THE WONDERFUL WEIGHTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14355, 27 October 1908, Page 10

THE WONDERFUL WEIGHTS

THE STORY OF THEIR AEROPLANE. By Joh\ Patrick, (All Rights Reserved.) There has probably been no great invention in all the history of things mechanical that has been so jealously and successfully guarded by its creators as the flying machine. During the early months of the present' year the aeroplane has been more or less in the air, and numerous reports have come over, the cable from Paris concerning the achievements of certain experimentors who have succeeded in winning various prizes by short, valueless flights, all of which consisted of' gliding, within a few feet of the ground, in so-called flying machines. Judging by what has been secretly accomplished in America during the past five years, the slight successes of these Frenchmen are of no importance. To two young Americans rightly belongs the honour of having conquered the air, for they were indubitably the first men on earth to contrive a satisfactory, self-pro-pelled flying machine heavier than the air. Away back in 1900, long before Henri Fiirman, Delegrange or Deutsch-Archdeacon prizes were heard of, Orville and Wilbur .Wright, in Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A., were systematically attacking the problem of aerial flight from a scientific point of view.. They had a bicycle shop, at Dayton, which kept the wolf from the door, and they were possessed of sufficient mechanical knowledge to enable them to build the machines they designed. Consequently they were in a position to make everything' with their own hands, the result being that they were not forced to take anyone into their confidence. While recovering from an illness, one of them chanced to come across a book giving the history of every known attempt to conquer the air. This publication started them on the road to fame. They then read everything they could get bearing on the subject of aerial navigation, but they soon found that most of the accepted theories were impracticable. From the very first they put the balloon or airship idea aside as unreliable and expensive. Their theory was that the air would be conquered by an aeroplane that would rise off the ground and be sustained in tho air during its flight by pressure being created against stationary planes through the machine being driven against the air at a high" rate of speed. Having reached this decision, they started to experiment along lines of their own. They built a gliding apparatus, consisting of two planes placed one above the other, with a cradle across the lower, on which the operator could lie. This machine was taken to Kill Devil Beach, far from tho haunts of men, on the coast of North Carolina. There, many miles from civilisation, theso shy, silent, indefatigable young men built a hut and set to work. Close at hand they had plenty of sandhills off which to jump with their flying gear and a beautiful plain of soft sand on which they could fall without sustaining unecessary damage. Here many discoveries were made. They learned what rate of speed was necessary to sustain the aeroplane and its operator. They mastered the knack of balancing until, without any motive power, they could remain in the air in one position lor as long as half a minute at a time. With the experience gained by three years of constant experiment, thev ultimately decided to build a real" flying machine, fitted with a gasoline engine. The motive power alone, which developed 12 h.p., weighed 2401b, while the aeroplane complete, with the operator aboard, turned tho scale at 7451b. In this machine, as far back a fi December 17 1903, Wilbur Wright created an epoch mjiie history of the world by rising from the ground in a mechanical contrivance and flying 852 ft in 59 seconds against a 20 mite an hour wind. On the same day three other successful flights were made The greatest difficulty was found to be that of equilibrium—to turn and keep the machine on an even keel in the changin" air currents. This required the agility and nerve of an acrobat; but, after many experiments, the Wrights caught the knack of it. An improved machine, fitted with a 16 h.p. motor and weighing, complete with operator and ballast, 9261b. was designed and built in 1904. In that year over 150 flights, averaging a mile each, wero made in this aeroplano; and early m the autumn of 1905 six special flights averaged 15 miles each, the last being a iiy of 24 miles, over a circular course, which was safely accomplished at the rate of 10 miles an hour. The most amazing thing about the Wrights i s the manner in which they have kept their astonishing and undoubted success a close secret. Considering that they are Americans, their reticence has been nothing short of marvellous. The inventor of a flying machine has usually been rather a crack-brained individual. His method, in nearly every instance on record, has been to build a beautifully theoretical but highly • impossible machine, and raise a whoop and a yell concerning its possibilities. Then some fine dav, when a large number of inquisitive people had gathered together to decide upon the merits of the invention, the designer has blindly entrusted bis life to the untried machino by jumping off something, with a hard and unsympathetic pavement one hundred feet below. The result has generally been rather mournful, usually consisting of two Haps of a pair of" wings that refused to eoiir-aiid a funeral. Not so the Wrights. Even a 24-mile flight, although it demonstrated absolutely that the air could be conquered, did not satisfy them. They wero troubled by the fact that their-machine could only be used by a trained acrobat. About the possibility of flying they had never entertained any doubts whatever, and when thair theories were proved by their machine they started out to reduce aerial flight to the level of a purely mechanical process. The ideal they strove for was to perfect an aeroplane that would make flying as easy and as simple as driving a motor cur. They were not to be satisfied with anything less than a device, controlled.by. a few levers, that any ordinary person could quickly learn to operate without undue risk. So, with that 24-mile flight behind them, they continued to keep their success a secret, and went on with their experiments. Eventually strange rumours concerning their achievements began ui get about. Flying is not so common that it is possible to be at it every day in the year without attracting attention! Many newspaper men and photographers journeyed to Dayton, some of whom even succeeded in penetrating to the little room over the bicycle shop. The, Wright brothers proved to be very, pleasant young men, but extremely embarrassed and shy. Thcy refused to give the reporters the slightest information, and objected to discussing their discoveries in any way. They stated that they could fly, but their secrets they wished to keep to themselves. They desired .no publicity. All they asked was to be loft alone. During the following three years, in addition to keeping the inquisitive newspaper man and his camera at arm's length, ] they built every year a new machine,! each one being a distinct advance upon its predecessors. They all flew, and it is believed that in 1907 one flight of 38 miles, over an oval course, was made in 55 minutes—a shade over fis miles an hour! The 1903 machine, concerning which there has been so much speculation recently, has many improvements; per. haps the most interesting being that it carries a passenger, in addition to the operator, both of whom are provided with seats, after tho style of a motor car. It has lately at public tests proved every claim made by its inventors, and has practically demonstrated, beyond all possibility of doubt, that tbe Wright brothers wero the first men to conquer the air; and that they have constructed a useful machine capable of definite, lengthy, and

