Some Call Him ‘Tim’, The Flying French Ornithopter
by adminMeet ‘Tim‘, sometimes known as TimBird. He is from France!
Tim is what is known as an Ornithopter. This is a flying machine that gets its lift not with airfoils, but by flapping its wings like an actual bird!
The idea of an Ornithopter was first sketched out by Leonardo da Vinci circa 1488. His design was very similar to Tim’s modern design. Leonardo’s life sized and he proposed a man lie down on planks and flap the wings with his arms. As we have since learned through various trial and error since da Vinci’s time that this is simply not going to work. The human arm cannot provide enough power to lift a human body’s weight. Even with advanced design human legs can barely get a ultralight vehicle in flight. This being the case, man-sized Ornithopters are mostly the stuff of science fiction, or sometimes unmanned robot models. A few folks have tried to make human-powered aircraft, the most recent being Yves Rousseau in 2005. This took 212 attempts before actually getting properly aloft. Tragically, on the 213th flight the Ornithopter crashed and badly injured Rousseau. Some folks have claimed success with engine powered-Ornithopters, but the flights are often assisted by towing, jet engines, or other powered-assists.
Tim has several advantages over human beings and modern aircraft. For one thing he is small, hollow, and made of lightweight plastic. This makes him as light as possible, allowing the flapping wings to keep Tim aloft. How does Tim flap his wing? He uses a rubber band that you wind up! This rubber band works for something Tim’s size, but it could not be scaled up because a huge rubber band just would not work the same way as a smaller one does.
One fun feature of Tim is his tail. By adjusting the angle of his tail you change which direction he flies. There’s lots of experimentation to be done by playing with Tim’s tail!
Tim has a rather interesting history, too: He actually built a company! Over 30 years ago, the founder of Schylling (the US distributors of Tim Bird) brought some Tim Birds over from France to sell. He sold out so quickly he ended up ordering lots more. From that single product he was able to found a company that today carries hundreds of toys from kites to Erectors sets and much more. Way to go Tim!
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