The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-07-17
HE SCARS ON "A "BIRD-BIcYcLE''
Experiments Aerial Flight Conducted BY Turve
France-Inventor Acts Same Theory Prof Langley
This Country, but Seems to Have Succeeded


the exploits OF a young Frenchman who
has lately attracted some attention In
his native land because OF the success OF
his experiments. France seems latterly
to have taken the lead in aerial sport and
research, just as she has already done
in autocar racing and automobile manu-
facture. And when one comes to think OF
1t, there does not seem to be much diff
ference between 100 kilometers an hour
in a motor carriage, and actual flying,
after all s3
& OF course, Santos Dunont, who recently
constructed his ninth air-ship, has com e.
N for the bulk Of attention lately owing
to his repeated attempts to win the
Deutsch prize for a time limit trip around
the Etffel Tower. But he is only one Of a
score of prominent experimenters,s and
really owes his prominence in the public
view chiefly to the possession of q large
number of friends in the newspaper bus
mess 1t will be something of a surprise
for those interested in aerial navigation
to learn that there is another young ex9
perimenter. native Frenchman this
time. who has of late done more in a
practical way toward solving the problem
of flight. than perhaps anyone since the
tragic death Of Professor Lilienthal.
whose experiments with soaring machines
resulted In his death just when he seemed
on the eve of mastering the problem.
Alien Turyflle is the name of the mod
his experiments have been carried on at
his fathers estate of Cienport in the south
Of France An account Of his progress
has just been brought from Paris by Will
bur w. Underwood, Washing onian,i
who is interested in aerial navigation, and
who spent some weeks with Turville
early this summer. Turville is only &c
years of age. but Of independent means.
and a born athlete and mechanic. At the
same time, his experiments have not in
volved anything like the outlay Of money
represented by the costly trials of Count
Zeppelin and Santos Dumont.
There are two schools of aeronauts. one
Of which clings to the old idea of "a nay;-
gable balloon sustained in the air by a, gas
bag and steered by some form of rudder
and propeller. Such are Santos Dumomt,
Count Zeppelin the German Andrewain.
and a number of others less prominent.
The second school. represented In America
by Professor Langley, In England by Fiji
ram Maxim, and lately in Austria by Pro-
fessr Lilienthal, hold that practical flight
is only to be accomplished by wing planes
approxin1ating those of the soaring birds,
and that If man can once master the art
OF balancing himself on these wings in the
| air, he will no more need a gas bag to
hold him up. than does the hawk or the
buzzard, which hangs for hours III space
on motionless wings, waiting some gas
L
Eearth.
It is to this school that TurvIlle belongs
| He, started some years ago ON the theory
that the first practical fight would be
accomplished by some man who had the
daring and persistence to learn to fly just
as most men learn to SWIM mely. by
keeping at 1t. This, in fact, was the Lilien-
thai idea. and the great experimenter fao
developed his wing planes and his skill
| in using them to the point where he coulc
| soar quarter Of a mile or more wher
starting from an elevation, and If at al
favored by the wind, could come back ap
1 proxin1ately to his starting place.
Started Where LIIIenthaI Left of.
Turville does not claim any great origi
nality in his work. He began by copying
LilienthaIs apparatus and methods. HI
corresponded with the pioneer II man
bird" and kept in close touch with hi
work until Lilienthal was killed. But h,
was not daunted by that fatality. Il H,
/ merely modified his own apparatus In &C
cordance with the fatal lesson Of his mas
/ ter's death, and put the center Of gravit.
lower to guard against a similar tacci
/ dent.
i Turville had experimental with motor.
to some extent in connection with hi!
aeroplane models. for, like Langley ant
Maxim, he recognized that while soarint
fight may be possible it is still desirable
to have additional driving power in cas-
of need. This he decided was especial,
necessary in starting the flight of thu
aeroplane, since the condor, the mos
skilful of the soaring birds needs a sfor
i run and a certain amount of wing flap
ping to get started in his flight. o
4 course It is out Of the question to devils
an aeroplane with wings that will fla
like a birds, and yet have rigidity enougl
for a sustained flight, 50 like other ex
a perimenters he had recourse to the pro
pellor and motor. But in spite of tn
fact that the weight Of a motor per hors
power has been greatly reduced in tn
past few years, he decided that a practice
light motor was still a thing of the fu
ture, and he then hit upon what he claim
is the one original and practical feature q
all his experim entail work. He called int
play the humble bicycle, and fitted it wit
a set Of soaring planes. Practically a
the interest in his experimental wor
dates from the inception of this idea.
First Device Was Crude.
The first device was naturally crude
Turville started with a set Of bat-lik
wings connected with the frame an
handle bars Of his wheel. They We're a
close an approximation Of bird wings a
# was possible to devise. They wer
modelled in the form of, and on CORE
spending dimensions to, those Of the con
dor. There was more than blind imitatio
Il in their shape. Turville said that he rea
soned that one advantage Of the grea
spread of wing among the soaring bird
was that it acted like the balancing pol
of a tight-rope walker, and enabled tn
bird to keep its balance in sudden gust
Of air. He lad spent days lying on tn
top Of a hill on his home estate studyin
the hawks and the ravens. He foun
that some individuals were much NOR
skilful fiiers than others Of the sam
+ species, and he noticed particularly ho'
much they seemed to depend on thei
long pointed wing feathers to balance an
right. themselves against sudden change
{ in the wind currents against which the
soared@ He discovered also what Langle
has al undantly proved. that the soarin
birds by simple process of adjustmer
are able to advance into the teeth Of
, strong wind without moving their wing
, and that it is only the smaller birds lik
, the sparrow and the partridge who fla
their wings continually, that seem to dc
2 rive any advantage from travelling wit
S the wind.
I 1t Is scarcely worth while to 60 at an
length into the details of Turville's fir:
4 bird cycle" since some time ago # h
: abandoned the lateral wings But SON
8 of his early experiences are interestin,
Like the other experimenters in soarin
4 / devices. he has been conducting his .es
. periments on the side Of 8, rather stee
grass slope, taking run down the hi
! and floating off for as much as a hur
: dred or two hundred yards before aliet
: ing on level ground
: Exciting First Experience.