Any Information on Ralph Stott's Flying Machine Hoax 1876?

[globwin]

Dover Town Museum in Kent has a section on the various and unusual ways of crossing the English Channel that have been attempted. Amongst these is reference to Ralph Stott and his request in 1876 for a very very large sum of money to reveal the secret way in which his "flying machine" worked. He claimed that the machine could fly to France in one hour. There is then a picture of a large iron bucket-like contraption with two worthy Victorian gents standing in it, one of whom (presumably the "inventor") is grasping a large iron wheel like a valve or steeling wheel just forward of some sort of metal compartment or housing in the bucket. The interwebs have no reference to all this except a reference to a 1930's edition of "Popular Flying" which had a reproduction of the original funding-raising advert and a supporting article, although neither is shown on the internet page. Anyone know any more?

[polomint38]

Dover Town Museum in Kent has a section on the various and unusual ways of crossing the English Channel that have been attempted. Amongst these is reference to Ralph Stott and his request in 1876 for a very very large sum of money to reveal the secret way in which his "flying machine" worked. He claimed that the machine could fly to France in one hour. There is then a picture of a large iron bucket-like contraption with two worthy Victorian gents standing in it, one of whom (presumably the "inventor") is grasping a large iron wheel like a valve or steeling wheel just forward of some sort of metal compartment or housing in the bucket. The interwebs have no reference to all this except a reference to a 1930's edition of "Popular Flying" which had a reproduction of the original funding-raising advert and a supporting article, although neither is shown on the internet page. Anyone know any more?

His Great Grandson Michael O'Leary* is still running the family airline.

* For legal reasons, may I point out that this reference to Michael O'Leary and Ryanair is satirical, I am in no way implying that Ralph Scott's flying machine, is as cheap-rate as Michaels fleet.