The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-07-05

Special to The Globe.
ST. Louis, Mo-, July Ave are near
ing a climax in the history of flying
machines, brought about by the APP
preach of therWorld's fair at st. Louis.
Down in Florida Sir Hiram Maxim
is busy with q machine which he hopes
will solve the great problem and such
a master of mechanics and dynamics
should come near toe solving. the ques-
ton.
Two different sets of aerial builders
are now working on plans and their
fields are wide apart, yet both are
quite likely to result in success.
John P. Holland, the inventor of the
submarine boat, is to devote his atten-
ton this summer to the kite airship,
designed to carry a single person.
which he thinks will be the first flying
machine to. become practical.
On his side is Alexander Graham
Bell who recently said in regard to
aerial contrivances:
Il have had the feeling that prop
erly constructed flying machine should
be capable of being flown as kite;
and conversely, that a properly con-
structed kite should be capable of use
as flying-machine when driven by it's
own propellers. l am not so sure,
however, of the truth of the former
Given a kite so shaped as to be
suitable for the body Of a f1ying-ma-
chine and SO efficient that it will fly
we'll in a good breeze (say twenty
miles an hour) when loaded with a
weight equivalent to that of a man
and engine, then it seems to me that
this same kite, provided with an actual
engine and man in place of the load,
and driven by it's own propellers at
should be sustained in calm air as a
flying machine. So far as the pres
sure of the air is concerned, it is
surely immaterial whether the air
moves against the kite or the kite
against the air.
John p. Holland does not expect to
settle the flying machine question Off
hand. He gives ten years as the prob
able period that must elapse before
perfected machines will be made, but
that they will come he seems to have
no doubt.
The model on which the dis
tinguished inventor is working is a
device that the man can strap on his
back and go out of town with for the
week end.
He says of it:
my machine will weigh twenty five
to thirty pounds-about the weight of
a bicycle-and it can be strapped be-
tween a mans shoulders and can be
detached instantly, in case of neces-
sity
when some genius makes it a per-
feet success and practical we can all
live in the country and fly to and from
our labors in town."
The spread of the aeroplanes, or
wings, will be about twenty-five feet,
and a rubber device will be used as a
steering gear. The materials used in
the construction of the machine will
be as light as the strength necessary
will permit. The frames for the
wings or aeroplanes, will consist of
long, thin pieces of select ash. The
grain of the wood will run with the
length of the frame, giving it increased
strength without the loss of any elias
ITCHY. The frames will be covered with
fine closely woven silk or a material
that will hold the wind. Other parts of
the framework will be of steel wire of
not less than $4,000 or 10000 pounds
tensile strength.
Mr.. Holland has several ways in
which he can start his machine while
it is resting on the ground. Of these,
however, he declined to discuss the
mechanism, as it is patentable The
wings will be worked from a seat plac-
ed about six feet below the wing. In
this seat the operator will have con-
troll of both the wings and the pedals
by which they are worked.
A long stride from this simple prop
osition is that to the French school of
aeronauts, the principal recent speci-
men of which is Lebaudys dirigible
The dirigible was tested four times
last month. In a light wind 1t made a
trip of eleven miles. In much fresher
breeze seven miles was made, and later
ten miles was covered at one ascension
with a stiff breeze blowing. Most of