The Portland daily press., 1891-05-30
HOW HIRAM MAXIM LEARNED TO FLY.
The inventor Tells the Story of His
Building of a Kite.
Engines Take the Place of the Small
Boy and the String.
IL the Machine Files 1t Will Work
Several Revolutions.

ius tuo gE6db uylnB uhculu0 WIFI WHICH, III
1t works. he expects to revolutionize the
methods of modern warfare ana transporta-
tion. Speaking of Mr.. Maxim, the Sun
says: "He is one of the greatest men of the
age, and IL what he was talking about comes
true, 1t is difficult to see why he will not be
regarded as the greatest man of his time.
He believes that he has mastered the secret
of initiating the action Of birds In the air,
and, unlike most men who have interested
themselves in the study. he is an eminently
practical, hard headed Yankee in this world
to do something and to get money for it. He
Is no dreamer"
Brief mention has already been made of
the principle on which Mr.. Maxim has been
working. He believes that by propelling an
inclined plane through the air, it will be sup
ported and raised by the pressure exested by
the propelling force upon the air beneath the
plane. Mr. Maxim thus describes his expe-
riments and their results.
II began two years ago to experiment for
the production of flying machine. hired,
l didn't buy, a large park at Begley, in Kent
1t Is called Baldwin's Park, and its lease be-
Ing In my control, have become the lord of
the manor. However, as there are no man
orial rights, that doesn't matter. put up
an enormous wooden shed and provided my
self with every requirement for conducting
of ballooning. but were on the aero-plane
systemic propel plane set at an angle so
as to ride upon the air as fast as the air
yields and so to keep uD an approximately
level course.
II put up steel column, like an upright
post with long wooden arm arranged to
rotate on top of the column-an arm pivoted
fixed to the column, simply to swing around
and long enough to describe circle exactly
200 feet In circumference. This arm was
nd nvrAr tvnW 70 l.ax AnN
ly stiff. and 1t was as sharp as knife, SO as
to offer very little resistance to the air. To
the end Of this arm attached what might
be called small flying machine arranged in
such manner that power could be transmit
ted to the machine through the post and arm.
"The machine had steel shaft that could
be rotated at any speed, and was also pro-
vided with dynamometer. an instrument
for measuring force. To this shaft Of the
flying machine were attached various kinds
OF propeller Screws-one at a time-which
caused to be rotated at various speeds. The
apparatus when complete was arranged to
correctly indicate the number of tuins per
minute, the actual push or propelling force
of the screw and the slip Of the screw. When
the arm was allowed to go free and the
screw was rotated at high speed, the flying
machine would travel around the circle at
from 80 to 80 miles an hour.
"The machine was also provided with a
system of levers similar to those used in ordi
nary uAu6Biob oCdiCos duQ w tucoo WcKc az
tached planes, generally made Of wood and
arranged In such manner that they could
be placed at any angle above the horizontal.
BY carefully measuring the power required
for a certain speed without any plane at
tached. and then attaching the plane and
running the machine at exactly the same
speed, the difference In the force required
for both operations indicated the actual
force required to propel the plane.
"fhe apparatus for holding the plane was
dQd yrrif full IN do
ter, which measured and registered the lift
of the plane-the amount it would lift when
being driven through the air. When these
planes were perfectly horizontal and the ma
chine was allowed to travel at high veloci-
edge 81 she piane 9nI Was raised
slightly above the horizontal-say one In 80
then it was found to have tendency to
RISE On one occasion, when a plane was
placed at an angle of one in % 1t was found
that 1t would carry $50 pounds to the horse
power, but this result was only obtained on
one occasion.
with every pound of push given by the screw
IA pounds could be carried by the plane.
The skin friction on the screw and on the
plane was so small as to be unappreciable;
1t was nothing like the friction of screw in
the water. With the angle of one in IA ev-
erything ran smoothly and experiments were
tried with all speeds between 20 miles and 80
miles an hour. These experiments proved
that certainly as much as 1873 pounds could
be carried with the expense of one horse
power These are the data l personally OBJ
tained and which know to be true. They
do not depend on theory at all. The small
planes experimental with were from two
feet to 13 feet long and from six inches to
four wide. Fifty different forms of screws
or screw propellers were used in conducting
these experiments"
"My large apparatus" Mr.. Maxim con-
tinued, sis provided with plane ITO feet
long and 40 feet wide, made of frame of
steel Tubes covered with silk. Other smaller
planes attached to this make up surface of
$500 square feet. There is one great CEN
tral plane, and to this are hinged various
other planes. very much smaller, which are
used for keeping the flying machine at
fixed angle in.t the air. The whole apparatus,
including the steering gear, is 145 feet long.
The machine is provided with two COM
pound engines. each weighing 800 pounds.
The steam generator weighs $50 pounds.
The other things-the casing about the gen
orator, the pump, the steam pipes, the
burner, the prOpellers, and the shafting-all
weigh ], 800 pounds.
"You call 1t kite-does it look like one?"
the reporter inquired.
Every much like kite" said he; Indeed
that is what 1t is-a huge kite, with the ma
chinery hanging beneath 1t from its under
side. IL 1t were in the air, In flight, you
would see great sheet of silk and a little
II have forgotten, all this while, to ask
you what the machine Is going to dO?" the
reporter said.
what is 1t going to dop That is the big
gest question you ever asked in your life.
The whole world becomes changed If 1t
wOrks-the whole world will be revolution
lied in year. There will be no more iron
clads, no more armor plates, no more big
guns. no more Notifications, no more armies.
There VIII be no way of guarding against
w a m fnn mill 4
1--WE will have to make roofs of armor
plate on our houses, will we not?"
"N0; there will be no way to guard
against it. 1t will drop a ton Of nitro-glyc-
crime into place and you can't stop it. 1t
dynamite on the gas works, the water works,
and the bridges-those are the things to de-
stroy. Instead of Tommy Atkins going
ahead, musket in hand. and standing the
brunt Of the fighting. the big fellows who
get up the wars will have to suffer. The
first thing we will do will be to fly over the
Emperor's palace and drop a ton of dyna-
mite on the roof. What will lido? WHY,
Russian officer said to me when l explained
the thing to him: That will change the