ANOTHER AIRSHIP INVENTOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 25

ANOTHER AIRSHIP INVENTOR.

A KAITANGATA AEROPLANE. " Well, I can't show you very much, but I can do one thing: I can offer a solution of a bit of the airship mystery. I began experimentjng up here with this thing just about the time that people began to discover airships all over* the country." Mr Armishaw, op Kaitangata, was the speaker, the Akatore Hills was the place, and the " thing " referred to was a model aeroplane made and patented by Mr Armishaw himself. Mr Armishaw'a-wish that he had an airship fathered the determination that he would make one. and he has been hard at work for the past six months creating 1 , destroying, calculating, and re-creating. He was heavily , handicapped by lackof knowledge, of appliances, jmd of capital. He, knew next to nothing "of aeronautics, aerostatics," etc ,* * and, such scientific teaching of this description as he nad received had come direct from the pages of the Scientific American. His tools were a large carvinjj knife, a gimlet, and a pair of scissors; his material closely-woven calico, bamboo, and copper wire. His experiments lasted many months, and if there was seldom even a suggestion of success he refused to acknowledge failure. He discovered that a, lone: paper cylinder, given the necessary impetus when balanced j at a certain angle, would glide for quite a | while before falling, and he commenced to elaborate the idea. A funnel-like thing was made of calico and stretched on bamboo, and on two sides of it there were constructed large, wings, measuring lift from tip to tip. Above the funnel was con- j structed a large square or plane of calicp, j while at each end of the machine was the | rudder — a very ingenious arrangement all ' joined up by meaus of bamboo rods. The ' win^s were so mad« that they moved I readily and automatically when required, the inventor's intention being that they should ensure the stability of the ship and held her steadily on her course in the event of a heavy gust of wind striking her. The ! tip of each wing — about a foot square — has j been given an action independent of the j wings proper, by which the process of steering cau be greatly facilitated. The machine was very carefully mads with a view to its balance being perfected, and Mr Armishaw so far succeeded in this that the construction, which weights just under 141b avoirdupois, will — if there is no wind — remain balanced on a post if the top of the latter is exactly in the centre of the framework. Having got thus far, Mr Armishaw proceeded to experiment out in the open country, and in this way utilised all his spare time. His occupation of a baker made it necessary that he should commence work at 4 a.m. e\cry day, and this usually allowed him a few fours in the afternoon ; while on moonlight nights he frequently remained out on the hills until midnight, throwing his model over steep inclines, carrying it up, and pitching it down again. 'As a rule, it fell almost like a log. Occasionally it floated off on an inclined plane, gliding for a few yards; and sometime, under \ery favourable conditions, it would travel some considerable distance— anything up to two chains. All the time Mr Armishaw was adjusting and altering, and, he believed, gradually effecting an improvement in his model. He found that the fceat results were obtained by running, and, I touching the aeroplane \vith ringer and thumb, giving it a sufficient push to drive it through the air. That was all that was required. It dijplayed remarkable buoyancy, and practically balanced itself. jWhen Mr Armishaw began seriously experimenting considerable public interest was shown, and he sometimes worked before a large audience. At almost the same tune people began to talk of strange airships ' and mysterious lights. ' which were ftrat noticed quite near to where Mr Armishaw $vas conducting: his experiments. Not unreasonably Mr Armiahaw concludes that he . orjjjinqteq the airship mystery. • "V Ip View of the taot that aerial navigation > haf during the past 12 months made such I • gigantic sUipes, and that thousands of < Bkilled inventors all over the world are to"day striving to construct a satisfactory airship, it is difficult to say what is the value of Mr Armishaw's modeL It is minus a pro- • peljer pr any kind of motive power, and until it is fitted with propellers it is impossible to say whether it will fly or not. The ihurentor hjus show£ eiceptjoaal cleverness

in the construction of the machine, and he has employed in it one or two devices that must, in any circumstances, prove useful. He has given it quite an extraordinary perfection of balance — shown by. the fact that I when the thing is thrown over a cliff up- ] side down it immediately rights itself — and j much buoyancy. Hut to be of any commeri cial value a flying- machine must fly, must 1 carry, must be able to hold its own in wind1 storms, and must be capable of remaining , stationary in the air — or, at least, of sink- | ing very slowly to the earth. Mr Armishaw has only just started on a work which, if he is to succeed, may mean years of application. But he has shown that he has energy, resourcefulness, and inventive talent, and the surprising success that I has attended his initial efforts should enj courage him to try for bigger things. He I intends, if possible, to obtain a small j engine, and fit it to a really larje aeroplane modelled on the present construction, and he is confident that he will be able to fly.