: “People said he
continued to work on perfecting the machine until his death on
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail [email protected];
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
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