The Aviation World

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20496, 22 February 1930, Page 8 (Supplement)

The Aviation World

HEAVIER-THAN-AIR FLIGHT.

MODERN MECHANICAL POWER

RISE OF STEAM AND PETROL. BY C. E. BE M. The attempted nso of modern methods of mechanical power in flight dates back less than a century. The first successful attempt reported is that of W. IIPhillips, .who, in 1812, is said to have succeeded in elevating a steam model with tho aid of revolving fans. This machine,' according to bis account, (lew across two fields after having attained a great elevation. Several other steam models were a failure, inasmuch as they failed to lift their own weight. In 1859 11. Bright took out a patent for a machine to be sustained by vertical screws, a subject which received fresh impulse in 1863 from experiments with clockwork models which ascended with graduated weights' a distance of 10ft. to 12ft. But tho (lights lasted only a few' seconds and. the models were so fragile that they .broke on descending to the ground". Ilenson's flying machine, designed in 1813, was tho earliest attempt at aviation on ft great scale. Tlio chief feature of his invention was the great expanse of its sustaining planes. The machine, fully prepared for flight, was started from the top of an incline, in descending 'which it attained a velocity necessary to sustain it in its .further progress. A steam engine and the vanes it operated were to maintain (light by repairing the loss of velocity caused by the resistance of the wind. Stringfellow, originally assocated with Henson, built a successful flying model in 1847, and in 1868, constructed a triplane which won the £IOO prize of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain for its engine—the lightest and most powerful so far constructed.

Among tho most famous of the next attempts at artificial flight were thoso of Langley, secretary of tho Smithsonian Institute for diffusion of knowledge. These, more or less, followed the plan advocated by llenson. Steam power was used in 1896 in one of his machines, largely made of steel and aluminium, which flew fully half a mile on the Potj> mac River, this being the longest flight then recorded. His largest machine was built to the order of the United States government, which granted 50,000 dollars for its construction; but its two trials in 1903 were attended by disaster on the launching ways due to faulty slips and not to defects in tho machino. Lack of funds forced the abandonment of further trials.

Also worthy of mention are the trials of Sir Hiram S. Maxim, at Kent, in 1894. Tho steam engine of his plane gave the extraordinary efficiepcy of 1 h.p. for every 21b. in weight. However, most of (his energy was lost at the screws, the diameter of which was not great enough. Tho maximum flight of this machine, which carried a man, was 300 ft About this time there commenced the attainment of real success. In 1906, A. Saivtos Dumont, completed a successful aeroplane flying machine in which, on November 12, ho traversed a distance of 2?0 metres in 21 seconds. This machine somewhat resembled in appearance a box kilb with planes arranged in the shape of a capital T. Its motive power was derived from a pair of very light propellers actuated by an exceedingly light and powerful petrol qnginc. x Henry Farman, in October, 1906, flew nearly half a mile at lss.v-lss- Molineaux, in a biplano with an' Antionette petrol motor developing 49 h.p. at 1100 revolutions per minute and driving directly a single metal screw propeller. On January 13, 1908, ho made a circular flight of 1 kilometre, thereby winning the DeutschArcluleacon prize of £2OOO. In March, ho remaned in the air 3£ minutes, covering a distance of 1} miles; but in the following month a rival, Leon Delarange, using a machino of'the same typo and constructed by the same makers, Messrs. Yoisin, surpassed this feat by flying nearly 2; miles in 6 minutes. In July Farman remained in the air for over 20 minutes; on September 6 Delarange increased the time to nearly 30 minutes; and on 29th of tho same month Farman ajiain camo in front with a flight lasting 42 minutes and extending over nearly miles, (To be Continued.