Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-29
came along with 500. 600 to finance him

came along with 100000 to finance him
in building new machine
The Wrights did not spend 100000, or
any appreciable part Of it. in their ex-
periments Going at it in modest way
they got action rapidly. They were as
sisted at first with advice and counsei,
principally by Octave Chanute or chi
cago. the father of gliding machines In
America.
In 1900 they went to Kitty Hawk n C..
| and tried gliding experiments on the
sand hills there They made number
of successful glides. going as much as
500 feet against twenty-seven mile
wind.
But they found there We're a number
of practical problems connected with
flying that were still mysteries. and all
wrong and full of queer contradictions.
They found that the lifting power of
plane and curved surfaces varied greatl!
with the curve. with the angle at which
they were presented to the wind. with
the difference in thickness between the
front and rear edges and with lot OF
other conditions. all of which had to be
faced in building a practical machine.
Work Out own Statistics.
They were forced to work most of these
out in laboratory experiments on their own
responsibility, having no reliable data on
which to go In the course of their prac-
teal work they hit on the system of bal
ance they now use. namely. of feXing the
wings of their gliding machine more or
less like the wings of bird. This sys-
tenn they patented. and IT Is one OF the
few patentable points about their ma
chine, but vital one
After they had made a successful glider.
they naturally wanted to install motor
They were practical bicycle builders, but
knew little or nothing about gasoline en-
gines. They had to study this subject
from the ground floor up. and then they
were faced with the problem OF an
aerial propeller.
They found on inquiry that there was
nothing much known even about water
propellers. and that nearly all of this
work was entirely empirical. After eX-
haustive ard exhausting experiments:
they evolved a rule for the calculation OF
aerial propellers. and since then they
have had comparatively plain sailing.
Wright says that any flying machine
has to have the propelers designed for
it with a view 20 the rate at which the
machine is to travel and the work IT is
to do. Thus the propeller used on the
machine now ct Fort Myer is essentially
different from the one Wilbur Wright is
using in France. Yet they are both QUILT
from mathematical calculations.
Asked If it did not take a postgraduate
course in higher mathematics to design
flying machine curves. Wright smiled ana
said that nothing more than trigonometry
was necessary il you had the data and
knew how to apply 1T.
He intimated that there was a great
deal of what machinists call lost mo-
ton in applying mathematical formulate
to practical flying. In this connection he
cited the case of young friend of his
who spent two days and whole scratch
pad of paper in figuring the amount of
expansion to allow in a brass ring to go
around six inch steam pipe.
After he had got through and carried
the answer to some places of decimals.
he found he could have gotten the same
result by allowing for the expansion of
brass rod eighteen inches long. This
was just d case of msapplied education.
The experiments of the Wright brothers
with their power driven machine were
carried up to 1905 Since then they have
devoted themselves largely to business ne
gotiations. They had gone into the flying
business for sport and recreation and
ended. perforce, in making 1t life bust
ness.
Such in brief is the history of the two
men. one Of whom is to give the War De-
partment its first demonstration in me-
chanical fight within the next couple Of
days
Trying Out Engine.
All of today was spent at the balloon
house in tuning up the gasoline engine
used in the Wright aeroplane. 1t was tried
out for few minutes yesterday after
noon. There was some mechanical trouble
with the transmission chains. This had to
be remedied
This morning Wright set seriously to
work to get the engine running smoothly
The motor is little peculiar in that it is
gathered speed it is turned on to a mag
neto device on the plane and runs on
that at a constant speed.
There was some trouble today at the
start with dirt in the gasoline ana de-
fective battery cells. These defects were
gradually worked out, and before the aft
ernOon the engine was running smoothly.
The present plan is to take the machine
over to the drill ground where the tests
will be made Monday. Weather permit
ting, the first flight probably will be made
Monday afternoon.
The last of the training fights of the
dirigible balloon will be made this after
noon. The Secretary of War has decided
TO accede to the request of the ST. Joseph
military carnival management and send
the balloon there.
The gas-making apparatus was packed
up today The big gray bag will be de-
f1ated and shipped Immediately afterward.
A detail of the signal service balloon
squad will accompany the airship.
Dirigible Up; Baldwin Away.
Several training flights of the dirigible
were made yesterday afternoon under the
direction of Lieut.. Lahm and in the alb
sence of Capt. Baldwin. who is now in
Hammondsport. n. Y, Lieut. Foulois and
Lieut.. Selfridge were pilots and engineers
by turn
On the last flight Lieut.. Creecy of the
Marine Corps, who has been observing the
flights. was taken up. Everything passed
off smoothly so far as the balloon and its
operators were concerned, but the airship
succeeded in stampeding a cavalry troop
that was just starting out from the fort
on a practice march
The noise of the motor overhead was
too much for the nerves of the horses |
Not only was the whole troop thrown !
into confusion, but several of them turned |
tail and fed. This demonstration made il |
look as though the airship might be an
effective weapon of offense against cav
airy. without mounting any guns, either.