Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-26
Only Thing Necessary Is to Arrange
the Details.
EXPERIMENTS IN NOVA SCOTIA
What Has Been Demonstrated-Bse
Of Gasoline Motor-Many The
cries Proved Erroneous.

work on his tetrahedral kite. which he
hopes ultimately to develop into a flying
machine Prof. Bell has not attempted to
set any time limit to the development Of
the kite into a flying machine. but his
work this summer in a general way will
be the installing Of q motor to drive the
kite instead Of flying 1t by a rope. Last
year Prof Bell produced kite that car
ried a man on the flying rope. In fact. 1t
almost got away from the control Of the
operators and carried the sslan to danger
Gus height before 1t could be lowered. But
it demonstrated its ability az a lifting
force beyond question.
For the benefit Of those who do not nap
pen to know what q tetrahedral kite IL, II
NAV be said that 1t L. made up OF number
of cells much the shape of pair OF pird
wings extended at an angle OF 40 nesfees'
without the body between them. Inc Two
are put together by the base, with the
tips Of the wings or triangies extenolns
upward and outward. Inc KITE ~ oane
from any number of these cells put To-
Eether like the cells of bees comb. one
of several advantages of thus building the
kite Is that the sustaining surface can De
Indefinitely extended without more tnan
proportionately increasing the weight OF
the whole structure
Increase Of Weight.
In practical aeroplanes 1t is a regrettabie
fact to inventors that the weight OF the ma
chine increases much faster than the area
OF the supporting surface. But In the puiit-
I'D combination of tetrahedral cells the
proportion of weight to surface remains
constant.
There is another advantage, and that Is
the tetrahedral cell Is about the steadiest
Of aeropianes. and the steadiness remains
constant as well as the weight There is
not quite as much lifting power in Dig
collection of the cells as in single pig
plane surface of approximately the same
area. but when the collection of little TRAN
gular kites Joined together. Is IN the ar
is infinitely steadier than the single big
plane.
Prof. Bell is relying on that fact to STEADY
his man-carrying machine in the air. II
probably will be good deal easier TO
balance than any of the big gliding ma
chimes that have been built either with
single or superimposed wings
To Use Gasoline Motor.
For his work this summer Prof. Bell has
secured motor built by commercial COM
many in the states that develops between II
and, Is horse power with q total weight OF
I'D pounds. It is a gasoline motor. built
according ct special plans, and is far lighter
than the motor with which the wright
brothers have made a number of success
full flights in their machine at Dayton, ONO.
It is heavier than the motor that Prof.
Langley had in his big flying machine but
the total weight Of the machine to the area
of s,,pporting surface is less, and Is about
half the weight that has been carried by
the Wrights in their flights. VI course
practically nothing Is known OF the per
formances of the Wfights except tnae tney
have retained the old form of gliding ma
chine. with which they first experimented
and have installed a motor IN u. me weisHe
of the whole Of their machine is Id POUNDS
to the square foot of supporting surface
Yet they have made number Oh nlgnts
one of them continuing for twenty-eieht
miles. LII. ..
motof installed will be perhaps niue less
than a pound to the square foot OF sup
porting surface, so there seems no reason
why the machine should not fly this summer
as well as that OF. the virgins; Iasre ere, Is
the advantage in Prof.. Bells nova oco,id
experiment station that 1t is far from the
haunts Of spectators, both newspaper men
and otherwise. But It has the saoVaHldss
of being far from the base or supplies, anu
If anything is wanted in the way OF mate
rials to continue the experimental WORK
H,ch must be ordered from the states. ana
the experimenters have to walt Tor II ana
60 fishing in the meantime. Thus II Is nard-
er even than it would be In the city 70 say
inst how much progress can be made with
fhe kite this summer. but 1t Is hoped tnaL
something definite can be done in the way
of flying demonstrations 81.
Is Not Secretive.
while Professor Bell goes of into the
Willis for his experimental work. he Is by
no means secretiye about it. He says. tnat
he has always been treated squareiy oy the
newspaper men who have come to him TOT
information. and that his only anxiety Is
that there should be no boasts made IN al
vance about what he Is going TO 90. wha.-
ever he succeeds in doing he Is frank ABOUT
making public property. He has one al.
vantage over most experimenters In aerial
navigation, and that is he is working with
his own m oney, and he is under no oDilga-
case with Prof. Langley, and in no need OF
profiting financially by 1t, as Is the case
with the Wright boys and some OF the
other investigators.
lular kite Prof. Ball has found out q
number of things about aerial laws, and
the sum of 1t is that most theories held by
scientists for years are wrong. One OF the
most notable discoveries was last year.
when he tried his air propeilers on q nat
boat He had rugged his motor on a rather
clumsy float. and, driving it at full speed.
found that in still air on still water the
propellers. working in the air and not In
the water. would drive the boat. about six
miles an hour But working one day on
the same lake in the face Of sixteen
mile breeze, he found that the boat was
more slowly, to be sure making only
about two and one-haf miles an hour, but
actually advancing instead OF being driven
back. a ,l,,-. s.
According to all laws Of propriety the
boat ought to have been driven backward
by the wind at the rate Of ten miles an
hour. Why the motors continued to drive
It slowly forward is open to discussion.
Prof Bell says he thinks that 1t was
because-but what is the use Of going
into discussion Of the theory. The fact
was there, and that was all there was
to it. 3a
Prof. Bell looks at the whole. problem
Of aerial flight very -philosophicaily., He
says that the only advances made In any
line have been by correcting defects
proved to exist by previous experiment.
He has seen the model Of the Langley
aerodrome ny q mile and a quarter, and
says II that can be done the principle Of
aerial flight L. established. and the only
thing left Is to work ont the details. That
Ia the line he is engaged on now, and
there n q fair possibility that the trick
may be turned during thu experiments in
Nova Scotia this summer
Showing Ia Dakota.
sTURaIa q. d, May ss.-After three