The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1913-11-14

Of atmospherical electricity. The
feathers on the wings especially. serve
as collectors, and every little haiflike
feather adds to the supply.
when the bird begins to AZ / rexu-
lar magnetic IL created. that hes it,
two poles at the two ends Of the wings.
One side Is the negative and the other
the positive. From the moment this
electromagnetic state ID reached. all
the work the muscles are expected TO
do is to direct the flight, a. the wings
are moved by the force OF the cleo
tricity; that is, they come together nm
til the force OF the opposite magnetic
power forces them apart. and the rope
tition Of this operation is called flight"
THAT certainly sounds simple, muir
INJURED the chancellor.
"Now take the aerodromone," con
tinued Santos. Through mechanical
inventions, and cirynith, we have Inn
proved the birds method of flight. The
Improvement is in the storing away OF
unused magnetism. The more quickly
we fly, the more magnetism IL gath
cred by the machine" Santos pointed
to the front part of the machine on the
blueprint, calling the chancellor's at
tention to the continuance that gave
the machine the appearance Of an
eagle. 1t was a large brass ball, Gov
cred with cirynith cap. Then he
pointed to a broad brass bar that ex-
tended over the entire top Of the ma
chine; that bar was like q round
brush. and its duty was to gather in
every little spark of electricity. and
store 1t in the brass collector. When
the insulation was broken. lightning
fash was sent out. directed at the will
OF the air man. So long as the ma
chine was In motion there was always
plenty Of electricity in the collector,
ready to be sent out to cause destruc-
ton to anything.
Wonderful" sighed the count. II
know what those sparks mean. have
seen them in action"
"The simple machinery that is built
into every aerodromone is to control
the fight and to start the wings. On
account OF the extreme simplicity of
the mechanism and the tremendous
strength of cirynith. the aerodromone
is, practically speaking, indestruc-
tible."
But how can one machine capture
the other, or even fight the other, I'M
der these conditions ?" asked the count
anxiously.
There are two ways in which q ma
chine may gain victory over the other
One is to disable the brain of the ma
chine, that Is, the man behind the
wheel"
How can that be done?" asked the
count eagerly.
"Cirynith. as you know, is harder
than anything except the diamond, 30
believe If hard steel bullets were
made with diamond points they would
penetrate the comparatively thin shell
of cirynith that defends the airm1n.
However. this is only a theory. Elk
periments must show the advisability
of their manufacture"
What is the other way?"
"That is certain method, and is
based on the laws of electricity that
seem to govern aerial navigation"
What is it ?" asked the count, tmpa-
tiently, as Santos hesitated and looked
| at ROSETTA
1T is the same as when boy takes
piece of amber or any other sub
stance that can be magnetized and
lifts up paper scrap. The quicker
atrman has to maneuver SO as to aEght
| on top of the hostile machine. The
T lower machine then sticks to the up-
| per, like the paper to the amber. only
with such great force that it cannot
be released until the current is stopped
and the necessary insulation between
the opposing forces is obtained
"But the wings Of the lower machine
might strike the upper" remarked the
| count.
1T looks that way" answered San
tos YEARLY. It brought back the hap
py days in the service of Napoleon.
and his heart was heavy. But, as I
have mentioned, different laws prevail
in the air, totally different from the
laws that govern the land or water.
The atmospherical electricity has
qualities that cannot be Judged by our
present knowledge. It has to be az
perimented with. Our trials on the
Island Of Ciryne showed US that the
aerodromones do not inture each
other; they might stick together, or
be hurled apart, but they are never
damaged"
Then you think, Mr. Duprel, that
you will be able to capture Edison1
force?"
The little man cast an appealing
glance toward ROSETTA; she looked him
straight in the eyes and encouraged
him. He said bravely:
Mr.. Edison is a very formidable en-
envy, but our improved machines viii
give US the advantage, and besides.
we will have larger fleet"
The count was satisfied and the
work under Santos direction went On.
1t took months before the factory Va
in perfect shape. and the various parts
were manufactured for the aerodro-
mones.
They often wondered that Napoleon