THE ÆRIAL MACHINE.

Auckland Chronicle and New Zealand Colonist, Volume 2, Issue 15, 15 November 1843, Page 4

THE ÆRIAL MACHINE.

A veritable model of tbis longstalked of monster has at last made its appearance under the care of Mr, Hanson himself. It was deposited at the Royal Adelaide Gallery, by that practical person Bishop Wilkins. The model, which is 12£ feet by 3 feet, weighs 17 lbs. without water and fuel, and 19 lbs; including those necessary articles of aerial navigation. This gives about half a pound to the i-quare foot. It is stated to be the mod«l of oneof 144 feet in length now being made. The model has been taken to the Adelaide Gallery, it appears, for the purpose of a much smaller one being made, with which experimental trips* "from one end of the institution to the other,' 1 are to be accomplished. Nothing of a satisfactory nature as to any flight this model has taken can be gleaned from those who are well acquainted with each and every eccentric movement it has hitherto indulged in. It is, therefore, to be inferred, that the experiments have not being very successful. Its actual worth will soon be rendered manifest, for the instis tution alluded to is one in which a me;e)fine spun theory will meet with very little quarter,—Morning Herald. We confess, says the Southern Australian, that we have hitherto been exceedingly incredulous as to these wonderful carriages, but Captain Allen, of Port Gawler, having kindly cornraunicatad to us the following extracts of a letter he has received from a friend of his in London, who knows the patentee, and of whose veracity there cannot be a doubt, we ca 1 now only wonder and await the event. We are told that some ingenious persons here are actively engaged in making a similar carriage, and have communicated the secret to respectable gentlemen. The following is the extract above referred to : '•A new company has started, called the Steam xErial Transit Company. A patent has been sometime taken out and paid for. They will travel 130 miles an hour, with as much ease, safety, and any ship or land carriage. The patentee says that the company consists of English Foreign gentlemen. They have been about twenty years in perfecting their experiments. They have now brought it to that perfection that they will be able to carry passengers and goods at a moderate rate. The carriage will go to Paris, and back, at a cost of less than £5, so that they will be able to carry passenger* from London to Paris at 10s. each, and have a handsome profit. The carriage is somewhat in the form of a *hip, is suspended in the air by gas, and is propelled by compressed air and steam. They intend to have four calling places on the way to Inriia. They expect t<> make the trip to Suez in four days, and to Bombay in seven days. " lYlanv people laugh," the gentleman writes, " but I neither believe nor di belit ve it. 1 await the trial. The patentee state* that when the grand secret is known, it will be found so very simple and safe, that people will wonder how it has never before been thought of. The company consists of verv ve-ilthy gentlemen, who have already *-x----penderf 'many thousands, ami are now busily bdiltHng ferriages alter the model found to answti so ■well.'' The Sydney Morning Herald gives the following simple explanation of the principle of this extraordinary machine, which , will be easily understood by the most obtuse minds : "Suppote a light wheelbarrow with an additional ' wheel totachleg—then let a lung, a verv long Bi>h frame be tied ao'ovs the barrow, and then let the handles be very long and strecbed over with canvass. Now if tbis barrow were to be allowed to run down a hill, it would go faster and faster, until, if the sash frame were to be suddenly covered with canvass,the barrow wouldjumpoff the surface of the ground and skim through the air. if after this, a *mall wiudmill turned by a spring in the barrow,'Could beset going, the barrow would float aloug till the force of tb.3 spring were expended. Now this is the aerial machine. The barrow is the carriage with the engineer, and fuel, and men ; the sas>h frame the 'large parallelogram, 150 feet by 30, atiached to the car; and the spreading handles are the tail- The whole is set upon an inclined plane, and off they go, as Tom Moore says, " like peas through a holly bush.'' The speed becomes greater and greater, and when they are about to bore a hole through to the centre, the voyager pulls bis braces —suddenly covers the parallelogram with webbing, and up they fly towards the moon ; for by their rapid descent they have created a desperate wind, and now spreading their sails they are buoyed up as easily as a kite. In this manner they might scud along for some distance and then come to the ground ; but the engineer has already turned on bis steam and 6et two windmills in motion, and these keep them skimming away as long as the steam lasts. Each windmill or vane is twenty feet in diameter, and has six sails ; these vanes are placed just between the parallelogram and the tail, and being turned very rapidly, suck he wind, and maintain, or accelerate, or diminish he speed at pleasure, Are auy persons sceptical ■to the bu yant power of the air ? let them run against a high wind, with a large umbrella in their aands, and suddenly unfurl it ; and i f they do Dot hceive convincing proof on the snbject, by losing eheir legs, we arc very much jnistaken."