Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-17
A|RSR|P BOARD ACTS
Formally Decides BaIdWin's
DirigibIe Meets Test.
INVENTOR TO BE PAID $5,737
0rville Wright Scheduled to Arrive
Here Tomorrow
TO DEMONSTRATE AEROPLANE
Sketch Of Career Of Dayton, Ohio,
Brothers and Their Effort -
to Solve Problem.
TO DEMONSTRATE AER0PLANE

Brothers and Their Effort 49,,
to Solve Problem.
| The army airship board today decided
that Capt. Baldwin's dirigible balloon had
| met all conditions, emitting him to the
amount agreed on for its purchase. The
| board calculated that the airship had
| maintained an average speed of 1915
miles per hour while in the air 2 hours l
| minute and so seconds, this speed being
slightly more than the required 20 per
cent of the maximum speed of 1851 miles
per hour
| Capt. Baldwin will receive $5,737.5O,
which is Is per cent less than the amount
he would have received had he attained
| maximum speed of 20 miles
0rville Wright Due Tomorrow.
| According to present arrangements. Or
vile Wright Of the Wright brothers Of
| Dayton. Ohio. will arrive at Fort Myer
with his aeroplane tomorrow. His will
be the second of the series of airship
trials at Fort Myers. and is regarded as
more important in its way than the test
of the Baldwin dirigible which satisfac
torily completed her trials last Saturday
evening.
The wrights have been experimenting
| with aerial navigation for about ten
years. They were originally bicycle max
ers of Dayton. Becoming interested in
aeroplanes, they experimental in their
spare time till they met with Octave
Chanute. the father of gliding machines
in America. Chanute was not a rich man.
been interested in the experiments with
gliding machines made by Lillenthal in
Germany and Plichner in England and
built a number Of these planes himself.
He was the originator of the "superim-
posed plane"-that is. a multiple deck ma
chine. 1t tended to give steadiness to the
plane while in the air. After experiment.
ing with as many as five superfmposed
wings Chanute decided on two wings.
which has been accepted by aviators as
the best compromise to secure lightness
and stability
First Successful Experiment.
1t was with a glider given them by
Chanute that the Wrights made their
first successful experiments. They prac-
ticed in secret, and there was not much
known about their work outside scien-
| tific circles until one summer about five
years ago, when they extended their ex-
periments to the point of putting a mo-
tor into their gliding machine. They
made a flight of a quarter Of q mile at
Kittyhawk, n. c. 1t was the first flight
of a man-carrying, motor-driven plane in
| the world. with the exception of a very
short flight on the shores Of Lake Michi-
gan with a compressed-air motor by A
NJ. Herring. several years before.
Neither of the Wrights were well-to-
| do so they worked at their bicycle bust
ness In the intervals of aerial expert
ments. They could not afford the time
nor the money for repeated trips to
Kittyhawk. so after their initial success
/ tho1 do ohor nf f0ht fho
outskirts Of Dayton. They gradually In
creased the length of their flights. and
finally. in 1905. made a flight Of twenty
five miles. This was certified to the Aero
| Club by a number of competent wit
nesses. and the Wrights began the eff
| fort to sell their invention to some gov
eminent. While there has never ap-
peared In print any very detailed de-
| have always let it be understood that
| there is nothing particularly radical or
| patentable about 1t. and that the only
| way they have been able to keep the
maintaining secrecy pending the disposal
| Of the patents for satisfactory sum.
Offer Machine to United States.
Friends OF the inventors say that the
machine was offered to the United States
government after the first long fight in
Dayton, but that the War Department
|
an officer to witness a flight. The Wrights
! then obtained backing and went abroad,
where they negotiated with the govern
mentS Of France and Germany and where
it was reported about two years ago that
| they had sold the patent rights Of the
machine to France for large sum. This
| appears to have been untrue, however,
| since Wilbur Wright Is now in France en-
| gagged in a series of demonstrations with
a view Of selling the patents to French
| syndicate.
The difference between an aeroplane and
a dirigible balloon is that the aeroplane
| is a heavier-than-air machine has no gas
bag nor other auxiliary lifting device, IND
| depends for its flight on screw propel1ers
that drive 1t rapidly through the air. In
fact, 1t runs on the air like a skater going
rapidly over thin ice, and that is the rea-
j son Prof. Langley the pioneer in mechan-
ical flight, gave the name ''aerodrome"
to his models. meaning lair runner"
Contract With Government.
The .Wrights received several offers for
the use of their machine for exhibition
purposes but declined, saying that they
preferred to be known as scientists, rather
than showmen. and that they would hold
on to their machine till they could realize
enough money from 1t for their purposes.
which, they said at the time. were COM
| paratiyely modest. They have now made
| q contract with the American government
for a machine that Is to be sold for $25 600
If it meets the requirements. These arc
rather severe. calling for a minimum
speed of thirty-six miles an hour and an
endurance Of one hour. The machine 10
to carry two passengers and be ready for
a second run within two hours after
alighting from its first flight.
| Capt. Baldwin, who has just supplied
the frst dirigible balloon to the govern
ment. put in yesterday at Fort Myer, CIV
ing the finishing touches to two spherical
balloons that he has sold to the Signal
Corps One Of these is Of 800 meters ca
pac and the other of 900 meters. The
envelope in both cases is of the same
gray material that the dirigible is made
of and differs In that way from any OF
the balloons now in use by the Signal
Corps.