The Washington times., 1903-09-13
FL YLWG THROUGH AIR
Z. 4 SOL WE'D PROBLEM

hundred miles an hour and at two or
three degrees, a similar amount of time
would be taken TO cover twenty miles
before the earth was reached.
Crew of Three Required.
Three men are necessary to operate
the ship, one to act as pilot and the
others to attend the engines. The opera
tor IS provided with a compass. and a
| spiral level to ascertain the degree Of
| inclination.
Nothing short of hurricane will pre-
vent the ship from sailing directly
against the wind. So great is the
velocity that even small gale does not
check the flight to any great extent A
| breeze Of thirty miles an hour would
not have the slightest effect
Three great problems presented them
| selves to Mr.. Gathmann in making the
design. First, he was compelled to as
certain how much per horsepower
could be lifted; second, how heavy or
how light an engine could be made per
| horsepower; third. could such appa-
ratus be steered? a solution for these
| questions he found only after incessant
labor.
Still another problem was that of
constructing a machine that would be
perfectly safe and secure 1t was for
| this reason that two engines were in
stalled. One alone is capable of raising
| the car and holding IT in the air for
two hours. but danger OF an accident IS
averted. and additional speed is furnish
ed by the second engine.
What the Inventor Says.
Mr.. Gathmann has the following to
say OF his invention and it's departure
| in construction methods from other air
vessels:
Man has sought through all the ages
| for the power 10 propel himself through
/ the air. Until recent years. inven-
tors who have even only expressed
themselves as believing in the possi-
bility of such means have been looked
upon, more or less, as cranks.
The first great engineering ques-
tion concerning this subject is: Are
adequate mechanical means available
| therefor? The second question that
will present itself to an inquiring mind
is: If accomplished, has the result any
commercial value2 To the first question
l would answer yes. How TO answer the
| second I am as yet in doubt.
However. of one thing I am absO-
lutely certain; all efforts TO initiate the
| flight of birds, such as illustrated in
Langleys, Maxim's, and others. will re
suit in commercial failures, because
these ships are not IN harmony with
well-defned mechanical laws. II the
| engineers had patterned after a horse
instead of employing wheels in the de-
| signing OF the locomotive, these also
commercial success.
New Motive Power Essential.
Rotary motion only can solve the
| question of aerial navigation But be-
| fore any great success can be expected
another power besides the gas engine
/ which today is the most practical for
/ this purpose-will have to be discovered.
| There are TO my knowledge no means
available TO sustain mechanical flying
machine in the air more than five
hours. II a proper margin for safety is
allowed. even if Mr.. Carnegie were 10
devote his entire wealth to this pur-
pose.
ITO sustain itself only five hours. an
aeris' locomotive would have to be
built OF the best forged and drawn
nickel steel. The cost OF such an ap-
paratus would be about $4,000, and it
would weigh about 1000 pounds So it
will be seen that for commercial or
sporting purposes. aerial flights are
stin in the far future, from an engineer
ing point of view"
Having demonstrated to his own sat
isfaction that a machine which Will fly
has been constructed. Mr.. Gathmann
Will make no further experiments with
models, nor will he build a ship after
his own idea. He IS not sufficiently
interested.