THE MAXIM AIR-SHIP.

Clutha Leader, Volume XX, Issue 1029, 13 April 1894, Page 3

THE MAXIM AIR-SHIP.

(St. James's Budget.) Th(! fact that in a few years, probably 10 at the .outside estimate of the experts, the navigation of the air will be successfully and safely accomplished, may be news to 'many, though it is well understood by all who have followed the rapid development of applied .science in this direction for snniff ye.-irs past. Ever since the prospect of a dirigible balloon was abandoned by the foremost experimentalists in mechanical flight, in favor of an air-chip heavier' limn the air and raised by mechanical power, a steady progress toward ultimately certain success has been clearly apparent. Very few people, however, are aware of the advanced i*esults which have already been attained, and a visit to Baldwyn's Park, near Bexley, in Kent, would be to them a revelation which can only be described as startling. To see a great air-ship, weighing three and a-half tons, flying across a park on wheels, and to know that its engineer could lift it into the air in a moment by a turn of his wrist, makes one doubt the evidence of his own senses. It comes upon him with a shock, as if he had just awakened from a long Rip van Winkle slumber, during which the magic of the world's advancement had left him hopelessly behind. The big white machine is a practical moving fact, however. It can propel and lift itself. And just as soon as those subordinate experiments, upon which depends the safety of aerial voyages, aro completed, one of the greatest, meehatiical problems of the ages will have been solved. Mr Hiram S. Maxim, the inventor of the Maxim gun and many other ingenious machines, is the' inventor of the air-ship. Replying to an enquiry by a visitor Mr Maxim said: 'The principle I have worked on, generally speaking, is that' of the kite. That large cloth frame at the top of the model is the aeroplane, or main kite surface. The lesser aeroplane, above the platform or car ; the side aeroplanes or wings ; and the flat.pointed rudders, fore and aft, are designed to furnish additional kite surface, It is necessary to make it, however, so that w<? can run it in a calm, against the air, thus making our own wind, as it were ; and for this purpose I have a railway track, and instead of cords to hold the kite against the wind, I employ a pair of powerful screw propellors driven by a steamengine. In this manner I can drive the machine exactly as I please, can ascertain exactly how much the push of the screws is, and at the same time find out exactly how much the machine lifts ab different speeds. The machine is, in fact, a big kite. Should I fly it in the air with a cord during a strong gale and then run my engines 1 , I should be able to find out how fast they would have to run in order to take all the pull off the cord. As soon as the cord became slack the machine would be flying with its own engine-power.' To more clearly illustrate his meaning, Mr Maxim led the ■ way to the . workshop in the grounds — a large and substantial bird-cage, 60ft wide and 50ft high, in which the mechanical bird had been constructed, and stood perched for one of its daily flights. A railway track, 9ft wide, ran outward from the closed doors, and stretched indefinitely, in a straight line across the green level of the park to the line of- a belt of wood 2000 ft distant. The front of the shop consisted of four large doors — ■ the largest in the world,' their owner remarked ; and when these were rolled back by a dozen workmen the air-ship came into view. It was so novel, so unexpected, and so apparently complex at first sight, that it held the eye for a long silent- period ; the beholder's ;sensation being one of wonder, if not awe, coupled with an indescribable mechanical confusion of ideas. It took many minutes to grasp it ; to form an intelligent idea of it. Then, as the sense of relation between the, different parts developed, it became a framework of black steel rods of varying sizes, with a square frame of ' white cloth, 50ft by 50ft at the top, ' and an inclined wooden platform, Bft wide by 40ft long, resting on wheels ' upon the track below. L Mr Maxim then showed a practical I test. Pushed by the workmen, the machine rolled slowly out of the house, ' and shortly stood upon the track in \ the park. It had completely filled the c workshop from roof to floor ; but here I with only the sky above it seemed J smaller and lighter. The steam was ' hissing in the boiler, the big screws had ' made one or two preliminary revolut ions, and a flight along the track was imminent. ' Jump on board,' shouted ' its owner, who stood at the boiler 1 conning half-a-dozen different guages, ' and, climbing ovpr an outlying rod like * the outrigger of a canoe. I mounted 3 the platform, which was of the lightest ' matched boards, so thin that they " seemed insufficient to bear a man's ' weight. Pricr to the start, a rope running to a dynamometer- and post 1 was attached behind to measure the s forward impulse, or ' push ' of the screw. Mr Maxim turned on the steam, and the screw on the port side 3 began to re.volve. It is 17ft llin in * length. sft wide at the ends, and 22in at the waist. It revolved faster and i faster as the steam-power was increased, , until it was whirling on its seemingly c frail framework at a dizzying speed. Then steam was shut off; \t, came

quickly to a standstill, and its fellow on the other side was tried. All working smoothly, both screws began to turn faster and faster and faster until the eye began to lose the blades, and retain only the sense of two whirling discs. Behind the screws, 40ft away, two men were squatting over the dynamometer, und indicating the degree of push on a large index-board for the engineer to read. The index marked 400, 500, 600, 700, and, finally, 1200 pounds of * push.' The pressure was then diminished below 500, and the commander yelled ' Let go !' A rope was pulled, tho machine shot forward like a railway train, and, with the big wheels whirling, the steam hissing, and the waste pipes puffing and gurgling, flew over the 1800 ft; of track in much less time than it takes to tell it. Ifc was stopped by a couple of ropes stretched across the track, working on capstans fitted with revolving fans. The stoppage was gentle, and tho passenger breathed freely again, looking now upon the machine with more friendly ancl less fearful eye, as if ifc were a dangerous bull-dog with which amicable relations had been established and fear of injury was over. The machine was then pushed back over the track, it not being built, any moro than a bird, to fly backward. In a quarter of an hour it is again afc its starting place ancl ready for another flight. ______