Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-06-09
AN AIR CYCLE NEXT.
THAT IS WHAT'S WANTED BEFORE
THE FLYING MACHINE,

The Bicycle No Longer Satisfies the Long.
ting Of Mankind For Free Movement,
We Want to Travel as the Birds Do. but
Must Learn Essential Lessons First.
The Frenchman who covered the dead
walls OF Paris with calls for subscriptions
TO Society OF Aviation, to start with n
capital OF 100000 francs, may have been
lacking in the highest qualities of publi,.
spirit. He was placed in Jail for taking
money for his little private flyine ma.
chimes. costing from $500 to So 600 which
ne failed to deliver. But his merit lies
in discovering the want that fills tbe
breasts of q large number of men TODAY
1t Is only the somewhat headlone method
OF gratifying that yearning which has
lnterfered for a time with his loco
motion. Had he but had the forethoucht
to invent, to beg or to borrow a fairly
efficient flying machine. nothing short Of
"A cage would now prevent him from TAX
ing a leave as French as himself.
Though he should languish for the rest
OF his days in prison, NJ. Delprat will
have the glory Of the discovery that tbo
bicycle no longer satisfies the longing of
mankind toward freer movement over
the face of land and water. If we are
to believe the evolutionists, man is the
result OF gradual aspiration, from the
worm that walloweth on portion of its
anatomy unsuited to ears polite. throurb
the many footed, the four footed and four
handed beasts, up to the natural lord of
creation who runs perpendicular on two
feet. The present century has seen man
become what the old legends would have
termed the ''whirling one FOOT Why
should not this progress continue and
the next century find man rising from
that single pied terre into more or less
sustained aviation?
The flying machine still holding to
earth by one wheel has already appeared
sporadically in England. according to
Engineering. Mr.. Philips published
the results of his trial of q machine rest
Ing on light car and claims that he
flew, but the front wheel of the car ney-
er left the ground. This is quite as it
should be. We creep before we walk.
we graduate from tricycle. to bicvcle.
]
Who Is the man to lift us finally clear of
the earth?
The principle of the balloon, useful rs
1t Is III overcoming gravity, has carried
generations of inventors into q fools
paradise.
Birds are lighter than beasts, but they
are not soap bubbles. And to the bird
we have to return indirectly or directly
for lessons In the navigation of the air.
The aeroplane, in which our able await
ors are now reposing so much conf
dence, but upon winch they take care
not to repose their own brittle bodies, is
the result of study of the soaring of
birds. Latterly it has been reasoned
out that individual feathers have a
powerful influence in supporting the
bird III air. So the aeroplanes are made
not solid, but with Stats. and in some
cases Jointed in sections, so that while
one portion is in one plane another may
be tilted up or down to get the lifting
power of a change of angle. This power
is so great that our leading aviators,
like Hiram Maxim and Professor Lang
ley, expect to obtain great velocities if
they can once get their airships under
way and under control.
The money spent by these inventors
and investigators is mounting to great
sum. but who shall say it is wasted con-
sidering the benefits to accrue? The re-
mark attributed to Giffard when dying,
that he would not reveal the secret of his
airslip because she thought he saw the
air ensanguined by war as the seas have
been, and the earth" need not disturb
us. If he did say that. he was Temporal
rily in state of weakness, for the fly
ing machine will do more than anything
yet invented to break down the preju-
dices of one nation for another. Wars
are the result of such prejudices care
fully inflamed by ambitious men, and
while the aviation is not going to stop
all wars it will surely reduce them to q
minimum.
More important than such machines as
Lieutenants Renard and krebs success
fully steered from Meudon to the walls
of Paris and back again are the small
flying machines developed from the BIZ
cycle, which seem now about to make
their appearance. The bicycle with cleo
trio motor is invented. Now comes the
turn of combination of bicycle and
aviator which shall permit the rider to
leave earth and skim along for 100 yards
or SO without detriment to himself OF
his machine. By way of these inven-
tons will come the discovery, step by
step, of means and methods of sustain
ing flight for longer periods and also
the actual training in motion through
the air which is now wanting to man
kind.
The inventors who are constructing
on paper or in actually great flying ma
chimes are like men Of an inland race
who have for the first time seen broad
piece of water. Before learning to pad
die canoe they are already building a
frigate; MISUNDERSTANDING the prin-
ciple of the steam engine they are set
ting to work to make an ocean steamer.
What is wanted is popular air cycle
an "air safety" to lead the way to larger
air wagons with sustained flight. Who
will invent one?-New York Times.