The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1910-11-10
FLYING MACHINE ANCIENT
TURKS MODE ATTEMPTS TO FLY 500
YEARS AGO.
THE IDEA An OLD ONE
But the Only Heatier-Than-Air Ma
chine Ever Perfected Belongs
In fht, T'xvarfibfI fyapfr.rv

but the Only Heatier-Than-Air Ma
chine Ever Perfected Belongs
TO the Twentibth Century.
SO ancient is the idea of the fly
ing machine that the first attempts
at navigation of tie sky are lost in
the clouds of time and fable but
there are authentic accounts of in
yeDtions and attempts made at least
800 years before the invention OF
the balloon.
Knoles, in his history OF the
Turks, gives an account of an at
tempt at flight made in the year
l147 at Constantinople, during the
visit OF Cliasthjan, the Turkish Sui
tam to Emanuel, the Crock emporer.
An active and daring Turk conceiv-
ed tne idea that by clothing him
self in garments made with great
fulness, SO that they would catch
the wind, he would be able to how
er in the air, after springing from
the top of a tall tower, coming easi-
the presence Of 1.-THE two rulers and
a great crowd Of people he made
the attempt and promptly broke his
neck. Scottish history relates a
somewhat similar Istory. the flight"
: taking place FROM the battlement OF
Stirling, castle.
In 1917 the European Journals
gave accounts OF q Flying yeachine %
said to have hean invented By q
country clergyman OF Lower Sax
tony. IL was stated that ''the ma
chine In built of light wood: it 10
made to float ipf the sir, chiefly by
means OF the cpnstant action OF a
pair Of large bhliows OF q peculiar
IRON rnaftnn uxhtnh nnax,ntoa A.. -
front the positisn OF the lungs and
the neck OF n bird on the wing.
The wings on both sides are direct
. ed by thin Sords. The height to
which q farmers boy (Io TO IL
years OF see) whom the inventor
had INSTRUCTED In the management
Of It. has hitherto ascended with 1t,
Ia not considerable, because his at
tention hasl been more directed to
give q progressive than an ascend
ing motion 10 this machine"
The clergy seems at all times TO
have been foremost in the attempts
at navigation of the air. Milton, in
his history OF Britain, speaking OF
; one Elmer, al monk, who foretold
the invasion Of William of Norman
dy who, in bis youth, made and
fitted to his hands and feet some
form of wings, and with these he
undertook toT fly from the top OF a
tower
A certain success attended his ef-
forts, as heI actually did "fly" a
furlong, buf the wind being strong,
he eventually fell to the ground
breaking his legs. 80 conceited
was he Of this art" the historian
remarks, fthat he attributed the
cause of his fall to want OF a tail,
n frde hnNr gnh h. A.
make and fix behind him"
In the YEAR 1909 a Mr.. Dean, a
matchmaker, of Vienna, constructed
flying machine to operate In q
manner ambiguous to the wings OF
birds, while Ithe effect partly resem-
bled the closing Of a parachute, sta
tionary on bts descent. The frame
, consisted Of rods, on which the nav
igator stood erect. A flat wing,
nine feet nong, eight feet long at
the base hnd terminating in q
point, projecting from each side OF
the framel at the shoulder" and a
! fan-shaped tail projecting behind
Each wing, by means OF cords,
could be made concave or flattened
and the tall was similarly controll-
, ed. Mr.. DeEan is said to have made
, successful flights with his machine.
, AS no mention is made OF motive
power, it must he assumed that the
device was a gliding machine sim
ply.
! Reference has been made TO the
, interest takeI by the clergy in air
navigation-shother of this class
was Joseph Eailen, Dominican
; friar and professor of philosophy
and theology at Ayignon. His prop
osition, made public in 1855, was to
collect the fipe, diffuse air of the
: higher regions where hail is formed
and to inclose 1t in bag of cubical
r shape. composed of the thickest sail
, cloth and extending mile In each
direction. With this machine, he
oontended, it would be possible to
: transport an entire army with all
, Its amunitions of war.
The theory Iof the balloon had
, been known to men of science for
= long time, b nt the first known ap-
plication of the theory in Europe at
any rate. was i'm 1888, when two
brothers, Stephen and Joseph Mont
golfer, of Annonay constructed and
: sent up a balloon OF fair size. The
first areial voyage ever made by
man so far as Is certainly known,
was on November 81, 1888. when
, Pilatare de RoziSr, young natural
list, and the Marquis d'Arlapdes
, ascended from the chateau OF
) Muette about 2 o'clock in the after
noon.y The balloon ascended to a
, height of about 5000 feet, sailed
} over Paris, following course
about six miles long and at the end
, of twenty-five minutes descended in