World Patent Information 28 (2006) 2033

www.elsevier.com/locate/worpatin

Sir Barnes Wallis, a radical engineer and his patents

Brian Spear

36 Forest Approach, Woodford Green, Essex IG8 9BS, UK

Abstract
Barnes Neville Wallis (18871979) was probably Great Britains most distinguished 20th century aeronautical engineer, despite
being largely self taught. He led 140 GB patents alone between 1917 and 1959 which not only illustrate his own career but also
throw light on the rise, glory years and later decline of the British aerospace industry.
2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Barnes Wallis; Engineering patents; Historical review; Airships; Geodetic structures; Aeroplane design; Telescopes

1. Early years
He came from a fairly impoverished London middle
class family and, despite a good scientic grounding at
Christs Hospital school, left in 1904 at 16 for a menial
apprenticeship paid 4 shillings a week (about 20 now)
with a company making ships engines, having failed
his London matriculation exam. Not a very promising
start! Nevertheless after 3 years of routine work he
decided to be a marine engineer (at a time when British
marine engineering dominated the world) and transferred to a shipyard in the Isle of Wight where he soon
gained a place in the drawing oce and earned 25 shillings week. By 1911, he had nished his apprenticeship
and was working on sea trials for destroyers; later he
was an expert on diesel engines. However, at this stage
he showed no sign of his later distinction.

2. The rise of aviation-airships

Although aeroplanes had made limited progress since
the Wright Brothers ight in 1903 most thought the fu-

Tel.: +44 208 504 8972.

E-mail address: brian_spear31@hotmail.com

0172-2190/$ - see front matter 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wpi.2005.05.004

ture lay with airships where Germany had its impressive

Zeppelins. This alarmed the British Government and in
1909 they ordered an airship, the Mayy, from Vickers
Armstrongs, Britains leading armaments conglomerate.
There was no British airship expertise and 2 years work
resulted in the Mayy breaking its back when emerging
from her shed. The Board of Enquiry chairman described it as the work of an idiot and the program
was abandoned. One engineer, H.B. Pratt, left Vickers
in the aftermath of this asco to work alongside Wallis
in the shipyard. Shortly afterwards, Germany ordered
10 Zeppelins and the British program was rapidly resurrected, Pratt was recalled and got Wallis a job as an
assistant airship designer in September 1913despite
his lack of pertinent experience few were any better
qualied. He excelled here, taught himself calculus in
his spare time, and became a highly procient designer.
However, the program was dropped in March 1915 and
Wallis joined the Army (he had previously volunteered
for the Navy in 1914) where his proudest engineering
achievement was designing the camp drains! Government changes meant renewal of the airship program
and Pratt and Wallis were recalled again. The British
program was bedevilled by departmental inghting
and achieved very little but Wallis ended the First World
War (WW1) as Britains leading airship designer with
the R80. The end of WW1 led to massive defence cuts,

B. Spear / World Patent Information 28 (2006) 2033

R80 was abandoned in 1921, and Vickers closed its airship department. Wallis was given a retainer to pursue
his own interests which he used to get an external London engineering degree in a year, subsequently teaching
maths in a Swiss school to perfect his French and hopefully get a job in aviation sales.

3. Patent applications
Meanwhile from 1917 he began ling patents on various aspects of this airship work (see Appendix A). His
rst patent (Fig. 1) concerned a portable riveting machine for light structural work, his co-applicant being
a director of Vickers [1].
One of his Patent Agents was Arthur Bloxham,
whose sister was Walliss step-Mother, and Wallis subsequently fell for Mollyone of Arthurs ve daughters.
As Wallis was 35 to Mollys 17 her Father strongly dis-

Fig. 1. GB118162Riveting machine for light structures.

21

approved of this cradle snatching. Nevertheless they

married in 1925 and it was a very successful marriage,
with 4 children and 20 grandchildren.

