ÆRIAL NAVIGATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 201, 14 August 1908, Page 4

ÆRIAL NAVIGATION.

WRIGHT iinuTilh'KS' INVENTION. Press Asaoeial ion.—Copyright. New lurk, August 12. \\ right's aeroplane travelled for ouiiu ■Usee the raie of 40 miles an hour. DESCRIFTION OF AIACUINE.' Simultaneously with the arrival of Air. Wilbur Wright in Paris on May 20 his brother (Air. OrviJlc Wright) published in the form ol a newspaper interview a description of an aeroplane which, is is declared in America (says the New I'ork correspondent ot the Daily .Mail), i, destined to prove as potentially vital in the history of civilisation as was that of Watt's lirst steam engine or Pultun's elementary steam-

While Air. Wilbur Wright was preparing for a series of lest flights in Western France, Air. Orvillo Wright announced that lie and his brother had solved the problem of aerial navigation to such an extent that, accidents apart, they were sure to fuliill their contract with the American Government for a Hying machine which would stay in the air- lor one hour, travel a distance of live miles, and return at the rale of 40 miles an hour.

"1 believe," said Air. Orvilie Wright, "that our machine is the nearest approach to a practical 'llicr' in existence. The French, who look upon themselves as the greatest investigators of acml navigation, are modelling all their machines alter the Wright type as nearly as they can without infringing our patents. With the execution of a few details of construction that have necessarily to be kept secret in order to pieserve the commercial value of our invention, practically every part of our machine has been patented in every country in Europe and America." Air. .Wright declared that this aeroplane differed from other flying machines in that it was much more complete than any of them. Uc describes it himself as follows: '•Approximately, it consists of .a boxlike frame, ollft wide, 7ft long, and 7'/a ft deep, made of spruce ash. At the centre and the lop-front is a front rudder, a feature we introduced, which proved superior to the old method jl the rear rudder. In the centre and to the rear is the 'tail' of the. machine, approximately lift ill length, less than one-third of those on the French 'iliers.' This consists in different models of one or two vertical cloth-covered" frames. At the rear is the balancing machine, and as near the centre as possible the two propellers. "Below the framework toward the front is the skid similar to the runnels on sleds. This is used for landing. In this particular the machine differs from the French machines, which are equinped with wheels... With the wheel arrangement the French find it dangerous to effect a landing on sinoth ground with the machine travelling at a rate of more than 10 miles an hour. Willi our skid we can land safely on any ground other than absolutely hilly ground while the machine is travolliu'" at the rale 0 f uO miles an hour without any particular danger to the machine ■or the persons operating it. "In the centre of our Machine at the bottom, is a small double-wheel (rink wlia-h, running on a mono-rail, is used while the machine is acquiring speed enough to leave the ground. The monorail is easily movable in either direction. "Hie machine weights about 801)11).,' and in addition to its own wchdit an 1 including a four-cylinder motor" of between ir and Ijo h.n., can carry two men, with fuel sullicicut to drive' it ;i(i« miles. With one hum aboard it will carr\" enough fuel to travel 501) miles." Ihe American (ioverniiienfs te-,t iccording to Mr. Orvilie Wright, was far beneath the capacity of {he machine. Application for letters patent was made by the \u-ighl in France on Xovcuilrr 11 Hi and IStli, 1007, and the patent numbering and 354,125 resii-c----&S. rc is * ,u " 1 10 tlu "" °" <""""»■'■ These documents reveal in technical language (lie reason of the superiority winch the inventors claim their aeroplane possesses over all others. The secret iie s m . an extraordinary simple device by means of which the 'hrothe-s are abb; at will to ~,ise or depress cither wing of the Hying machine, ,„,.<■« as a_ hawk or gull or buzzard slams us wings m adjusting its soaring night to the varying atmospheric conditions. All experimenters in aerial navigation have recognised as a vital condition of sale (light the absolute necessity „f attaining some means of equilibria'tinn. lu photographs of the Farnian aeroplane and the machine invented be Jj'r Alexander Craham Hell, upward ,„'■ downward tilling wings are ele-n-iy shown,, but this, the friends of ih'e Wrights point out, is achieved bv a nI tl.er cumbrous structure of frame work which places great strain upon the eriti- | cal points. The principle utilised by the WrMits it is claimed, is infinitely simpler awell as structurally stronger and more reliable, because the tilling or'sluniiii ■ of the wings is accomplished not ov fragile sections hinged at the extremities, but by an easy upward or (low jwaru canting of the entire aeroplane su-ucturc itself and by a method thai equalises the distribution of stress -uul completely sustains the whole franic-

'l!»-i is clleried l,y means of a wive ■I"!- passed'over a drum, so Hint the <>jKY.:!or of the aeroplane, with a (urn i)l t.ie wrist on ii lever, may so elevate the ends or wings of the rear framework on one side and depress it coordinately on the other and the linen is curved upward at the extremity of one wins wliile depressed on the other. J he operator is installed in the contail rigid seciion of the aeroplane. Both tins central structure and the lateral extensions or wings form together a rectangular parallelogram, which is ngid in front, while in the rear the hileral extensions move easily on joints controlled ],y the wire attached to lh- : lever.

Bv this device, which, diflicult as it i., to explain verbally, is vet so simple as to be readily understood by anyone who lias studied geometry and rmiimcnfn-v ■physics, the. operator is enabled when Ins machine is struck by a vagrant air current which threatens to overturn i> instantly to increase tile angle of resist I" 1 " 1 "" the ""<-■ "iiig and depress it on the other, flm s restoring equilibrium. I.ut the evolution which restores the machine to an even keel bv givin" il """ncitarily Ihe shape of (he "I.w.i ilaui's of a screw propeller would also have a tendency (~ imparl to it a rotary motion. The Wrights have counteracted that dauber bv means of their lad rudder, whicli is brought into play ! I"' Hie same movement that elevates oV depresses the tips of th" great \vinrf S , and thus holds the aerial craft on Us true course. ] u this way the Wrights apparently have made their aeroplane v.s flexible as a bird's wing, and, what h no less vital, as strong. In some earlier aeroplanes used bv the two brothcr.s the operator was comI pelled to lie jirono in .the forward end ol the central or rigid portion of the craft, controlling the wires of (he \vin»s and !h<. rudder, brought logciher in "a soil ol yoke or cradle fitted beneath the ■yiator-s body ;n u , operator shifted the angles ol fl,e plane and the nubbr by a movement of his boilv.. Ihit as \va* explained by the special corresno'udentol the Daily Mail at Mahfco.Xorlii Carolina, the operators are now enabled to sit upright while in flight. This improvement is rendered possible bv the abolition of the body cradle, anil the Nub-dilution for it of'a convenient combination of wheels and levers immediately under (he hand of the operator