The Democratic Whig. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1842-1843, 1843-06-01

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# Farmef takes the chances of short crop, bu
s the crop OF boots, shoes, hats and cloth, is fur
: nIshed IN all seasons. The manufacturing peo
: pie consequently. with all these advantages
t Keep thesagrIcultural people always IN debt
t An exclusively agricultural people lciH 0EacGg
t be poor for foGru Of a home market They wan
} clnes' diversity OF employment. Balance o
material raised here, goes to the North to be
manufactured, instead of employing here many
Idlers who are virtually supported by public
charity'-SGUGnraah Republican.
EXPERIK "TRIP OF THE ERIAI. MA
cHINE.-An y has been forwarded to us
from Scotland ofan experiment tried few DAYS
ago, near Glasgow, with machine constructed
on the same principle as that of Mr., Henson.
fThe experiment was made by Professor &C.
OILS foreigner, and but for an accident, it ap-
pears would have established the principle con-
tended for-viz the capabity of navigating
the air. Not wishing, however, to make any
Misrepresentation upon the point, we give the
| particulars from narrative drawn up by Pro-
| lessor Geolls himself. The Professor after sta
ting that he constructed his machine in exact
accordance with Mr.. Hensons specifcation,and
that be had paid great attention to all the cir
cumstances connected with the flight of birds,
says he fixed upon the bill of Dumbuck, near
Glasgow, for the trial. He then proceeds thus:
"Fhe aerial machine was properly placed at
an altitude of $50 lineal feet from the earth
| and fixed at the top, (near the flag post) in the
usual way. beng held by daggers, perfectly
similar to those used by shipbuilders, and only
requiring one blow of the maui to free it and
allow il to fee
1t was with no small degree of trepidation,
not unmixed with lively excitement, that a:
an early hour before the dawn had scarcely tin
ted the eastern horizon, found my preparations
all complete, and every thing ready for my un-
usual and interesting fight.
At 3h.35m. p. Nj. | entered the car and ex
actly at 4h.3Sm. 59sec. struck the dagger and
liberated the machine, and away she shot with
the speed of lightning. Before she reached
hall the extreme end of the ways, the mercury
la.the barometer had risen one and haftenths,
which exactly conceded with my calculations.
and proved that the angle of the inclined plane
was ~ 1-2 degrees. On reaching the end
OF the ways the velocity acquired, not only from
descent down the plane, but from the operation
of the vertical tanners [the engine having been
set going simultaneously with the precipitation
of the daggers,) she had began to lift, and on
clearing the brow, had, In fact. risen few
yards, was plainly indicated by the falling
again of the mercury. This gave me great
confidence, and enabled me to make a few ne
cessary observations more calmly than | OH
erwise would have done, had matters not sue
ceeded so favorably. On looking back, OBJ
served that ] was considerable dis, ance from
the hill and in fact. the flag post was scarcely
distinguisha5le-I had risen likewise CPS feet
(per bar0meterGn addition The height of the
brow of the precipice originally set out with
which, as stated, beng $50 feet, made my pres
ent altitude exactly 9S2 feet. The thermome,
ter here stood at 40 degrees being two degrees
below the freezing point but on account Of the
great interest felt IN what was about, as wei
as from the slight heat emitted by the furnace
of the engine, did not feel cold at all.
81 must now speak of the engine, which did
its duty beyond anything | can conceive or de- |
scribe. The strokes of tn engine averaged |
922, with pressure on the safety valve of sew |
en- and half pounds to the square inch. and |
vacuum in the condenser of ten and three-quar-
ter pounds; the speed, as far as l could Judge |
by the imperfect instruments | had, beng at |
the same time about fifty-two and halfleagues |
per hour; my altitude (per barometer,) exactly |
twenty two minutes after launching, being |
nearly lnIie. Matters thus progressed, my |
altitude getting greater and greater, and my
speed III proportion. However, | must state
curious discovery that made at this particular
moment, and which, but for the explanation
that imm ediately followed, would have given
me considerable uneasiness and alarm. The /
engine which, at my former observation, had |
been as have stated, 922 strokes per minute /
/ now found to be~only 74I. This, as have
said, was alarming, and would have Immediate
iy determined me to descend TO the earth again,
but that | happily was able to account for it
by discovering, through the application of Pro-
lessor Russel's Indicator, the incompleteness of
the vacuum in the condenser, and which like
wise ascertained to be entirely owing to the
great height had then attained; indeed, found
that the vacuum was reduced to emily six and a
quarter pounds and the barometer indicated at
the same time that had attained an altitude
of nearly three miles from the earth. From
the extreme rarity OF the air at this high eleva-
ton, l now underwent the usual giddiness of
feeling similar to that described by those indi-
vidua1s who have assembled Mont Blanc, and
by DIR. Humel of St Petersburg.
had. in fact considerable headache and ring
ing in NV ears, so much so that determined
to descend to height net greater than a mile
and half from the earth.
"This l easily effected by depressing the
tail of the machine, which up to this moment
had kept at an angle with the horizon of nine
and three quarters degrees to that of 45. My
course had not varied since leaving the hill;
it was, per compass, southwestern by-west-
half-west, passing over Ayrshire. and in direct
line from Dumbuck to AIlsa Craig, whittier IN
deed was tending. with the view of landing,
the latter being admirably suited for launching
the machine in a similar way to that adopted at
Dumbuck, on my return home again.
"Daylight had now broken, and the scene
most gorgeous. ] passed many ships, and IN
particular one steamer, but whose paltry speed
in comparison with mine was nothing. Alas. |
however, this was not destined to last, for just |
as | had shot ahead ofthe steamer, which was
steering WSW, something went wrong with |
the machinery and the tanners stopped. This
did not at all alarm me, for, as described by Mr..
Henson, these tanners are only necessary for |
propulsion, and not at all requisite for main |
tanning the machine in the air. Unfortunately, |
however, perfectly forgot, FIN the hurry of the
moment, TO remove the weights from the safe
ty valve, and the effects from this were disas-
trous in the Iextreme. Tho great accumula-
ton of steam that took place was too much for
the pipes, and consequently bang went three
Of them at the same instant. The machine at
this exact moment feeling it's equilibrium al
tered, surged considerably, and the remaining
pipes necessarily followed the example Of the
others, fzz, bizz, whizz, away they went one
after the other like pop-guns. Unfortunately.
afkw = IN IL PmA.mm - l.