Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-01-28
FLYING THROUGH SPACE.
A Patent once Ohicial's Chat About Fly
ing Machines and Balloons.

A Patent Once Oficial's Chat About Fly
ing Machines and Balloons.
1t has only been few years ago that
a man with a flying machine made an
experiment from the roof of the Patent
Office at Washington. He wanted to
demonstrate to a skeptical examiner that
his invention was practicable, and he
made it a condition that if the machine
did not fly to Pennsylvania avenue that
he would consider the experiment fail
ure. After he had gathered up the frag-
ments of his machine from the front
steps of che building where it had fallen
like stone, he expressed surprise that
the machine had acted in that way, and
said that it was owing to a defect which
he would soon remedy. He went back
to England to get workmen to assist,
and the examiner is still waiting for him
to return and make the second attempt.
Another less sanguine inventor a few
wears ago committed suicide in this city
upon his application for patent being
rejected.
The files of the Patent Office furnish
much valuable and curious information
about these inventions, and if any one
doubts that serial navigation is not a
live. practical question of the day, he
had better 90 to the Patent Office and
ask few questions. He will find, as
MIR. Oscar Woodward, who was formerly
examiner in charge of this branch, says,
that the applications for patents or inn
provements in patents already granted
for serial navigation averaged two each
month. The number of patents already
granted is very great
1--WE no longer issue patents for de-
vices to enable men to fly through the
air." said Mr.. Woodward, because the
thing is impossible and the officer some
years ago made rule not to issue pat
ents for impractical inventions. The
whole idea about q mans being able to
propel himself through the air is founded
on a misconception of the strength of
man as compared with his size.
A fly is stronger than man,
and birds are much stronger.
The various devices for sustain
ing mans weight in the air are, of
course, practical, but when it comes
to his manipulating any kind of wings
or propellers against the currents of the
air he is unable to do it because of lack
of strength. The inventive genius of
man is, in these days, not SO much
occupied with this feature of serial
navigation as it is in the air ships,
which are proposed to traverse the
ocean of the air much as the steam
ships plow across the bosom of the deep.
The idea in these air ships Is the evo-
luton of the balloon. 1t has taken a
great many years to work out q system
of air navigation from the first made
balloon of the French experimenter,
Montgolfier. in 1874, to the inventions
of the present day.
AS every one Knows" continued
MIR. Woodward. 1.-THE difficulty with the
balloon is the impossibility of control
ling it in the currents of the air.
There is no difficulty in sustaining the
balloon in the air, but the trouble
lies in managing it Very much like a
balky horse, you may harness
him to the carriage and drive him
some distance, but at any mo-
ment you may loose control of him.
To correct this defect in the balloon
there has been and there is to-day q
great deal of time and money spent on
Inventions of various sorts. For in
stance, here is drawing of patent al
ready issued which does away with mere
mechanical devices, as indeed all the
more recent inventions do. and substi-
tutes hydraulics. Az you see, here y .