Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-04-13
AVIATOR IS IN GAME
Montgomery's Glider May Az
feet Wright's Claims. J,
TESTS ON PACIFIC COAST
Circus Men Did Great Stunts in Air.
Will Resume Work Where
He Left Off.


have an important bearing on the aero
plane claims OF the Wright brothers
and, consequently. on aviation in gen.
eral. will go forward from now on for
Prof. J. J. Montgomery of Cslifornis
has gotten back To the field of aero
plane work.
There is likely to he serious clash
between his claim and those Of the
Wrights.
Montgomery's work is we'll enough
known to those in touch with aviation.
He commenced work on the aviation
problem even before Prof. Langley OF
the Smithsonian.
Finally. in 1905 patent was granted
to Montgomery just ahead of the grant
ing of the Wright patent. though his
application was filed in the patent office
a little after the Wrights.
Tried Out by Circus Men.
Building a gliding machine on the
lines that his patent called for he made
some sensational fights on the Pacific
coast. He had two former circus men
operating his gliding machines for him.
and these were sent up as high as 1000
| feet, attached to balloon. and then
cut away like parachute. coming
down under control OF the operator.
icircling and travelling at high speed
in the air and stopping at will. to set
tile slowly for a while and then dart
forward again. -
These demonstrations were made IN
public and were reported in the Cali
fornia papers at the time. Then came
the San Francisco earthquake of 1905.
and Montgomery's training station and
his apparatus were broken up.
The world recently has heard nothing
of him. 1t was curious situation
in the minds of those interested that
the Montgomery glider. which hal
promised so well. seemed to have
dropped out of sight.
| For three years Prof. Montgomery has
been engaged I'm some important electrical
work. He has just finished il up salts
factorily, and with some associates has
been in Washington for several DAYS
winding up this work with the patent
office.
Now that he is through with the cleo
trical work ne is going back to aviation
The patents granted to Montgomery
i overlap the claims of the Wrights. There
are apt to be legal complications that
may result in Largely throwing open the
| ticking wing feature of flying ma
chimes TO the aviation world at large
| The development of the Montgomery
| glider was the outcome of scientific lab
oratory work. When il was tried in the
field there were few changes to be made
Water Current Observations.
Prof. Montgomery struck on the scheme
| of experimenting with water currents
which could be made visible with little
sprinkling of bran or -aniline dye. Tn
this way he worked out number OF
! laws governing the action of water cur
rents, which are just the same as air
currents, though of greater density.
| tic Congress in Chicago in 1873 and read
| a paper on his work. 1t was at this same
congress that DIR. Albert r.. Lahm OF this
| CITY read paper advocating tne sam
| system of rotating wings That the
i Wrights aIterward put into suc.essful
practice.
The Montgomery glider was tandem
monoplane much atler the order OF the
Langley models. When sent up in air
the man riding it was able TO control It's
| actions by f1e4ing the wings and manipu-
lating the two-way tail.
| The two operators got so reckless that
they turend side somersaults in the ali.
one of them turned a single somersault
and then the other, not to be outcome,
turned one somersault to the left and an
other to the right.
The machine dropped upside down from
| a height with weight in plate of "A
man, would right itself in the air.
The operators cut many antics in
the air that Montgomery finally shortened
up the controlling wires and put stop
to their sport. Finally one OF them
named Maloney, was killed by the break
ing of machine as it was being sent
up.
Then came the earthquake. The expert
ments stopped just about as motor was
| to tried in one OF the machines. II
is at this point where the work left off
that it is to be recommended.
There have been two of the elders built
in Chicago. Some experiments are being
tried there now with propellers.
Prof Montgomery and some men as
ISOLATED with him in his electrical WORK
will stop i'm Chicago on leaving Washing
ton and the macnlnes probably will bo
taken to the Pacific coast for trial.
Washington Not to Get Meet.
A meeting of the board of governors
of the Aero Club of America was held
in New York last night. According to
) reports from New York it seems con-
elusive that the international aviation
meet will not be assigned to Washing
ton.
sisting OF Samuel Valentine, CORTLAND
Field Bishop, J. G. Mccoy and Charles
J Jerome Edwards of the Aero Club OF
America was going to consider the fields
offered by Washington. New YORK ana
; ST Louis as possible sites for the meet.
The same report said that the meet
would go to the highest bidder, but that
there had as yet been no official BIDS
received.
The fact is that Washington has put
in formal application for the meet, and
has stated to the Aero Club of America
, that it has raised a guarantee fund of
100000 to defray the preliminary ex-
penses How much st. Louis and New
) York will offer has not yet been an
nounced.
The contract with the Wrights has
been signed by the Aero Club. In view
Of this arrangement the Aero Club
promises to pay the Wrights for any
damage they may suffer out OF the pro-
ceeds Of the meet.
j CORTLAND Field Bishop will sail for
France on La Touraine Thursday and
will present the agreement with the
WrighIs to the Aero Club of France
with a view to induce foreign aviators
to take part in the meet. II the place
of holding the meet is not decided till
after that has been done IT will, OK
course, be impossible for the New York
1 club to comply with the terms OF the
ultimatum telegraphed it Monday By the
Washington club.
This demanded g. statement within
ten days as to where the meet would be
held, either in Washington or else
where, as the alternative to Washing
ton Withdrawing its application for the
/ meet at ALL
CHANGE IN RAILWAY ROUTE.