The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1903-08-31
IT WILL FLY
BIRD FASHION
inventor BarIiner Has Devised
and Tested Flying Machine.
IT HAS WINGS AND A TAIL
eest Performances Of Birds VIII Be DIS
counted, The lnvent.T lsseTts-TTeadle
VIII Furnish Fewer.
IT HAS WINGS AND A TAIL

Washington. Aug. 3l.-Emil Berliner.
the inventor OF the telephone transmitter
and of the gramaphone. believes he has
solved the problem OF aerial navigation.
lie has repeat tedly tested TO his own sat
isfaction a flying machine which he has
had constructed on the principle OF the
aeroplane.
Without any extra starting device and
with no power not generated by the ma
chine itself, the Berliner aerplane has
lifted itself. and In steady flight, main
talned Itself at a maximum height Of
eight feet from the ground.
MIR. Berliners experiments SO far have
been conducted with a small machine
Its performances have been sufficient TO
warrant the assumption by the inventor
that its development will enable men 10
fly through the air with the help OF two
wings. each five to II feet, and a small
propeller, loot or machine driven.
Eighteen years ag9 Mr.. Berllner con-
structed a full-sized model OF flying
machine. which was not successful Near
ly 80 years ago, In a communication TO
the Scientific American. he proposed as
the principle of propulsion for flying ma
chimes. a stream of compressed air or
gas. which he is using in his present
experiments.
Mr.. Berliner analyses birds fight
as having two principal actions-the pro-
ducing of a current OF compressed air by
the beating of the winds and the lifting
forward on this air current Of the body
Of the bird The lifting forward kite
fashion. is. he thinks. greatly helped by
the tail, or when the latter is small, by
back wings.
In Mr.. Berliners opinion practical fly
ing machines should be possible by max
ing a structure. which. when moved for
ward horizontally, would produce a cur
rent of compressed air with tall sur
face for lifting the structure. and COM
bined with these. a sufficiently light mo-
tor moving the whole rapidly forward.
on these lines Mr.. Berlner has re-
Gently designed a small model ef af4yiHg
machine which even at this early stage,
lifts in flying a weight over one pound
for every square foot of horizontal area
at a speed estimated at something less
than % miles an hour.
The model is aluminium, and tin plate.
with rods OF oak and metal tubing for
supports, and designs about "a pounds, in
Guiding ballast. The motive power for
horizontal propulsion is supplied by two
common sky-rockets attached horizontal
ly TO the rear OF the machine the latter
measuring from three and a half 10 FIVE
feet In width by about seven feet long
from tip 10 tip.
on Aug 10 and on various subsequent
dates this machine lifted itself from the
ground and In perfectly steady flight
reached a height OF eight feet from the
ground. II also maintained itself OF so
feet at an almost even height OF three
and one-half feet from the ground.
No catapult or throwing device was en-
ployed, mere push by hand only being
given at starting. The main body con-
sists Of arches. open below. sloping down
in the rear. where wide tail ends are at
tached. The arches in moving forward
produce current OF compressed air, and
at the same time exert a parachute ac
tion, which helps to support the structure.
but the main lifting is done by the in
clined and spread-out tail pieces catching
the air current.
Wheels are attached TO facilitate the
obtaining of the initial speed on sny
fairly smooth surface. and they have
since been mounted elastically in order
to modify sudden shocks, should the ma
chine strike hard surface.