The herald., 1898-01-09

and third, the most desirable motive
power. The form is important, just as
it is in a boat. The airship must be
built so that the waves of air will slip
Off it's sides, just as waves of water do
on the PROV of a boat. In other words,
what we call skin friction must be re-
duced to minimum. The sharp. long
and narrow form of a racing yacht Is
q good model.
''As to the best means of propulsion,
ideas differ. Some inventors believe IN
aeroplanes built to act on the air as
the Stats of a windmill do, while others
insist that the successful airship must
be driven by an aerial screw, working
like the propeller of steamboat. Both
these forms of applying power nave
been used with some success.
"The third difficulty is the one that
all flying machine inventors are now
struggling to solve. Oddly enough, II
is only the question of power that pre-
vents us from riding in flying machines
to-day. why not .steam? you ask.
Very we'll, steam will answer admira-
bly,, but you must build an engine that
will generate one horse power for every
seven and a half pounds of it's weight.
Nobody has been able to find any ma
terial light enough for that, which Will
resist the pressure put upon 1t by the
steam. So every inventor is to-day
racking his brains to hit upon some
power that can be generated without
heavy machinery.
"But a motor that Is now being
built for new style of flying machine
promises to come nearer than anything
now in existence to solving the prob
lem of aerial flight 1t will be called
a centrifugal explosion motor, and will
operate on much the same principle as
pin-wheel You know the thing that
makes a pin-wheel spin so rapidly is a
series of the slight explosions. 1t is the
same thing that causes the kick of a
gun. In the new engine gas will be
used, and there will be from 10000 to
10000 explosions per minute. With SUCH
high explosion rate, considerable
power will be obtained from COM
paratively light machine.
THE motor will operate two
bladed aerial screw-the blades long
and narrow, with a spread of about
fifteen feet, as it has been found that
this shape gives greater power and
keeps a machine more steady than
shorter and wider sails. The screw viii
be so mounted that it may be shifted
to any angle, and it is hoped thai II
will be possible to make the airship to
go up or down or straight ahead at Will.
Big aeroplanes will be attached to the
sides of the machine-they. too. will
be so arranged that they can be shift
ed to any angle, and will keep the ma
chine properly balanced.
1.-The men who have planned this
new airship believe that it will be able
to land where the operator chooses, and
that it's motion will be steady and gen.
tie; yet they may find. after it is built
that they have overlooked some little
thing that will make their labor all in
vain. But airship inventors are used
to such disappointments. In any case,
1t will be one step more toward the
success which Is bound to come in the
end"
Enough has already been accom-
plished to prove that some day-and
probably within the next few years
some one will be found able to do the
rest. 1t is altogether probable that
most of the young people who read this
article will live to see the day when
they can go skimming through the air
as easily and with as little danger as
the expert wheelman glides along our
streets to-day. ROBERT EARL.