Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 September 1896 — THE FLYING MACHINE. [ARTICLE]

THE FLYING MACHINE.

How the Successful Air Ship Will B» Built, It is an old story uow that the aeronauts of the day have abandoned the search for light materials :Atd buoyant gases in attempts on aerial navigation. The flimsiness and large area of exposure that attend the use of such means place the aeronaut at the mercy of the elements. Their hope now lies in the principle of the oyster shell which boys sail to such gratifying distances with comparatively small muscular effort, and the laws which account for soaring birds like the buzzards. Professor Langley. Mr. Maxim and Herr Lilienthal are one in their reliance on this aeroplane theory. The mechanical peculiarity of the aeroplane’s motion is similar to the gliding of a rapid skater over thin ice—the faster he goes the less danger is there of sinking. So Professor Langley has used in the building of this last and most successful machine substances actually a thousand times heavier than the air which promised to support them, and he relies entirely on the extensive area of the planes, shaped something like the wings of a hawk, and their angle to the currents of air, to achieve buoyancy. The oyster-shell analogy affords luminous explanation to every man who remembers the ecfitacy of seeing the white disc soar awtay and up Jk>ng after the -earth should, by all experiences of stonethrowing, have claimed her own. The flatter and thinner the shell within the limits of weight, the more astonishing the flight that resulted, unless, indeed, the edge of the missile were inclined downward instead of slightly upward. In the former case the shell darted instantly to earth, and the throw fell as much short of the average heaving of a pebble as the more scientific skim would have exceeded it.