4. Airships revived
Despite the success of aeroplanes in WW1 they were
small, noisy and uncomfortable so there was a widespread, if ultimately misguided, belief that airships were
the future for long distance passenger transportation. In
Britain this resulted in two programs, the R100 run by
the Vickers backed Airship Guarantee Company where
Wallis was made chief designer in 1923, and the R101
program started by the brief 1924 Labour Government
who approved of government planning and whose pacist wing considered Vickers to be merchants of
death. These rival capitalist and socialist programs led to considerable political inghting when there
was barely enough technical expertise or money to run
one program and the rival German Graf Zeppelin was
achieving worldwide fame in 19281929. The outcome
of the airship program supports the view that a small
team led by someone who knows what they are doing
nearly always achieves more than a committee. Wallis
generally believed that what is aesthetically attractive
is usually more ecient and the R100 had a torpedo like
shape with the passenger/engine cars recessed inside
(Fig. 2), [2].
Technically Walliss design and practical implementation was superior and R100 completed a successful
trip to Canada in 1930 which led to high hopes of
commercial success, especially sales to the USA. R101
was pressed into a trip to India shortly afterwards
and crashed in France with great loss of life, including
most of her design team and Lord Thomson, the Air
Minister and Labour politician most associated with
it. The subsequent recriminations eectively nished
both British programs though Germany and USA
continued until the Second World War (WW2) intervened. The R100 resulted in 24 GB and 12 US patents
for Wallis, not just concerned with the structure but

Fig. 2. GB250330Streamlined airship.

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B. Spear / World Patent Information 28 (2006) 2033

Fig. 3. GB281041Rigid airships in which transverse frame torsion and/or bending of longitudinal girders is avoided.

also with all the ancillaries such as engine cars

(GB259264), gas valves (GB281419), mooring masts
(US1664188), etc. reecting his desire and aptitude for
solving a wide range of engineering problems. On the
structural design aspect he gradually formed his ideas
on geodetics which gives particular strength/lightness
for aeronautical construction. Essentially space frames
can be built in curvilinear form, the whole forming an
articulated structure without internal chords, diagonals
or bulkheads and where all members are placed as geodesics in the boundary surfaces. Rigidly joined opposite
handed geodesics would bear equal but opposite forces
to shear or torsional loading thus greatly increasing
strength.
One of his design team and co-inventorsGB281041
(Fig. 3, [3]), US1781100was Neville Shute Norway
who later became famous as the novelist Nevil Shute,
one of the few engineers to succeed in this eld despite
having engineers as heroes!

5. Aeroplanes again
Wallis had briey worked on aeroplanes in 1920 and
worked part time with Vickers Supermarine from 1928,
transferring permanently in 1930 before the end of the
airships. Initially he did not get on with his colleague

Mitchell (eventual designer of the Spitre) and transferred to designing a ying boat yacht and later a ghter. His prime innovation was in applying geodetics to
aircraft to improve strength and decrease weight. For
example, see Fig. 4, [4].
Despite numerous objections, especially from the
Air Ministry, his views eventually prevailed and led to
the Wellesley bomber in 1935 and later the Wellington which was a highly successful RAF bomber in
WW2, consequently being produced in the largest
numbers. Thanks to its geodetic construction the Wellington could absorb a tremendous amount of damage
and still get home which made it very popular with
its crews who aectionately christened it the Wimpy.
Again he was granted numerous patents in Britain
and abroad since, as in the airship program, he
worked on all aspects of aircraft structures and ancillaries. For example gun turret windscreens as shown in
Fig. 5, [5].
One popular contemporary idea for repelling bombing aircraft was surrounding the target with barrage balloons whose securing cables posed a severe hazard to
aircraft. In wartime they were generally ineectual but
Walliss idea (Fig. 6, [6]) was a saw edge on the aircraft
wing which could sever the cable!
A radical suggestion but I would not like to have
been in the plane that tried it!

B. Spear / World Patent Information 28 (2006) 2033

Fig. 4. GB452726Improved geodetic bracing members for wings or fuselages of aircraft.

Fig. 5. GB494248Adjustable windscreens for use with guns, cameras or other instruments mounted on aircraft.

23

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B. Spear / World Patent Information 28 (2006) 2033

Fig. 6. GB568559Protecting aircraft from wire obstructions by providing a saw edge to the wings.

