The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1910-06-23

New York City.-The machine with
which Glenn III. Curtiss made his
flight from Albany to New York is not
only the smallest ever employed in an
important aerial trip, but aviators say
is the smallest which ever has been
utilized in a cross-country journey.
1t is what is known as the biplane
type. 1t measures from extreme front
to extreme rear just thirty feet one
inch, and it is thirty feet wide. The
two planes, which are four and one
half feet apart, are also four and one
half feet wide. They are made of the
fine rubber-silk cloth which is Cap
tain Thomas Baldwin's contribution
to aviation.
The planes and wings of the Cur
tiss machine are concave but rigid, in
which they differ from the Wright
machine in that its wings may be
warped through lever controls oper-
ated by the rider. Instead of warp
ing his wing tips Curtiss employs an
aileron on each side of the machine.
These ailerons are four feet long and
two and one-half feet wide, and are
fastened at each end of the machine
to two of the upright rods at the front
edges Of the planes. The uses to
which these ailerons are put are iden
tical with those accorded by the warp
ing wings of the Wright machine.
By a system Of wires and pulleys,
acting on the rear edges of the allie
rons (and on the Wright machine on
the rear of the wings), the aileron on
one side is pulled up when the other
side is pulled down. This is neces
sary to give stability and prevent
drift and overturning. If, in straight
away flight, for instance, the aero
plane drops toward the right, the de-
gree of the angle of incidence of that
side of the planes is increased, there
by adding to the resistance of the air
of that side, which tends to make that
end of the machine rise, and the an
gle CT incidence of the upward end is
decreased, pulling it down and bring
ing the aeroplane back to a normal
position.
The elevating plane or defector at
the front of the machine which Cur
tiss used is larger than any he hith-
erto has employed. 1t measures about
two feet more in width than the one
he had on his Governors Island June
Bug type of biplane. The rear rud-
der is of the customary Curtiss man
ufacture, consisting of a vertical end
a horizontal plane which intersect
each other at the centre lines.
At the very centre of the lower
plane and on a strong wooden bed is
the eight-cylinder, V-type, fifty-horse
power motor, which drives the single
seven-foot propeller at thousand
revolutions per minute. This exerts
a 35O-pound pressure on the air, and
thereby propels the machine The
cylinders, which are cast singly, and
are water jacketed to, an extent rath-
er less than is the custom with auto-
mobile cylinders, are square, measur-
ing four by four inches. They are
cast of gray iron, with finely wrought
pistons.
The oil tank, holding two gallons,
is located under the aluminium crank
case. The lubricant is forced upward
through two one-Sixteenth inch pipes
to the chrome-nickel steel crankshaft
by means Of a small gear-driven
United States and Mexico Take
Steps to Control Airships.
Washington, d. C.-The advance
in aerial navigation has led the Uni
ted States and Mexico to take the ini-
tial step in the direction of regulating
international traffic in the air. A
treaty between the two countries is
now being negotiated by Secretary
Knox and Senior de la Barra.
1t is pointed out that in carrying
light weight and valuable packages,
the airship, with an unrestricted
method of operation, could do prof.
table smuggling Business.