The Ordway new era., 1911-09-29

ueen a discouraging obstacle. Such
a tremendous surface presented to the
wind more than offsets the power OF
the rudder to control. except In Il com
parative calm and the invariabie dis
aster which has overtaken the most
elaborate and expensive attempts
those OF Count Zeppelin OF Germany
pre- esumably will discourage further ef-
fort along this line and concentrate
inventive genius upon the acroplane.
The dirigible balloon. however. Is by
no means a complete failure.
The ordinary balloon retains the
pear-shape OF the original. but the
dirisib!e is elongated or c!gar.shaped
and braced along the sides to give 1t
stability. The control Is gained from
Il rudder extending from the sus.
PENDED car. which contains an electric
or gasoline motor. Walter Weliman's
| fruitless attempt to reach the north
pole and later to cross the Atlantic
were among the interesting but gigan-
tic failures OF the driS!b!e balloon
The Flying Machine.
Genuine aerial navigation. or indie.
pendent flight as distinguished tTOn
aim!ess floating IN the air. really had
| its birth when men abandoned the
| balloon idea and sought to mimic the
| birds. Otto Lilicnthal In Germany.
| Hiram Maxim In England and Samuel
F. Langley in the United States eN-
perimented and constructed machines
with planes and wings and rudders.
but their success was inconsiderabie.
| al
heavy or too frall.
niEerent inventors constructed
winged machines. large and small.
light and heavy. but the most they ac'
complishcd were short and uncertain
fliE hts or glides from elevated starting
places Finally In 1903 Octave Chanute
began to attract attention with his
| long slides among the sand dunes In
the vicinity OF Chicago. but his ma
chine had no motive power and was
never anything more than play
thing
In Dayton. o.. two brothers named
Wright, bicycle repairers. had been
experimenting with planes. Charute
turned over to them all his ideas and
they helped much in solving the prob
lem of equilibrium. In 1903 the
Wrights took machine to Kitty
Hawk. N. c.. and on December IT
after several trials and carrying VII
bur Wright. 1t left the rails on which
It gained Its momentum and flew IS:
feet in SO seconds-the first actua
flight by man in an aeroplane.
Since then the Wrights have re
| in, ha NY nti
navigation and their names must al
ways take front rank in any history O
aerial flight
1t would require many column.
merely to mention the marvels per
formed by nearly 5000 aviators wht
have flown during the past three years
Record after record has been broken
wonder has piled on wonder with be
wildering swiftness. until today tn,
people are not surprised at any fea
which the birdmen may perform. Dur
J Ing this brief period the progress ha
been truly staggering and the last |.
r months have been richer in achieve
ment than any preceding similar pc
riod. Such names as Santos-Dumont
r Glenn II. Curtiss. Charles X. Hamil
Ton, LOUIS faulndtl, james y. NBuu
5 Mars, Grahame-White. Walter l'roo,
= ins. Hubert Latham. Louis Blerio,
= Count Jacques de Lesseps. Stewar
g Rolls. John B. Moissant. j. Armstron
t Drcxel, Eugene B. Ely. Alfred l.
e Blanc. Louis Delagrange. Henry Farr
8 ham. j. A. D. McCurdy. Eugene La
$ febvre. Clifford Harmon. Ralph JohI
d stone. Archie Hoxsey. Lincoln Beachey
Harry a. Atwood and n host OF other
p are familiar to all.
d Distance to these birdmen Is limite
y only by the amount OF fuel they ca
g carry