Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-06-25
fHR ART or FLYING.
PROF. LANGLEY HAS SOLVED THE
QUESTION OF AERIAL TRANSIT.


HE Machine Files a. Soaring Birds Fly.
Taught BY 6uxzsrd.-.Ths inventor .
Famous Scientific Man.
1t is rather surprising that the an
nouncement that Professor 3. p. Lang
ley, of the Smithsonian Institution, had
definitely solved the problem of aerial
navigation has not attracted more at
tention than 1t has. Coming from such
a man, and backed by the word Of SO
practical man of science as Alexan-
der Graham Bell, 1t was not such an an
nouncement as might have come from
some unknown and obscure inventor.
Professor Langley would die fam
Gus man II he had never taken up aero
dynamics or attempted to build flying
machine. He is indeed, In his chosen
field of astronomy, the foremost man
of science whom we have In this coun-
try. Professor Langley ranks with the
greatest astronomers and physicists Of
the world, and he Is one Of the few men
whom America has produced SO far
who have made any real and solid con-
tributions to pure science.
1t was from watching the turkey buzz
zard that Professor Langley came to
conclude that 1t was possible to build
solid models very much heavier than
the air and drive and direct such a ma
chine with such an ordinary force as
steam. That Is to say, he became con-
WINGED that there are certain shapes In
which matter can be disposed so that
the more rapidly 1t moves through the
air, in a sense, the less power it takes to
move it, and that a machine could be
built to skim through the air very much
as skater skins along the surface Of
very thin ice-the faster you go the
less danger.
Professor Langley believed that soar
ing birds have an intuitive knowledge
of certain properties in the air by which
they are able to skim along-rising and
falling, soaring up and sailing down
and turning about in circles without
any Tapping of their wings or apparent
ly any other effort. Just what these
properties were he attempted to find
out and develop by experiment. i be-
lieve that in this work he was assOciat
ed with his friend, Graham Bell, or mt
any rate, Professor Bell spent great
deal Of time over the same subject, and
has mass Of notebooks filled with
records of his experiments.
Well, the upshot of the matter was
that from these experiments it was
demonstrated that machine, not ba
loon, can be made which will produce
enough mechanical power to support
itself in the air and fly. Though"
Professor Langley adds, 'this is not
saying that we have yet got skill
enough to manage this power so as 70
rise and fly about in the air and descend
ssfely." What is actually demonstrate
ed, repeated hundreds of times in the
laboratory, and finally with the success
full machine which Professor Langley
built, is that the flying machine is posi-
BILE. All that now remains is to per-
feet it and learn how to manage it.
The experiments which Professor
Langley carried on resulted in showing
that an expenditure of one horse power,
in horizontal fight, will support about
200 pounds and at the same time carry
this burden at 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
fight weigh less than twenty pounds.
The relative weight Of an engine de-
creases with the number of its horse
power, so that there seems no reason
to doubt that what Professor Langley
has done OH a small scale may be done
on large one, and very shortly at that.
Professor Langley's machine meas
ures but fourteen feet from tip to tip,
weighs complete twenty-four pounds,
Is solidly built of steel, and compared
with the air which supports II, has n
weight Of thousand to one. 1t has no
balloon arrangements Of any sort, and
instead Of trying to build vessel
lighter than the air and filling it with
gases to make 1t rise, Professor Lang
ley has practically built machine rs
heavy as he likes and relied upon It's
shape and power for successful fight.
This is just the opposite of what al
most every other experimenter in this
field has tried to do, although 1t was APP
parent to every one that flying ma
chine to be of any commercial or prac.
teal value whatever would have to be
heavy and powerful enough to drive
straight against or across and In and
out Of the stoutest gale that blows
Otherwise 1t would forever be at the
mercy of the element. What was neces-
sary was ship which would ride
storm in the air as a great ocean liner
rides storm at sea.
Professor Langley has been very
careful to say that he never expressed
his opinion that man could fly by his
own strength. But he has demonstrate
ed that powerful machines, thousands
of times as heavy as the air itself, can
be built to navigate the air. AS to just
the measure Of his present success the
secretary Of the Smithsonian is exceed
ingly reticent-as reticent, in fact, as
Professor Bell is enthusiastic. The lat
ter says that he entertains no doubt
whatever that practical air ship for
use in war is but a very short way off,
MASKED coNvIcTs.