The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1908-10-03


looms have supplanted the portraits
of famous equine racers. Already at
this arst practical ar park in the
world more than dozen machines
are completed or in the course of con-
struction, and in connectio'- with the
whole project nothing is more signif-
cant of the practical future Ct the air
ship than the fact that most OF the ex-
perimenters are men Of small means
wage earners, mechanics and the like.
1t was primarily to give an opportun-
ity to such men as these that the Aero
nautic Society was organized.
Perhaps the most interesting of the
various flying machines now being
tested at the new aviation grounds Is
the helicopter of w. R. Kimball. Elk
most expensive and the most beauti-
fully constructed airship in the world.
It's motor is marvel. Weighing only
125 pounds 1t nevertheless develops
fifty horsepower by which the twenty
propeller blades are driven. This
helicopter which cost $4,000 is of
course entirely different from the
Wright aeroplane. It consists of a
frame on which the motor is placed
in front with the seat for the opera
tor directly behind Above are the
twenty propellers which not only drive
the machine forward but lift it as we'll.
These propellers resemble nothing
more than the old-fashioned wooden
fan often seen in restaurants. The
motor, however, is capable of turning
them at a rate Of more than 1900
times minute. At this speed the
blades are of course invisible. In the
next shed to this $4,000 beauty is
the Williams .bi-plane," so-called be-
cause of the manner in which it's
planes are rugged. In the very near
future too the Schroeder arrow
plane" is to be tried out according to
its inventor. This machine takes its
name from its form, being low and
narrow, shaped like an arrow, and
with its center of gravity extremely
low. This low center Of gravity it is
expected will give the machine great
steadiness and eliminate the danger of
capsizing which has always been a
difficulty in the use of ;.ir planes. The
most remarkable thing about this new
machine, however, is its shape, or
rather the significance of the shape
Other air planes are broad, so broad
indeed that they could never light in
city street. Tie new machine, how
ever, Is designed to do just this sue
cessfully, and therefore marks the
| first commercial applica lion of the
navigation of the air.
These of course are all expensive
machines, as the term is generally
understood. and while they are re-
markable they do not in one way typi-
i fy the purpose of the Aeronautic club
SO well as many others. The purpose
Of the society is to encourage and aid
/ the experimentation by persons who
/ without such assistance could never
afford to develop and test their ideas.
| 1t is as significant therefore, as it is
little realized, that the greater part
of the construction now under way at
| this first "air course" in the country
of small means. There are elders and
wind wagons. in fact nearly every kind
4 of construction known and unknown
and as a result it may yet happen. as
the AeronaUtic society hopes, that
from some now obscure source will
! No. <>e oof; Az,
i ing machine Naturally the mar OF
small means realizes best the need
Of an inexpensive machine which will
4 not be merely millionaires toy. And
while public interest las been center
ed in the experiments of the Wrights
1t is an extremely significant fact fol
the future of flying that nearly two
1 dozen ideas are now being tried out
at Morris Park by quiet men who are
all working for practical solution
of the problem of aerial navigation.
To most persons of course this prob
lem Is a scaled one. Somehow Il
seems hard to realize that the fyins
machine is coming. But to see the prac
tical work now going on at Morri:
Park is to understand the matter il
a different way. In the sheds which
equine kings formerly occupied arr
now various machines, tools and mod
els and almost daily tests are bein:
made. Although the course waich ha
been leased for year is open at al
times, Sundays especially are opel
days when the public is invited t,
come and inspect. In the same spiri
too any one with any sort of an ide;
for air navigation or any sort of
vehicle driven by an air propeller i
welcomed by the society. Ever
. Wednesday night at the weekly meet
ings all such persons are invited t
be present. To them is given ell tn
aid of the society in testing out thei
ideas. Morris Park is now really
public flying course and the sheds
shops and tools and ;dvice of the Sc
ciety are freely given to all who ar
: interested.
catanult or lam ching apnaratu,