The aerial steam carriage, also named Ariel, was a flying machine patented in England in 1842 that was supposed to carry passengers into the air. It was, in practice, incapable of flight since it had insufficient power from its heavy steam engine to fly. A more successful model was built in 1848 which was able to fly for small distances within a hangar. The aerial steam carriage was significant because it was a transition from glider experimentation to powered flight experimentation. Specifications The Ariel was to be a monoplane with a wing span of , weigh and was to be powered by a specially-designed lightweight steam powered engine producing . The wing area was to be ., with the tail another 1500, yielding a very low wing loading. The inventors hoped that the Ariel would achieve a speed of 50 mph, and carry 10–12 passengers up to . The plan was to launch it from an inclined ramp. The undercarriage was a 3-wheel design. British patent 9478 William Samuel Henson (1812–1888) and John Stringfellow (1799–1883) received British patent 9478 in 1842. In order that the description hereafter given be rendered clear, I will first shortly explain the principle on which the machine is constructed. If any light and flat or nearly flat article be projected or thrown edgewise in a slightly inclined position, the same will rise on the air till the force exerted is expended, when the article so thrown or projected will descend; and it will readily be conceived that, if the article so projected or thrown possessed in itself a continuous power or force equal to that used in throwing or projecting it, the article would continue to ascend so long as the forward part of the surface was upwards in respect to the hinder part, and that such article, when the power was stopped, or when the inclination was reversed, would descend by gravity aided by the force of the power contained in the article, if the power be continued, thus imitating the flight of a bird. Now, the first part of my invention consists of an apparatus so constructed as to offer a very extended surface or plane of a light yet strong construction, which will have the same relation to the general machine which the extended wings of a bird have to the body when a bird is skimming in the air; but in