The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-05-28
MR.. MAx1Mrs FLYING MACHINE.
A Wonderful Invention for Navtgat-
ing the Air,


A Wonderful Invention for Navigat-
ing the Air.
A correspondent of the London World
gives an interesting account of a visit
to the fiying-machine of Mr.. Hiram S.
Maxim, who has a large manufactur-
ing establishment at Bixley, in Kent.
The following is an extract:
"A short walk across a corner of the
grounds brings you to an enormous
wooden building provided with great
sliding doors-the largest in the world
and, when full drawn back, forming
a screen or harbor to the fying-ma-
chine on its emerging from the shed
on the lines of rail, laid down nine
feet apart, and extending three-fourths
of mile. However. the great doors
are only opened on occasions of spe-
cially important experiments. so you
pass inside by a small wicket. The
'whirr' of wheels, the clang of iron on
iron, and the smell of oil, salute you as
you enter the dockyard of the monster
air-ship. So large is it that you mis-
take its vast aeroplane of 1000 square
feet for canvas roofing to the build
ing. At length the eye has corrected
its illusions, and you perceive a steel
frame covered with canvas about forty
feet long, and shaped somewhat like a
flat-bottomed boat. Above this is the
huge stretch of canvas, sustained at a
considerable height by slender but very
strong supports, which are at the same
time the tubes carrying the exhaust
steam from the boiler to atmospheric
condensers, placed as a border to the
great aeroplane. Five narrower sails
on each side, and an adjustable sail
arrangement fore and aft to regulate
Sy,if - rs, = =
two large screw propellers, each eight
cen feet in diameter, give the stranger
a kind of fantastic conception of a
hybrid result of the union of ship in
full sail with a small steamer provided
with very exaggerated awning.
Some idea of its actual dimensions
may be gathered on mentioning that
when ready to start it measures from
stem to stern IA feet and literally 10
feet. and its single mast is 40 feet high,
while its weight is 1000 pounds Mr.
Maxim explains in familiar language
that his f1ying-machin is constructed
on the same principles as those deter
mining the fight of a kite and of a
bird. A boy fastens string to his
kite, so that when he runs he brings it
against the wind. At certain angle
the kite ascends. With a bird, the
weight of the body is many times
heavier than the volume of the air it
displaces; but this overcome by the
great mechanical power exerted by
the muscles of the wings, the out
stretching of which form aeroplanes,
assisting in supporting the body of the
bird and operating in an ascensional
direction. The propellers of Mr.. Max
I'm air-ship, driven at great speed by
two compound engines, take the place
OF the force eXerted by the boy and the
muscular power of a birds pinions;
while his extensive aeroplanes repre-
sent the plane of the kite, as also the
pennated area of the birds wings.
These principles being universally ad-
mitted, after the exhaustive expert
ments in which scientists have been
engaged, it remained for Mr.. Maxim to
design a motor, the power of which
was proportionately far in excess of
its weight; and this he has perfected.
On ascending the deck you cannot but
admire the many inventions which
| facilitate the working of the machin-
| cry, which is Of the lightest construc-
! ton.
THE expenses of the preliminary ex-
| pertinent, with those attending the
building and fitting up of the machine,
have been no less than 100000 so that
| you are not surprised to learn that a
WdlCIlIItdIi, dILloQ " the teeth, sleeps
| nightly in the canopied bed with one
| eye and both ears open. Mr.. Maxim
! is pleased with the behavior Of his new
machine, because, he says, he has prov
en- most conclusively that it is possible
| to obtain great. ascentonal force
| without the use of gas-bag The
| railroad on which the machine is tried
! is double, there being a upper and
| lower rail. When the machine is lifted
one inch from the lower rail the wheels
touch the upper rail, which prevents it
from leaving the track and it is found
that the machine when running at the
rate of twenty-seven miles an hour lifts
| from the lower rail and the wheels run
| on the top rail. The thrust of the two
| screws when running a full speed is
little more than 1000 pounds. knowing
| that Mr.. Maxim is incapable of a false
| statement, you can no longer regard
| him as visionary, even if YOU ever
did so. Very readily you can credit his
assertion that before a couple of years
are past we shall see the flying machine
! an accomplished fact However. he
| holds out no hope that we shall then
find it on the nearest cabstand. nor
even in the private coach-house. From
its great cost it will be only utilized
for military purposes. Then the whole
| system of modern warfare will have to
| be changed, even if a millennium of
peace will not have become inevitable
for with its use the iron-clad warship
| VIII possess no adequate armor nor
yet fortress, against the destructive
| power OF the bombs which could be let
! fall from the flying machine; while the
| rulers OF country will be as equally
open to attack as the common soldier