The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-07-25
THE FLYING MACHINE.

THE FLYING MACHINE.
A Talk With Invsntor Ritchei About IIis
Wind. w --' .'''
az ave overcome" said Mr.. Ritchel,
the inventor of the new flying machine,
"the fatal objection which has always
been made to the practicability of aerial
navigation--that is, have made ma
chine that can be steered. I claim no
more. I have never pretended that
balloon could be made to go against the
wind, and I am sure it never could. II
is as ridiculous as perpetual motion
machine, and the latter will be invented
just as soon as the former"
It was on just this point that the re.
porter desired Mr.. Ritchel to express his
opinion, for an impression seemed gen.
orally TO prevail that balloon has been
invented which can be made to navigate
the air as. successfully as.s steamship
sails the OCEAN. But the inventor, who
Is spending few days in the city on
business relating TO his new invention, 10
Gnxicus to disclaim any such pretension.
What hia machine can be made to do is
to rise OF descend ct the will of the nav
igator, to sail with, and faster thar. q
swift wind, to hold its own against wind,
moving at the. rate of from four to six
miles an hour, and to move slowly against
q three mile breeze. Mr.. Ritchei is a
professional inventor, and has taken out
netI'y 100: patents in this country as
well as in France, England and Canada.
His inventions have run mainly in the
direction of labor saving machinery, and
from one patent he claims to have cleared
q75, 900. .-@A My principal invention," he
snii, s'was q machine for boring holes in
brushes and cane seat chsiirs, ana another
for inleying wood, which ID the oniyma-
chine for thet purpose in existence, but
my pet idea is the Aying machine"
"When did the idea occur TO you 2"
"Well, I think it was some time In the
year 1871. Ny attention was turned in
that direction, and I've been thinking it
0ter ever since. About nine months ago
| began working on the machine In
Bridgeport, Coma. The first public ez-
hibition was at the centennial exhibition
buildings, on the 10th of May. ex-
hihited the flyer there for two weeks,
and then another week il the city of
Philadelnhia. But the frat open air ex-
hibition was ct Hartford, on Che 18th of
June. There were about Ten Thousand
people there, and the weather was per-
feet. The machine went in any direc-
ton desired, and even came back against
slight wind. In Boston, on the 4th of
July, the wind was blowing across the
common ct the rate oftwenty five or
thirty miles an hour, aud L didn't want
to send the balloon up at all but there
were hundred thousand people there
and ! didn't like to disappoint them.
So 1 gaid to Mark Tuttle, Che navigator,
"Now. Mark, get her up as quick as O
fash or you'll blow against the houses"
He went up like streak and only miss.
ed the trees by twenty feet. The wind
took him like q iash out OF towl and ne
finally landed a: Dover. The crowd
stood there waiting for him to come
back against tho :7ind and go up again,
anu we couldn't explain that that was
impossible. There were ECO refreshment
booths along .ie sidewalks and around,
and the owners told every one the ball
loon would be back in half an hour. So
the crowd stood there from 2 o'clock till
8 waiting for the machine to come back.
The man got back about 8 on the train,
and / was afraid to take the balloon up
10 the commons for fear mob might de.
stroy it." 4 b., IL,
/, "aOws DO you y propose ever to utilize
the invention % @
"In g hundred ways. AS soon as
have perfected it and people come to un-
deratand it thoroughly it will come into
Use. Even nov I've had ever &c iasHy
applications for, machines but q man
couldn't use oneif he hadrit. This enc
is small ard intended only for exhibi-
tiong, up1eF cover. The weight of the
oylinde. or balloon is so pounds, of the
machine proper 48, an0 Mark weighs 90,
SO the weight is 204 pounds. But am
going TO MAX. bigger one during the
next six months theE "ill carry two hbayy
men. You SEQ don't have to carry any
ballast or weste any gas, so I need only
5000 cubic feet of gas. Now, the pro-
pelling fan is equal 20 500 cubic feet of
hydrogen in raising the balloon and to
36 pounds Eof ballast In lowering it. The
thing 10 ran entirely by hand and is
nothing in size compared with ell the
.others that have been tried in this coun-
try end elsewhere. The ropeliing-that
is. the raising and lowering fan-is only
twenty inches In diameter ana makes
1900 revolutions5 o minute. The steer
ing fan ig two inches, smaller and re-
wolves 1850 times'a minute.
The machine is propelled by turning
awheel by,a handle, and Is steered by
the foot resting On tfeadles, the naviga-
tar sitting astride .tne machine. The
advantage Of this over all other balloons
is thai it can be made to fly swifter than
tho wind and to cross from side to side
ofJa current Of air moving in any direc-
tion tilieanother current is reached nov
ing toward another point By rising OF
descending and moving In various di-
.rections favorable current will ineyita-
bly, be reached, to bear the aeronaut on
his proposed journey. When the big
machine Is made propose to send it on
trip from New York to Chicago, 10
make the voyage in elk hours. But this
one is too email for extensive travelling.
Where there Is no wind 1t will travel
six or seven miles an hour. It goes up
q mile in minute, and comes down
In two minutes. l have never been Ia
il myself but RheH the large one il
hnished j intend to take O ride. The
machine viii be used, am sure, In
reaching the North Pole, and ships
going to the polar regions viii hereafter
probably carry Il. For military puf-
poses, too, it would be very valuable.
When I was making it people laughed
at mo good deal; but SO they did at
asS;;:ss =.sS:s s;1:s &c &c i>.:!iE .i.a asL
Mr. Ritchel Is q Yankee, having been
born in Portland, Maine. He has also
lived in Detroit, Chicago, Newark, and a
few years ago hsd . factory in this city.