The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-06-12
OR OF THE TELEPHONE TALKS ABOUT AERIAL NAVIGATION

radiun1 lelittm. thoriuin and other Won
derful things. By liquid air we have
frozen some Of these rays into liquid
have. as II were, bottled UP the rays of
the sun and also Of these powerful and TIL
til now. altogether unknown forces. Indeed
we are daily more and more surpr.sed at
how little we know, and I've cannot but
think that the greatest treasures Of ma
tlire are yet to be discovered.
Aerial Navigation.
"Iiow about the air and Its navigation,
Or. Beil?" 8@ va
THAT is one OF the most interesting
fields Of scientific Investigation. We
know so little OF the air and Its move
ments that there Is much to discover. I
have been charged with attempting TO
invent dying machine. There may hsvn
been some reason for such 4. supposton.
but the fact has no foundation whatso-
ever. I am experimenting to discover
the properties of aerial flight and the
constituent elements necessary tc Its sue
cess When I have ascertained these
facts may be ready to attempt to In
vent flying machine, but not until
then" .t
what have YOU discovered?' asked.
II think have found that there Is q
peculiar form In which all things which
are to be maintained In the air should be
made. have nscertained the shape of
the cell which, In combination with SINH
larry shaped cells. must compose the fly-
ing body; the brick.as 1t were, out or
which tho flying house must be made.
the unit Of which 1t seems to me oil such
machines must be constructed"
Basis Of Successful Flying Ma
chimes. :sss
What Is the unit, DR.. Bell?" ! asked.
II call 1t the tetrahedral unit, because
1t has the form Of q tetrahedron. IL you
will place three matches end to end IN
the shape of triangle and then take
three more, resting one end OF each at
a corner, so that the other ends will meet
over the cente. Of the triangle. you will
have the skeleton OF a tetrahedron. Now.
tie the ends OF the matches together,
and you will find that the framework as
whole. is wonderfully strong In COM
parison with Its weight. In aerial navi-
cation We find that the cushions OF
strength and weight are all-lnportant
ones, and that new elements must be
taken into consideration which prior to
this time have not been appreciated. a 70
support A. heavy body In the air a. greater
surface In proportion to tho weight must
be had than is generally supposed. In in-
creasing the size we find that the weight
whereas the surface increases only az
the square OF the dimensions Simon
Newcomb recently brought this out IN
an article In attempting to show the flu
.tility Of trying to make successful flying
machines. In other words as you In
crease the size of your chine you do
not increase It's ability to sustain itself
In the air. The model may work per-
fectly but the great machine made on
that model will for this reason. not do
at ALL This has been proven again and
again BY actual experiment t was SO
with the weather bureau kites made. OF
a box shape. Those of ordinary size flew
very we'll, but the great kites constructed
in exactly the same way, with the hope
that they would carry meteorological re-
icordlng Instruments high into the air,
would not rise at ALL 6sss
$"This fact led me to experiment. to
find a shape which when Increased OF;
multiplied in SIZE might have the sus-t
tanning surface and the weight equally
multiplied, a | have discovered this IN the
tetrahedron, which I believe to be the
only unit Of construction in the flying
machine OF the future,
rs The Tetrahedral Kite.
"How could you test this?" I asked. Il
"Only by actual experiments, " was the
reply. II have made kites Of this shape
in various sizes and combinations and
have scientifically measured their lying
capasityand strength, have discovered
that kites, large and small, may be made
Of these units and that they are stronger