Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1909-12-27
Lucian F. Cook, Tacoma Man,
to Revolutionize Science
of Aerial Flight.
SOUNDS LIKE COOKS
NORTH POLE STORY
Visionary Illusions Must BE Heredi-
taTy In the Cook Famiiy-Pass
Out Good Dope, But 1t Does Not
Stand Scientific Invcsti sA.Im aud
Finally Explodes.
[uNIrED pRnss LnAsnD WIRE. ]


Tacoma, Dec. 27.-Intense interest
is being taken here today In the
startling invention bf Lucian #.
Cook, local capitalist, who declares
that he has invented q flying ma
chine which will entirely revolutions
ize the science of aerial fight and
solve in a practical way for all time
the problem that has baffied man
kind for ages.
Cook, who already has perfected
several ingenious inventions, says
that within a few weeks he will give
demonstration that he expects will
set some new stakes in the field OF
aviation. The plans for the flying
machine are locked up in safety
deposit vault here, and will be pat
ented by Cook within two months.
The principle upon which the Cook
airship operates is that employed by
birds in flight, and is called by the
inventor atmospheric contact"
None OF the blplanes, monoplanes
or aeroplanes of any description,
said Cook today, "have anything an-
swering to the wings of a bird beat
ing the air inflight. My machine
beats the air This makes all the diff
ltlEnCG III AHt MOIlut w lAA IL 4 Ouh
rise straight up from the ground
without any shove or run to gather
momentum, and / can fly at will.
and in any direction, irrespective of
wind currents. / can fly from Taco
ma to the top of Mount Rainier, or
| can fly from Tacoma across the Cas-
cades mountain range to Spokane, or
to Victoria, to Portlad or into the
midst OF the Olympic mountains. In
other words, my machine is a genu.
Inc imitation of the powers and ca
pacities of a bird in flight. The prin-
clpal with which / have solved avia-
tlon / call atmospheric contact, for
lack Of better name. 1t is simple,
workable and practical. II is strange
that mankind had not seen and ems
ployed 1t ages ago. One excellent
feature of my machine will be an au-
tomato arrangement by which, IL an
accident happens TO the machinery,
1t becomes a parachute. and eases
Its load OF humanity to the ground.
Flying In my machine will be rel
atively safer than travel in automo-
biles or In a rig pulled by horses or
travelling by train or trolley car.
And listen to this.
Aviation, whether II is by my
machine or some other, will be far
less dangerous to life and limb than
travel by any other means. This has
bern the case in air travel since Gre
alton, and the law will not be re-
versed. The creatures that navi-
gate the air have been immune from
accidents, while land travelling crea-
lures, be they man or beast, face a
diversity of obstacles and meet div
ers mishaps.
Until l have my idea perfected I
do not care to describe any feature
Of my invention. / will say this,
nevertheless, that the monoplane or
biplanes are not flying machines, but
are what might be termed sailing
machines. When you think OF flying
you think OF a creature beating the
air with wings, and any creature that
does that is a flying machine. The
sailing idea requires constant pro-
pulsive force TO keep the machine
from falling. My machine will be
able TO hover over a given spot, as
q bird does"