6. Bombs and dams

The outbreak of WW2 in 1939 convinced Wallis that
a successful bombing campaign was dependent on using
the largest bombs possible on the largest aircraft and, to
this end, he made a detailed study of high explosives in
his spare moments from continuous development work

on the Wellington. He also made detailed studies of

the German and Italian economies and how bombing
could be made more eective, in particularly by attacking the dams which fed the Ruhr, Germanys industrial
powerhouse. Initially his ideas were rebued but, by
1942, Britains strategic bombing campaign had proved
so expensive and ineectual that the authorities were

Fig. 7. GB937959Explosive missiles launched from aircraft with forward spinning motion.

B. Spear / World Patent Information 28 (2006) 2033

open to any suggestions. At that stage the RAF had no

means of eectively demolishing the dams so, having
sold the idea, Wallis had to design the bombs and the
method too. He had long been interested in the ballistics
of spheres and knew they could be made to skip along
the surface of water. He eventually produced a cylindrical bomb rotatably suspended below the bomber which,
when released at 60 feet above the water, would skip
along the surface hit the dam, sink to its base and explode at this most vulnerable point (Fig. 7, [7]).
This bomb was considered so important that its 2 patents were not published until 1963. The Dam Buster raids
of 16/17 May 1943 were considered largely successful
and Walliss reputation was made with the military so
thereafter he designed ever bigger and equally successful
bombs until the end of the war, though he found time to
le other aircraft patents. His outstanding war time
achievements earned him surprisingly little ocial recognition, and he was not knighted until 1968. However, he
was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1945, a rare

25

honour for an engineer and a powerful endorsement of

his professional excellence.

7. Rethinking aeroplane designwild goose and

swallow
Wallis stayed at Vickers as head of an Independent
Research Department with a wide remit to explore what
interested him. Characteristically he reconsidered the entire basis of aircraft design and explored variable geometric designs to devise a wing controlled aeroplane
without a tail and ailerons (Fig. 8, [8]) which became
known as Wild Goose.
To bring such a radical project to fruition was beyond
the scope of Vickers alone and, in practical terms, he
needed large scale backing from the government. However, WW2 had left Britain eectively bankrupt with a
huge aircraft industry eager for projects. The result
was a multiplicity of underresourced and underfunded

Fig. 8. GB595464Control of yawing and pitching of aircraft.

26

B. Spear / World Patent Information 28 (2006) 2033

projects, few of which resulted in both technical and

commercial success. The numerous expensive and politically embarrassing failures led to the steady decline of the
British aerospace industry. Wild Goose became a small
research project whose progress was slowed by Walliss
refusal to risk the life of a test pilot in his prototype, instead using a movable launch trolley (e.g. GB673550) for
a remote controlled model. After many diculties Wild
Goose ew successfully in 1952 and his theories were
proved. However, large scale ocial support was still
not forthcoming though he worked on a feasibility study
for a new RAF bomber based on his theories which became known as Swallow. For this he modied the fuse-

lage design to produce a delta with a large spine

running down the middle, the wings being pivoted at
the base of the delta. In 1955, an 8 foot rocket propelled
model performed well and, by 1956, a prototype plane
could have been started. However, this coincided with
large scale defence reviews/economic cutbacks and Swallow was eectively dead by 1959 (the ling year of 894365
[9], his last GB patentsee Fig. 9).
Although Swallow never ew Fig. 10 shows a computer simulation [10].
The USA later built the F111 with swing wings (but
including a tail) with debatable success. Ironically his
inability to push these projects to fruition coincided with

Fig. 9. GB894365Improved delta plan form of aerofoil in aircraft.

Fig. 10. Computer simulation of Swallow aircraft.

B. Spear / World Patent Information 28 (2006) 2033

Fig. 11. GB692140Launching remotely-controlled missiles with adjustable wings.

