The record-union., 1896-07-19
BOOM In FLYING SHIPS.
LanSley'S Success ArOuSeS Inventors to-
New Activity.
Investigation Of Aerial Navigation
Abroad-R. F. Moore's Gigantic
Counterfeit of Bat.

Langley'S success with his bird like
''aerodrome' has reused the slumber-
ing genius of Yankee inventors if the
correspondence of the Patent Office may
Ee considered as a reliable Indication
1t is felt-and not without good reason
that the practical airship is literally al
most on the point OF being launched
The creation of it will mark a new era
IL the development of civilization
Hence the excitement is not without
warrant.
One hears so much of the erratic quail
ity of Yankee inventive talent that peo-
PIE have come to imagine that ideas for
flying machines are peculiarly Ameri-
| can. Nothing could be farther from
the truth. The fact is that vastly more
attention has been given to this sort of
| investigation abroad than here. The
English have ten such patents for our
one, and the French and Germans are
quite as enthusiastic on the subject In
deed inquiry proves that the patents in
flying machines taken out in this coun-
try are largely held by foreigners.
Bills are introduced in every Congress
to furnish money for the construction of
flying machines. Only the other day
one was offered by Senator PETER, in
behalf of James S. Cowden, who wants
$4,000 to build an airship on the me-
chanical principle of the fish, which an
1nial is regarded by the inventor as a
more satisfactory model than the Oft
used bird. 1t is a fact, interesting in
this connection, that a patent was
granted in 1918 for a balloon in the
shape of fish. Many years later Charles
Il. Spencer secured exclusive rights in
contrivance that was a sort of cross
between fish and bird. 1t was in
tended to run along the ground for a
space in order to get a start, launching
Itself in the air thereupon, and going
ahead by means of revolving fins.
FiSHS SHAPE WITH BIRD WINGS.
DIR. S. B. Battey is the inventor of an
aerostat that is formed like a gigantic
fish, with body of sheet aluminium and
fan-shaped tail The body is sup
ported by pair of wings that run it's
length, their inclination being controlled
by pilot wheel, SO that the aerial YES
sci is able to rise or 10 descend at will.
Ii is propelled by a series of explosions
III the rear, small pellets of nitro-glycer-
inc being fed automa tically into a cup
opening backward and discharged by
electricity. It will be plainly seen from
this description that, if the machine
does not float and travel, the patentee
is not at fault; he has provided for
everything
AT the same time it must be admitted
that there is no more interesting type of
aerial traveller than the steam bird de-
vised by John Kinnersley Smythies. 1t
has wings made of real feathers, con-
nected with the piston rod of a steam
cylinder, which, in rising and falling
flaps the wings up and down. The boiler
consists of a number Of small tubes. in
order to afford a large heating surface
With little weight and small requirement
Of water. The heat is obtained by burn
ing vaporized hydrocarbon with a hot
air blast. The exhaust steam is con-
densed in the hollow tail of the machine
thus saving the water for use again and
again.
An up-to-date inventor is r. F. Moore.
His machine is a counterfeit of bat on
a gigantic scale, the wings of aluminium
and the frame covered with oldbeaters'
skin. Thus, the utmost possible light
ness is secured. The load and driving
machinery are suspended beneath, pro-
pulsion being accomplished by the flap
ping of the wings. Another ingenious
ratentee proposes to make wings of
enormous artificial feathers of tin and
silk. With these, he is confident of be-
ing able to flap along, using his tail
feathers for steering
BALLOONS FOR ATTACKS ON
FORTS.
An idea that really seems practicabl
Is attributed to a German named
Schultz He proposes to send up a
balloon from a ship, for the purpose of
attacking forts on shore. In case of
this sort an important difficulty lies in
the weight of the rope by which the
balloon remains attached to the ship.
1t would drag the balloon down, but for
Schultz's valuable suggestion, which
comprehends the employment of smaller
auxiliary balloons to sustain the cable.
With this arrangement it is easy for
the balloon to take advantage of a IA
voring breeze and float over the fortifi-
cations attacked, dropping explosive
cartridges containing nitro-glycerine or
dynamite from aloft.
Formerly the United States Patent Of
flee was accustomed to grant patents
for flying machines without the slight
est reference to the practicability of the
notions they represented. Nowadays it
is different, and exclusive rights are re-
fused to inventors whose theories are
too obviously absurd. The aeronautic
class of inventions is regarded as
crank class; yet ideas are found in it
which are in the direct line of the evo-
luton of the practical airship that is
destined to be some day. The first
American patent for a flying machine,
by the way, was granted to Muzio
Muzzi, an Italian, in 1914.
The most distinguished crank of
modern times in line of aerial naviga-
tion was the Earl of Aldborough, who in
1856 and subsequent years took out a
number of patents on flying machines
which he described with a definiteness
that would have done credit to George
Francis Train. Nobody has ever been
able to make out the meaning of his
specifications. They cover many pages
of the British Patent Office reports. ac-
companied by elaborate drawings.
Some Of the drawings represent attacks
upon forts by fleets of balloons. It is
obvious that the Earl was insane, but
the British Patent Office has never re-
qured that an idea offered to it should
possess elements of practicability. You
pay your money, and you can get a.
patent there for converting the moon
into marketable cheese at a penny a
slice.
AERIAL APPARATUS WITH A CON-
DENSER
Looking over the files of United