Author: Lyman Gilmore Jr., Lyman [1874 - 1951] - Presumed prior owner / creator
Title: ARCHIVE Of DESIGN MATERIALS
Description: : , 1900. All now housed in a clear archival mylar sleeve. Divers sizes. A small group of materials, including three blueprints, an original black and white photograph, several loose leaves of original pencil sketches, various additional ephemera, etc.. evidence strongly suggests all from the files of Lyman Gilmore, Jr. a pioneering California aviator who controversially claimed to have executed sustained flight more than a year prior to the Wright Brothers. Included here: Three original Gilmore blue prints which seem to be of an early submarine design    6 sheets of original pencil sketches which strongly appear to be contemporary to the early 1900's and are quite possibly (even likely) in Gilmore's hand (one being to the verso of Gilmore letterhead).   One original photograph (approximately 4" x 3 1/2") of the Gilmore's 1908 gas-powered plane    A 2pp. typed announcement on a Gilmore-invented submarine ; a small, 1pp. typed description of a "Heater Muffler Carberator Apparatus" (which seems to describe an early turbo design)   A small assembly of photocopied documents and photographs, presumably research aids for the previous owner.   This is a scarce surviving group of material as nearly all of Gilmore's early aviation equipment and documentation is thought to have been destroyed in a 1935 hangar fire.   Notes at the top of one of the drawing pages notes: "First-Test April 27, 1898" and "2d - May 15, 1902" (this 1902 date is when he supposedly flew for the first time)   Notes to another page provide a date and time of "Feb 25 - 1908 , 10:30pm."    The ruled drawing page noted as "SEMI - BI - MONO PLANE" (the upper left one with the paper clip above it in the second photo here) featuring pencil sketches of a plane from three angles notes a printed date to the backside of "copyright 1890."   This lot was recently acquired by a scout [from whom we purchased it] who purchased the material from an engineer & aviation buff estate near Nevada City, CA (where Gilmore was based), all found in a file folder that appeared that it hadn't seen the light of day in decades.   The Smithsonian's online Air and Space Magazine hosts an edited and narrated video of rare film footage of Gilmore in his hangar and at about the 2:30 minute mark, he can be seen leafing through design blueprints and sketches strikingly similar to those found here, suggesting that this is indeed an assembly of original Gilmore process material [do an on-line search for "lyman gilmore air and space magazine video"]. All-in-all, an interesting peak into the mind of an early aviation pioneer. Much of the lot is in rather rough condition. There is some significant dampstaining to one of the loose sketch leaves, one of the blueprints with some heavy wrinkling and paper loss from edges, and one blueprint severely faded. Good only.

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