The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1908-11-05
Flying Machines.

ToTHE EDITOR OF The JOURNAL. Sep
TENDER 10, 1889, The Journal published
| an article of mine entitled Birds and
Balloons, - in which | stated that Ely
| ing is fine art. :. AS man learned to
navigate the sea by sails; 50 he is likely
to learn to navigate the sir with kind
of WINGS Then such expressions We're
classed as feather Drained speculation;
and now, that man can fly, is an estab-
lished fact. For twenty-five years | have
been interested in the study of this art
and have watched its progress with great
interest. 1t seems to me the inventors
are following the kite idea too much and
are not getting near enough to the bird
principles of flying. The aerodromes used
by the Wright Bros. and by the French
inventors, are in fact two kites Except in
shape) one above the other, with the
man and his motor on top Of the lower
kite, which double kite is propelled by
fan wheel and steers by two rudders, one
in front to steer up and down, and one
behind to steer to the right and left. |
do not speak of these lightly; because
they are the first inventions by which
man has been able to fly, and are there
fore epoch-makers in great art. These
machines are too 'kittly" because the
weight is too high up for a good balan-
cling draft on the wings, if nearly rigid
plane may be called wing. In birds
and insects the planes are all flexible
wings and all hang at the highest point
on the body and all are hung forward of
the center, giving the bird or insect an
upward slant forward when it hangs on
it's wings, and all the gravity is below
the planes of the wings. A bird or in
sect therefore naturally regains its bal
ance, no matter how much or how often
it may be blown over.
1t now takes skillful acrobat to handle
an aerodrome with all the weight on top
of the lower areodrOme. 10 eXaggerate
and thus get the real results of this wrong
idea, immagine the man and heavy motor
all mounted on top of the upper aero
plane. 1t would then be more ''kittly'
than riding one-wheel cycle, or riding
bicycle with its front wheel off the
ground The next bad feature about
these aerodromes is that there is no way
of converting them into parachute In
case of a fall. Birds and insects set their
wings at an upward angle for para
chute.
A birds or insects wing has a down
ward curve, endway as we'll as forward
and back, with increasing fiexibility from
the shoulder outward and from front to
rear of the wing. Every feather on
bird is made on these two principles, con-
carved underneath and flexible on the
tips and edges. These are extremely i'm
portant facts in flying.
The wing has several important mo-
tons. the first of which is the circular
motion in padding, down in front and up
in the rear. Many insects and birds fly
with this revolving stroke only, but the
most sl1illful birds use it only in rising,
after which the motion changes, first to
an up and down oblong motion, and in
full, easy flight becomes almost straight
up and down paddle.
Another important feature of wing
is the power to roll it forward and back
while wing-paddling.
Another is the power to raise or dip
either wing at will, and another is the
partial fold of the wing in the up stroke
and the spread in the down stroke.
The late machines have clearly shown
that wings or aeroplanes must haye about
one square foot of spread for every
pound of weight carried, unless they in
tend to propel the machine faster than
twenty miles per hour. All decrease in
speed must be made up for by an in
crease in surface spread of wing or aero
plane, and vice versa. The greater the
speed the smaller may be the planes to
carry given weight.
One of the most important facts now
settled in this science is that you do not
have to increase your power of propul-
sion as fast as YOU increase your speed,