Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 April 1893 — LANGLEY'S AIR SHIP. [ARTICLE]

LANGLEY'S AIR SHIP.

A CLEVER DEVICE—A. WORKING MODEL. A Fijin2 Machine Devised at the Smithsonian Instiiute. It is stated that Prof. Samuel Pierpont Langley, the successor of Prof. Henry C. Baird in the control of the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, which is one of the recognized leading scientific institutes in the world, and is under control of the Government, has developed a fly-, ing machine which he believes is practicable. The machine is a working model. It is not intended to carry.passengers. In configuration the body portion closely simulates a mackerel. The backbone is a light but very rigid tube of what is technically known a 3 “title metal,” one of the many alloys of aluminium and steel. It is fifteen feet in length and five centimeters, or practically two inches, in diameter. To give rigidity to the skeleton, longitudinal ribs of stiff steel are provided, intersected at intervals by cross ribs of pure aluminium, the result being a lattice framework of great strength. The engines, which are located in the portion of the framework corresponding to the head of the fish, are of the doubleoscillating type. They weigh sixty ounces and develop one-horse power, the lightest of that power ever made. There are fonr boilers of thinlv-ham-mered copper weighing a little more than seven pounds each and they occupy the middle portion of the fish. Instead, of water, a very volatile hydro carbon is employed, the exact nature of whioh is a matter of secrecy, but which vaporizes at a comparatively low temperature, The fuel used is refined gasoline and the extreme end of the tail of the fish is utilized for a storage tank with a capacity of one quart. Before passing on to the the boilers the gasoline is volatilized by going through a heated coil.

There are twin-screw propellers, which would be made adjustable to different angles in practice, to provide for the steering, but which in simply a working model are necessarily fixpd at a certaiu point for a given trial. Screws of various pitches, and ranging from twenty to eighty centimeters in diameter, have been experimented with, but it is not yet definitely determined which shall be adopted for trial. With the smallest the engines develop a speed of 1,700 revolutions a minute. With the larger ones the speed is somewhat decreased. A thin jacket of asbestos covers the upper portion of the body of the fish. It is unusually porous, and probably is employed to prevent undue loss of heat by radiation. The wings or aeroplanes are sector-shaped and consist of light frames of tubular aluminium steel, covered with China silk. The front one is fortytwo inches wide in the widest part and has an extreme length of forty feet from tip to tip. The rear one is somewhat smaller. Both aeroplanes are designed to be adjustable with reference to the angle they present to the air. A tubular mast extends upwardly and downwardly through about the middle of the craft, and from its extremeties run stays of aluminium wire to tips of the aeroplanes and the ends of the tubular backbone, and by this trussing arrangement the whole structure is rendered exceeding stiff. The machine was constructed and perfected to its present degree in a secret room in the Smithsonian Institution, where it now rests. It was conceived about twenty months ago by Prof. Langley, who associated with him in the work of experimentation Chief Cierk W. C. Winlock and Dr. Kidder, a scientific expert employed at that time in the institution. Four skilled workmen in mechanics and metallurgy were put to work at 50 cents an hour under pledge of secrecy. The work want on at odd hours, mostly at night and on Sundays. At the institution the strictest injunctions were laid on the watchmen to keep all intruders off the scent. The watchmen themselves were instructed to turn their backs or walk to the other end of the corridor when word was passed from the chief that some article was to be conveyed to or from the secret chamber. It is said that one employe was discharged merely for being seen on the third floor of the building. None of the regular employes were supposed to know what was going on there. As a matter of fact, very few of them do know that anything is there at the present time. Prof. Langley went to France to superintend personally the making of the central tube, which constitutes the backbone of the structure, and brought it back with him among his personal effects to secure careful handling. It is so light that it can be handled easily by an infant. During his French visit, while in touch with the most advanced investigators, he is believed to have reached his conclusion as to the best model for the general conformation of the proposed air craft, namely the long, thin, tapering lines of the mackerel. In the large lecture room of the National Museum Prof. Langley has succeeded repeatedly in producing successful flight by small models. They would fly as long as the power lasted, the power being applied by means of lightly-wrapped rubber bands, on the principal of the string top. The lightest of those little models weighs sxteen grams, and will soar from one end of the room to the other as freely as a bird. It may be supposed that the gross weight has been so far reduced as to give hope of actual success now, inasmuch as an outdoor trial has been planned. The intention is to employ a tug to tow the experimental party to a creek about forty-five miles down the Potomac, where the experimentsmay be conducted without fear of interruption.