The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-16

successful conclusion, is Mr.. Octave Cha
mute, president of thu American Institute
of Civil Engineers. He hns not only stud
led closely, Dnt has written, with confidence
ns to the %intnre, n number Of articles calcu.
lnted to exotic interest in the subject and
induce lta consideration by the inventive
mind. Very curiousIy, reading one of Mr..
ChaEute's pamphlets, written in 1880, and
which only came to tho notice OF the writer
after tia programme OF the Cosmopolitan
a~estion Which comedies almost identioally
with the plan of operations adopted by tho
Cosmopolitan.
Success might DO much hastened," sue-
Rests Mr.. Chnnute. "by an association Of
ssnrchers in this fold Of inquiry, for nd one
ventor. to imagine new shapes and new
motors, q mechanical engineer. to design
tho Arrangement OF the apparatus. q
mathematician, to calculate its strength
and stresses. q practical mechanic. to CON
struct the parts. and q syndicate of capital
probable the working out OF a complex in
yention requires SO great q variety Of talent
that progress has boon 80 Slow
My hope in this matter lies directly in
these lines. Already the assistance Of able
men has been promissd-brains furnishing
ton Of problem which is, after
Az, entirely. within the limits of scien-
tito accomplishment, if We take tho word
OF those who have q right to speak. The
work of tho Cosmopolitan will be to as
simulate the plans of the various inventors
and give practical form to those best cal
cnlated to serve the purpose OF aerial
transit.
Tho conditions Of aerial science-for 90 we
may term it-may DO divided roughly into
two divisions-frst, the work of the aeron-
auts. which involves the buoyant forms of
gas for itB operations; second, the expert
the air planes which will depend for their
support upon the principle known to the
skater who travels with rapidity over a thin
frozen surface, or the schoolboy who sends
by force Of arm, a thin piece of slate sail
ing high il the air.
The aeronauts may be termed the old
school, while the more modern school, en-
bracing noted scientists, attacks the sub
ject radically and claims that the matter
has resolved itself into q question of mot
ors. The ~wel-known inventor, Mr.. Maxim,
belongs to this school, and it is announced
that he has succeeded in perfecting an 800
tionate to its power that it is hardly worth
calculating, n which may be safely used
to operate ar aeroplane. 1t is probable
that the first experiment. we make will be in
this line of combining the salient features
of the schools.
AuOCASuA 0oAO11duGS nave LOU UeSu Cu0
most sanguine III regard to the future of
the balloon to be driven through the air by |
power. They have been accustomed to the
voluminous gas bags required for any con
travel in the air-the expenditure of
gas in order to descend, the expenditure of
ballast in order to ascend, requiring a lit
ing power vastly greater than would be
needed were the gas preserved in a metallic
envelope and power used for elevation or
depression. Familiar, then. with a vast
surrounded by a network of cords
generating friction, swnying with every
puff Of wind and completely at the mercy
of the most tritling currents of air, it ia no
wonder that experience has caused them to
doubt the feasibility of a construction
which may be driven in the teeth OF a gale.
But tue experiments of the French en-
demonstrated hat a spindle shaped
object is capable of being projected in the
teeth of a moderate breeze and that the
overcoming of a heavy gale is only a ques-
ton of motive power.
The whole question may be said to re-
solve itself into n of motors. That upon
which Mr.. Maxim has experimental is said
to be in the use OF steam power. III cleo
trio motors used by the French engineers I
been reduced to great lightness as
compared with the hose power evolved.
One OF the suggestions which seems to
great results il that of Mr.. Edison
TO the Cosmopolitan, and involves the use of
gun cotton, dot0nAted ut the highest speed
The lightness of the ammunition used in
these dstonations must be an important
factor, while the rapidity of the detona-
would seem to give that maximum of
speed necessary to the highest development
horse power. But undoubtedly much
nay be hoped for from the sugees-
ions made by M. Trouve, whose ex-
have attracted wide atten-
.lon. he obtains his power by the ex-
7loslon of hydrogen one part, combined
With three parts of the oxygen, which is al
'eady prepared in the atmosphere, the OK
oloslon being produced by electricity as in
,as machines. M. Trouve uses a Bourbon
ube, converting the pressure of the gas in
he tube, which changes its shape as the
'tessnre increases into a movement of the
'lllptioal branches; as they move upart the