The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-12-15

VI WIdt tic sui ctulc tistNucIct anu oil
the coal beds OF Pennsylvania. for instance,
though they can supply the country for
hundreds OF years. would not keep up this
heat during the one-thousandth part OF a
second. Now. when you think that these
enormous figures are not exaggerations. but
within the truth. you have to give up the
idea of grasping the amount Of the suns
heat as inconceivable."
WI we ever be able to use this heat
mechanically"
That remains to be seen. The force is
there. The method of preserving and APP
plying 1t economically has yet to be in
vented. My experiments on Mount Whit
ney, In the Sierra Nevadas. showed that IL
we could save 1T all and use it for our steam
engines il would give about a horse power
for every square yard OF ground. We hear
a great deal about the immense power from
the recent utilization of Niagara. but the
sun power which is. so to speak. wasted
daily on this little District Of Columbia is
hundreds and hundreds of times as great.
The heat on the surface Of the island OF
Manhattan or that occupied by London
could at noontide drive all the steam en-
gines of the world. So far there have been
no practical inventions for utilization of
this enormous power. At the Paris EXPOSE
ton Of 1878 there was a reflector which
drove a steam engine which worked a
printing press. Ericsson made a solar en-
CINE which it was thought might be used
in the pumping up of the waters on desert
lands. The probability is that the day will
come when we will use all this force. When
IL does the deserts of the world. with their
enormous sun power. may become the
great centers of manufacture and Of civili-
zation."
AERIAL NAVIGATION.
1 next asked Mr.. Langley some questions
as to aerial navigation. He was disinclined
to talk about the subject. and he gave me
to understand that the statements made by
the press concerning him In this connec-
ton had been made without his authority.
It is well known, however, that in his pub
lished scientific writings on aerodynamics
Mr.. Langley has described his discovery of
facts which greatly alter our former sup
posed knowledge on this subject, and that
though he has not there undertaken to de-
scribe any flying machine, as he is pop
ularly supposed to have done, he has made
experiments which show that mechanical
fight is far from impossible. Thus, by a
proper application and direction of the
force and the speed, he has sustained solid
brass plates upon the air with an incredibly
small display Of energy. He did this many
years ago. and at Pittsburg he made thou
sands of experiments which show that there
are certain shapes I'm which matter can be
disposed so that the more rapidly It moves
through the air, in one sense, the less power
1t takes to move 1t, and that solid models
can be thus made to skim, as 1t were, along
the viewless air. as a skater skins along
the surface of thin ice; the faster you go
in either case, the less danger there being
of falling down. AS far as 1 could Judge
from my talk with him., his experiments
show that the soaring birds nave an intui-
tive knowledge OF certain properties of the
air. which have been only recently develop
ed through these experiments, and that by
these they navigate the air almost without
effort in a way which there is no reason to
think that 1t Is impossible we can do. If not
by our unaided strength, at any rate by
means Of such engines as are recently be-
ing built. With regard to this he spoke of
the fact that such birds even about Wash
ington may be seen rising and falling, soar
ing up and sailing down, and moving in
circles without any Tapping of their wings.
Said he: did you ever think what a
physical miracle it is for such a bird as one
OF our common turkey buzzards to fly in
the way it does? You may see them any
day along the Potomac. floating in the air
with hardly the movement OF a feather.
These birds weigh from five to ten pounds;
they are far heavier than the air which they
displace; they are absolutely heavier than
SO many fiatirons. 1 suppose If men saw
cannon balls floating through the air like
soap bubbles they would look on it as sur
prising. If not as a miracle. The only rea-
son that we are not surprised at the soar
ing bird Is that we have seen it from our
childhood. Perhaps If we had seen cannon
balls floating in the air from our childhood
we should not stop to inquire how they did
1t any more than we do how the buzzards
do it. / an speaking now. of course, not of
birds which fly by Tapping their wings. but
Of those which fly without Tapping their
wings. or very rarely. and with almost no
visible expenditure of force.
HIS DISCOVERIES.
There is a good deal of misapprehension
about my own Investigations in this re-
| spect," Secretary Langley went on, "but
what 1 have at least demonstrated is that
heavy machines, not balloons, can be made
which will produce enough mechanical pow
er to support themselves in the air. and to
fly. though this is not saying that we have
yet got the skill to manage the power so
90 W AiSCt q anu oCSCClA ~
What is actually demonstrated rests on ac-
tual experiments, repeated hundreds of
times in the laboratory, but under condi-
| lions not so easily repeated in the open
air.
These experiments are in the nature of
an engineers measurements, giving things
in pounds, feet and horse power, and by
them / have shown that an expenditure OF
one horse power Of we can only regulate 1t
so as to make the flight horizontally will sup
port about two hundred pounds, and at the
same time carry II at the rate Of fifty miles
an hour through the air.
Now, there have recently been built
| steam engines which. with fuel and water
for a short flight. will give a good deal more
than a horse power and weigh a good deal
less than twenty pounds. so that We have a
very large margin.
what / am trying to do is to establish by
direct experiment the underlying principles
Of this future art of science, and, having
found the exact amount of force required, IL
possible, to learn next how 1t is to be ex-
erted, directed and controlled.
81 know 1t is dangerous for any one to
make any statement except in positive
facts and figures about such matters. The
people have, ever since the days of Darius
Green and his flying machine. until very
lately. put such a one down as a visionary,
without investigation of hat he has to Of
fer. AS for me. / have never said that man
No,,lI a. - - N~- rtr~--L -. 49, II