The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1904-04-24

N( next Saturday the tetrahe-
dral kites of DR.. Alexander
Graham Bell receive their
first public test, an era will be marked
in the development of the flying ma
chine There will be no indication. how
ever, of the arduous thought ana patient
experiment that have made posi-
BILE the brilliant success already
achieved To tell something of this ana
Of the larger possibilities the future
holds is the purpose of this article.
"A machine that viii fly" That has
been the dream Of inventors for weary
centuries. but only in dreams hereto
fore has it been successfully attained.
The balloon, in its various manifesto
tons. has marked the limit OF achieve
ment: flying machines. in the proper ae-
ceptation Of the term. have never been
built. II has remained for DR.. Bell to
point out the way which he or some
other inventor win so onward to the
final solution of the problem.
It has been weary trial of brain and
nerve. DR.. Bell has been beset by the
difficulties other investigators have en-
countered. so that at times he has felt
almost ike saying with the others,
whose faith has not been as strong
that the problem of aerial navigation
will never be solved until there has
been discovered a new metal OF new
force" But Dr.. Bell thinks ne has
solved il now. and, though he quite
realizes his Investigations have been
merely experimental and that time must
be permitted to work out its own
achievements. he is very steadfastly
convinced the end is not far distant.
Began Five Years Ago.
Dr. Bell began building his kites in
1888. He had long been interested IN the
flying machine problem, and had become
convinced that a successful kite VIII
also make a successful flying machine.
Urged on by these considerations. he
began. al first with scant success but
with gradual broadening Of his hori-
zon. the Investigations that have even
five years of protracted effort.
DR.. Bell started with the assumption
that kite which viii support man
and an engine IN a ten-mile breeze viii
also support a man and an engine when
driven by a motor at the rate Of ten
miles an hour The proposition has not
been actually and positively demon
strated. but there can be little doubt II
makes no difference whether the kite
IS supported by the motion OF the air
against IL or by it's own motion against
the air. In a calm a kite rises when #
IS pulled by man or horse. because OF
its motion through the air; there is nc
reason TO believe il would not also ris'
when urged through the air by propei
Iers. a kite. then. can be changed to {
flying machine by hanging motor an'
propellers to II and dropping the strinl
which attaches the kite 20 the ground
Trouble With First Types.
The hrst kites used by DR.. Bell in hi
experiments were Of the pattern devised
BY Laurence Hargrave, of Australia
which had been the standard kite Sine
its Invention in 1892. They failed. how
ever. to answer the purpose. 1t was
discovered that the weight Of the kit
increased as the cube Of the size. while
the lifting power increases only as thu
square. The result Of this law was tina
the size Of the kites was limited and
that no great amount OF lifting power
would be realized from their use
II was possible 10 lift considerable
weights by attaching rumber Of boa
Kites 10 a single line. but such device
would not pereeptibly contribute to tin
solution OF the problem OF aerial navi
CATION: single kite. not string o.
them. was what was desired. Thing.
looked gloomy when IT was demonstrate
ed that only a hurricane could sustain
IN the air a Hargrave kite. with tive
cells as big as a small room
Here. then. was the problem-to de
wise form Of kite combining lghtnes: