Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-01-19
Mistellansous 8eading.
AEROPlANE FACTORY.
A Factory For the Manufacture of Fly
ing Machines.

The active and enthusiastic move
ment now in progress throughout
france in favor Of aviation has Gre
ated an entirely new industry-name-
ly, that Of the construction of aero
pIanes, and as the subject Of this arti-
Gle Is the first aeroplane factory in the
world a description Of it will doubtless
prove interesting to English readers.
In France factories are being erected
in many places, which will probably at
no distant date be greatly extended,
and very numerous mechanical work.
shops and engineering establishments
are engaged upon models for flying ma
chimes. Moreover, the announcement
IS made Of the formation of a special
company to equip factory in which
fifty aeroplanes on the Wright system
are to be put in hand forthwith. There
already exists, however, an establish
ment which has made a special study
of the construction Of flying machines
and is provided with the requisite plant
that of the brothers Voisin. 1t was
this firm that produced the famous ma
chimes of Farman and Delagrange.
Messrs. Voisin Freres rank among
in France. Captivated by the exploits
OF Lilienthal which were then being
made widely known by Capt. Ferber,
and the reports of the experiments Of
~ l,,4t Iyrie IN nfin
began in 1903 a series Of patient trials
of apparatus, without motors Of any
kind, resembling that used by the
Wrights The difficulties and the dan
gers they encountered in the course Of
their experiments ultimately led them
to abandon the models they had made
and to produce an entirely new type Of
machine Of their own design.
Out of these labors arose the bi-plane
flying apparatus, which Is now so well
known, and one of which, under the
guidance of Farman, has just COM
pleted the journey from Chalons to
Rheims, the first direct aerial voyage
in machine of this kind accomplished
by human agency. Messrs. Voisin
have just occupied entirely new works,
which are situated at Billancourt, on
the outskirts of Paris, close to the exer-
cising ground of Issy-les- Moulineaux,
where so many experiments in aviation
are carried out. They comprise very
extensive erecting shop, where at the
present moment four aeroplanes are in
course of construction and are ap-
preaching completion; machine shop,
where the fitting up and adjustment Of
the mechanical portion of the appar-
atus Is undertaken, and an experiment.
al workshop, where trials are made with
the bearing or sustaining surfaces Of
the machines and where the motors are
tested.
At the time Of a recent inspection the
aeroplanes in hand were all found to
be composed of a lengthy, spindle-shap-
ed body, to which Wings or supporting
planes are applied. The steering ap-
paratus Is placed at the front end and
at the rear are the arrangements for
imparting stability to the machine.
The fusiform body, which is neither
more nor less than trellis girder Of
special design, is made to carry the
screw propeller, the motor and the
aeronaut. In the bi-plane apparatus Of
the Farman type this body attains a
length of ten meters and Is constructed
as follows: The top and bottom men,
bers are Of very dry ash wrought in
the direction Of the grain Of the tim
Der. The wood is chosen with the ut
most care and is very straight grained,
sound and homogeneous throughout.
The principal pieces are four in num-
ber and are inserted at each end into
special steel plates or caps. These
longitudinal timbers are braced togeth-
er at intervals by wooden struts and
are laterally cross-tied by steel wires
which constitute a series Of triangles.
The wings are composed Of surfaces
of rubber coated canvas stretched on
frames of poplar The two upper and
lower planes are united by uprights Of
the same wood with steel tension wires
The exact form Of the surface Of the
planes Is maintained by means OF fill
.cts of curved wood fixed in the canvas
seams and carefully ascertained by
previous experiments to be explained
later. The fusiform body has likewise
attached to it the metal framework on
springs which serves for the attach
ment of the cycle wheels. This spring
frame also tends to deaden any shocks
caused in landing on the ground after
light. and 1t enables the machine to
be propelled on it's wheels at the nee
essary speed in order to make start.
The assembling Of all these accesso-
ries merely needs a large gallery or
hall, where the apparatus can readily
be adjusted and taken apart, and the
tools required are only those usually
found in joiners shop Of the ordinary
Kind. In the erecting shop there was
IN aeroplane Of the Farman type, with
double planes; one Of the Goupy type.
with triple planes, which was actually
being tested by Mr.. Goupy. This is an
apparatus very similar to that of Far
man in point of construction, but hav-
ing three superposed plane surfaces in
stead of two. There was likewise
bi-plane machine with a motor OF 100
h. D., of the Farman type; and, lastly,
a monoplane machine now being built
for Farman, which has already been
described in the Times under the name
of the Flying Fish," the title given to
if by it's future aeronaut. All these va
rious machines, in spite Of divergences
in point of detail. present a very mark
ed generic character. In all cases the
same materials are employed, and they
are put together on uniform system;
the forms of their sustaining surface
and the position Of the single propeller
in the front of the body are also alike
in every one Of them. The mechanical
workshops have in them nothing but
,,.bot ;s ncually fOnnd in such places