The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-13

against the wind. There was nothing
of the balloon nature about it. There
were no gas bags to uphold 1t. Its
wings were immovable, and they mere
ly steadied it as it flew like bird
through the air. The force which car
ried it onward was generated upon it.
WONDERS OF THE AERODRONIE.
AS I looked at it I could hardly
realize the remarkable thing which Mr..
Langley has accomplished. Let me
repeat it.
The aerodrome is a machine made
almost altogether of steel. A balloon
floats because it is lighter than the
air. This machine weighs more than
one thousand times as much as the
air through which 1t moves. The work
ing parts of its machinery are Of steel,
and it carries a peculiar steam engine
which forces it along through the air.
In construction this machine, the ques-
ton of weight was an all important
one, and everything had to be reduced
to the minimum. The aerodrome,
weighing less than thirty pounds, car
rieS about four pounds of water. This
is about two quarts, and the little en-
CINE is so wasteful of it that its flight
must be proportionately short, for when
the water has been once converted
into steam, the aerOdrOme must stop
flying, as there is no more water to
furnish steam to run it. The machinery
of the air-runner is very light indeed,
but it requires a considerable force to
move it in proportion to its weight. Its
engine is equal to more than one horse
power, and the movable parts of the
machinery weigh twenty-SiX ounces.
You could put all of it's machinery
into a peck measure. Now, a horse.
weighs a thousand pounds. Think of
reducing the size of horse to peck
Il ni.rI,4 41o% af
kitten, and you have some idea of Mr.;
Langley'S aerial engine.
What does the aerodrome look like ?:
I have described it in flight / ex-,
amined it at rest and I have gone care:
fully over its different parts. 1t is
about fifteen feet long and about four
teen feet wide from the tip of one
wing to the other. The machine moves
through the air ON much the same
principle as that by which the twin
screw steamer forces its way through
the water. On each side of the aero
drome there is a sort of screw pro-
peller or pair of blades in the shape
Of one cutting Of a screw so hung upon
a pivot that when the steam is on they
fly around at the rate of a thousand
revolutions a minute. They look, in
fact, much like the wheels of an cleo
trio fan when in action. They cut the
air so rapidly that you cannot see the
blades, and they are, in fact, q pair
of wheels about four feet in diameter
flying at this wonderful speed around
through the air. AS they move they
screw the airship onward, and this
advancing motion keeps it up in some
what the same way that swift skater
can be supported by thin ice.
The machinery is in a metal recep-
tacle which ends in a smokestack. This
is hung to a frame work of steel The
wings, which are stationary, are fas-
tened to the upper part of the frame
work, and they extend out above the
body holding the machinery.
The machinery is wonderfully deli
cate, but 1t Is as strong and at the
same time as light as scientific inves-
tigation can make it. The fuel is gaso-
line, which is converted into gas be-
fore 1t Is used, and which furnishes
such an intense heat that it would
melt the boiler in a second If there
were not special pump by which
the water Is kept flowing radidly
through the boiler, the intense heat
converting some of the water into
steam as 1t flows. Every part of the
machinery is Of the most practical