Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-10-12

equipment of complete machine shop. The
inventor had undoubtedly spent many thou
sands of dollars on the layout. But nowhere
was the wonderful machine to be seen. The
inventors eyes sparkled. He trenbled with
excitement. At last representatives OF the
United States army were about to look
upon that thing which would make Uncle
Sam the dreaded and undisputed emperor
of the air! A door to a smaller room was
opened, and there it was, this invention
which embodied all the sailing properties OF
the albatross.
Upon a little table in the center of the
room stood an ordinary wicker basket, and
to each side of it were attached rudely con-
structed feather wings. The representatives
of the army, sadder and wiser than before,
returned to their swivel chairs.
ANOTHER man stepped forward few
weeks ago showing how to sow the
whirlwind and ride the wind. His idea
is that one may create ones own whirlwind
and ride it at pleasure through the air. He
claims that he has method of SO d1slnte-
grating the air as to create vacuum of
varying extent and power. By means of
movable pipe he plans to spray a disinte
grating fuid-the fluid disintegrating the air,
not the aviator-in the direction he desires
able weight over long distances at whatever
speed he desires.
Another theme mailed to the War De-
partment is to offset gravitation by magnet
ism. If, this inventor argues, unlike poles
of magnet attract, and like ones repel, why
would it not be possible to find a method to
arouse the expelling force that must exist
coincidentally with gravitation? If this
could be DONE the United States could whisk
over to Japan fleet of aerial dreadnaughts
that would make battleships look like
bunch of canoes. This proposition sounds
absurd; but there is at least one man of rec
ognized scientific attachments who has
sought the aid of the government in pursuing
his investigations along such a line.
Much attention is paid by inventors
throughout the country to safety. They
have shown the government-on paper
that aviation can be made to combine all
the comforts of featherbed and all the
luxury of a Pullman palace car. AeroplaneS
should carry their own parachutes, big
enough and strong enough to float wrecked
machine from any altitude to the earth; or
individual parachutes for aviators and their
passengers may be carried, according to the
theorists who have become appalled, by the
loss of life in air navigation.
If all the suggestions filed away in official
p1geOnnOleS were True, swan 1IldluellS WOuIu
fit across the sky in monoplanes; and val
kyrs, volplaning from the clouds, would
visit battlefelds to receive the souls of stark
and stricken heroes. Putting all these ideas
into practice, one could make Dadalus look
like timid child; or, meeting the winged
dragons of Medea, catch them by their tails
and wrap them symmetrically round the
shooting stars.
ASIDE from the funny ideas submitted,
"a however, there are many that experts
consider of great potential value for saving
life and money. Shortly before the last adj
ministration went out of power Captain
Washington Irving Chambers made the rec
ommendation to his superiors that national
aerodynamic laboratory be established in
Washington. He was actuated in this by
his study of what foreign powers had accom-
plished through a similar institution. In
his report he said:
GAS Washington is a Mecca for business
people of all parts of the country, labora-
tory located here would be convenient in