The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-01-15

-VNIN Seven or eight years ago, Russell
IN was a freshman in the academic course
o at northwestern university, Evanston,
W Ill. He had an uncanny knack for un.
derstanding the why and wherefore of electricity
and mechanics, and was able to earn his way
through college by doing odd Jobs for a light and
power concern.
During the four years he put in at literature,
languages. mathematics and other subjects con.
tanned in a college arts course he was tinkering
along on the side with toy aeroplanes of his own
ueVlslng. Russell was slowly working out the
details OF a dream-one of the kind of dreams
that nave made Edison, the Wrights. Hammond.
Bell and Marconi scientific conjurers.
After he had received his bachelor of arts de-
gree this young mamie was born at Midland,
>. d., twenty-seven years ago-went into the on.
sineering school and specialized in physics and
engineering. Then he began to experiment with
MS aeroplane for all he was worth. Because if
wasn't a part of the regular course. Russell had
trouble getting shop space in which to do this
work. The school authorities, he says, had manned
out a prescribed course and they considered that
a deviation from it would mean confusion in the
ranks.
he even went before the trustees and made a
plea LOT special concessions, but without success.
sympathetic members of the faculty came to the
rescue, however. and Russell found room in Dear
born observatory to make experiments at night.
Dozens of models were made. tried out and
broken. The experiments had gone forward with
fair stead.ness for three years and longer, when
the young man felt that he had discovered and
worked out satisfactorily the principles of aero
dynamics he had sought.
That was three years ago. Then he went gun.
ming for patent rights. 1t was easy enough to
get simple patents, but the inventor wanted basic
patents. simple patents cover processes and
methods, while basic patents cover principles. So
after another long wait, voluminous correspond
ence and endless dealing with lawyers, Russell
was notified a few weeks ago that the basic patent
rights were his.
He carried the glad news to a fraternity friend.
The friend carried it home to his father. The
father went East on a business trip and told some
Boston capitalists. And the Boston capitalists
sent an aviator expert to Chicago to talk to young
Russell and see what he had. What he had was
the goods" evidently, for a short time afterward
a company was organized, foreign agents-sup-
posed to be representatives of the Anglo-French
Russian allies-signed contracts. a big factory
was leased and the inventor went on to the plant
to supervise the manufacture of the machines.
Just before Russell went East the Chicago news.
papers printed brief accounts about the patent
grants and the company's formation. Very little
was said about the inventor. When he was ap-
preached for the inside story of his labors MIR.
Russell wasn't easy to get at" He was found in
a little chicken-coop office which occupies a corner
in the machine shop which he calls his own. His
sleeves were rolled high and his hands were
grimy. The clatter and whang of machinery made
conversation difficult, but not so difficult as the
young inventor himself made it-for he is a shy
and reticent person, who would make a poor self.
advertiser. But once he began to talk about his
machine he was a whirlwind of impulsive speech,
making quick, d~raftsmanlike sketches to illustrate
his points.
His a~eroplane differs in shape from all other
known makes. 1t is a biplane. That is, 1t has
two sets of wings, one set several feet above the
other. In other machines the planes spread
straight across, and with the body and tail form
a big capital T.. In the Russell machine the wings
form a double v, like this: Wv. The tail is at.
tached to the place where the letters Join and
extends to the rear. The narrow points of the
letters form the front of the machine, and the
pilot, passengers and engine company occupy a
sort of canoe which rests where the wings and
tail join. The lower wings extend forward of the
upper ones-like a man with an undershot Jaw.
The two propellers twirl on either side of the tail
Just back of the wings.
Mr.. Russell didn't have war in mind when he
working on his invention. His idea conferred
in commercial possibilities. So long as the aero
plane remained unstable-so long as a driver had
to keep his hands on the controls to prevent the
machines capsiZing-it would remain a sporting
proposition. But when the time came that, by inn
in the aeroplane, the driver need only
crank up and guide, simply as he would guide an
automobile, the fier would be very useful In bust.
ness and pleasure.
In the double-V machine the young inventor be.
lieves he has discovered the great secret of in.