The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-17

not. remain in the air If still.
 The essence of iyS action, then. Is In It's motion, without which 1t could not remain suspended. It is moved rapidly by a steam engine. carrying It's own fuel and its water supply, by which 1t can be kept up indefinitely, while 1t is also, and by the necessity of its own action, rapidly advancir g.
 This may all be admitted as prob- ably true in theory. but 1t is not gem erally known that this has been ac- tually done"
 Although some of Mir Langley's models had flown short distances be- fore, he preferred to consider the flights of May 6. 1898. over twelve years ago. referred to above. as the first really successful ones. The model used was No. measuring about twelve or fourteen feet from tip to tip, weighing with fuel aboard about thirty pounds, and driven by a steam engine of little over one horse power. pr. Alexander Graham Bell. Mir. Frank c. Carpenter. and others were witnesses on this occasion The model flew on each flight a distance. estimated by Dr. Bell at about 5000 feet, or at least more than half mile.
 Just what MT. Langley and his work stands for in the scientific world to- day Is very briefly summarized in the introduction to this reprint of his papers, which is as follows:
 The international fame of Samuel Pierpont Langley rests primarily upon his epoch-making researches in solar physics, but for the last ten years Of his life his name was best known to the world at large by his experiments in mechanical flight.
 ''Mr. Langley was the first to,~pro- duce a machine heavier than air which. supported and propelled by it's own engine and possessing no ex- traneous lifting or sustaining power. actually made an independent night for a considerable distance. this be- Ing accomplished for the first time on May 6, 1896. He afterwards con- structed other models driven by both steam and gasoline engines, which made frequent. successful flights. and was thus the first to demonstrate by actual experiment the possibility of mechanical flight.
 "In addition to building various madels and machines. most of which are now on exhibition in the United Staes National Museum. MT. Langley recorded his studies and experiments in two technical works-Experiment in Aerodyuamics, published originally by the Smithsonian Institution in 1891. and the Internal Work of the W lHuy tut OEiEAuAA COAtAOh VI WAt~es was issued by the Institution in 1898. The copious and painsaking notes ade by Mir Langley in connection with his latest experients in mechan- teal flight are now in course of preparation for publication and will be issued by the Institution on comples tion, thus forming the third volume of this more technical series.
 ''Mr. Langley also wrote few oc- casional, popular papers relating to this same class of experimens, which were published in the Smithsonian re- ports, and elsewhere, the former edi- tions of which are now quite ex- hausted Tn order to meet the ever increasing demand for information on a subject which Is now claiming uni- versal attention, and in which MT. Langley was he pioneer, some of these less technical articles are here brought together and reprinted under a single cover.