The Forrest City times., 1891-02-06
THE ART OF FLYING.
We May Have the Air.ship Wtthln eAe
 Next Decade.

From the earliest historic time nyinQ has been means of locomoiion which has had strange fascination to man. kind, says the Boston Herald. and probably as early ns man found hm- self able to increase bis natural power bv adapting to his uses the forces of nature. attempts have been mado to fly through the air. though in no case has there been any conspicuous success. It Is, perhaps. diseouragiug to give time and attention to the work of de- veloping something upon which so much human time, energy and in- genuity have been wasted, but thero is still much to be said in defense of those who are seeking to devise and perfect hying-machines that modern science and invention have surrounded their efforts with more favorable con. ditious than have hitherto existed. The would-be inventors of f1ying- machines are always abnormally san- guine and invariably believe that if they had a sufficient sum of money to perfect their plans they could quickly solve the problem of air navigation. But some quite as confident as any who now live have had the needed money and have wasted large amounts of 1t without achieving success. Still. it should be pointed out that although these failures are well known to all of those interested in the study of aeros- tation. the members of the aeronautio societies of England. France, and Ger | many, many of them of scientific at tainment and who have given patient study to the subject of air navigation, are strongly of the opinion that we are on the eve of great discoveries in this respect and that at any time the world may be startled by an invention which will perhaps be more remarkable than any which has hitherto been made; that is. the discovery of means of safely. economically. and successfully flying 1 through the air.
 These hopes of q great development | in aeronautics rest on this scientific | basis: that experiences has shown that under certain conditions the resistance | of the air is as great as the resistance | of the earth. and assuming the proper conditions 1t should he just as easy to maintain a body in the air or propel it | through the air as to rest it upon th6 ground. As an illustration of air 1 resistance, it is pointed out that if i quantity of gunpowder freely exposed to the air, is exploded upon the sur 1 face of a rock, the result is merely n l bright flame and puff of smoke. the gases generated passing of harmlessly
 into the air in consequence of it's light
 resistance when compared with the rc- | sstance of the rock. On the other hand, when giant powder or dynamite l is exploded under similar conditions.
 the rock upon which the explosion oc- CUTS has great Assures made in it. be-
 canse in this instance the resistance
 offered by the air is greater than tho 1 resistance offered by the rock. and the | force of the explosion is driven down.
 ward rather than upward.
 Now. why this ditferencep Merely
 because, i'll one case, that is, gum l powder, the explosion is slow pro- cess. while in the other it is quick
 one; therefore the conclusion isdrawn that. providing motion is sufficiently | rapid a resistance can be encountered
 in the air amply sufficient for tho
 mechanical work of lifting upward and
 driving forward. Assuming then the
 existence of comparatively light
 body, supplied with machinery which
 can drive propellers at an exceedingly
 high rate of speed. and the conditions
 would seem to be present which arc
 needed to assure safe air navigation. | We have in aluminium \ metal which
 fully supplies the needed quality of
 strength and lightness, and, with im- 1 provements, there is reason to believe
 that in a few years more this metal will be quite as cheap, if not cheaper.
 than copper. We have in petroleum a concentrated fuel which may be used
 to generate large amount of power
 with the minimum of weight and waste.
 It is also possible that in a short timo
 more we shall have light batteries in
 which large quantities of electricity can be stored. to be drawn upon when
 ever the force is needed.
 These are all possibilities of the near future. and they, one and all. hold out
 the promise of enabling some one, even l in this generation to solve problem
 that has detied the utmost skill of nun
 in past ages. When one considers that
 the discovery and utilization of a safe
 and economical means of air nayiga-
 tion would imply the more or less
 speedy abandonment of almost all of
 our present means of land and water
 transportation. the tremendous econ- 1 omic and social revolution that would
 result from the discovery we have re- ferred to can be perhaps faintly im-
 agined. The successful trial of an air
 ship would in twenty-four hours ti,no cut down by half the value of all tho
 railroads and steamships in the world,
 because it would afford an opportunity
 of cheapening to an incredible extent
 the cost of transporting both persons
 and merchandise. It may he that this
 generation will have passed away be-
 fore this discovery is made; but on the
 other hand. it is not impossible that
 this great invention will be brought
 into public use before the close of the | present century.
 1 Wanted to Borrow an Engine. | Cavora1 rnoutha hofaro i'm M arn ,.t, ic