27

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B. Spear / World Patent Information 28 (2006) 2033

Fig. 12. GB798953Improved paraboloidal dish for radio telescope.

widespread national fame in consequence of the very

successful book and lm The Dam Busters.
8. Other later inventions
Meanwhile he still found time for other work; around
1950 there was a spate of patents on turret launched
guided missiles (see Fig. 11, [11] for example).
In 1954, he was involved in reducing aircraft radar
reection (GB852881early stealth technology?) and
in 1955 on telescopes (Fig. 12, [12]).
He had been lured onto a GB radiotelescope committee and designed the mounting which was used in one
built in Australia in 1961. In fact between 1945 and
1960 (aged 5873 when most of his contemporaries were
retired) he had 42 GB patents alone, being nearly as prolic as during his pre-war surge (Fig. 13).
9. Endgame
In his nal years he still pursued radical technical
ideas; short takeo and landing (STOL) aircraft, square

shaped aircraft fuselages, and (returning to his nautical

roots) nuclear powered submarine cargo carriers. Furthermore he did much lecturing despite his age; while I
was an engineering student in 1965, he gave us a brilliant
lecture which I remember vividly today.
To sum up Wallis was undoubtedly a brilliant self
taught engineer, not only producing a wide range of original and often highly radical patentable ideas in a succession of technical elds but, more importantly, having the
persuasiveness and strength of character to sell these radical ideas to others and produce numerous technically
superior nished products, many of which were very successful when nancial resources were available. In character he was not only intelligent, original and hard working
but an essentially upright personality: patriotic, churchgoing and respectable. Character is destiny1 as Novalis

1
Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (UK: Book Club Associates by
arrangement with Oxford University Press, 3rd ed. 1979) 364.9. The
full quotation is I often feel, and ever more deeply I realize, that fate
and character are the same conception.

B. Spear / World Patent Information 28 (2006) 2033

Acknowledgment

16
14

Permission from Dr. Ian R. Murray (University of

Dundee, UK) to include Fig. 10 in this article is gratefully acknowledged.

12
10
NUMBER OF
PATENTS

8
6
4
2
0
1917

29

26

35

44

53

Fig. 13. GB patents of Sir Barnes Wallis, 19171960.

put it and, in Walliss case, his singular character was the

mainspring of his success.

Appn year

Patent number

Appendix A
The esp@cenet database provided by the EPO lists
140 published GB patents with Barnes Neville Wallis
as Inventor/Applicant. There are also 41 US, 19 DE, 4
FR, 1 CH and 1 BE listed. Some of these non-GB patents are listed as GB equivalents and the others are
probably related. I have listed them by year of original
application as the grant dates vary considerably.
Most of these have as applicants the Airship Guarantee Company or various Vickers companies but a few are
in Walliss name only or have other inventors/applicants.

Subject matter

Other applicants/inventors

The WW1 airship program

1917
GB118162
1917
GB128968
1918
GB131072
1918
GB121552

Portable riveting machine

Hole drilling/punching
Airship mooring ball/socket
Bracing for aircraft girders

J. McKechnie

McKechnie/Vickers

Airship Guarantee Co.

1924
GB233020
1924
GB233021
1924
GB238981
1924
GB239300
1924
GB239601
1924
US1608230
1924
US1658821
1924
US1666112
1924
US1675009
1925
GB249949
1925
GB250330
1925
GB250348
1925
GB252517
1925
GB254782
1925
GB254783
1925
GB259264
1925
GB262511
1925
GB262512
1925
US1630726
1925
US1637432
1925
US1664188
1926
GB271241
1926
GB280327
1926
GB281041
1926
GB281419
1926
GB282166

Airship shape controlled by variable pitch wires

Airship frame
Airship car suspension
Airship steering and balancing
Airship protective envelope
Airship
Airship
Airship
Airship
Airship mooring mast
Airship
Airship outer cover
Airship mooring mast
Hollow metal struts for aircraft
Machine makes metal aircraft tubes
Airship engine cars
Curved girders
Riveting aircraft tubes
Airship
Airship
Airship mooring mast
Reversing in valve gear
Airship wires
Preventing airship torsional stress
Automatic gas valve
Airship engine

Burney

Temple/Burney
Norway
Burney
(continued on next page)

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B. Spear / World Patent Information 28 (2006) 2033

Appendix A (continued)
Appn year Patent number Subject matter
1926
1926
1926
1926
1926
1926
1926
1926
1927
1927

GB282167
GB282518
GB283635
US1661206
US1713574
US1724440
US1758143
US1781100
GB301343
GB301347

Airship framework
Airship outer cover stretching
Airship bag relief valve
Airship
Airship
Airship
Airship
Airship
Bolted joint for anges
Connecting tanks

