The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-07-17

fully a quarter Of his weight was above
the plane Of the wings, and a sudden puff
Of wind would certainly have sent him to
keep company with poor LilienthaL BY
the most careful maneuvering, he man
aged to bring his machine down, as luck
would have IT., exactly astride a picket
fence around his fathers private race
track, half a mile from the starting point.
The aeroplane was pretty well wrecked,
and Turville escaped with only q sprained
wrist
But the young experimenter was de-
| lighted. He superintendent the construc-
ton Of a fresh set of wings, with his
arm In q sling. In the new machine. the
wings were set higher, so that the aero
naut's head was Just on a level with their
upper surface. AS soon as he was able
he experimental around the private race
track, and found that with a brisk start
| of fifty yards, the continuance actually
lifted clear of the ground and would skim
flor a considerable distance, and even
mount slightly ifsthere was fairly steady
wind in his face. Strange as 1t may ap-
pear to- the uninitiated, the aeroplane
actually worked better In the teeth of the
breeze than travelling with the wind. But
Turville9 kept to the level, and never
| equalled his first involuntary flight from
| the hillside.
A Remarkable contrlvance.
Then he decided that he must have an
/ all around lighter contrivance. and he
started on the construction Of his present
| machine, which has been finished only
| three months, and with which he has per-
formed his most remarkable feats.
The bicycle part of the contrivance is a
| wonder. It was built under his own dlrec-
1 ton, and not being intended for regular
road or track use, it admitted of the very
| lightest construction. The tangent spokes
4 of the wheels are of spring steel wire, a
1 sixty fourth Of an inch in diameter. The
rims are also of steel wire skeleton built
Ito hold the most remarkable tires ever
fitted to a wheel The tires are Of rubber
coated silk, and are twenty inches in
| diameter, and inflated with hydrogen.
Their lifting power reduces the total
weight Of the machine on the scales to
i three pounds, exclusive Of course Of the
/ aeroplane. In the new aerOplane, Tur-
/ vile has abandoned the wing construc-
-tion which made all his earlier fiers look
4 like ,grotesque birds, and has built a, single
big flying roof Just high enough above his
head to allow him to sit comfortably upon
the bicycle. The forward end of the fly
ing plane has a slight curve like the edge
i of a boomerang. Its extreme width Is
thirty feet. and it is connected to the
bicycle by a light but rigid tie. system. Of
4 very thin steel angle irons and piano wire.
i The chief virtue of the new arrange
4 ity well under the flying plane, and makes
i it almost impossible to turn the machine
i over in the air; Finally, he has added to
q the lightness of the whole device by a con-
trivance that at the same time largely
overcomes the air resistance. He has sur
rounded the whole of the bicycle mech
lanism as high as the riders shoulders
4 with "a bottomless canoe shaped frame
s, work Of very light bamboo covered with
}, silk. Inside this a very light enyelop also
I. of oiled silk, inflated with hydrogen, but
!, SO shaped that 1t does not interfere with
} the bicycle mechanism or with the rider s
II legs. It merely occupies all of the super
Il fluous space inside the boat shaped
framework. and has sufficient lifting
i power to bring the weight of the whole
1 machine. exclusive Of the rider, down to
4 eleven and a quarter. pounds. Turville
! weighs 143 pounds, so that the aeroplane
with its rider weighs but 154 pounds, and
i has a sustaining surface of a little over
II 375 square feet-roughly speaking, little
less than half a pound to the square foot
, of surface.
Floats In the Air Easily.
Turville by no means claims that this
is either an ideaT or practical flying ma
!, chine, but he has accomplished some very
remarkable feats with it, and has added
immeasureably to the world S knowledge
? Of aeroplanes and the action on them Of
! air currents. Once having gotten a start
he can circle the half mile track, only
touching once orttwice in the course Of the
flight A great deal depends upon the al,
. conditions. But he is constantly gaining
. in experience that enables him to adapt
] himself to their vagaries, acquiring, II
: fact, the intuition that enables a bird tt
8 keep itself afoat in the air. He says i,
f is very much like learning to swim, only
. it is a much more delicate pastime. He
4 can mount quite readily in the face Of &
i light breeze, and has frequently sailed
< over the rail Of the inf1eld and back to the
Il track again without altghting Once o.
twice he has taken advantage Of favorable
conditions, crossed the outer fence sur.
!. rounding the track, which, by the way
. Is nine feet high, and continued his flight
i for almost a mile across the open country
s He has been very careful, however t
S keep his flights within five or six meter:
8 of the ground, tho he says it is frequently
, difficult to prevent being carried much
: higher by a sudden current Of air, and The
a exhiliration produced by the novel sen.
: Esation of flight makes it a great ten1pta.
t ton to overstep the bounds of prudence
$ A TaiI Has Been Added.
& He has made but one radical improve
s ment in the new machine since he frs
8 began to experiment. That is the addi
z ton Of a tail: 1T comes nearer to being
& steering apparatus of any other fyint
g machine yet devised. It, is a horizontal
: plane surface fixed at the back Of tn,
! bicycle seat. It is twelve feet long an,
4 five wide at the broadest. At the extrem
: fty Of the tail, small rings are fixed In thu
! corners. The framework OF the tail is o
y y the lightest spring steel. From the rings
!, two sets of yoke lines pass back to tn
: navigator, so arranged that a slight pull
! on one will cause the tail to curve up
: ward, and the other downward It is q
: near the action of birds tail in ligh
: as one can imagine. Turvile says he de
= yeloped the idea watching his old friends
s the crows. from neighboring hill. TIL
= yoke lines are worked with, the feet.
/. Turvilles experiments cannot be sal
to have proved as yet to be Of any com
= mercial value, but they are intensely in
e Iteresting, and are among the most prac
e teal developments that have SO far bee,
/. made in the Fascinating study of aeria
8 flight.
P TOBACCO IN THE ANTARCTIC.
London Daily News.
This is a continuation Of the description o
{, life In the Antartic derived from the persona
"a exDerienceS.4 as communicated tn nur corre