New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-11-03

pporEssOR JAMES ALLEN BELIEVES THAI
FLYING MACHINES ARE IMPOSSIBLE

FLYING MACHINES ARE IMPoSSiDHT
M ADVANCE HAS BEEN MADE IN CENTURIES "h
nrc,.Rrs-wHAr HE CONSIDERS INsUR-
MoUNTABLE OBSTACLES
"No sir: do not believe in air SHIPS IN any snap'
-. ,orm Furthermore. l can prove to the sausiac-
lion NJ all thinking men that In the present ''
of science and mechanics "''e
utter inpossbility. ,,. |
THUS spoke Professor James Alien the pa'ioo |
to a Tribune reporter, recently. PROFESSOR "
highly qualified to discuss the past, prese"' anu
future OF aeronautics. He Is seventy-ohe Year, w.
and for over fifty years has been aeuVeN ."e"s
In baloonng and has made aerostaton his me
.,u1, ua has made nearly 5000 ascensiohs' anu
althoueh three-score and ten, is as deep III INC
subtect nov as Continuing ne iapseu i'' .
moment into a philosophical mood and seid'
Man is ever striving AFTER the u'a''a"''
which IS probably the reason he mas pursued Will ,
such unabated vigor the delusive chimera OF ma"
flight - os,.h |
"rbat II IL a chlmera would now seem an es'ap-
,lshed fact for the contrary remains 10 DC pio'e'
But If IL Is not thought that man Is ue'""u "
disa ppointment in pursuit or thls iuie ia"0'' "
least one thing be asserted: arter near. io"'
centuries of work on this problem, we are TO-DAY no
ro,rsr the solution than in the early part OF the
sixteenth century when James ~ OF Scotland cohi-
missioned one Giuseppe Lordano, an Ha.ah d.
chemist, to fly from Glasgow to LONDON Loiuaio
made the attempt and fell from the top OF cas''e
breaking his neck 49,,
IIe did not live to explain why his machine failed
n work Nearly all wouldbe flying men since MS
time have survived their experiments, consequently
we have had the benefit of explanations and that
Is all.
THE SAME OLD STORY.
.Jordanos machine was not built on scientific
principles but for all practical purposes 1t was JUST
as good as any which has since been constructed
II proved one thing and that conclusively III wouid
not av II was nothing but two huge wings made
NJ feathers The builder seemed to possess the same
idea held by many unsclentic men to-day-'hat '"e
feathers of birds contain an anti-gravita nuu' anu
If used in sufficient quantities VIII buoy person.
in the air.
6ylng which have been made. but that "oulu
he tedious and In no way profitable l VIII oniy
saw that from Lordano Maxim or Liliienthai all
exneriments have proved but one thing-that the
machines would not fly
Most of the machines have been built by I'M
scientific men-men who have united their inherent
ingenuity with a smattering of mechanics and pro-
duced mechanical monstrosites which would neither
Hv nor SWIM and were worse than useless on iahu.
Now and then real scientihc man mas srapp'e"
with the subject but his efforts nave peeh TO more
successful than those of the unscienthc builders
ct is now generally conceded that II man Is 10
ev at ALL II must be by purely mechanical means.
The balloon is no help. Indeed 1t only hinders the
nroaress and forms but admirable plaything Tor
the capricous winds.
SOME REASONS WHY
81 have said that flying machine Is an imposs'-
blity / will tell you why.
THE highest durable metal which we nave to-day
Il steel 1t has been shown time and again that no
machine can be built of that metal Wnich VIII III.
its own weight The latest failure OF TINS Sihd
comes from England. Maxim built flying machine.
II was a marvel of beauty and strength. III "esheu
only 5000 pounds including 800 horsepower engine
which was to operate the propelling apparatus But
the machine ali not fly. He built special railroad
track on which TO make experiments, ana ne sue
ceeded In sailing along on the rails very niceiV' Out
that was not hying.
''If we bad a metal as light as aluminium anu aS
strong as steel might then think of building
living machine II had gas ten times lighter
than our best hydrogen. then also we might think
OF building an air ship; but without one OF these
two nothing toward navigating the air can be ac-
complished.
81 do not pose as the only who has no faith
in air ships In fact. 1t is my firm BELIEF that very
few of the inventors of air ships believe IN their
own models or those of any other person. Ihey
have an axe of some kind grind. and so fool the
public into believing that they are really about
ready to fly, and that they only need few inisnng
touches to their wings. when they Will soar away
through the air In imitation OF the glorious eagle
rule their attempts are more tiosc VI
a barnyard fowl with the wings clipped; he can do
a good deal of Tapping and make great NOISE
but remains on earth
THE public, however likes to be fooled and just
as long as It's taste that way. just 50 long
will the flying machine man endeavor to foist the
weak limitations OF birds the credulous and long
suffering people.
ct Is a notable fact that from Lordano to the
present day only three different styles of air ships
have been built All inventors use either the aero
plane, the mechanical wings wings operated by
las long ago 1852. when the subject OF man
flight seems to have become general topic for
writer's and thinkers, Borelli, the great scientist,
wrote a treatise on the subject. showing clearly
that man could fly by his own efforts. owing
to the lack OF muscular power. bird files entirely
by muscular effort. Many works have been writ
showing the great power of the pectoral muscles
OF the feathered tribe Man could never produce
such muscles those.
yet, Notwithstanding this fact. there are men
In this enlightened age who are still endeavor-
ing TO overcome the force Of grayitaton by use of
wings propelled by their efforts.
Perhaps the best known person following out this
idea to-day Is Herr Lentha of Germany. Every
one has heard OF him and his wonderful feats OF
flying. But what has he really accomplished? Alb
solueiy nothing. He has succeeded in jumping from
a high elevation ana landing many feet away. but
he did not fly; he simply noated down does
In a parachute. Any boy slide down a hill II
he has a sled and there IS the ground. But
can he reverse the process and slide up the hill?
/ never have heard OF this being done.
when birds fly they do not have to climb into
the top OF a tree to high building and then
Jump off to get start. They hy from stand every
time, and IT Is easy for them to start at the boz.
tom OF the Hill as the top
HE BELIEVES IN WINGS.
Professor Carl Meyer Is also a believer In the
wing theory He has what he calls balloon farm
up In New-York State. The best evidence in the
world that he has never built an air ship is the
fact that has him operating one
He has much TO say the subject but II is all