Evening star., 1932-10-05
INVENTOR VISIONS
FLIGHT TO MOON
Devices for Automatic NavI'
cation of Aircraft in a
Vacuum Patented.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


Mans eventual flight to the moon
NAV have been brought Step neai.a g
hv a natent issued here THIS Week ~
pyof Pobert H. Goddard of Clark Uni
yersity on devices for automallc nav
gation Of aircraft in a virtual vacuum.
Eor the past is years Prof.. lIouualus
exneriments with his So-calleo uiooIA
rncket" have attracted wide atten.,o.i.
This is a rocket designed TO asceIiu "
the upper reaches Of the eartn oti ae
phere and possibly beyono-tne paans
cal objective being the stuoy, a,,ts " If
IF attached recording instruments. =,
L,a;oaI W conditions at heights which
cannot be reached by any otner means.
Theoretically. such rocket mlght even
reach the moon. .o.;a,,od N
The present patent is designed "
.nnlv ~ aircraft with rocket propulsion
IN addition to wings. Such an ar,
craft, like the moon rocket ltseli, Moasu
make use of the theoretically most eli-
cient kind of energy Tor locoillo.ioIa-
that furnished by the kick-back OF olS-
charging gases against the craft ltsell
rather than by any pressure exerteo
against the surrounding medium
Similar to Guns Kick
A familiar example Of the same thing
IS the kick-back of gun against the
shoulder. Since it does not depend at
all on the surrounding medium, as does
every other means OF locomotloH, ~
could operate theoretically in COM
plete vacuum such as would be en-
countered after passing through the
earth's atmosphere This is the prln-
ciple at the base of all schemes OF in
terplanetary navigation and OF more
realzable dreams of Journeys across
the Atlantic in one or two hours at
height of about 80 miles. The practical
difficulties in the way seem at present
unSurmOuntable.
In his application Prof. Goddard
specifies that he is not concerned with
q patent on rocket propulsion Itself
q principle which has long been well
knoWn-but only with means OF direct
ing such a craft once 1t has been
launched He makes l8 claims dealing
throughout with aircraft in which
propulsion is effected by the discharge
of combustible gases through a rear
wardly directed nozzle or passage.
The general object" he continues,
sis to provide means to enable such an
aircraft to preserve the direction OF its
flight and orientation without manual
supervision or attention. A further OBJ
iect is to provide directing apparatus
which will be operative under very low
air pressure conditions or in sub
stantial vacuum. My directing mecha-
nism is equally effective under widely
varying conditions OF atmospheric pres
sure"
The direction is to be accomplished.
Prof Goddard specifies. by provision OF
directing vanes controlled in position
BY a plurality of horoscopes adapted TO
be projected into the atmosphere sur
rounding the aircraft or into the path
Of the dischargtng gases. The dlrec-
ton of flight" he continues, is effected
by the pressure Of the discharge gases
against the directing vanes When the
craft is in a vacuum or loW-pressure
area and by the combined action OF tne
discharge gases and the atmosphere
against plurality Of vanes in a more
dense atmosphere.
Other Parts Of Application.
other sections of the application de-
scribe means for manual control OF
the direction of flight and for auto
matically diverting the fight from
predetermined straight course and Tor
manually resetting the horoscopes.
Prot. Goddard is the foremost Amer
lean experimenter with the principle OF
rocket propulsion" His researches
now are being aided by the Carnegie
Institution of Washington, but without
any suggestion of actual human trans
portation into space. During the past
few years several German scientists
have experimental with rocket locomo-
tives and rocket planes. but in each case
practical difficulties have stood In the
way.
The idea of those who see fantastic
future when man will no longer be con-
fined to this planet is that by some ex-
treme development of rocket locomo--
tion it may be possible to get beyond
the gravity pull of the earth into that
of the moon or even that of some other
planet. Once in vacuum and with
the pull of gravity reduced to mini
mum, a craft might be driven along by
its rockets with very slight expenditure
OF energy 1t simply would tend to con-
tinue in straight line in the direction
1t was travelling.
Another proposal has been that
rocket equipped with an automatic cam
era might be sent on an unplloted
tourney around the moon, photograph
ing what lay below it and then return
ing to the earth.
The height possible for balloon,
and especially for an airplane, OF course,
is strictly limited by the increasing
thinness of the atmosphere with alti-
tllde