The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-02-19
Flying Machine in Ten Years.

Sir Hiram Maxim contributes the
following article to London daily
paper:
whether Santos -Dumont succeeds
in making practical dirigible balloon,
which can be successfully navigated
or not, he certainly has done much to
start the ball rolling, and to again call
attention to the subject Of aerial navi-
CATION. The would-be navigators of
the are, and always have been,
divided into two distinct groups
those who seek to navigate the air by
machines lighter than the air, bal
looms; and those who believe in ma
chimes heavier than the air; that is,
true flying machines.
"a balloon of the ordinary type,
which merely rises in the air and trav.
els with the wind, is an exceedingly
simple apparatus, but an elongated
balloon, provided with motive power,
although it cannot be considered as q
complicated machine, is nevertheless
very delicate and fragile apparatus;
but as the apparatus is lighter than
che air in which it floats, it does not
have to be provided with any outside
lifting apparatus, which is a neces-
sary part of the true flying machine.
when balloon is once in the air.
the aeronaut has plenty of time to ex-
pertinent with his motors and screws.
He can stop or stnrs, go fast or slow,
and steer to the right or left at will,
without any danger Of sudden drop
to the earth; but with true flying
machine the lifting effect must be
produced by wings, blades or aero
planes, which run over the air at
very high speed, and raise themselves
and the machine by pressing the air
downward after the manner of kite.
With such en- apparatus high speed
of the planes or blades is sine qua
non, otherwise no lifting effect is pro-
duced, and as the apparatus is very
much heavier than the air it's natural
tendency is always toward the earth,
and any hitch or stoppage in the ma
ohinery must result in fall more or
less rapid in proportion to the size of
the blades or aeroplanes. Moreover,
a true flying machine has to be steer
ed in vertical as we'll as in horizon
tai direction.
1T will, therefore, be seen that the
the difficulty in prod -cing true fly
ing machine is infinitely greater than
that encountered n producing diri-
gible balloon. Still, I am Of the opinion
that the dirigible balloon Of the San
tos-Dumont type will lead to the de-
velopment Of true flying machine
in which the gas bag will be elimina-
ted.
"Experiments have shown that
there are great number Of days in
the year on which the wind is blow
ing upward Of 20 miles an hour at
only short distance above the sur
face of the earth, and unless an
apparatus is made which will travel
velocity considerably greater than
this, it would, of course, be impos-
sible to make any headway against
such wind.
Admitting that o machine would
have to travel through the air at
rate of 80 miles an hourin order not to
be at the mercy of the wind, we should
find that at such speed one thous-
and pounds of aeroplane would lift
quite as much as one thousand pounds
Of material in balloon, aud, more
over, the aeroplane would require
vastly less power to drive them
through the air than the balloon, even
admitting that balloon could be made
strong enough to stand wind velocity
of 30 miles an hour, which is extre-
mely doubtful.
I'm nearly all the experiments
with elongated navigable dirigible
balloons, electricity has been employ
ed as the motive Of power, and on ao-
count of its great weight the power
at the disposal Of the aeronaut has
been extremely small. With the ad-
vent, however, of the very light pet
roleum and gasoline motors for motor
carriages which have now reached a
very high degree Of development, il is
possible to obtain light motors de-
veloping o great deal of powsr-thas
IS, we are now able to produce motors
which will give OFF the power Of q
horse lille whav ing only the weight
Of Q large barnyard fowl.
"a goose, which is much heavier