Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-01-09
NOVEL TRIP lA THE AIR
How a Chicagoan Intends to - F Fly to Washington.
MACHINE WORKS LIKE WILD GOOSE

F. M. Mahan Says His Aerial NGviga- tor Will Re a Bird INO Slang In- tended)-On Hi. Eishtieth Birthday,
 April 23 Next, He Will Deliver . Message to the President.
 t~ "I expect to fly from Chicago to Washington on April 23 next, the eightieth anniversary of my birth. l shall start at 6 o'clock in the morning and will deliver into the hands of Pres ident Roosevelt before dark of the same day message from Mayor Ed ward F. Dunne."
 This is the programme which F. M. Mahan, a well known inventor and me chanical engineer of Chicago has map ped out for himself That he will be able to carry it through he has not the slightest doubt, says Chicago spe- cial dispatch to the New York Herald. MT. Mahan sat in his office in Chicago the other afternoon and detailed with serene confidence just how he intends to navigate the air a distance of 900 miles in twelve hours or less.
 T have gone to the creatures of the air-to the birds-to learn the secret of flying" he said. The man who does not stick close to the lessons of nature in aerial navigation is bound to fail. And what do find when look at the birds? First of all, and I believe the greatest requisite to successful flying, is unerring equilibrium. Add to this the necessary ascensional and propul sive power, dirigibility and precautions against accident, and the thing is solved. T am absolutely certain that the navigator in which I purpose going to Washington fulfills all the necessary conditions.
 '.In my navigator equilibrium is ob- tained by the peculiar shape of the gas holder. all the gravity pull leading to central point of the machine and di- rectly under the propeller wings. This essential assured, can give my whole attention to the matter of buoyancy. propulsion ana ulfectlOn.
 Naturally those who undertake to fly through the air wish to be fortified against accident. that would send them era Shing f6 feeearth. My plan is to have a gas holder of sufficient buoy ancy to overcome % per cent of the earth's gravity on the machine and whatever load it carries. The other per cent, of course, would be met by the wings of the machine in motion. In case anything should happen to the engine which operates the wings (these wings being at once filters and pro- pellersD the 9J per cent of resistance inherent in the gas would allow the machine to settle 10 the earth so gently that no injury to the aerOnaut could re- suit In such an emergency the wings themselves would be used as para chutes, still further breaking the force of the drop. If the machinery and the gas holder should meet with accident simultaneously there would be more serious trouble. but such a contingency would be very remote"
 What is the general principle of buoyancy. propulsion and dlrigibility in your machine?"
 "Aside from the gas used it is exact ly that of the wild geese I used to see flying over tie rrairies of Missouri when I wns boy and settling into the grain fields. For'years I have made a study of the flight of birds. have watched the gulls on Lake Michigan and the pigeons in the streets of Chi cago.
 ''WithOu: intending slang. my navi- | gator will bc bird. The gas holder or body of the machine will be SO shaped l. as to offer the least resistance to the | air. The wtnes. which will be operated 1 by a gasoline engine from the car by l means of Sprocket chains and wheels. l will be provided with numerous air I valves. which will open and close on the I same principle as the feathers of the wild goose. For my flight to Washing ton contemplate . gas holder about l seventy feet long. eighteen feet wide and twenty-twO feet high and tapering I fore and aft to a diameter of eighteen l inches. At the front end will be guide and at the rear a rudder-the | head and tail of the bird. With this double mechanism at each end of the i machine I shah be able to rise or de scend at will or go in any direction de sired In air navigation this necessary | feature has never been attained by any | other system. and I do not believe practical air navigator ever esn he built on any other principle
 The engine to lre used iu the flight I from Chicago to Washington vill be six i horsepower and need not. weigh over thirty pounds The rest of the maehil- | cry vilI weigh similar amount. In the car will Ie the engine. myself and | another mnn- ! have not built or test ei a model I never made e model 0f anything ia ny fife planned things oa the basis of known scientific priBci- ples. snd they WoTkel. thsf-s all My flying nadine uiil work the sane usy. I
 T have pruznisr~ af the moaey neres- sary to huld my navirator- If wfn take suuaeshInr Ifke s25a and I am