Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-02-21
LET US FLUTTER.
1T MAY IN TIME DEVELOP INTO
FLYING.
We Must Creep before We Can
Walk-We Can Float Before we
Can Swim-Whv Not Flutter and
Then Fly.

and permanently been elevated there
by. From ruts to rails is q vast i'm
provement. But it's about time no,
to think OF another move-it's time t
begin to think of soaring; and il we
i. e., you, are afraid to soar, then lie
US at least try to flutter. If on Mar
there dwells race superior to man
who, among other superior appliances
have also superior telescopes, they viii
be apt to believe that the many bicy
clists rushing around everywhere are
poor terrestrians frsntically and vainl,
endeavoring to tly-it really looks thai
way from distance. at least to ob
servers who have seen old hens and
other heavy birds struggling to rise
over fence or wall. And if the Mars
chaps think so, sagely remarks New
York World writer, they are near to
truth.
For the success OF the bicycle has
stimulated effort to perfect the moto-
cycle, or horseless carriage. This ef-
fort will sooner or later extend to the
application OF aero-propellers. and the
application of aero propellers in any
department of transportation will even
more surely lead to mechanical flight
i. e., practical mechanical flight. In
France the motorcycle, or horseless
carriage, has already become a fix
ture, and its general use in this coun-
try, as a pleasure vehicle at least, is
only question of time. May we then
get such excellent roads as France can
boast of, and may it stimulate us to
surpass French and German and Eng
lish motocycles-make the European
invention fiutter, so to speak. There
is exceeding crudity in the present
methods of applying propulsive force
to road vehicles by mechanical means.
1t is applied through cogwheel. chain
or band, or one of the axles of the wa.
gon wheels. Therein lies the crudity
1t is not applied on the rim of the
wheel. because that could be done only
at the expense of speed-and there j.
no speed to spare.
One can easily form correct ides
of the vast difference in the amount oI
force required respectively in the two
cases. Just try to move buggy ol
other light vehicle by exerting youl
force while catching hold of the spokes
near the axle; and next exert your
force while grabbing the felloes. Nc
additional scientific explanation will
then be wanted. Hence it must be o
high importance to find some propell
ing device which operates on the rim
of the wheel instead of on its axle
while yet permitting the attainment o.
high speed. The reader understands
without scientific explanation, that ex
traneous push or pull exerted horizon
tally on a vehicle-preferably at righ1
angles to the sxles-operates, so tC
speak, through the rim of the wheels
Theoretically, such extraneous pro
pulsion by mechanical means is posi-
BILE by two methods-with propeller
transmitting force through the resist
ance of the surface over which the We
hicle passes, and with propellers oper
ating by force transmitted through
the resistance Of the air. The first o.
these two methods opens vast field
for fanciful devices, but it is hardly
rational TO suppose that anything
practical will be achieved herein; al
least, those best qualified seem to have
abandoned, perhaps never entertained
hopes OF success in that quarter. The
second method, however. is certainly
applicable to large extent.
Now, the following figures, it hap
pens, don't lie. In its issue OF Nov
%, the Scientific american mentions
that lately an electric locomotive or
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad
moved train of 1886, 900 pounds will
ease. At starting it exerted recorded
pull of 10000 pounds, quickly getting
up a speed OF twelve miles an hour
when continuous pull of only 10000
pounds was found sufficient. Ever
many intelligent people are puzzled b!
the expressions pounds of pull" ant
"pounds of push" frequently oc
curing in treatises on locomotives
etc. It's an easy one, though. If yol
wish to push or pull the hook OF
spring balance so that the Indicate
marks five pounds. you exert pusl
or pull of FIVE pounds, of course. See
Well, according to the above, on
pound of pull will start seventy-on'
pounds placed on wheels resting OF
ra;ls. and will move over one hundre,
mounds when the vehicle has acquired
momentum. This appears in accor'
with the statement made long ago ant
often that a pull or push Of one poun'
will propel twenty-five pounds over
fairly good, say macadamized, road.
! Now let us consider some NOR