Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-12-11
The Possibility of the Achievement
Proved in Theory by Some
Curious Figures.
Mr.. EdisOn's Attention Invited to
Further Investigation of It's Feas-
Utility and Success.
Conditions to be Observed by Those
Who Address Themselves to
This Problem.

In his interesting talk on flying ma
chimes, in a recent number of the n Y.
Herald Mr.. Edison reasons thus Because
bee cannot carry weight equal to its
own on its back, therefore a flying ma
chine made On its model cannot possibly
support any more than its own weight,
no matter how much the power be increas-
o.
low it is quite reasonable to argue that
if tao bee can carry the weight in any
other way-with its legs-for instance, the
conch zion is not correct.
The ordinary working bee can carry the
body of dead drone out of the hive hold
ing the weight with its legs, and fly with
it to a considerable distance To perform
this feat it exerts double its ordinary
power the speed of vibration of the wings
being increased from 100 to 100 per second.
The rate is ascertained 10y the musical note
produced by the vibrations.
1t is not necessary to take either the bee
or a bird for model, and the problem is
very far, indeed, from being a puzzle, the
the real puzzle being how to find some
one with enterprise enough to make the
test.
If Mr.. Edison will only turn his atten-
ton to this interesting subject for little
while his great genius will surely hasten
the day of success, not necessarily by un-
Kidding hitherto insolvable problem,
but simply by providing in practical man
ner what has already been demonstrated
in sections.
ELEMENTS OF THE FLYING PROBLEM.
A very little study will show him.
Eirc+ Dba4 N;,.I+ 10, hoo,
proved, many years ago, to be attainable
Second-Ihat the things essential to
success have already been done without
difficulty.
Third-That all that is necessary to do
is to combine things already tried and
proved by other experimenters, but on a
large scale and with improved appliances
Forth-That the remaining difficulties,
so far as toreseen by the experimenters,
have been overcome.
Fifth-That the improvement in motive
machinery and in the employment of liquid
fuel made within very few years have
rendered the solution of the problem a
very simple matter.
Sixth-That as the means at hand can
he proved to be good enough for begin
ming it would be folly to wait for the COM
ing great discoveries.
wANTED-A MOTOR.
Observation of nature teaches that the
main essential for successful flight is
suitable motor This is confirmed by the
experiments of the London Aeronautical
society and others, whose conclusions may
be thus stated
+ A1IghJ VIII be attained When a machine
ic lt,ilf RI AZ fc lipbt app,,pb opl ,,nuarf,,l
enough to lift is own weight by the aid of
wings or their equivalent, and to hold it
suspended against the force of gravity
They have also fully demonstrated that
one horse power applied to a screw propel-
Ter on vertical axis viii cause it to lift
and hold suspended weight of thirty-six
pounds and that for every horse power so
applied an additional thirty-six pounds
will be lifted.
TESTS FOR LIFTING POWER.
Dr. Freninges, of Copenhagen, made
tests of the thrust or lifting power of a
propeller wheel and found that it utilized
63 per cent. of the energy impaired to it,
1t was | foot in diameter, | foot pitch, II
square foot alea of blades and 1920 pound
weight. 1t wa held on "a pulley by pins
that could be detached instantly, the axis
being vertical, The pulleys carrying the
propeller wheel was caused to revolve
rapidly and when good speed was OBJ
tanned and the wheel was liberated it
arose in the air by means of the energy
stored in it.
At Is revolutions per second it lowered
that is. it had just lifted its own weight.
At 50 revolutions per second the upward
thrust was 6 pounds, and the energy re
quired to maintain this thrust was about
100 foot pounds. This is equal to about SO
pounds lifted per horse power.
uWhen released, the speed being 70 rev.
olutions per second, it arose to a.
height Of over 200 feet in less than one
second When the wheel was prevented
from rising and made to revolve 50 times
per second the thrust was six pounds but
the efficiency was not so high as when it
was free to ascend. Efficiency is much
higher when the propeller moves itself
through the air than when its power is
spent in moving the air, producing an air
current of fSp .or ,.bawer. Carl Vogt
from whose paper on air propellors-read
before The royal society-the particulars Of
this experiment have been taken. says that
the efficiency when moving itself was 70 per
cent and when acting as a blower, NOV
ing air it was only IS per cent. In the
latter case the thrust was IS pounds per
horse power; when moving itself the
thrust must therefore have been greatly in
creased.
WEIGHTS PER HORSE POWER