The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-10-02
| built to weigh less sh.a one-,en.h Of this

built to weigh less thsn one-tenth OF this
amount.
The most important general inference from
the mere power 81 sustain heavy bodies In tne
air by mechanical fight goes. such mechanical
flight il possible with engines We now possess,
since effective steam engines have lately been
built weighing less than ten pounds % one
horse power, and the experiments SHOW tnat IL
we multiply the small planes which have been
actually used or assume larger plane 20 nave
approximately the properties of similar small
ones, one horse power rightly applied can sus,
tain over 30 pounds In the air at horizontal
velocity of over twenty metres per second
tabout forty i've miles an hour, and still more
at still higher veloeities.
am not prepared to say that the relations OF
power, area weight and speed, here expert
mentally established for planes OF small area,
will hold for indefinitely large ones; but from
all the circumstances OF experiment, can en-
terrain no doubt that they do so hold far enough
TO afford assurance that we can transport with
fuel for q considerable journey. and at speeds
high enough 10 make US independents OF Or
binary winds) weights many times greater tnan
that OF man.
The most important, and, it is believed, novel
truth already announced, Immediately follows
land or marine transport increased speed IL
maintained only by disproportionate expendi-
ture of power, within the limits OF experiment
in such aerial horizontal transport, the higher
lower ones.
! wish. however, to put on record my belief
engage the serious attention, not only Of en-
gineers, but of all interested in the possibly near
practical solution of problem one OF the most
important in its consequences OF any which has
ever presented itself in mechanics; for this So
luton, 1t is here shown, cannot longer be con-
sidered beyond our capacity to reach.
In my experiments found that a we'll
made screw operated well and was fairly
economical, and that the skin friction was
so small as to be negligible. l found that
whatever push my screw communicated to
the aeroplane the plane would lift in
vertical direction from ten to fifteen times
as much as the horizontal push that 1t re-
ceived from the screw, which depended
upon the angle at which the plane was set,
and the speed at which the apparatus was
travelling through the air. Having ascer-
tanned by actual experiment how much
power was required to perform artificial
light at speeds varying from twenty to
ninety miles an hour, I commenced ex-
periments with view of producing q
suitable motor. l carefully considered
the merits of all forms of motors, includ-
ing hot-air engines, steam engines, Pc
troleum engines and electrical motors
operated by storage batteries. At that
time it seemed to me that the steam en-
CINE would be the most suitable, as l be-
Iieved it could be made lighter than any
OF the others in proportion to the power
developed. and also its action was
have extended over a long time, having
been much delayed by my long absence
from England. constructed two sets Of
compound engines of tempered steel, all
the parts being made very light and
strong, and steam generator of peculiar
construction, the greater part of the heat
ing surface consisting of small and thin
copper tubes. For fuel l employed
naphtha. My steam engines weigh col
lectively 600 pounds; the steam generator.
including the casing, the smokestack and
the burner, 1000 pounds; the pumping
machinery, 100 pounds, and the gas gem
that the condenser operates we'll while
travelling at high velocity drought the
air, that its weight need not exceed one