The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-06-14
Progress of a Year in
Aerial Navigation.
Successful Experiments by
Langley and Others.
The Gliding Apparatus OF Chanute.
Points on Experiments.

gazing the air was lOOheu upon oS ch Sh-
thusiast whose views were not worthy of
consideration, while the inventors who
gave their attention 90 devising appara-
tusos for flying purposes were Regarded as
lunatics All this Is now changed, Tor
during the last ten or twolye years tho
subject of aerial navigation has excited
the attention and Interested the Efforts OF
men whose claims 90 scientific ATTAIN
ments are conceded and tho science Itself
has passed beyond the era OF speculation
into that Of successful experiment. In
England France, Germany, tho United
States and Australia hundreds OF men
are giving large share of their atten-
tion TO the subject and expepding thou
sands of dollars annually upon their
experiments.
The number of people interested in this
subject may be conJoctured from the lact
that there is an "Aeronautical Annual
published by w. Is. Clarke * Co OF Bos-
ton, under the editorship OF James Means,
which has reached its third ISSUE. Iho
numbers of aeronautio enthusiasts must
be considerable ere an annual OF this klnd
can Do attempted, but the annual Is py
no means the only organ OF the aerOnnuts.
They have monthly and weekly puDlica-
tions, and during the ton years since OK
periments, really scientific III thor char
acter, began All amount Of literary mat
ter, surprising TO the general public, has
been issued by different authors
The Annual" for 1897 is n summary
OF what has been done during the past
year In the science of aeronautics. IL con-
tains n short biography of Samuel Il.
Langley, together with the story of his
experiments in mechanical flight; an ac-
count of the aerodromes of his construn-
tion, "a narrative of recent experiments
in gliding flight; biography OF Otto
Lilienthal, who was killed last August
while making fight; three essays by the
dead aeronaut, one on the construction OF
bird wings, another on the best shape OF
artificial wings, and third detailed
account of his experiments. These. with
n numb ber OF special articles, all bearing
OH the general subject, and "A miscellan-
eous department, treating OF tnotors,
kites, launching aerial machines the
value of flying machines and other mat
ters, compose the contents OF an interest
ing volume.
The Problem an Old One.
The problem of navigating the air Is
ono which has commended itself TO the
attention of enterprising men ever since
the time of Daedalus and lcarus, and
their disastrous experiments AS early
| as 1878 Friar Bacon insisted upon tine
| posi- bility of travelling through the air.
while III 1851 Bishop Wilkins, in "a sermon
on the subject, prophesed that the time
would come when men would fly through
birds The invention of the balloon
seemed to promise fulfllment OF the
prophecy, but the balloon failed TO JUS
tify the expectations or the scientific
world from the fact that as yet no balloon
has been made which was perfectly under
human control. Tho great bulk of
the balloon places 1t at the mercy OF the
wind, and, according TO scientilcal
opinion, it Is not probable until the dis
covery of some new motor for the purpose
of applying mechanical power more
economically than at present that the
balloon can be rendered manageable.
The size required To transport the weight
of the apparatus and operator compels a
power fai greater in proportion than in
the propulsion of shin or locomotive,
and these, with other difficulties, have, in
the last few years, turned tho attention of
the inventors from the balloon idea TO
that of a mechanical apparatus which, by
it's own power, shall traverse the air.
The leading articles in the "Aeronauti-
cal Annual for 1897 are by Prof. Samuel
u. Langley and Octave Chanute, the
former giving an account Of his expert
ments in the construction OF what he calls
the aerodromo and the latter contributing
"a narrative OF his attempts at gliding
flight. Each gentleman has attained
considerable measure of success, and
although both admit that many Of the
problems connected with the navigation
of the air are still unsolved, each reports
certain amount of progress, their accounts
seeming to be verified by the detailed
narratives of their experiments.
A Remarkable Paper
Prof Langley's paper Is a remarkable
contribution To the literature of the SUBJ
ject for beginning with an account of his
early skepticism on the possibility of navi-
eating tho air he tells in what way his
- n
considerable length and in interesting
style 10 give tho story of his work.
Prof Langley's experiments. were begun
1887 by building turntablo
Of unusual size and driven 10y
steam power. tke objeot of this mechan-
ism being TO give an initial velocity
TO certain models which ho had prepared
that were placed on the turntable and re-
leased at "A proper moment. After four
wears of experiment. with the turntable
Prof Langley announced his conclusions
IN the following language: II have been
engaged since the beginning of the year
1887 In experiments on an extended scale
for determining the possibilities Of and
the conditions for, transporting in tho air
body whose specific gravity l. grea ter
than that OF the air, and / desire To repeat
my conviction that the obstacles i'm its
way are not such as have been thought;
that they lie more in such apparently sec
ondary difficulties as those OF guiding the
body so that 10 may move I'm the direction
desired and ascend AMI descend with
safety than In what may appear 90 be
tho primary difficulties due To the nature
of the air itself; and, added. that in this
neld Of research thought that we were,
ut that time, only six years hence, in a
relatively less advanced condition than
the study of steam was before the time of
Newcomer. IL was also stated that the
most important Inference from those ex-
perimonts as "a whole was that mechani-
cal Hight was possible with engines we
could then build, as one horse power
rightly applied, could sustain over 200
pounds In the air at a horizontal velocity
of somewhat over 80 feet "A second" F"
Tn orcsoon difficulties in the construc.
| 'icn and operation Of tho models presented
I ons,lyos 40 every turn. 1ho steam
en- Zines which wcro first tried proved too
neayy, ,the fire could not bo equally main
| taiuod, and therefore at one time there
| was too much steam, and nc another not
sufficient Tho burning alcohol, used to
croato hegt set the apparatus on fire. the
| ongino did not develop tho power