Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-01

CDeOeU.
Row Knabenshue. who has made
more money from his flights than any
other man in America, started MS ca
reer as an aeronaut in Los Angeles
under the direction OF Capt. BALDWIN,
who can truly be termed the dean OF
American airship builders. BALDWIN
"Arrow" was among the first airships
70 be built in Los Angeles, and 1t was
aIso one of the most successful. Roy
Ilnobenshue was the aeronaut of the
"Arrow, on all Of its flights and under
his direction the machine was more
successful than anything that mas oeen
built by either Capt. Baldwin or
Knabenshue.
THE first principle to be applied was
that of direct application OF power py
a gasoline engine to a screw propellor
which furnished the motive power.
rTbe machine was steered by rudder
vnade of canvas. which was fixed to the
rear OF. the gas bag 1t was OF the
simplest construction possible and
more. was done with 1t than has been
accomplished with the more complicat-
ed machines which have followed.
Frame Too Heavy
Soon after Baldwin's experiments.
Wright made his Condor. IL was
large machine with a heavier engine,
hut no new principles were embodied
in It. The gas bag was found to be
TOO small to contain enough gas to lit
the engine and frame, with the
operator, and the idea of an ascension
with 1t was abandoned.
George Hoxey had the next machine
to be constructed in Los Angeles. The
bag was made for him by Alva Rey-
by the French gas maker, who was
Il 1hpnSlIla.
The gas maker promised to manufac-
tllre enough hydrogen to fill the bag
in three hours. and in order to do so
he neglected to dry the gas enough
and accordingly the bag would not lift
the frame from the ground. On that
occasion a race was to take place be-
tween the Man Angel" invented by
Alva Reynolds, and Hoxey's machine.
When it was learned that the gas bag
of Hoxeys machine would not lift the
frame and the operator, the engine was
taken off and a simple balloon ascen-
sion was made. At that time Reynolds
little Man Anger was shown to be
controllable and dirigible, and it was
given the race as no attempt to con-
troll or navigate Hoxsy's machine was
possible
All Make Same Mistake
Trombly made the next attempt to
solve the problem. He had several
new ideas in regard to steering and
propulsion embodied in his machine,
but in his case also the gas bag proved
too small to lift the frame, engine and
operator, and the attempt was
given up.
The problem of providing sufficient
lifting power by means of an ample gas
bag has proved the rock upon which
most of the aeronautic hopes of in
ventors have been dashed In several
instances ideas were applied to the
engine, steering apparatus and other
details of construction, which seemed
to be most valuable, but in almost all
of the instances the gas bag was found
by actual test to be too small to con-
tain enough gas to lift the frame and
engine.
The basis of calculation as to the lift
ing power of as pure hydrogen as can
be manufactured by the means of sui
phuric gas and iron filings is sixty
pounds of lift to the 1000 feet of gas
1t has been found that in order to
guarantee that he machine would rise
from the ground that several thousand
extra feet of gas had to be provided.
Engine Is Defective
George Tomlinson, who was backed
in his aeronautical experiments b. Mil
lionaire Knox, the gelatine manufac-
turer, built an airship whach was called
the Gelatine. The engine was one of
the lightest ever built for an airship
and it worked admirably when it was
tried out on several occasions. Before
Tomlinson had an opportunity for test
ing the behavior of his craft in the air,
however, Knox recalled him to the
east, and he left his bag and frame in
the aerodrome at Chutes park.
Roy Knabenshue came to Los Angeles
a few weeks after Tomlinson was re-
called and he made several flights. His
longest fight was to South Pasadena.
He was not satisfied with the result of
his experiments and he went back east
after having lest considerable money
and time.
The engine, made at an expense of
more than $500, was found to be unsat-
isfactory. 1t was a six-cylinedr gas
engine and developed speed of more
than 5000 revolutions a minute. The
frame on which the engine was placed
was not stable enough to keep the
engine from vibrating with the tre-
mendous speed, and after running a
few minutes the engine became over
heated and could not proceed.
The steering gear in his latter in
vention was also unsatisfactory as the
on each flight The propellors We're
placed one on each side and the power
thus disposed of was found insufficient
to properly propel the machine.
Again Lacks Buoyancy
Patrick Cullinan, electrician of the
Laughlin building, next came to the
front with an airship, with two gas
bags which hung beside each other.
His contention was that the force of
the aeroplane gained by the use of two
bags more than offset any disadvan-
tage that the extra weight of the sec
ond bag might make. AS IL was first
designed, the American Eagle" for
thus was 1t named, weighed more than
700 pounds. including the weight of the
bags. The engine was a four cylinder
gasoline one and 1t ran splendidly both
when IL was being tested and when it
was placed on the frame of the airship.
Mr.. Cullinan had new process for
making hydrogen gas, which was found
TO be too slow after several months
trial.
The combined gas capacity of the two
gas bags was not far from 25 900 cubic
feet, and II they had been inflated with
pure hydrogen their lifting power
would have been not far from 1000
pounds. But Mr.. Culinan decided to
reduce the weight Of his frame and 10