SHALL WE EVER BE ABLE TO FLY?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 130, 23 May 1908, Page 4

SHALL WE EVER BE ABLE TO FLY?

BY Sill 11 111 AM .MAXIM, INVIiMTOR 01' Tilli "MAXIM" UI"N. Judging by the strenuous cll'orts of inventive geniuses to discover the secret of mastering the air it will not be long before we have thousands of our cleverest men hard at work producing livingmachines and airships. Ik'fore, this comes about, however many ilillicull io s will have to be surmounted. 1 have Ik'imi carrying out extensive experiments with aeroplanes, and have experienced that, in order to give a balloon -iillieiont lifting power to carry two men and a powerful engine, i; i- necessary that it h liould be of enormous bulk. Therefore, not only is a '.cry huge surface exposed to tin' wiinl. bill the whole thing is so extremely light and fragile as i-i be eonipleiely at tin' mercy of (lie wind and weather.

Take that triumph of engineering skill, the " Xulli SceiHidu--," for example. The gao bug. which was sausage-shaped anil ;«m. in diameter, was a bountiful piece of workmanship, Iho whole being built up of goldbeater's skin, at an enormous cost. The whole construction, including the ear. tlu* system of ruspension, the engines anil propellers, had Ikh'U well thought out and the work fully executed; yet still, under these luo-t favourable conditions, only a slight shower of rain was necessary to neutralise its lifting power.

The diliicultv. tin n. is one which will have to be overcome {continues Sir Hiram Maxim in a recent issue of The Time-;) if airships and aerophi lies are to become a general mean* of conveyance. The new airship to be produced bv the War Ollice i* said to remove this diilicitlty. It -is being constructed with a greater capacity and a stronger engine. The gas-body of Ihe new balloon is to he s au>age-s])ap:'d and -I:2ft. in diameter; the area of the crons-scction would, therefore, be square I'eei. Tlh» designers state that it is to lie provided wilh ail en-Hie of Hid b.p.. which it is claimed will give it a speed of forty miles an hour through the air. ihat- with a wind of twenty miles an hour it will -till be able to travel by land twenty mile* an hour again,-t the wind.

This >pced. however. i- proved on v. i entilie grounds to be practically impossibly with s mh a vessel. Jf the new balloon were attached to a long sleel wire and drawn by a locomotive through the air. Ihe amount of energy required would he 2M h.p.--thai K if the bag would .stand being driven through the air al the rate of forty miles an hour, which is extremely doubtful. I'nder these conditions, the driving wheels of the locomotive would not slip, ami therefore no waste of power would re-nJL

Ihil in the dirigible balloon we have a totally difl'erent state of nll'airs. The propelling are very small in proportion to the airship, and their slip is fully oil per cent.—that is. in order to drivf a ship at the rate of forty miles an hour the screws would have to travel at least eighty miles an hour. It would, therefore, require -1/2 h.p. instead of 100 h.p. to drive the proposed new vessel through the air at the rate of forty miles an hour. It will be seen l'rom this calculation that the new airship will „till In- at the mercy of the wind and weather.

The experiments of navigating the air with machines heavier than air—the only true llying-maehine.-—have proved that the dilliculties are not nearly so great as is gem-rally supposed. In an aeroplane it is possible to get a much stronger build of machin" besides greater speed lhan in Ihe ca-e of airship*. The chief diilicully in aeroplanes lies in the engine, but even this—thanks |o the excellent work of the motor-car builders is likely to be overcome shortIv. I'lnie-sor Uuigley and other* have -aid. "<'ive us the motor and we will give you the living-machine." and now \\e have the motor there is no reason why one .should not go on and manufacture living-machine:- and sell them at a price not: greater than half the price of a motorcar.