Early inventor: Pre Wright Bros - A.T.D. related

[Werner Presber]

Early inventor: Pre Wright Bros

„Alexander P. Keith hailed from Eaton, Massachusetts, coming to  
California for the gold mines and then making his big strike in  
Nevada in 1859-60. He used his newfound fortune to continue his  
vision of his airplane invention. His invention deviated from the  
then accepted flapping wing devices that were of the time.

He later married Anna Hicks in Boston and moved to San Diego in the  
early 1880s where they had two daughters, Mabel M. and Elizabeth.  
Only after Keith’s death did his family learn of his invention and  
patent. It is said in the few articles on Keith’s invention, that the  
only things lacking was the aid of a perpetual moving machine, at  
which time had not yet been discovered. His early invention was given  
a U.S. Patentn in 1870.“

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/sets/72157625165768175/ 
with/5136500179/