Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-01-29
THE FLYING MACHINE.
The Wright Bros, of Ohio Are Said
to Have Perfected Air Ship.


to Have Perfected Air Ship.
Children of some future generation
may read in their school histories
some such entry as this: ="
1s07-First practical airship In
vented and tested in actual flights by
two young Americans the Wright
brothers Of Dayton. Ohio.
There are many clever students OF
aerial navigation-possibly this ap-
plies more to foreigners than to Amer
Jeans who believe that the two Ohio
men have come nearer to producing
flying machine that will fly than any
others have done. Gen. Sir Baden
Powell Is one Of these. He declares
that the Wrights have already sur
passed the best achievements Of San
tos- s-Dumont-and they have not been
at 1t as long as the Brazilian.
1--WE shall not have any balloons in
future. We shall have flying ma
chimes. The flying machine is heav-
Ter than air. just as the birds are.
There are no balloons In nature. -
Sir Hiram Maxim.
Owing to the secrecy that the
Wright brothers have always observed
in connection with their trials and
their inventions, men prominent In
the science of aeronautios had been
led to cast grave doubts on the achieve
ments claimed for their aeroplane.
Recently. however, 1t has developed
that Patrick Y. Alexander, an En-
glish scientist visited the Wright's
workshop at Dayton and saw one Of
the flights OF their aeroplane.
Men of the highest standing in II
business community Of Dayton have
asserted that on Oct. s. 1905, one of
the Wright brothers made a fight of
"a miles in his aeroplane. AS he best
that has been accomplished by any
other inventor was flight Of 225
yards by Santos Dumont on his Bird
of Prey at the Bagtelle trials last au-
tumn. the Wright brothers. achieve
ment easily earns for them the front
assuming that the statements Of the
witnesses to the trials are true.
Other flights ranging from 10 to
3S minutes are claimed by the Day
ton inventors. Those who saw these
trials say that the driver Of the aero
plane seemed to nave perfect control
Of the machine, that he could go down
or up as he willed, and that strong air
currents did not seem 20 affect the
dirigible qualities Of the aeroplane.
Trees were circled, fields were gone
over In every direction, and the inven-
tors were able to bring their contri-
vance to earth without any great DIFF
ficulty or any jar-eomething that has
bothered other inventors Of airships
almost as much ss the problem Of as
cent.
Why all this sncrecy concerning
their invention II IL can do all that
they claim for It? That Is the com
ment Santos-Dunont has made on
their claims, and he has challenged
them to compete for the prize Of $780,
900 offered by the London Daily Mail
to the owner of the arst airship that
shall travel from london to Manches-
ter distance Of 1875 miles. The
Wright brothers are poor men and
they do not accept Santos-Dumont's
challenge, their friends say. because
49, Szz1 - ,o,, tbatr t,,1,anfiap FOR q
great sum to foreign government.
It Is generally believed that their con-
tract is with the French or the British
government, and were the secret OF
their invention to be divulged. as
would necessarily happen II they en-
gagged In a public competition, the con-
tract would be void. At present the
Wrights are abroad. engaged In fur
ther negotiations in regard to their
aeroplane and picking up ideas for
future use.
From descriptions given by eye-wit-
nesses Of the flight in 1905, the Wright
machine consists of two parallel sur
faces about thirty feet long and six
feet wide, with the frames strongly
supported by trusses. In front Is
rudder six feet square, by turning
which the aeroplane Is directed eth
er upward or downward; and the rud-
der makes suoh a wide swing on Its
axis that considerable stability Is In
sured to the machine. A smaller rud-
der Is set at the rear. vertically be-
tween two propellers, and 1t is this
rudder that guides the aeroplane
wherever the inventor would go. The
prOpellers are of wood and have only
two blades, with a diameter Of about
three feet each. The whole contriv-
ance weighs only 925 pounds, and is
driven by a motor Of 25-horse power.
To rise without accident from the
ground has proved a stumbling block
to many inventors. In order to ac-
complish this initial feat the Wrights
constructed a single-rail track. The
aeroplane rests on a truck before the
ascent, and the truck is started by the
momentum given by the fall Of a
heavy weight from the top Of der
rick. After running thirty feet, the
aeroplane has gained sufficient mo-
mentum to breast the atmosphere, and
leaves the truck for its flight. The in
ventors say that speed Of twenty
five miles an hour will sustain the
flight Of the machine.
But there are other experiments be-
ing conducted in America toward the
solution of aerial navigation just as
important as those of the Wright
brothers and Santos-Dumont, even II
they have not attracted the same at
tention from the public. Prof. Bell Of
Washington. the inventor Of the tele-
phone, achieved theoretical flight
with an airship that he himself likens
to flock Of birds harnessed to carry
among them the weight Of motors and
operators-a large number of small
kites Joined together into one system,
each Of a shape permitting Of an in
definite expansion Of the system.