The Broad Ax

"Heavier Than Air" Flying Machines

Now the Goal of Inventors.

Prizes aggregating many thousands

of dollars for the production of a flying

machine of the "heavier than air" va-

riety, offered by English and French

enthusiasts, have caused great activity

among would-be inventors, and some

of the most prominent aeronautic ex-

perts predict that the year just begun

will be marked by remarkable ad-

vances in the science and practice of

aerial flight. To the gasoline engine

and to the extraordinary mechanical

progress made in automobilism is due

the hope that something definite and

worthy may be achieved by those who

seek to solve the problem of aerial trav-

el.

The ordinary balloon, it is agreed,

has little practical value save as an ex-

citing form of sport and for purposes

of observation in calm weather. In

anything like a stiff breeze it is the

sport of the winds and quite useless

from a practical point of view. Better

things are said of the cigar shaped con-

trivances utilizing both the gas bag

and the gasoline engine. Six years ago

Santos-Dumont was able to steer an

airship of this kind around the Eiffel

tower, running with and against the

wind. Since that time hundreds of

similar steerable balloons have been

built in France until today they are

nearly as common as the spherical gas

bag. Nevertheless it is realized that

these are far from representing a solu-

tion of the problem of practical naviga-

tion of the air. They have, in fact,

only stimulated the desire for some-

thing that will represent a radical im-

provement, such as the successful

"heavier than air" vessel would be.

The latter would mean, naturally, a dir-

igible vessel which could be driven in

any kind of weather and in any de-

sired direction. A fortune in prizes al-

ready awaits the inventor of such a

vessel, to say nothing of the monetary

return in a business way. Two prizes

of $50,000 each, one in England, the

other in France, await the inventor of

the successful aeroplane.

The mechanical difficulties in the

way of producing a perfectly dirigible

airship are immense because of the

number of contingencies that must be

provided for in traveling through such

a mobile and treacherous element as

the air. Machinery that can be de-

pended on not to fail and precipitate

the "heavier than air" machine to the

earth is the most necessary qualifica-

tion, but this can be provided, it is

known, if the method of propulsion

can be invented. The screw propeller

idea is by no means ideal because of

its great bulk, its poor lifting power

and its enormous waste of energy. A

flapping propeller, moving from side to

side, seems to give promise, but many

sound thinkers favor an approximation

to the bird method of flight, though

serious difficulties lie in the way of

converting circular motion derived

from a motor into the complicated and

various motions performed by the

wings of a bird. Even if such motion

could be approximated by mechanical

means great skill would be required in

directing the controlling mechanism,

as the constantly changing aerial con-

ditions would have to be instinctively

provided against.

Toy models working after the man-

ner of a bird's wings have successfully

traveled a few yards, but have failed

of success when enlarged to any ex-

tent. That the air is a region in

which man can travel has been proved,

however, and that under conditions he

can sail or fly through it by the aid of

mechanical power has also been dem-

onstrated, but many years are likely

to elapse before any practical method

of aerial navigation can be attained.

It is a problem that will not be solved

hurriedly, but that a solution will come

eventually is now almost a settled con-

viction with students of aeronautics,

and the incentives offered abroad with-

in the past few months give the hope

that great progress, if not actual

achievement, will mark the current

year. - New York Sun.