The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1910-07-25
ALL ABOUT
THE DOINGS
OF YOUR SEX
WHERE THE AEROPLANE GOT ITS TAIL
AND WHY ITS WINGS ARE CURVED
ARTICLE II.
BY HI FLEIER.
(All Rights Rreserved.)

DSlOIc yOu put IHdI hHlIc duu
plane into operation sit down to
table and draw the plans of
your aeroplane. Then you will
have a certain definite design to
accomplish, and it will help like
everything when you come to
making your parts and putting
them together.
Most of the bird men" are
good mathematicians. They have
had to be to figure out the prob
lens of flying.
This is the problem that most
of them have been working on:
To increase the lifting power of
the machine and decrease the re-
sistance the aeroplane offers to
the wind.
Look at Fig. 1. The heavy line
ABB represents the wing plane,
| with the wind blowing against it
in the direction of the large ar
row, or, what is the same thing,
the wing advancing against the
wind in the direction of the small
Ter arrow. Drop the line AC to-
ward the earth, and draw the line
CB parallel with the earth. Then
the angel ABC is the "angle of
flight"-the angle at which. the
wing meets the wind.
The line AC represents the sur
face that meets the wind and Of
fers resistance. 1t is called the
Surface of resistance" CB rep
resents the lifting surface.
Aerial engineers usually show
the same thing according to Fig.
IL. Here ABB is the plane, as be-
fore, and the wind strikes along
the line KID and Is reflected off
| in the line DY. The line DF,
dropped toward the earth is the
line on which our aeroplane must
pull, or life, in a flight, EFF is then
the drift" or the resistance the
plane offers to being moved for
ward against the wind while pull
ing on the line DF In Fig. 2 the
angle EDF is the same as the an
gle ABC in Fig. 1.
Now the problem all along has
been to make those wings in such
a manner as to give them as much
lift as possible with the smallest
amount of drift. The Wrghts
and Curtiss have bent their wings
to increase the lift. and this seems
to be the secret of their success.
Fig. shows the idea. Diagram
X shows, by the arrows, how the
wind acts against the flat surface
dropped straight down. You see
the air escapes around the edge of
the plane, and the air near the
edges does scarcely any work at
all.
Suppose that instead of dropping
the flat surface straight down, we
move it forward at an angle as
in diagram Y. Since the plane must
be inclined somewhat to the wind
to get any lifting effect, the direc.
ton of the wind, as 1t strikes the
surface. will be according to the
arrow A. though the direction OF
flight is according to the arrow B.
At the front end. you see. there
will be a current of air flowing
forward. and up, making resist
ance to forward motion. Back a
ways the air is DETECTED off at the
same angle without doing any
further work. And in leaving, II
strikes more air currents coming
up and keeps them off. and retards
the operation of the plane all
around.
Now look at diagram z. Here we
have a curved plane, moving in
the same direction, and the air
striking it along the same lines
But notice the difference. All the
air is working; none of tor very
little--is being DETECTED off. BY
the time this air is used up. the
aeroplane has glided off into a
new current of air, and the process
/ l..