The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-06-30

WASHINGTON, d. C., June 80. ~
The heavier-than-air machine that VIII |
ascend and descend vertically, and
move forward when called upon to do |
80, may not have arrived, but It Is |
in the offing. Henry A Berliner, al
Washington inventor, has been max
ing demonstrations with a machine |
OF this Kind that have attracted wide
spread attention.
Helicopter is the name given this
type of flyer. Experts say It Is to be
the next development in the flying
game, and experimenting has been
stimulated by big money prize that
has been offered In England for tho
first machine that will meet certain
fundamental requirements. Mr.. her,
liner is modest about what he has
accomplished, and has not gone after
the prize money as yet, but It Is pos
isibfe that he has solved at least one
of the big problems presented by the
theory OF the helicopter.
There are three Of these problems
first, getting the machine into the
air; second. flying It horizontally;
and, third. bringing It down again.
The first has not been so difficult Of
solution and many machines have
been constructed that will rise from
the ground vertically. although it can
not be said that in any one of them
this phase of he1icopter flight has
been perfected. Mr. Berliner,s efforts
have been directed largely toward
horizontal fight
OF course any he1icopter that goes
up in the air viii come down. The
great difficulty lies in bringing 1t
down, rather than letting It fall down.
and It is said that this is the greatest
of the three problems mentioned
Theoretically the helicopter can go
straight up In the air, fly In any di-
rection, hover In the air, and then
come down safely Power lifts them.
and moves them and holds them. but
power Is difficult of application IN
making a descent. The machines
have, no wings and when the motor
is cut out there is marked tendency
toward rock-like fall that spells dis
aster. If there were an engine of ex-
freme nicely of adjustment and abso-
Lutte certainty of action descent might
be accomplished by simply throttet
ing down the propeller speed gradu-
ally. But there Is no engine of such
dependability as yet.
The -BeFHner machine which has
been constructed primarily for exper-
imentation in horizontal flight. resem-
bles an airplane, except that ii has. no
wings. The fuselage and rudder are
the same and the motor is mounted
forward as in the airplane. On each
side OF the faselage is an upright car
CARRYING a 14-foot propeller, and these
propellers whirl in opposite directions,
forcing the air downwards and giving
the lift required to bring the 1900
pound machine and pilot straight up
into the air.
Aviators point out that getting a
heiicopter off the ground is compar-
atively an easy matter, for the air
that is forced downward forms a eush-
ion that helps sustain the machine.
However, when the machine gets
some distance above the ground there
is no such aireushion and there rs a
gyroscopic action caused by the big
rotating propellers which frequently
cause, the helicopter to turn turtle.
Lieut. Stefan Won Petrozy. of the
Austrian Balloon Service, is said to
have assembled ITO feet in a machine
of this type, and it is claimed that
the Englishnan, Louis Brennan, has
been up 40 feet inside a hangar, but
Mr.. Berliner has never taken his
helicopter more than 10 or IL feet
above ground That is ample for ex
detrimental purposes, he says.
The 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 a small propeller
near the tail of the machine which Is
geared to the motor. By lifting the
tail slightly this tits the whole ma
chine, which results in a forward mo
ton at the expense Of the lifting pow
er.
Mr.. Berliner claims that with load
of 1000 pounds only 3 PEI cent of tbs
lift is lost in tilt of 10 degrees, ane
that this loss is transferred into {
horizontal pull of about 25 per CEN
of the lifting power. The inventor be
neves that a % degree tilt may pos
sibly be attained with Safety, but ht
has never gone that far in any OF hi:
experiments, in the course of which
he has made short flights over rough
ground.
Such success as he has met witt
has encouraged him greatly, but he |:
by no means ready to go after TIL
rDTRhU cArJIPnAN ~