Aircraft
Some of these are in Walliss name only though he was clearly working for Vickers
1929
GB334405
Frame structures for aircraft wings/fuselages
1929
GB341937
Turning aircraft stress-distributing sleeves
(equivalents FR703228, DE558900)
1929
DE559305
Aircraft
1929
DE568607
Aircraft
1929
GB342268
Aircraft wing structures
1929
US1805964
Turning
1929
US1833696
Aircraft wings
1929
US1846772
Aircraft frame
1930
GB348936
Screwing and tapping for aircraft tubes
1931
GB376364
Aircraft framework
Vickers Aviation and later Vickers companies
1931
GB376365
Securing strengthening sleeves for aircraft tubes
1931
GB380091
Drilling metal aircraft tubes
1931
GB380093
Riveting metal aircraft tubes
1931
GB387346
Aircraft gun mounting
1931
GB387347
Aircraft wing bracing
1931
GB388437
Folding aircraft wings
1931
GB388438
Aircraft fuselages with geodetic bracing axes
1931
GB392905
Stressed skin aircraft fuselages
1931
GB392972
Spring buered arm for aircraft gun
1931
US1891127
Strengthening sleeves for tube ends
1931
US1894011
Construction if aircraft fuselage
1931
US1913097
Constructing a girder
1931
FR701140
Aircraft
1931
FR703261
Aircraft
1932
GB399555
Aircraft wing construction
1932
GB399887
Aircraft tail unit
1932
GB406747
Aircraft gun mounting
1932
GB406753
Spring hinged adjustable seat for aircraft gun mounting
(equivalents US1933197, FR751977, BE395143, DE586033)
1932
GB407009
Aircraft wings
1932
GB408674
Assembling geodetic aircraft bracing members
1932
GB412232
Aircraft wing upper and lower boom construction
1932
GB416841
Aircraft gun mounting
1932
US1935491
Aircraft gun mounting (equivalents FR753516, BE395477)
1932
US1967795
Aircraft cantilever wing
1932
US1985649
Aircraft wing construction
1933
GB418066
Aircraft biplane wing bracings
1933
GB419748
Aircraft control surface balancing

Other applicants/inventors

Burney
Burney
Temple/Burney
Temple/Burney/Norway

B. Spear / World Patent Information 28 (2006) 2033

31

Appendix A (continued)
Appn year Patent number Subject matter
1933
1933
1933
1933
1933
1934
1934
1934
1934
1935
1935
1935
1935
1935
1936
1936
1936
1936
1937
1937
1937
1937
1937
1937
1937
1937
1937
1937
1937
1938
1941
1941
1941
1941
1941
1941
1941
1941
1941
1941
1941
1941
1941
1942
1942
1942
1942
1942
1943
1943
1943
1943
1944

GB426134
GB426268
GB429186
GB429188
GB449234
GB441084
GB449236
GB449237
US1956480
GB452726
GB465734
GB478955
GB465733
US2060387
GB471124
GB471123
GB479858
US2115504
DE675983
GB478089
GB494109
GB494233
GB494248
GB505201
GB505202
GB505208
GB568559
US2234906
US2157042
GB510164
GB548287
GB549033
GB561929
GB562301
GB578152
GB573725
GB571719
GB565860
GB565771
GB565770
US2362951
US2365669
US2387219
GB581142
GB574576
GB574090
GB572303
GB937959
GB572816
GB567900
GB937960
US2388197
GB577154

