The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-06-06

boiler that generates as much steam as
mine would weigh moe than my whole
boiler. 1t looks very much like a kite, in
deed that is what it is, q huge kite with
machinery hanging beneath it from it's IN
der side. If it were in the air i'll flight you
would see q great sheet of silk and q little
fat form under it. between it and the earth.
! think enough of it to have spent $500
on it. If it works | am going to take Il great
package of straw and label it dynamite
and drop it into the Woolwich dock yard or
on the roof of the houses of parliament,
and then go to the British government and
askifor an order to make a lot of them"
AfeW days after the above was published
Mr.. H.. II. Maxim wrote to the New York
Times as follows:
"Mr. o. Chanute, Prof. Langley, Prof.
Thurston, and several other scientific men
w.o have written on the subject, and some
who have actually tried experiments believe
that the power required to make a body fly
will be about one horse power to every 800
pounds. and that 1t only requires the whole
apparatus to weigh slightly less b this
in order to make Ii successful machine. Last
autumn l conducted some experiments, n
only on one occasion did | succeed in MAX
ing one horse power carry 25O pounds. I
found, however, that 1T was very easy to
make one horse power carry l33 pounds,
and this | did Il great many times.
"On one occasion, when the plane was
set at Il very low angle, | think about one
in twenty-five. | succeeded in carrying $50
pounds to the horse power, but usually
placed the planes at an angle of one in four-
teen: that is, whenever the plane advanced
fourteen feet it pushed the air down one
foot. In this case the lifting power was al
ways just fourteen times the lift of the
screw. The skin friction on the plane was
so small that it was i'm measurable. When
the planes were worked at this angle they
carried l33 pound to the horse power, and
at higher speed lifted about eight pounds
to the square foot. The speeds expert
mented with varied from thirty to ninety
miles an hour. These experiments were
conducted with the most delicate and acou-
ratio apparatus, and the data obtained may
be considered as thoroughly reliable.
much for the small machine. In re-
gard to the large machine, this weighs COM
plete 1000 pounds, of which 1,S0O pounds is
in the engine aud steam lenet ator. If to
this we add 400 pounds for two men, 500
pounds for petroleum ard 800 pounds for
water. we shall have q total weight of 5,4OO
pounds. The engines are two in number,
each one having two cylinders, one being
balanced against the other i'll such a man-
ner that there is absolutely no shake when
they run They work on the compound
principle. steam being used from 200 to 800
pounds pressure to the square inch. The
steam generator is made on an altogether
original plan. 1t weighs without the casing
about it only about $50, while the engines
weigh exactly 300 pounds apiece, and the
casing about the boiler, together with the
steam pipes, screws. shafting and pump,
bring the whole motor up to 1880 pounds.
The fuel used il gasoline, and there
arc $4,000 gas Jets, in what might
be considered II CRATE surface of
forty square feet. Tho generator
has $4,000 brnzad joints, and when tested to
900 pounds to the square inch not one of
them leaked. The total amount of water
in the generator at any ono time is about
two gallons. Distilled water is used. The
machine is provided with Il very light con-
denser, which forms a part of the kite and
which il is found is very efficient. 1t is be-
lieved that this will condense all the water
If no more than l5Ohorse-power is required.
AT n late test of the engine, the machine
being tied, it WIS found that the push on
the machine with 200 pounds pressure of
stenin and both engines running was just
LOCO pounds, and the power developed in
useful etteet on the machine itself was 120
horsepower. The amount of fuel con-
sum,ea is rather less than one pound of PEI
troleum per horse power per hour. AS Il
push of ten pounds on the screw iii the
original experiments easily carried 40
pounds. it IN believed that this machine
will at lenst carry ten times its push.
There is no reason why 1t should
not carry fourteen times it's push. If il
does, thure Gems TO be some reason to ilopo
Tint the thing will actually fly. IL has
been known to scientists that flying
was only II question Of obtaining enormous
and light weight, and this | have
already obtained. IA will DO seen. M there
can be no question of the accuracy Of the
figures.
1.-THE width Of tho apparatus is ITO feet.