Notes from Paris.

Progress, Volume VI, Issue 5, 1 March 1911, Page 582

Notes from Paris.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) Mr. Orville Wright in Paris. Mr. Orville Wright has arrived in Paris from Berlin. He does not expect to be in France more than a few days, before returning to America. In conversation with newspaper correspondents Mr. Wright said: "I have come to Paris simply to renew contact with the French Wright Aeroplane Company, and to acquaint it with the newest improvements in our American machine. I shall, of course, talk over general business matters with Mr. Hart O. Berg, representative of the Wright Company in France. Beyond this, I have no other plans, and do not contemplate making any flights in France. The report that I intended to endeavour to win the Coupe Michelin while over here is as unfounded as the statement that I was to be engaged by the German Emperor as instructor of a military school of aviation." Referring again to the improvements in the latest type ,of Wright biplane, Mr. Orville Wright said that there was nothing radical about them. Constructional details had been modified, to the general improvement of the machine. Questioned on the subject of the suits brought by the Wright brothers in America against the Curtiss Aeroplaning Company for the alleged infringement of the Wright patents, Mr. Wright said: "I thing no one has any doubt as to the result. We ourselves are confident of winning. As to the similar cases pending in France against French aeroplane constructors, that is the affair of the French Wright Company, and I can say nothing about them." On the future of aviation, Mr. Orville Wright said: "Ten years ago my brother and I never dreamed that aviation would develop to the extent it has done at the present day. We never thought flying would become so safe as it is really now. Flying to-day, provided the pilot exercises proper care and skill, presents almost no danger at all. Besides being a magnificent sport, aviation, I believe, has a great commercial future. It is difficult, however, to say yet in what direction the industrial side of flight will expand. Transport must naturally be cheaper by water than by aeroplane. "There would be great progress made in passenger carrying aeroplanes, and there is no reason why machines should not be built for ten or twelve passengers, although at preueut there is no demand for such. In cross-country travelling the flying machine will always be superior to the road machine. An aeroplane travelling at a high speed is much safer than an automobile rushing along the ground at the same speed. The time will come when people will charter an aeroplane on occasions when they would now hire a special train, and the aeroplane will be decidedly cheaper. No doubt aeroplanes of the near future will have comfortable sheltered quarters for passengers." New Aerotechnieal Institute at St. Cyr. Although not yet formally inaugurated, the Aerotechnieal Institute founded and built by M. Henri Deutsch (de la Meurthe). at St. Cyr for the University of Paris, has already been taken over by th? university authorities. The construction of the institute and its

installation were recently completed; and only the arrival of the working staff is needed for the building to be declared open to all who wish to make use of it. With a view to making the institute as perfect as possible in the service it is destined to render to inventors and to everyone engaged in aeronautical research and experiments, a "committee de perfectionement" was formed under the presidency of M. Liard, vice-rector of the University of Paris. The duty of this committee will be to examine how best the institute can be made to fulfil the objects of its creation, and generally to supervise its organisation. M. Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe and M. Appell, dean of the Faculty of Science, are the vice-presidents, and the members include M. Bartheu, vice-presi-dent of the Aero-club de France; M. Bleriot; M. Kapferer, and a number of other aeronautical engineers and professors. ■ ; ;;i i ,j . The site of the buildings and grounds occupies an area of 72,000 meters. It is intended that the institute shall be a perfect aeronautical laboratory, where constructors and inventors shall find everything they can possibly need for their researches and experiments, with an efficient technical staff to aid them in solving the difficult problems involved in the conquest of the air. Experimenters will have the use of an electric locomotive and a railroad 1400 meters long to enable them to carry out practical tests, impossible under other conditions. M. Maurain, one-time Professor of the Faculty of Science of Caen, has been appointed director of the Aerotechnieal Institute. Besides the endorsement of M. Deutsch, the institute will benefit by State subvention. The inauguration will take place very shortly. Automatic Regulation of Stability. The manoeuvres of a pilot aboard an aeroplane are, notwithstanding the improvements of late, still very complicated. The steering wheel and various levers for ascending and descending occupy the hands of the aviator, with his feet he commands and controls the rudder of direction. Now, one of the most delicate movements, one requiring the utmost attention, quick acting and an absolute presence of mind, is .tjhe one of lightening the machine when, surprised by a sudden gust of wind, it heels over to the right or left. Ninety per cent, of all accidents are due to the aeroplane toppling over, the pilot not being able to righten the machine. Therefore, it will easily be understood of what importance an automatic regulation of an aeroplane's stability would be. It seems as if, after long and exhaustive experiments, M. Charles Moot/, a Parisian inventor, has succeeded in solving this problem. The system of his appliance is shortly as follows: Supposing that the lower parts of an aeroplane, instead of being "firmly connected with the upper structure, was simply suspended from the latter during the flight, in order to allow them to move freely, the result would be that by its own weight the lower parts would always rest in a vertical position, whatever may be the inclination of the aeroplane one way or the other.

This M. Mootz employs in effecting the automatic regulation of stability. Siderods connect the mountings of the lower parts with winches placed right and left of the aeroplane. These winches control directly or indirectly the various movable planes. Owing to this arrangement, if the aeroplane flies in a normal position, the various planes also occupy a normal position; but as soon as the machine heels over to one side or the other its displacement causes the siderods, winches and other means of control to act, whereby the canvas planes are forced back to a normal position effecting the Tightening of the machine. If not in flight, the lower structure can be rendered rigid by means of a brake. Very shortly the invention of M, Moot/, will be applied to several aeroplanes in order to test its merits; experiments made with models have given general satisfaction.

far more strongly than it is to-day, especially as regards the landing apparatus. The number of cases in which, after successful flights, machines have come to grief in the act of alighting is legion. Then it us quite likely that the aeroplane will have very flexible wings, more resembling those of a bird. Finally, while there will probably be a reaction against engines of enormously high horse power, some means will have to be devised whereby one can instantaneously accelerate on emergency, so as to be able to avoid dropping when a following gust catches one at the edge ol a tow-billon and, by neutralising the resistance of the air, deprives the machine of its support. What Mr. Grahame-White says. The advancement of the aeroplane has been checked by three defects in the machines themselves. These I may enumerate as follows—