The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-02

Without fiving machines it is the poor
soldier that has to go forward and take the
brunt of the battle. 1t is the soldier that
has to become living target. The mem
bers of Parliament, the King or the En-
peror, or whoever it is, keep at distance,
but when flying machines become COM
mon instead of making war upon the sol
diers the first man to be attacked will be
the King or Emperor, the first building
knocked down the royal palace, the second
one the House of Parliament"
'They would be great machines for in
vasion. No hostile man-of-war can get
near the United States now, but a flying
machine would go right in.
"There would be no defense against
them but flying machines. Flying ma
chimes could not strike at so great a dis
lance as a man-of-war. A man-of-war can
sail 10000 miles and still fire shot, but it
will be long time before flying machines
can go over 1000 miles. If they should be-
come reality as instruments of war, it
would then be necessary for the United
Stetes to take possession of the whole con-
tinent and all the islands if it did not
want any one to make war upon it. 1t
might be possible to make war on the
United States from Canada with flying
machines, but not from Great Britain or
| Ireland"
'sHow long do you think it will be- I
asked, ''before you have flying machine
ready for exhibition?"
.'Oh, L don't know" answered the in
ventor; sit will depend upon my luck and
how much money l make and have to
spend and how much time I can devote to
| it. As a rule, when / am working the
hardest I am making most money, and
have less time to spend. When am earn
ing money [ have no time, and when
have plenty of time 1 am earning no
money"
an ,,o,, oora m COW how rouob ~, opou
you have already spent on flying ma
CHINESE"
ooh, I think $50, 900 and what spare time
| I had in four or five years.
"Mr Maxim, what seems to be the prin-
cipal cause of failure in the attempt to
build flying machines throughout the
world?"
"Well, the great trouble has been that
the matter has not been seriously taken
up by men that had money and experience
and were engineers. Some men might
have very good ideas and live in back
attic and have no money to spend An
other man might have some money to
but as a whole everything relating to fly
inc machines has been in the hands of
mountebanks and chariatans until recently.
They have attempted to navigate the air
by some kind of tapping wings, initiating
those of bird, but it would be just as alb
SurQ TO aUUeIn pt W ilidhC ny lilS uldCuIllc
with Tapping wings as it would be to make
a locomotive that would walk on legs on
the ground like a horse.
'.How about a flying machine in a severe
tempest"
"Well. when one is q sufficient distance
awav from the surface of the earth the air
is all moving in the same direction. If the
wind were blowing, we will say forty miles
an hour, and the machine was 1000 feet
from The earth and travelling against the
wind. it would be just the same as it would
be if the machine was travelling in a calm
and the earth was travelling the same
direction as the machine was at the same
speed. When the machine is once clear
!. of the earth it makes no difference about
the air blowing as far as the machine itself
is concerned anv more than it would have an
effect upon fly buzzing around the inside OF
arailway carriage going sixty miles an hour
The fiy is fiving as relates to the car, not
to the earth, 50 the flying machine in a
tempest is flying as relates to the surround
ing air, not as relates to the earth. "
Chow high into the air do you think il
! possible for a machine to mount?'
"FIying machines would not mount very
high They would keep near the earth
where the air is dense, about 1000 feet high
except when they want to go higher for
? the purpose of getting into the fog SO as
not to be seen, or in the night"
What velocity do you think they could
be made to travel at?"
well, certainly about forty miles ar