The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-06-10

ley. It is also the belief Of other
scientists and mechanical experts. VINO
know somthing of the machine ana
its construction and the experlmsln,,,s
which Mr.. Langley has successfully
made in this field.
- A Scientific inventor.
Before giving my talk WITH Ar.
Langley let me say q word as to what
he has done In this and oslier fields
of discovery and invention. His WORK
is everywhere known in the scientific
world, and his standing in Europe -
as high as In the United States. What
Edison. Tesla and Bell have been In
the fields of practical invention he mas
created new methods of studying the
heavenly bodies, has to the leargest
extent measured the heat of the sun,
and by his invention of the bolometer
has produced an instrument by which
the temperature of a sunbeam can be
tested to the millionth part of de-
gree. Every railroad in the United
States runs on a time system invented
by Mr.. Langley. 1t was through him
that we got the systematic larne ser
vice by which the clocks all over the
country are regulated from the obser-
vatories, and by which the railroads
run their trains without danger from
accidents through varying time.
THIS invention llluSIEdLeS one pudSS
of Mr.. Langley's work. He brings his
enormous scientific knowledge down
to the practical uses of mankind, and
he has for years been devoted to the
study of the sun and its heat, with a
view to their better adoption to prac-
tical uses. This has been his profess
sional study, but he also for years has
been investigating the properties of
the air and making scientific and 9TH
! ri - ~ IL -
knowledge upon which may be based
its successful navigation. To test
| these properties he has made machine
after machine, from some so small
that they could be held in the hand
to others so large that they would fill
the room of a good-sized house. He
had failure afterfailure, but from each
| he learned something His work in
aerial investigation went on for six
| teen years before IL eliminated in -Ae
/ first successful aeradrome whoch flew
| up and down the Potomac in 1895.
The First Aerodrome.
I had the honor to describe the first
flight of that machine for the public
of the United States. spent a week
with Mr.. Langley on an island in the
| river in order to secure a time for the
best flying conditions. 1t came and
then saw this machine. which was
D1dQc Chiefly VI OtCCt WSt6hAiS % IA
as a four-year- boy, but 50 large
that it would fill the average parlor.
dart forth from the launching stage
and fly through the air. Its motive
/ power was an exceedingly light steam
one horse power engine invented by
Mr.. Langley. 1t carried five pounds
of water, and 1t flew through the air
distance of three-quarters of nile,
continuing to fly until all the wat?r
fnfO
| it gently dropped down upon the bos-
| ON of the Potomac.
AS looked at the machine, Mr..
Langley told me that 1t weighed
many hundred times more than
the air it displaced. This is the
difference between Mr.. Langley
machine and those of Santos Dumont
| and others who expect to fly by means
of balloons. The balloons are lighter
than the air and they float as a boat
floats upo nthe water. Mr.. Langley
machine is carried through the air by
| engine upon 1t, although the air by the
engine upon 1t, although IT Is many
times heavier than the air 1t displaces
| 1t is believed that such a machine Will
be safer and more easily directed than
anything of a balloon nature. while Its
special properties will make 1t more
suitable for military investigation In
| MIR. LangIey's New Machine
The aerodrome have described
weighed about thrity-five or forty
pounds. It was a little more than
model, and was not intended to careS
a man. 1t had a score of successful
flights, being the first flying machine
ever made that really flew, and 1t Ell
fectually proved that an engine coulc
drive a machine through the air.
That little model was the father Of
the great man carrying, military, aero
drome that now lies in the machine
shops, of the Smithsonian Institution
not much the worse for its unsuccess'
full launching on the Potomac. The
latter is the result of Mr.. Langley
work for the past eight years. 1t was
undertaken with the aid of the Wal
Department, which gave $4,000 .oi
this experiment that it might learr
how to make a military engine large
enough to carry a man in order to use
IT in military surveys and in warfare
That and some other money from
special fund in the Smithsonian 1nsti'
| tute has all been spent in making ex'
periments and in constructing this ma
chine. which still remains to be tested
| Personally, think the expenditure
NAV be one of the most profitable L n
Gle sam has ever made, although per
haps a quarter of the amount ALREADY