perfectly-controlled flight. A man wlm has been privileged to examine it and see it lly describes it as follows :—

It is similar in appearance to the biplane machine used by Faviuan, except that the box-kite rudder, which projects rather ponderously some distance behind the Frenchman's machine, ; s replaced by a small, vertical, Rn-rudder, set directly behind the machine like a fish's tail. In front is a bi-plane rudder, similar to the main bi-plane in miniature, by which the machine is steered up or down. The two main -planes are each constructed in three sections, the centre one rigid, while the two outside.wings are joined so that when the machine tips laterally a. pull on a special lever causes one wing to lift slightly and the other to be depressed. The angle of resistance is thus increased hi the latter wing uniformly with its decrease in the other, and the machine returns at once to an even keel. The petrol motor is of 30 h.p., and two men arc caricd with as much apparent ease as one. It was this machine that a few months ago caused the news to be flashed around the world that the rumours were truethat at last a man had been seen to fly. On May 8 six journalists, after a 10 days' hunt amongst the swamps in the wilds of North Carolina, succeeded in tracing the Wrights to Kill Devil Beach. The inventors chanced to bo testing a new rudder, and so, from a place of ambush, the newspaper men witnessed four flights. The following day the attacking party again invaded the solitude, and from behind cover observed 10 flights. The Wrights, unaware that a critical jury representing the world at large was on watch, put their wonderful machine to a thorough test. They flew at a height of 30ft, maintaining a straight and steady course. They turned quickly to right or left without effort. They skimmed along at 40 miles an hour within 3ft of the ground and swept over the sandhills in their path and down again oil the oilier side. The merest touch on a lover sent them soaring up 30ft or 40ft, wiiich altitude was easily maintained either before or against the wind. Also they dropped down and alighted gently on the sand at will. In the afternoon, still unaware that their movements were being watched, they started on a record-breaking flight, and had covered over eight miles when Wilbur Wright, through a mistake, pulled the descending lever, the result being that the aeroplane dashed into a sandhill at 40 miles an hour and was partly wrecked. This mishap was in no way the fault of the machine. It had flown over eight miles when the accident occurred, and there was no mechanical reason why it should not have fiown 000. The operator pulled a wrong lever and the machine obeyed. < What has been actually accomplished with this machine no ' one but the Wrights and the mechanician who now assists ttem know; but it seems probable .that it has made flights of considerably over 100 miles without alightin". It is by far the lightest machine thVhavc constructed; weighing only 3501b complete, without tho operator and passenger.' The petrol motor, developing 30. h.p., weighs only 1501'b. This aeroplane was constructed under contract to the United States War Office, the terms being that the Wrights were to produce a machine, heavier than air, that would carry two persons. At a public lest it had to rise from the ground without the use of rails or any special preparation, and remain in the air for four hours, flying during that tune not less than 160 miles, oyer a circular course. Tho Wrights cheerfully accepted the conditions, 'and stated that they could build a machine that would fly to the limit of its petrol supply, which would take it for hundreds of miles. The Wrights claim that they have made over one thousand flights since they bean their experiments in 1900. Tho onlv serious accident they have ever had occurred recently when Orville Wright was giving a demonstration before the officials of the United Stales War Office. The steel wire operating the rudder fouled one of the _ propellers, and both were broken, leaving' the aeroplane unmanageable 75ft above the ground. It turned completely over as it fell, and' Orville Wright was badly injured, while his companion, an army officer, was killed. The officials nevcr.tbek.ss were satisfied- with the machine, and it has been adopted for immediate use in the army and navy. In Paris recently Wilbur Wright has shown complete mastery of the air by miking a number of successful flights that have £o satisfied the experts that the French rights of tho invention have bean purchased by a syndicate that contemplates reducing flying to a business baas by buitddng aeroplanes for sale. So the age of mechanical flight is rapidly approaching and tJie cloud of impenetrable mystery that has for years enveloped the ingenious solvers of the problem has at last been partly dispensed.