The Washington herald., 1922-06-14
CChcHeuu
Scientific
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WEDNESDAY. JUNE Il. Isza.
HELICoPTER ENERGIES
FROM WARS BCloPsE.

Helicopter propeiiers are stirrins
interest as well a. air. Demonstra-
tions by Henry A. Berliner. OF this
city. OF his new desigS and tho
reports and denial Of the sensa-
tional night by Louis Brennan ID
England have caught scientific at
,ention and aroused the popular I'm
agination in regard 20 the develops
ment Of this type Of heavier-than,
air machine which was eclipsed
when the war concentrated engt
neering efforts upon the perfected
Of the further advanced airDlane.
Aircraft that are sustained b
propeliers turning on vertical axe
are still in the experimental stage
Theoretically they can 60 straish
up. ny horizontally. hover - n
air, and then come down safely
There are several diflcuities to b
met when An attempt Is made u
put this theory Ito practice. Tht
chief OF thess pr1b.enIs are First
getting the machine into the air
second. flying IL horizontally. ane
third. getting It down out Of ths
air.
Bringing n down safely is the bis
problem for the helicopter designer
As the children say, "All that goei
up is bound TO come down" This
is particularly true OF this kind o;
hesvier-than-air device Stop IN,
motor and IL comes down with
rock k-like fall. With an engine o.
extreme nicety OF adjustment and
absolute certainty OF action descen
might be made by simply throttlins
down the propeller speed gradually
As there is no engine Of such de
pendsbility. other means must bsv
devised for getting down safely
Psrachutes OF the necessary szf
would add too much weight Och
michen and Peugeot IN Francs
tried helping out the heavy ma.
chine with a balloon. Another
method proposed is that in coming
down the propellers be so built thai
they can be disconnected from ths
engine and the snrle OF the blsdei
} changed so that they would spin
around like a windmill. onerins
greater resistance than when held
stationary. Every inventor tries &c
solve This problem but as yet moth.
ing effective has been done.
More progress has been made ~
) the problem OF securing horizonta
fight. The latest Berliner helicop.
ter shows sreat promise in this re
spect. The machine resembles AZ
airplsne without wings. The fusel
age and rudjer are the same Hnt
a lie Rhone llo-horsepower rota-,
motor is mounted forward as in IN,
airplane. On either side OF N,
fuseIage there Is an upright os-
ryfng fourteen-foot propeller
These two propellers revolve in op
posite directions and force the al.
downward. lifting the 1900 pound
OF the machine with pilot straigh
or the ground.
Near the tail there is a small 4
propeller which is also gesred
the motor and which tilts the 2
tire helicopter by slightly lifting
tail. This tilt causes the forwa
motion of the machine. at the 2
pense Of lifting power. The invef
! tor claims. however. that with
!. 900 pound load but per cent d
the lift is lost in q tilt of Is de
: grees and that this loss 10 trans
; ferred into horizontal pull Of abou
rs per cent OF lifting power. Thi
is a somewhat greater tilt than ha:
been used in most Of the eNperi
ments. but he thinks that a -
degree tilt may possibly be reachet
safely. Closed flights. IL is claimed
have been made over a rough neId
but the machine has never beer
higher than twelve feet above tbs
ground.
Aviators. however. claim that get.
ting a helicopter into the air q
comparatively an easy matter
when near the ground the air which
is forced downward forms a cush
ion which helps TO sustain the ma
chine. but when the machine get.
some distance above the ground 4
lacks this cushion and there Is
gyroscopic action created BY tn,
big rotating propellers which fre.
ouently causes such devices 20 turr
turtle. Lieut.. Stefan Won Petroczy
OF the Austrian balloon service. wa
able 20 rise 10 feet In a helicopte,
which was later wrecked. II 4
claimed that Louis Brensn. thL
English inventor. has been up fort
feet inside the hangar. Henry Ber.
liner says that he could Eo higher
but that ten feet Is enough for ed
perimental purposes.
While great progress is helms
made, the helicopter problem haI
not yet been solved. Few nachinei
have gotten their own weight ~
the ground. and experts say that G.
is too early 10 make any prediction
as 20 what load these new air GRAF
will Re able to carry or 3uet how
valuable they will prove.
The outstanding ADVANTAGE 81 tn,
helioopter will be the ability to ri.,
vertically from a standing start ant
10 land in a similar fashion. Thh
will be important In landing on anc
taking on from a battleship at sea
IL is also claimed that the ability
Of the new machine to hover ovei
particular spot will prove OF valu,
in military operations. but air ner
claim that the plant flying at lot
miles an hour can drop bombs. foi
instance. as effectively as could o
lowering machine. and that a bal.
loon for observation purposes would
he hardly more valuable from anti.
aircraft guns.
The idea Of the heiicopter beInt
practical means Of popular trans.
portstion from home to ono. or al
Offering any near relief for thS
long-sufferinF strap-hsnRer 10 q ns
. ment Of the hction-fed imaginatiei
, and II not Justified BY the long
, hard tight which the scientist must
, carry on 20 produce a msn-nad.
, bird which will compese with tn,
heron In directly ascending night.
HORSES DO NOT CATCH
DIPHTHERIA FROM MAN.
wild horses running on the oper