Other applicants/inventors

Aircraft landing gear

Single spar aircraft wing has recess for wheel/fuel tank
Aircraft biplane wing bracing
Connecting aircraft bracings
Reversing gearing for aircraft gun mounting
Windscreen for aircraft nose/tail used as gun mounting
Aircraft gun mountings
Aircraft gun mountings
Aircraft spar bracings
Geodetic aircraft construction
Adjustable aircraft cockpit seat
Aircraft gun mounting
Combined aircraft windscreen/cockpit cover
Aircraft structure
Aircraft wing/fuselage construction
Boom for cantilever aircraft structure
Power operated aircraft doors
Aircraft frame
Aircraft
Stressed skin aircraft wing/control surface
Aircraft gun mounting
Geodetic aircraft construction
Mounting aircraft gun through windscreen
Wing mounted aircraft engine nacelle
Wing mounted aircraft fuel tanks
Geodetic aircraft structures
Aircraft has balloon cable cutters on wings
Producing geodetic aircraft structures
Aircraft wing/fuselage
Retractable aircraft undercarriages
Aircraft landing gear
Jointing stressed skin aircraft structure
Aircraft wing spars
Aircraft pressure cabins
Roller bearing track for aircraft gun turret
Stressed skin aircraft structure
Aircraft pressure cabin sealing
Aircraft pressure cabins
Aircraft wing aerofoil
Stressed skin aircraft wings
Aircraft pressure cabin
Stressed skin aircraft wings/control surfaces
Aircraft structure
Aircraft pressure cabins
Self sealing aircraft fuel tank fabric
Aircraft surface designed to withstand external air pressure
Aircraft pressure cabin door
Aircraft launched missiles
Range nder for torpedo carrying aircraft
Aircraft undercarriages
Discharging missiles from aircraft
Range nder
Aircraft cabin
(continued on next page)

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B. Spear / World Patent Information 28 (2006) 2033

Appendix A (continued)
Appn year

Patent number

Subject matter

1944
1944
1944
1944
1945
1945
1945
1945
1946
1946
1947
1947
1948
1948
1949
1949
1949
1949
1949
1949
1949
1949
1949
1949
1950
1950
1950
1950
1951
1953
1953
1954
1954
1954
1954
1955
1955
1955
1955
1955
1955
1956
1956
1956
1956
1956
1957
1957
1957
1958
1958
1958

GB575392
GB580574
DE805498
US2455838
DE820540
US2459009
GB595464
GB595490
GB595494
US2504767
GB586976
GB741717
GB741718
GB741719
GB673550
GB673551
GB692140
GB756019
GB756020
GB759677
GB759678
GB759679
GB759680
GB741720
GB764291
GB764292
GB764395
US2659553
GB731665
GB730818
GB832181
GB832606
GB832760
GB852881
US2915261
GB798953
GB820166
GB860823
GB861230
US2922601
US2990141
GB832761
GB832762
GB842363
GB854459
US2969938
GB839647
GB1148492
DE1083567
GB857832
GB870739
GB950400

Geodetic aircraft wing

Woven metallic skin for airframes
Aircraft
Aircraft frame
Aircraft
Aircraft body and wing
Aircraft with adjustable wings to control pitch
Aircraft lateral and pitch control using movable wings
Movable aircraft wings
Aircraft with adjustable wings
Finding dynamic unbalance of rotary body
Adjusting aircraft wings
Adjusting aircraft wings
Adjusting aircraft wings
Wheeled aircraft launching trolley
Releasable attachment for aircraft launching trolley
Guided missile launching turret
Controlling movable aircraft wings
Centrifugal governor for controlling aircraft wings
Guided missile launched from gun
Guided missile gas turbine
Guided missile wing mountings
Guided missile gas turbine
Variable sweep back aircraft wings
Guided missile moved by wing adjustment
Guided missile automatic pilot
Guided missile yaw control
Launching aeroplanes
Controlling deection of loaded tubes
Wheeled aircraft launching carriage
Swept wing aircraft has utter reduction
Aircraft control/stabilisation
Variable sweep aerodyne wings
Aircraft shaping to reduce radar reections
Variable sweep back aerodyne wings
Paraboloid reector in radio telescope
Telescope mounting
Aircraft wing uid pressure end thrust bearings
Pivotally connected aircraft wings
Variable sweepback aircraft
Pivot for variable sweepback aircraft wings
Aircraft delta plan aerofoil
Aircraft construction reduces drag ratio
Mounting engines on aircraft swept back wings
Moving variable sweep aircraft wings
Variable sweep back aircraft
Cooling supersonic aircraft using special skin
Controlling aircraft launched gliding bomb
Telescope
Making bearings
Aircraft swept wing engine mounting
Adjusting aircraft wings

