The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-06-29
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washington, ID. C., June 20 ne
heavier-than-air machine that viii
ascend and descend vertically, and
move forward when called upon To
do so, may not have arrived, but it
I is in the offing. Henry A. Berliner,
Washington inventor. has been
making demonstrations with a ma
chine of this kind that have at
tracted widespread attention
Helicopter is the name given this
type of flyer. Experts say it is to
be the next big development in the
| flying game, and experimenting has
been stimulated by big money
prize that has been offered in Eng
land for the first machine that will
meet certain fundamental require
ments. Mr.. Berliner is modest
about what he has accomplished,
and has not gone after the prize
money as yet, but it is possible that
he has solved at least one of the
big problems presented by the the
DRY OF the helicopter.
There are three of these prob
iens-flrst, getting the machine
into the air; second, flying 1t hor-
izontally; and, third, bringing 1t
down again. The first has not been
so difficult of solution and many
machines have been constructed
that will rise from the ground YER
tically, although it cannot be said
that in any one OF them this phase
of helicopter flight has been per-
fected Mr.. Berliner's efforts have
been directed largely toward hori-
z0ntal flight.
OF course, any helicopter that
goes up in the ar will come down.
The great difficulty lies in bringing
it down, rather than letting it fall
down, and it is said that this is the
greatest of the three problems men
toned. Theoretically. the helieop-
ter can go straight up in the air,
fly in any direction, hover in the
air, and then come down safely.
Power lifts them. and moves them
and holds them, but power is diff
cult of application in making de-
scent. The machines have no wings,
and when the motor is cut out there
is marked tendency toward a
rock-like fall that spells disaster.
If there was an engine of extreme
nicely of adjustment and absolute
certainty of action, descent might
be accomplished by simply throt-
Ting down the propeller speed
gradually. But there is no engine
of such dependability as yet.
Propellers at Cross Purposes.
The Berliner machine, which has
been constructed primarily for ex-
Fermentation in horizontal flight,
resembles an airplane, except that
it has no wings. The fuselage and
rudder are the same and the motor
is mounted forward as in the air
plane. On each side of the fuselage
is an upright car carrying IA
foot propeller, and these propellers
whirl in opposinte directions, fore
ing the air downwards and giving
the lift required to bring the 1900
pound machine and pilot straight
up in the air.
Aviators point out that getting
helicopter of the ground is COM
paratively an easy matter, for the
air that is forced downward forms
cushion that helps sustain the
machine However, when the ma
chine gets some distance above the
ground there is no such cushion
and there is a gyroscOpic action
caused by the big rotating propel-
lers which frequently cause the
helicopter to turn turtle. Lieuten-
ant Stefan Won PetrocZy of the Rus
trian balloon service is said to have
assembled 40 feet in a machine of
this type. and it is claimed that
the Englishman, Louis Brennan,
has been up 40 feet inside a han
gar, but Mr.. Berliner has never
taken his helicopter more than 10
or u feet above ground. That is
ample for experimental purposes, !
he says. fs%
TIE Washington inventor. in ad-
dressing himself to the problem of
horizontal motion, hit upon the
plan of fitting the helicopter. This |
is done by means of small pro-
peller near the tail of the machine