The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1912-06-04
Early Experiments.
tpy George To3nseInd. ]

K Wy &C
One OF the early students II dero.
nautics once said: III you had a ten.
tray and sufficiently light and power.
full motor. together with etfective pro
pellers. nothing on ear;h could pre-
vent your flying II you one got up
the requisite speed.r- or course that
statement Is very crude In comparison
TO the li;ilt we have oil .he subject
at the present time, but iocontains ttae
underlying facts OF successful avia.
ton.
The earlleit experimenters devoted
themselves almost entirely to the
mUnopfane principle. This was prob
ably because OF their endeavors to imi.
tate the flight OF birds and us near as
possible the shape OF the birds wings.
Nearly 10 years ago two EnglIsll-
men. Henson and Stringfellow, made
. model Of u flying machine, ,bnil, in
at&crdnace with data given by Sir
George Cayley. who made deep study
OF flight u century ago. That model,is'
on exhibition In the Victoria and All.
bert Museum, South KensingtOn, Lon.
don, England. at the present lime. Sir
George Cayley suggested the use OF a
tail for obtaining longitudinal stability
or balance and the warping OF the
wings for lateral stability. The warp
Ing OF the wings Is the subject OF the
Wright Brothers. famous patent.
Much experimenting was done up to
the, year 1900 without much success
because of the fact that up to that time
,ne tight fowerpiant was not avail.
able, but vita the coming OF the auto.
mobile aud the fast development, OF
The automobile engine, flying beisame
n possibility. ~
me Wright brothers, as nearly ev.
EryOne knows, We're the first men to
leave the ground ii an aeronei, or a
gasiess fylug machine. Very soon aft.
Ct. that other men built machines,
some Gf which flew and some OF which
did not. The Wright brothers, and In
iact. nearly all American ayiators.
have given almost their entire time
10 the development OF the; biplane.
witch has two superimposed main
planes In distinction from the mono
plane, which has only one main sup
porting surface or plane. ..r.t.
One great advantage OF the bipllna
IL the fact that II Is much steadier
than the monoplane. and therefore cas-
Ter. to control at a given speed and
safer for all bu. the expert aviator.
Tie French nation has gone ahead
OF US in The art OF aviation. the French.
men pinning their fai.h 20 The mono.
plane. They made good choice In
certain respects. The records for
altitude. speed, duration OF fight and
humber OF passengers carried are all
held by Frenchmen wEh French mono:
planes. with the exception CT the dura-
lion record which Is held by q French
tLlD!ane.
The following records have been
made: Speei-Jules vedrines, 1921
miles per hour: aititude-RoIaHd Gar.
ros, l2.S2S feet: duration--George
'Fourny. II hours. minute, 30 l-5
seconds; distance In one day-Armand
Gobe. 459 80 miles.
1t will probably be surprising TO
most people 10 know the great mum.
Der Of persons employed In making
aerial apparatus and accessories. and
the great amount Of money invested in
the business. At the present. time
over 100000 persons are working at
the business and over $5,00O,OOO is
invested, and more is being invested
every week.
Next Monday description of the
aerodynamic forces will be given and
the apparatus employed in an aero
plane and description OF the way In
which the latter act upon the air.