The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-03-28

Iordinated In Germany 81, 100 900 was
raised by popular subscript for ex- I
periments with aircraft, and the Eng
llsh advisory committee was given
$4,000 year for expenses from the I
beginning. Our advisory committee,i
is to be allowed $4,000.
A typical result OF this cooperatiyel
.system is the German Taube aeroplanc
which has proved one of Germany's I
most effective machines. Its design is !
based upon study of the wings Of in I
sects by a German naturalist whose
knowledge OF ballistics in the insect /
world was brought to bear upon the /
problem OF aerpnautics by the German
advisory committee. BY experiment
and comparison he discovered what
type OF insect wing is the most use-5
full for soaring, and used the samei
type for his aeroplane.
Now that. interest in the subject has !
been awakened in the United States i
and the advisory committee provided5i
for, the future looks bright for aero-i
nautics in this country. The United |
States owns splendid experiment
station at the navy yard in Washing
ton, while the war department has
grounds and hangers, and at the bu-
reau OF standards, short distance
out of Washington, is one of the most !
perfect laboratories in the world for
testing and standardfzing materials. /
This standardization of materials |
will be one of the first matters taken
up by the advisory committee When
it is completed the exact strength and |
quality of every bit OF metal, woou /
and canvas put into an aeroplane will 4
be known. The risk of any part
breaking will be greatly reduced, and
it Will also be possible for the man.
ufacturer to get reliable material at /
q much smaller cost.
Air 10 he Mapped.
Another task that must be under-t
taken before aeronautics can reach5t
their own lands, and some Of them
is the mapping of the air. All Euro
peair nations have done considerable II
work in mapping the air currents OF
thei rown lands, and some of them 1
have extended their Investigations over
the ocean. In the United States the
Smithsonian Institution has made only
some tentative Investigations on thej
Pacific coast. There, hydrogen gas
balloons with measuring instruments
have been sent up to an elevation of /
100000 feet, or twenty miles, and this
Temperature of the air currents anu
barometric readings up to that eleya-f
ton have been recorded. In order to
make the atmosphere Of this coun-
try safe for air travel. however, such
inv estigations as these should be made l.
at numerous points, and practically
the whole atmosphere should be stud
led and mapped to an elevation OF
10000 feet by means of guides and
sounding balloons. 1t is the neces-
sity for this work which makes 1t de-
sirable that q representative of the
weather bureau should be 4 member
of the advisory committee.
The perfection of stabiizers will, OF
course, he given the closest study
by the advisory committee. Several
very promising stabilizing devices
have been patented in this country
the one which has attracted the most
attention being gyroscope stabiliz-
3e1. There is little, doubt but what
these devices will soon be so perfect
ed that the danger of a sudden fall
being caused by gust of wind or a
pocket in the air will be almost COM
pletely eliminated.
Excellent Facilities.
Information as to the development
of foreign aeronautics has heretofore
been gathered by the war and navy
departments. and the advisory COM
,mirtee will bring all of this material
together and make it available for in
ventors and manufacturers. The war
has to some extent checked the study
of foreign methods in aeronautics by
Americans. In the development OF en-
gines, especially. France and Ger
many are far in the lead of us. En-
gines of French and German makes
had been ordered for the United f
States. but orders We're Cancelled when
the war broke out. There are, how
ever number of American aviatorss
in the employ of the French and Eng
fish aviation corps, and there Is littleE
doubt but what the advisory commit
tee will ultimately obtain all of the
information it desires about European
machines
Thus it is. seen that the United
States possesses excellent facilities
fol-. the Development of aeronautics,E
and that most OF the inventive work
from the first has been done by Amer
leans. Now that the means OF coor-
dinating all of these forces has been
provided, there is no reason. why
Americans should not play leading
part in the wonderful future OF. tho
saeroplane. ss
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