The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-08
THE AIR SHIP NEWT.

During the closing decade of the old
century we have seen submarine naviga-
ton mastered, in a craft designed for war
like purposes. 1t is the belief of Prof.
Samuel p. Langley of the Smithsonian
Institution that during the first decade of
the new century we shall see aerial navi-
cation mastered, and that the first sue
cessful air ship, like the first successful
submarine ship, will be designed for mill
tary use. What the effect upon military
tactics would be If there were ships of
war to dart through the air and drop ex-
plosives upon the heads of armies, can
only be surmised. large field for spec
ulation, however, Is opened up by the
prospect; which field, it may be said, has
been literally titled by Stockton, Wells
and other romancers. Prof Langley
thinks the advent of the air ship will mark
a long stride toward universal peace.
When bombs can be dropped from the
sky, and the exact movements of oppos-
ing armies can become known to one an
other, war will become so appall-
ing that nations will not engage in it,
1t is to be remembered that similar opin-
ions were expressed when those wonder
full machine guns that can grind out hun
dreds of bullets a minute were invented
People then said that they would be
peace makers" because they would make
war so bloody that humanity would re-
volt at taking the field But the fighting
is going straight ahead, and the machine
guns are singing their merry death
marches. while the casualty lists appear
to be not so large as were those in wars
OF former times And so 1t will prob
ably be in the case of the man-o' war of
the air. Human ingenuity will no doubt
provide some means of defense against it.
The air ship-the successful one-Prof.
Langley says, in an article in the New
York Journal, viii be purely mechanical
contrivance. 1t will have neither balloon
nor gas, unless the latter he used for
driving the machinery. The principal in
volved in the fight of birds will be the
| one employed in the flight of men, All
of the secrets of that principle have not
| been discovered, but some of them have
been, and they win aid in reaching the
others. The greater the speed of the air
ship, the less power is needed to keep 1t
| from ldlliHS MS pTlHClpdl Is, tnat even
so light and flmy a substance as air will
sustain a rapidly moving body even of
great weight, just as very thin ice sus-
tains the weight of man skating rapidly
over it," This. he says. is a cardinal prin-
! ciple of air navigation, upon which Is
| based the possibility of a flying machines
moving in an almost horizontal direction.
! The next principle is that it requires
much less force to push a body rapidly
! through the air than is needed to simplv
| sustain il in the air. This is the very
| opposite of the principle of sea naviga-
/ ton that the faster a ship moves the
greater propelling power necessitated."
! The practicability of mechanical flight has
been demonstrated by Prof Langley but
there are still difficulties in the way Of
perfect success. One of the greatest Of
them is getting the flying machine launch
ed. once under swift Roadway it Is
plain sailing" but how to secure consld-
cradle velocity from state of rest is n
hard nut to crack But he says the next
ten years, in all probability, Will produce
the successful air ship