The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-05-02
AERIAL NAVIGATION.
"Hsavisr Than Air" Flying Machines
Now the Goal Of Inventors.

"HsaVisr Than Air" Flying Machines
Now the Goal Of Inventors.
Prizes aggregating many thousands
Of dollars fer the production Of flying
machine Of the heavier than air" va
riety, offered by English and French
enthusiasts have caused great activity
among would be inventors, and some
OF the most prominent aerOnautic ex-
Perts predict that the year just begun
will be marked by remarkable ad-
vances in the science aud practice of
aerial flight. To the gasoline engine
and to the extraordinary mechanical
progress made in automobiliSm is due
the hope that something definite and
worthy may be achieved 10y those who
seek to solve the problem of aerial trav-
cling.
The ordinary balloon, il Is agreed.
has little practical value save as an ex-
citing form of sport and for purposes
Of observation in calm weather. II
anything like stiff breeze it Is the
sport of the winds and quite useless
from practical point of view. Bette:
things are said of the cigar shaped con
trivances utilizing both the gas bag
and the gasoline engine. Six years aga
Santos -Dumont was able to steer an
airsh!p Of this kind arouGd the Eiffel
tower, running with and against the
wind. Since that time hundreds of
similar steerable balloons have been
built in France until today they are
nearly as common as the spherical gas
bag. Nevertheless 1t IS realized that
these are far from representing solu-
ton of the problem of practical naviga.
ton of th' air. They have, in fact,
only stimulated the desire for some
thing that will represent q radical i'm
provement. such as the successful
heavier than air" vessel would be.
The latter wSuld mean. naturally. a dir
igible vessel which could be driven III
any kind of weather and in any de-
sired direction. A fortune in prizes al
ready awaits the inventor of such a
vessel, to say nothing of the monetary
return in business way. Two prizes
Of $4,000 each, one in England the
other in France, await the inventor Of
the successful aer0plape.
The mechanical difficulties in the
way Of producing II perfectly dirigible
a.rship are immense because of the
number Of contingencies that must he
provided for in travelling through such
mobile and treacherouS element as
the air. Machinery that can be de-
pended on not to fail and precipitate
the "heavier than air" machine to the
earth is the most necessary qualifca-
ton, but this can be provided, it is
known, if the method of propulsion
can be invented. The screw propeller
idea Is by no means ideal because Of
it's great bulk. its poor lifting power
and its enormous waste of energy. A
tapping propeller, moving from side to
side, seems to give promise. but many
sound thinkers favor an approximation
to the bird method of flight, though
serious difficulties lie in the way of
converting circular motion derived
from motor into the complicated and
various motions performed by the
wings of bird. Even II such motion
could be abproximated by mechanical
means great skill would be required in
directing the controlling mechanism,
as the constantly changing aerial con-
ditions would have to be instinctively
provided against.
Toy models working after the man
neF of birds wings have successfully
Travelled few yards, but have failed
of Success when enlarged to any ex-
tent. That the air Is region in
which man can travel has been proved,
however, and that under conditions he
can sail or fly through II by the aid of
mechanical power has also been dem
onstrated, but many years are likely
to elapse before any practical method
of aerial navigation can be attained.
1t ia q problem that will not be solved
hurriediy, but that solution will come
eventually IS now almost settled con-
yiction with students Of aeronautics,
and the incentives offered abroad with
in the past few months give the hope
that great progress. If not actual
achievement, will mark the current
year.-New York Sun.