What did the word “Sustainer” mean?
“Sustainer” referred to the part of a flying machine which generated the list to “sustain” a flying machine in the air. The words “sustainer” or “sustainers” were reserved for reference to curved lifting surfaces. Horatio Phillips popularized the term, which he applied to his curved lifting surfaces. Return to Questions What was an “Ornithopter”? Ornithopters is the term applied to Flying Machines which utilize flapping wings as the propelling power. Many people, quite reasonably, attempted to imitate the motion of bird wings, usually by attaching wing-like structures to arms. However, humans weigh much more than birds relative to the power which can be produced. Birds, weighing very little, can generate a tremendous amount of energy. For a long while it was believed that successful human-powered Ornithopters could never fly. Recently, however, a number of ingenious attempts to use human energy to power very lightweight flapping-wing structures have been made. The following web sites c
