, 1891-06-10
WAR n AERIAL SHIPS.
POSSIBILITIES REGARDING FUTURE
FLYING MACHINES.

How Vast NavIes and Expensive Land
F~ortiheations Might BE Rendered Use
lsss-AntiquitJ Of the Idea OF Plying
Some Schemes of the Aneients-
Regarding the rate Of propulsion Of the
future flying machine, Professor J. Elf
teth Watkins, the distinguished mechaui-
cal expert, declares that Il simply depends
upon the size Of the propeller used and
the rate at which the fans are reyolved
In his opinion the old theory that the at
mosPhere was too tenuous a medium for
a propeller to act upon has been demon
strated to be nonsense Sufficient resist
ance is offered by it TO render possible an
enormous speed, so that 1t would not be
too much to surmise that a properly con
structed air ship might accomplish the
distance between Chicago and New York
within an hours time.
Necessarily, however. there would be a
limit to rapidity Of flight, inasmuch as n
propeller ceases to propel after a certain
number Of revolutions per second has
been reached. Il is open TO any ones oh
~servation that a vessels propeller. oper-
ating in the water, often revolves much
faster when the craft is moving slowly
than when it is going fast
Attention was called by Mr.. Hazeu to
the tremendous revolution which the in
PRODUCTION Of practical air ships would
work in the methods Of onense and de
Tense in war Publications, on which
it is suggested that Uncle sam shall ex-
pc-d SO, 900, 900 as soon rs possible,
would be Of little use against flying ma
chimes that could drop dynamite and
other explosives from aloft Likewise
ships Of war, however heavily armored,
would be at the mercy Of hostile aerial
navigators
COSTLY GUNS RENDERED USELESS.
In such a case batteries of a descrip-
ton altogether new would have to be
devised for shooting vertically. and the
general defending a position on terra
tirma would be obliged TO assail the
winged foe with volleys Of bombs di-
rected upward, as one would shoot
ducks on the wing. Should such a state
of Affairs come TO pass, it seems likely
that the conflicts Of the future between
nations viii have to be fought out in the
air between ~squadrons Of flying men-of
war. About that time one would imag-
inc, it would be considered that the
AEAAhA AAA AAAAtNAf ~ AbAH AkthNA Abl
by military thinkers. when there could
be no more fighting because it would b.
too vastly destructive.
Having achieved the conquest Of tine
waters. 1t is natural that man should
likewise desire the mastery Of the air,
and thus in all ages the human race has
been ambitious to fly. The earliest at
tempt in this direction recorded by ira
dition is the mythical account OF Dm-
dRlus, who, having constructed the ccle-
brated labyrinth for MinOs, king Of
Crete, was so unfortunate AS 10 offend
that monarch, and being imprisoned.
escaped with the aid Of wings made Of
feathers cemented with wax.
Another ancient story OF Archytas, Of
Tarentum, who constructed a wooden
pigeon that had power 10 ay, so nicely
wa it balanced by weight and put 10
motion by inclosed air. If there is any
truth in the account, it seems probable
that Archytas was "a fakir and worked
his bird with Il string, rs is done IN the
stage. The a~ncients, generally speak
ing, made no attempts in the direction
of aeronautics, believing that the power
Of flight could only appertain to tho
most powerful gods.
OLD SCHEMES o FLYING.
Four centuries z an ingenious gen
ueman named Lauretus Taurus pub
lished a statement to the effect that
swans eggs filed with quicksilver, when
exposed TO the sun. would ascend in the
air, but il is not recorded that the ex-
pertinent was ever subjected satisfaC-
torily TO scientific test. In 1870 a Jesuit,
Francis Lana, proposed to make four
copper balls, each twenty-five feet in
diameter and only four one-thouslndths
of an inch in thickness, from which the
air was to be exhausted.
To these balls a basket was to be at.
tached, with a mast and sail, and the
calculation was that the contnvancc
would carry l,2OO pounds. Unfortunate
ly it was discovered that the excessive
thinness Of the copper spheres would
them to be broken when a vacuum
was created inside Of them by the press.
ure Of the atmosphere from without.
Nevertheless, this suggestion APP
preached more nearly TO a practicable
idea in aerostatics than any other offered
up 10 the time Of the invention Of the
balloon in 1883 by the brothers Mont
golfer. SO late as 177j Joseph Galieu.
a Dominican friar and professor in
philosophy, contended that it would be
possible to collect the rareGed air Of
some lofty mountain top and iuclose it
in a huge vessel a mile in diameter,
which would carry hfty-four times rs
much weight AS did Noah's ark.
Funnily enough, nearly all the early
theorists on this subject imagined that
the atmosphere merely covered the
earth like a shallow ocean. on which the
aerial vessels they had in mind were in
tended 10 float. like ships in the sea,
with their upper portions in the diffuse
ether that lay above w Washington Star