The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1891-06-11
JUST HOW MAN WILL FLY
NOT BY FlAPPiNG ARTIFICIAL WINGS,
BUT BY SOARING.

the Acroplane Prineiple-AustraIiaH ii.
Come Near. to Solving the Problem.
Man will yet learn how to fly. Pre-
fessor Langley, secretary of the Smitt
sonian institution, so declared in an al
dress delivered before the Nationa
Academy of Sciences This ought t
give much encouragement TO thinker
who hope that mankind will some da.
just as il has already done, thanks to thu
evolution of submarine boats and divin!
gear, in that of fishes. The distinguish
ed scientist referred TO expressed conf
dence that the contrivance of the futur,
for aerial navigation would be on tn,
hits principle.
The air possesses elements of buoy
ancy which have not been recognized
hitherto. There is no truth in the popu
lar conception that body heavier than
the atmosphere cannot be suspended in
that medium without motion. A kite
of sticks and paper is much heavier than
the fluid which it displaces, but it is sus-
fained aloft. You can find an example
much more striking, however, in the
t,gle or the frigate bird, which, though
IN animal of considerable weight, re-
riaiRs poised in the sky upon extended
Enions motionless for hours together, SO
chat telescope may be trained on it.
Thousands Of feet above the earth it is
sustained without movement of a feath-
er, though in rarefied atmosphere.
This is possible because the suspended
fowl has an instructive knowledge of the
way ip which to utilize the air currents
for its support. When man has learned
how this can be done he will be able to
fly. The most advanced investigators in
this subject reject the balloon and all
other such lifting devices as impracti-
cable; q gas lighter than air can never
be safely confined within a receptacle
that is not weighty, and the same objec-
zion applies to vacuum.
Ballooning today is about where it
was when it was first invented, and in
the nature Of things it never get much
further Aluminium is light for metal,
but it is several times too heavy to be
successfully utilized for such purposes.
Pray, what has become of those alumni
mum trains of cars that were to be run
through the air from Chicago to New
York at sixty minutes the trip
LESSONS FROM BIRDS.
s There is school of flying machine in
ventors who may be designated as the |
"happers, inasmuch as their idea lie to
sustain their contrivances by the flap.
ping OF birdlike wings. But they doubt |
less forget that the best flyers among
birds do not support themselves by flap.
ping. On the contrary, they only resort
TO that performance when it is necessary
for start
{ The eagle, if launching himself from
level ground, is obliged to take quite a
run first; then, tapping his wings with
"a violent muscular effort VII sicii nc " ""'l'
not keep up for long, he gains a suffi.
c,enr altitude w render it possible for
him to strike along the plane OF an aiS /
current which holds him up.
Floating with librating pinions from
one air current to another, he is lifted,
with an occasional broad sweep of his |
powerful wings. to the upper aerial re-
gions, where he simply floats, opposing |
to each movement of the suspended |
ether the gentle force necessary to main
tain him in his stationary position.
These principles which the eagle ap-
plies for purposes of flight are perfectly
understood in the theory of mechanics
1t is only necessary to adapt them with
suitable apparatus in order to give to
human beings like powers True, the |
bird is lighter in proportion to its size
than is man; its bones are hollow and
filed with warm air from the lungs.
But the difference in this respect is
not very material, and it may easily be
compensated for by bigger wings. Pow
er to flap them is not what is required, |
inasmuch as the start can be made from
height; what is wanted is the knowl- |
edge which. inherited experience-"in
stinct"-has given the fowl as to how tc
adapt the angles of the wings to the air |
currents 90
& PRACTICABLE MACHINE.
This is precisely. what Professor Lang
ley has been experimenting with. What
he is attempting is to produce a machine
adapted to hotatlon upon the air cur
rents like kite. You can find very
simple illustration of the principle he is
working on in the trick Zone with play |
ing cards by the prestidigitator Herr
mann, who throws them from the stage
into the highest gallery of the biggest
theater in the United States, distributing
them one after another among the
"gods" of that select circle. How does
he do itp
Simply by skillfully utilizing the air
currents. The scrap of Dashboard is
heavier than the atmosphere, but, jul
diciously projected, it mounts to a
great height and distance with very lit |
tie force. 1t would stay up, too, even if |
thrown outdoors, surprising that it pos.
sessed the intelligence necessary to &C
4 - e..