The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-09-02
THE AIRSHIP DID SOAR.
Lamson's Kite Carried Up a Dummy Man
GOO Feet.
Ne,U York Sun.

AA' N'ha9oA, PNAAoA iAASA eS Ae'"o nS'S w
day practically demonstrating that a
large airship or kite capable of carry
ing man can be foated successfully
and steadily. He raised his ship with
a dummy man on it 600 feet. The re-
tanning rope broke when it was at that
altitude.
Had it not been for this break Mr..
Lamson would have sent up a man to
navigate his ship. AS it was, w. A.
EDDY, of Bayonne, N. j., an authori-
ty on aeriel experiments, declared
that Lamson's achievement was the
greatest ep toward solving the prob
lem of aerial navigation of the age.
Two records, at all events, Lamson
made. He flew the largest kite or
airship ever fcated. He carried by
means of this kite the heaviest
weight to the greatest altitude on re-
cord.
Mr.. Lamson has been all expert
menter in kite flying and construction
for long time. He has been in co n
stant correspondence with Lilienthal
and other noted authorities for many
years. The kite which made the
flight is an invention of Mr.. Lamson
and is called "lhe Lamson airship."
The kite, when in the air, resembles
two large oblong boxes parallel to each
other and attached to each other in
the middle. 1t took Is men to carry
the kite or ship into the field from
which it was to be sent up. The re-
tanning cord was a large braided win
dow cord tested to a pull of 500
pounds. This was made fast to a huge
reel and four men attended to it.
About 400 feet of the rope was run out
along the ground, and at a signal from
Mr.. Lamson the ship was released and
then rose steadily skyward.
Seated on the car of the ship was q
dummy weighted to $50 pounds. The
ship carried it without any perceptible
jar. 1t rose to an altitude of 600 feet,
and was rising steadily when with a
sudden gust of wind snap went the
rope, showing what tremendous
pressure was brought upon it by the
soaring of the ship. The ship foated
out half a mile and descended as easi-
ly and gracefully as it went up. Had
a man been in the car he would not
have been harmed in the lightest.
Mr.. Lamson in the construction of
this ship has followed some of Mr..
Hargrave's ideas. The point of SINH
larity between this kite and Har-
graves is in boxing the ends and max
ing it double, that is, with two boxes
or "cells," as Hargrave calls them.
with a space between. This style of
kite has great stability when the air
and when floating freely always set
ties gently, like parachute.
Mr.. Lamson built his airship after
Hargrave's general plan, but added
Improvements Of his own to make it
manageable in the enlarged form. In
the first place, the rear cells were
hinged on pivots near the centre, so
that their angle of inclination in refer
ence to the wind and to one another
can be changed at will.
The passenger, by manipulating a
lever, can keep the airship on an even
keel, make it rise or fall, and direct
its course in coming down. Lateral
steering can be accomplished by chang
ing the weight to either side of the
centre, the aerial vessel then turning
toward the side where the weight is
greatest.
Each pair of wings is like the wings
of bird. They are also ribbed fore
and aft, and covered so that the stream
of air can have it's full lifting effect
following the curve from front to rear,
and preventing all shaking or tapping
of the fabric.
Mr.. Lamson's plan of joining the
aeroplanes of aerocurves makes it pos
sible to attach flying cord on bow
spirit. This makes it much easier to
float the great kite than by the Har-
graves plan. Mr.. Clayton of Blue Hill
observatory estimated that the kite
would pull at least 800 pounds if it
were hung as Hargrave advises, but
by Mr.. Lamson's arrangement the
strain on the cord is greatly reduced,
so that few men can handle it in or
dinary winds.
A heavy windlass loaded with sand
bags held the 1000 feet of cord to-
day. All that was necessary to launch
the airship was to raise it's forward
end little and take q short run.
when it sailed up into the air like a
balloon.
The ship presented a novel and
beautiful appearance as it scared
gracefully above the heads of 1900
people, who stood gazing with open
mouths at this strange monster of
the air. Nobody to see the kite on
the ground, would ever imagine that
it would fly in midair, but Lamson de-
monstrated the fact that it would.
Mr.. Eddy and other authorities said
that to-day's performance exceeded
anything that Lilienthal or any form
er leader in this work has done.
Mr.. Lamson was disappointed at the
collapse of the rope, but was pleased at
the success of the experiment. He
said:
''The performance of my airship to.
day satisfies me beyond all question
that the ship in its present form will
always ascend in fair breeze and will
remain flying any length of time under
favorable atmospheric conditions;
that kite of this size will sustain
and carry a man all night, and that
the latter can regulate the direction
of the kite in the air and descend. I
do net mean that he can propel the
kite. This remains to be discovered,
hut T mean that takinp adyantapa of