Other applicants/inventors

B. Spear / World Patent Information 28 (2006) 2033

33

Appendix A (continued)
Appn year

Patent number

Subject matter

Other applicants/inventors

1958
1958
1958
1958
1958
1958
1959
1959
1959
1959
1959
1959
1959
1959
1960
1960

DE1079465
DE1081765
DE1081766
DE1081767
DE1105727
DE977750
GB885033
GB885105
US2980366
GB894365
US3047255
DE1109038
DE1110526
DE1132000
DE1175997
CH400785

Aircraft
Aircraft
Aircraft
Aircraft
Aircraft
Aircraft
Variable sweepwing aircraft

Variable sweepback aircraft

Aircraft aerofoil
Swept wing aircraft engine mounting
Aircraft
Aircraft
Aircraft
Aircraft

Date unclear DE1093214 Aircraft

References
[1] McKechnie J [Director, Vickers Ltd.], Wallis BN. Improvements
in or relating to riveting machine. GB Patent Specication 118162.
Earliest application date: 29 August 1917.
[2] Airship Guarantee Company, Wallis BN, Denniston C [Retired
Lieutenant-Commander, and Member of Parliament]. Improvements in or relating to lighter-than-air aircraft. GB Patent
Specication 250330. Earliest application date: 9 January 1925.
[3] Airship Guarantee Company, Wallis BN, Denniston C, Norway
NS, Temple JE. Improvements in or relating to rigid airships. GB
Patent Specication 281041. Earliest application date: 17 September 1926.
[4] Vickers (Aviation) Ltd. and Wallis BN. Improvements in the
structure of fuselages, wings, and other bodies of aircraft. GB
Patent Specication 452726. Earliest application date: 27 February 1935.
[5] Vickers (Aviation) Ltd. and Wallis BN. Improvements in and
connected with adjustable windscreens for use in conjunction with
guns, cameras and other instruments mounted on aircraft. GB
Patent Specication 494248. Earliest application date: 23 April
1937.
[6] Vickers (Aviation) Ltd. and Wallis BN. Improvements in or
connected with means for protecting aircraft from wire obstructions. GB Patent Specication 568559. Earliest application date:
23 December 1937. [Withheld from publication for several years,
under Section 30 of the Patents and Designs Acts, 1907 to 1939.]
[7] Vickers Aircraft Holdings Ltd. [and Wallis BN as inventor].
Improvements in explosive missiles and means for their discharge
[from aircraft with forward spinning motion]. GB Patent Specication 937959. Earliest application date: 11 August 1942.
Publication date: 25 September 1963.
[8] Wallis BN. Improvements in aeroplanes. [Control of yawing and
pitching of aircraft] GB Patent Specication 595464. Earliest
application date: 1 March 1945. Publication date: 5 December
1947.

[9] Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd. [and Wallis BN as inventor].

Improvements in aeroplanes. [Improved delta plan form of
aerofoil in aircraft] GB Patent Specication 894365. Earliest
application date: 21 September 1959. Publication date: 18 April
1962.
[10] Computer simulation of Swallow aircraft. Prepared by and
copyright with Dr. Iain R. Murray, University of Dundee, UK.
[11] Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd. [and Wallis BN as inventor]. Improved
means for launching guided missiles. GB Patent Specication
692140. Earliest application date: 29 April 1949. Publication date:
27 May 1953.
[12] Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd. [and Wallis BN as inventor].
Improvements in [paraboloidal dish for] radio telescopes. GB
Patent Specication 798953. Earliest application date: 13 October
1955. Publication date: 30 July 1958.

Bibliography
[1] Morpurgo JE. Barnes Wallis. London: Penguin Books; 1973.
[2] Brickhill P. The dam busters, London, 1951.
[3] Shute N. Slide rule, London, 1954.

Brian Spear is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow

of the Institution of Electrical Engineers whose
career was spent in the UK Patent Oce. This
included 22 years examining patents relating to
computers, control systems and telecommunications. He has also spent 10 years on developing computer databases/searching, working
in their commercial search arm-the Search and
Advisory Service, and on IPR lecturing to a
wide range of organisations. Since retiring he
has completed an M.Sc. in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology at Imperial College London.