, 1909-10-23

$500 ~ A@'NNi' \ n ~
France, II Is generally supposed that, of the
two great schools Of aorohau.ics, the lighter
tAth'af Is the older one; Nlereas, as Il ms
ter OF fact the idea OF rising from the
through the agency OF rareEcd air or OF
gas lighter than air is less than i century
ald n half old, il would be difficult t. p.tc,
q date on the origin OF the first attempt nj
mechanical flight, for il would seem rs if one
OF the first cravings Of man had been to be
able to initiate the birds he saw soaring
about HIM History of all ages and Of all
peoples abounds with relations of mm's at
tempts to fly, and the thought gives one Il
feeling of qualification that he happens to be
IYng ut the precise time when thus dream
of age IS beginning to cease to be one.
For dream it no longer is mon are learn
ing to fly, and, as if the sudden triumph of
the rival theories had put them on thor
mettle, the champions OF the lighter-than-ar
crAtt have simultaneously produced those
marvellous and mighty Ships of the ar Of
winch Count Heppelu's appears 10 be iAe
most successful example.
Although 1t moy he technically true that
the gasoline engine was not 4 Necessity to
human flight or to tho dirigibiIity OF bal
looms, 1t IS none the less certain THAT its con
trlbutlons to them were so tremendous rs
to appear to have actually determined their
occurrence.
In the past century various attempts were
made III both directions, both with the mere
use of mans muscular strength and with en-
gines Of various kinds-steam, electri ity.
compressed all, carbonic gas, ammonia, ether,
and even gunpowder-but none achieved a
degree Of success III any way comparable
with the very first attempts made with the
upS0l1Da motor =. tbDca ~ VaDh,lI,, ,nJ aF
Santos Dumont ON their first dirigible hal-
looms of 1899 and 1900, and of the Wright
brothers on their first aeroplane of 1903.
In the last four or five years great efforts
have been made towards building special
motors Of extremely reduced weight for
aeronautical use. Herring, Leyavasseur, Es-
nault-Peltorio, and others have designed
some very light engines, which are marvela
of %compactness and ingenuity, but it is "a
question whether in some cases reliability
has not been too hastily sacrificed to light
ness of construction. Glenn H. Curtiss and
the Italian Anzani, who were both motor
cycle constructors, have turned out very
successful motors, while the Gnome rotary
motor, in which the seven cylinders disposed
starlike around the crank case revolve at
great speed, doing away with hy-wheel and
water-cooling, has just covered itself with
glory ut Rheims, where it carried both Paul
han and Farman as long as they wished or
as their fuel lasted, enabling them to beat
all worlds records for sustained flight. The
only trouble experienced with it at first
was in the fabrication Of the whirling cy-
finders, but this has been overcome, as the
results show. On Sommer's Farmau bipEane
is an ordinary automobile fou~r-cylindor mo-
tor (Vivinus) he initiated in this the
Wrlghts, whose motor weighs seven or eight
pounds to the horsepower, and, curiousIy
enough, was the first man to surpass their
records, when. on August Z he flew for two
hours twenty seven minutes fifteen seconds.
Besides Farman, Paulhan, Sommer, and
Wright, the only other man who has flown
for over two hours is Hubert Latham, on
hs swift Antoinette monoplane-tbe most
birdlike aeropl&ne yet made. Both the ma
chine and engine are built by Levavasseur,
who, after struggling for five years with the
radiation, fabrication, ignition, and carbura-
ton OF the many cylinders Of his feather
weight engine, seems at last to be giving ii
some of the reliability it so long lacked.
After enabling the first aeroplane flights in
Europe to be made. three years ago, tho
Antoinette has now beaten every speed re-
cord from twenty to ninety-fve miles.
II T. III Il O.