The San Francisco call., 1905-05-07


worked out to the feather-edge Of an
infinitesimal fraction. the air pressure
and the resistant surfaces to be fitted
to each other to the last hairs breadth.
weary days and long. still nights of
patient labor to be done-the long, dry,
dreary road of detail to be travelled
Il worked 1t all out ten years ago.
and laid 1t aside"
Ten years agoi
THE principle upon which the Santa
Clara-the machine we have tested
was constructed was formulated ten
years ago. 1 couldn't go on with it
then. so 1 had to put 1t aside until the
opportunity for building and testing 1t
should come"
So after q lifetime's dreaming and
experimenting and investigating this
quiet, patient. persistent man went on
with the urgent. immediate affairs OF
life with his triumph in his pocket, as
1t were.
How could you waltz" I asked him.
why. I knew 1t could be done when
the time came / had experimental
enough to know the principle was the
right one-that it solved the problem
of controlling an airship in the air."
Scientists are a strange folk. aren't
they?
The time did come-at last
Two years ago Professor Montgomery
began again the making OF models of
airships. according to the new plans,
and this time they worked
''I went out to Leonard's-myf friend
Mr.. Leonard's place. We stretched
cable between two hilltops about hun
dred feet high. and from this cable we
liberated models of my machine IN
every conceivable way-large models
and small. with weights in proportion
They were liberated right side up and
wrong, dropped head first and tail first.
and in every instance they righted
themselves in a very short distance
and sailed to the earth right side up.
aIighting as safely as a bird. The tests
were all encouraging-satisfactory.
.aThen came the test of the large
machine. adapted to a mans weight
This was the supreme test-for 1T in
volved the jeopardizing of human
life"
Perhaps to the purely scientific
mind this would have been small
matter-but the willingness OF Pro-
fessor Montgomery to send IN man
in his flying machine is the measure
of his faith in it.
Z The world knows now how well
founded his faith was for the demon
stration of it's powers has been made.
and all the world knows now that 1t Is
a flying machine that fiies-yet there
was a moment when that faith was Sc
vereIy strained
1T was." says Father Bell. the first
time a man went up in it. The ma
chine was attached to the balloon by
ropes, as the basket would be. and
Maloney, the man who went up in it.
was sitting in it. of course. The bal
loon, DlS dilu pOWCiluls 6dNC q J~AN
as it went up that snapped off the
wings of the flying machine There
was nothing to be done. for the thing
was on it's way up. and then to add
peril to- the situ;-t tion the balloon struck
a current that turned it over, and IL
Maloney had tried to cut loose he
would have fallen into the balloon to
certain death. He kept his head. the
balloon partly righted itself and Ma
loney found to his surprise that the
machine was supporting him even
without it's wings and that he was COM
ing down more slowly than the balloon
That gave him more confidence in 1t
than he would have had without the
accident. he says-but you can imagine
how Professor Montgomery felt! With
what thankfulness he saw him alight."
While all the world is watching for
the man who will solve the problem OF
aerial navigation California produces
him.
Professor Montgomery is a Califor-