Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-07-12
FLYING MACHINES ANCIENT.
Attempts at Flight 500 Years Before
BaIIoon Was Invented.

Balloon was lHNcHtCo'
So ancient Is the idea Of the flying
machine that the first attempts al
navigation Of the sky are lost in the
clouds of time and fable, but there
are authentic accounts of inventions
and attempts made at least 500 years
before the invention Of the balloon.
Knolles in his history of the Turks
gives an account Of an attempt al
flight made in the year 1147 at Con-
stantinople. during the visit to Clisas-
THAN. the Turkish Sultan to Emanuel
the Greek emperor. An active ano
daring Turk conceived the Idea tha'
by clothing himself In garments maze
with great fullness. so that they would
catch the wind, he would be able To
hover in the air after springing from
the top Of a tall tower coming easily
and gradually to the earth. In the
presence Of the two rulers and a
great crowd of people he made the at
tempt, and promptly broke his neck
Scottish history relates somewhat
similar story, the flight" taking
nIace from the battlements at Stirling
castle.
In 1917 the European journals gave
accounts Of a flying machine said
TO have been invented by country
clergyman of Lower Saxony. 1t was
stated that 1.-The machine Is built OF
light wood: it Is made to float IN the
air. chiefly by means of the constant
action of a pair of large bellows or a
necuIior construction. which occupies
in the front the position of the lungs
and the neck of bird on the wing
The wings on both sides are directed
nv thin cords. The height to when
n farmers boy 90 or II years OIL
age) whom the inventor has instruct
ed i'm the management of 1t, has hith-
erto ascended with it. Is not consider
able. because his attention has been
more directed to give a progressive
than an ascending motion to this ma
chine"
The clergy seem at all times TO
have been foremost in the attempts al
navigation of the air, Milton. in MS
history of Britain, speaking or one
Elmer. a monk, who foretold the IN
yasion of William Of Normandy, VINO
in his youth, made and fitted to MS
hands and feet some form OF wings
and with these he undertook to fly
from the top of a tower.
certain success attended his ef-
forts. as he actually did Fly furlohg
but the wind being strong. he event
ually fell to the ground, breaking both
his legs. $50 conceited was he OF his
art" the historian remarks, that he
attributed the cause of his fall to the
want of a tail. as birds have. which ne
forgot to make and fix behind him.
In the year 1909 a Mr.. Degan'
matchmaker, of Vienna, constructed
q fiving machine to operate in man.
ner analogous to the wings of BIRDS
while the effect partly resembled the
closing of a parachute, stationary on
its descent. The frame consisted Oh
rods. on which the navigator stoou
erect. A flat wing, nine feet long
eight feet long at the base, ana ter
minating i'm q point, projecting from
each side of the frame at the should
err" and a fan-shaped tail projecting
behind. Each wing, by means OF coruS'
could be made cOncave or iattened'
and the tail was similarly controlleu'
Mr. Degan is said to have MADE sue
cessful flights with his machine AS no
mention is made of motive power, II
must be assumed that the device was
a gliding machine simply.
Reference has been made to the IN
terest taken by the clergy in air navl-
gation-another of this class was
Joseph Gailen. a Dominican friar ana
professor of philosophy and theology
at Avignon. His proposition, MADE
public i'm 1855. was to collect the hhe'
diffuse air of the higher regions wnere
hail is formed and to inclose 1t IN
bag of cubical shape, composed Oh the
thickest sailclOth and extending mile
i'm each direction. With this machine
he contended. it would be possible tn
TRANSPORT an entire army with all lts
munitions of war.
The theory of the balloon had Deeil
known to men Ol SclcHCe ioi iohS
while. but the first known application
of the theory in Europe, at any rate
was i'm 1888, when two brothers;
Stephen and Joseph MOntgolfier, Oh
Annonay, constructed and sent up a
balloon of fair size. The first aerial
VOYAGE ever made by man, so far as
is certainly known, was on November
81. 1888. when Pilatre de RoZier, a
Young naturalist. and the Marques
ld'ArlandeS aScended from the chateau
of Mucttc about o'clock i'm the after
noon. The balloon ascended to a
height of about 5000 feet, sailed over
Paris, following course about SIN
miles long. and at the end of twenty
five minutes descended i'm the sub
urbs i'm perfect safety.
The only practical uses to when
balloons have so far been put have
consisted in scientific observations
and as observation stations during
war The first use of a balloon for
war purposes at the battle of Liegc
when the French successfully employ
ed them to observe the Austrian posi-
ton and ovements.-Chicago TIL
bune.