The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-31


A cable despatch from Brussels tells of
an accident to Otto Lilienthal, known as
THE FLYING Man." while practicing last
sunday with the latest development of
his fving machine While soaring at an
altitude of 200 feet the wings of the ma
chine collapsed and the daring aeronaut
was precipitated to the ground and badly
4 injured.
4 Among the more recent attempts to
solve in one form o. another the prob
/ lem of aerial navigation few have at
/ tracted as much attention as those of
/ Mr. Lilienthal, because he has abandoned
the field of theory for that of practice
The scientific world has been on the
oui vive awaiting practical test of Hi
ram s. Maxim's ''aeroplane,' the success
of that remarkable man in other fields of
invention giving one the conviction that
he is reasonably certain of success in any
thing he attempts There have been
rumors that Edison has some scheme of
aeral navigation in his storehouse of
thoughts, ready to be given to the public
i whenever he so determines. Pennington,
Delprat, Langley and half dozen others
have mad their aerial craft discussed at
length.
HE HAS FLOWN.
Lilienthal has done more. He has
4 really flown. His success, while only
relative considered from the point of view
of eventual aerial transportation has new
ertheless had the merit of being an act
ual occurrence, and has obtained a full
share of public interest. I-ilientha s
achievement had the additional interest
4 of being based upon the most sensible of
projects that of the imitation of the
4 flight of birds.
1t is generally admitted by experts that
ballooning has been not only q depression
but also an obstacle to progress in the art
of fying While important services, me-
neurological and military, have been rem
dered from observations at high alti-
tudeS and in submission to high currents
of air, by balloons, these events
have had no bearing upon the question
of navigation, which implies propulsion
under control.
From Leonardo de Vinci, in 1900, to
Otto Lilienthal, in our day, the thinkers
and workers who in their attempts to
be imitatOrs of Daedalus have come
nearest to success in aeronautics are
those who have made a study of the
bird, its mechanism and its motions.
Liienthal conducted q long series of
experiments before determining the CON
OF Sc, native of Anklam, a quaint, an
cent little city near the Baltic coast of
the Prussian provice of Pomerauia. about
sixty miles to the northwest of Settin.
His mind turned to studies in the domain
Of the birds. He went with a younger
brother to Berlin, where he established a
large mandatory of small steam en-
gines, which Is still in active successful
operation. He continued, with the perse-
verauce of his race, the study of his pet
subject, augmenting his knowledge by
frequent and repeated practical expert
ments.
These he conducted at first with fat
wings or plane surfaces until he became
convinced that it is the gentle parabolic
curve OF the wing which enables bird to
sustain itself without apparent effort in
the air, and even TO soar, without a mo-
ton OF the wings, against the wind, like
the seagull or the albatross. This CON
yiction, Mr.. Lilienthal has stated, he con-
slderS the most important outcome of his
Investigations. in a recent interview MIR.
LlIlenthal said, referring to this point:
1t now seems quite easy To explain the
flight of birds, for every crow that flies
over our heads offers a practical solution
OF the riddle. Recent researches into the
law OF atmospheric resistance lead clearly
TO the deduction that curved or arched
surfaces are to be preferred to fat ones
but the original discovery was by no
means as simple and self-evident as it
now appears There are still prominent
Investigators who will not see that the
arched or vaulted wing includes the Sc
cret of the art of hight.D
The machine devised and used by Mr..
LAllenthal in his successful experiments
Is made almost entirely of closely woven
muslin, washed with cOllodion, to render
IL lmper7ious TO air, and stretched upon a
RIBBED frame of split willow. Willow
was selected after being found to be the
ugntest and strongest material for the
purpose. The main parts are pair of
arched wings, vertical rudder to which
Mr.. Lillienthal has given the shape of u
palm leaf, which acts as the vaue of a
Windmill pipes, keeping the head of the
machine always toward the wind, and d
nat, horizontal, rudder, which serves to
prevent sudden changes Of equilibrium.
Inc apparatus is adjusted to the person
IN such way that when floating in the
DIR ne VIII be seated upon narrow bar
or support near the front.
The Lilienthal theory being that birds
40 not exercise great power in flying, but
Keep afioat in the air by the particular
way IN which their wings catch the air,
there is no Tapping of the wings by the
enorts of the operator in this machine. 1t
Is really sailing, and not a flying ma
chine
The apparatus being affixed to his per.
pull me operator, with the wings folded
behind him. takes a short run from some
elevated point, running against the wind,
ana when he things he has attained We
Ioclty enough, he jumps into the air,
spreading the wings. Atmospheric action
uoes the rest, and the operator scars away
maJestically like huge bird. This action
IS IN exact imitation of that of all large
Dlrds, when they take their flight from
the ground
Mr.. Lilienthal has succeeded in accom-
pushing by this method flights of 800
yards from given starting point In do
ing so. he has sailed against a moderate
ureeze at an angle of not more than de-
grees to the horizon.
TWENTY-THREE-FOoT WINGS.
=, The wings he now uses measure twenty
three feet from tip to tip. 1t required a
great many experiments to determine the
proper size Of wings, length. breadth and
backward extension. Upon these points
IN the construction of the machine de-
pends the ability of the operator to so
ai'er his position in the shortest space of
uue that the action Of the air may be
overcome and equilibrium restored by u
Nlauge or the center of gravity.