The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-25
QUEER IDEAS OF SOME.
PATENT OFFICE AND SMITHSONIAN
INSTITUTE DELUGED WITH
LETTERS.
FUTURE OF THE FLYING MACHINE.
It's Usefulness in War Made the SUBJ
Ject of Much Scientific
Comment
pecial Correspondence of the Globe.

set the cranks at work writing letters
from all parts of the country. The let
tiers are still coming. Most of them
are addressed to the patent commits
sioner or the secretary of the Smith
sOnian institute. The men who
write to the patent commissioner want
copies Of the drawings of machines
which have been patented by others.
A great many inventors who are busy
on flying machines keep on hand copies
Of the drawings of other mems patents
for suggestions, and there are many
of them. The government has issued
more than $50 patents for flying ma
chimes that cannot fly. AS every one
knows, the flying machines" which
have been exploited from time to time
are not flying machines at all. Almost
| any one can get a patent on a device,
however cranky, if it does not infringe
the ideas Of some one else already
patented, and many Of the patents TAX
en- out every year are for devices which
on their face are tmpraeticable. One
man, for example, has a patent for
tempering steel in a decoction Of ap-
pies, turnips and weeds The cost Of
patent is what stands in the way of
many crank inventors. The govern
ment demands SIS for fling and 500
more for issuing a patent, and if the
patent is not granted the SIS is not
refunded. The fees of lawyers for
drawing up patent specifications some
times amount to $4,000 in a single case.
WING DEVICES.
The early applications for flying ma
chine patents were usually for wing de-
vices. Then there was a period of bal
loon machines. OF recent years there
has been more work done in the direc-
ton Of copying bird fight.
One patent issued within few years
is for a bird outf1t-wings and tail
made Of great imitation feathers Of tin
and silk. Equipped with these the in
ventor proposed to skim through the
air, guiding himself with his tin tail.
Another inventor has patented a huge
kite, within which sails revolve. Below
the kite hangs a basket for the aero
maui. How this is to be governed does
not appear. Another device patented
is boat hanging between gas cylin-
ders Of aluminium. Paddles at the side
of the boat are to beat the air and
propel it. Another inventor expects to
have his boat raised by fans at the
sides and steered by propellers at the
ends. THERE'S an adaptation Of the
bicycle to aerial navigation in bal
loon with a saddle suspended where
the basket should be. In this saddle
| the aeronaut is to work the pedals
which will operate two FANS with
which he is to force the balloon in the
direction desired
A remarkable patent for wings,
! granted to a New York man in 1876
| was for a frame of sheet steel covered
with fine wire netting under which
| feathers were to be fastened by the
quill end, laid on in rows or courses
1T is evident" says the application,
which saw in the patent office today
that with such construction very
little resistance will be caused in rails
| ing the wings, as all the feathers will
easily bend down. but the greatest
possible resistance will be produced
upon the air in descending, as the en-
tire surface will be closed on the I'M
derside." One inventor proposed to
raise his machine with hot air, but ex-
pected to keep it aloft by the use Of
| propellers.
Until a comparatively recent date
! the men who applied for patents on
| flying machines were regarded as
harmless cranks. But when men well
known in the scientific world began
! to experiment man-fight assumed a
| new dignity Hiram Maxim, the in
ventor of the machine gun, was one
| Of the we'll known men who took hold
of the idea and he has worked for a
year or two to develop it. Prof
Lilienthal who sacrificed his life eX-
! perimenting last year. was another.
| Third in the list came the secretary
Of the Smithsonian institute. He is
| the boss Darius Green of America. To
adapt to serious uses a slang word Of
the day, Prof. Langley is a bird.
AT THE SMITHSONIAN.
You would not think 1t to look at
him. He is a stout, elderly man whose
beard is tinged with gray. He weighs
| l Judge, about 200 pounds, and to sec
him entering the sacred precincts of
the Smithsonian you would never sup
pose him capable of anything so airy
| as fight. The act seems out Of keep
| ing, too, with the dignity Of so i'm
portant a person. Can you imagine
! the emperor Of China or the ahkoond
| of Swat Tapping a pair of prodigious
! carpentered wings and manipulating
an artificial tail far up in the empy-
rean? Well, neither of these is so
sacred g. character as the secretary
of the Smithsonian. When he enters
| his office, his assistant, Rathbun,
prize OK who has fed at the govern
ment crib through all his adult years,
| kowtows TREMENDOUSLY The transit of
| Langley is an event which ranks in the
! official world with the transit of Venus
| in the astronomical.
| The Langley machine has been repos-
| ing in a sealed chamber of the Smith
sonian all winter. There does not seem
/ to be much object in sealing the
chamber, for all the essential features
! of the machine are known. Professor
Langley takes the lofty ground that he
will not patent it, but will give it to the
scientific world. The gift is Of doubt
| full value, for it is not possible to i'm
agine even a tried and successful aero
! drome in popular demand. If the great
est hope of the aerodromist should be
realized and the machine should be per,
| fected so as to travel 200 miles an hour
| with comparative safety, who would
| there be to use it? Perhaps some ad-
venturous spirits as daring as the men
who make balloon ascensions and para
! chute leaps. Circuses would want a
few. Perhaps. in restricted form. flying
| would take the place Of Shooting the
shoots" but the demand would be limit
ed The practical uses of the flying
machine would be few.
The principal claim made for the fly-
! ing machine is that it would be useful
in time of war. The aerodromist. thew
say, could spread his wings and hy
over the enemy's camp to drop dyna-
mite on him or to reconnoiter his no.
sition. The machine would not be
much more valuable for that purpose
| than the balloon now is, and General
Miles told me few days ago that the