Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-07-12
vt washington STANDARD
OLYMPIA, WASH.
fRlDM EVENING, JULY T.. 1895.
Navigation OF the Air

Navigation OF the Air.
IL seems surprising, in view OF the
-arid studies made in other branches
oi scientific discovery, that some
method oi sailing through the air has
not yet been definitely proclaimed.
The same laws, it is known. which
control water currents, apply to that
rarer medium air, but Just how to di
rect an air vessel, after the attraction
OF graNitation is overcome by the use
OF a lighter medium, is what has per
picked the inventor. The receptacle
for the lifting medium must of neces-
sity he SO large to sustain the weight
OF the flyer and his machinery to
propel 1t, that it has been so far un-
Manageable to resist the air currents
which prevail from all quarters at diff
ferent attitudes. An air vessel to be
OF service must. of necess v, be able
to go against the wind, and it is evil
dent that it is entirely in. practical to
beat up" to the windwarI without q
denser medium to act like the water on
the keel or center board OF sail-vessel,
to keep her from drifting 10 the lee
ward. Progress must be made, there
fore, by some other means than sails,
and the form very naturally suggested
is the propeller; but either the volume
OF the sustaining power must be re-
duced, Or the wings of the propeller
made very large, and the latter con-
sideration involves the use OF ample
power, which hitherto has meant in.
creased weight for steam power-so
the matter very logically resolved
itself into the problem attempted by
the man who would lift himself by his
boot-straps, the straps always giving
way to the strain before he had &C.
complished the feat. With the dis
coveries made in electrical forces, and
the storage of energy within limited
space and weight, it seemed as if an
immense stride had been made in aerial
navigation, but still there seems to
have been q hitch somewhere.
An article is going the rounds now,
however, which arouses great expecta-
tons. 1t says that Carl Myers, who
lives at Frankfort, in Herkimer coun-
ty, New York, in the beautiful Mo-
hawk valley, has invented . machine
weighing only fifteen pounds which,
when inflated, will sustain the weight
of a man and is propelled by pedals,
the same a. bicycle. 1t is upheld by
hydrogen gas, from water, by process
discovered by Mr.. Myers. To rise on
one of these machines the rider has
simply to bestride it and give slight
jump into the air, then lean back
wards and work the pedals. To de-
scend the rider leans slightly forward !;
to turn to the right or left simply to
lean in that direction. It is, in short,
the same as riding . bicycle, except
that there is no front wheel to turn.
A press reporter has investigated Mr..
Myers machine to his entire satisfac-
ton, and after few instructions was
enabled to mount and soar through
the air at his will . hundred feet or
more above natural distractions. The
inventor went much higher, but the
reporters nerve was not of the kind
that justified high flights and he con-
tented himself with a possible fall
from an altitude of one hundred feet
instead of one from thousands, in
which his cheek might be shattered to
atoms.
simultaneously with the appearance
OF this article, q dispatch dated at
Warrington, last Monday, states that
the officials of the army signal service
have decided to build . flying ma
chine. The dispatch says that its con-
struction will probably be under the
supervision of Captain Glassford, who
with General Greeley, Chief Signal
Officer, has been carrying on extensive
experiments in military ballooning for
the last three years. Captain Glass.
ford is making preparations to con-
struct an apparatus which will &C.
tually carry . man. The mechanism
TO be used is what 10 known - the
soaring apparatus, the only kind oil
flying machine on the aeroplane order
which has actually succeeded in trans
porting . man in the free air. Cap.
tain Glassford is an enthusiast, both
as 10 the future of his balloon expert.
ments and the accomplishment Of
mechanical fight by means Of an aero.
plane.
ANOTHER EVIDENCE OF RUssIA'f
FR1ENDLrNEss.-A Washington special
to the Chicago Post gives the follow.
ing intimation of . proposition made
to the President when negotiations
were pending to maintain the gold