Aerial photography

science · 12 December 1893 · 131 years ago

In 1893, the first U.S. patent for aerial photography was issued to Cornele B. Adams of Augusta, Ga. (No. 510,758). His method of photogrammetry could produce a topographic map by means of photos of the same tract taken from different points. The patent refers to aerial photographs taken automatically at a predetermined height from an unmanned stationary balloon on a tether rope at each end of a measured base line on the land. "The pictures obtained can be converted into topographic maps, to delineate not only the horizontal positions and distances of the objects correctly, but from which the altitude of the objects can be quickly and accurately ascertained, and such results obtained without the aid of other field instruments."

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