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Progress, Volume II, Issue 4, 1 February 1907, Page 128

of the rudder which was set to follow the course of the stream below This was done and only a short supply of steam given, for fear the model might fly off and lose itself, or get disastrously damaged, in the Virginian forests After half a mile the steam gave out and the machine settled gently down to the water level, was picked up uninjured and repeated the flight, this time not circling so much. This was in 1896, in which year Dr Bell's description and photograph became famous throughout the world. So well satisfied was that authority that he declared that the model had solved the problem of flying so completely that it only required the efforts of practical men with the command of money to carry it to practical working conclusion. The model, as seen in the picture flying, weighed 30 lbs., one quarter of which weight was contained in the engines and machinery — which w r as of unexampled lightness Within the small body suspended, as seen in the photograph, under the rod, was contained everything for generating 1£ brake h.p , the total weight of boiler, grate, and all accessories (including funnel) coming to less than seven pounds The engine weighed 26 ounces This moved the propellers, which, turn-

ing at. Boo to 1000 levolutions, drove the ship at a speed varying according to the inclination given to the motionless wings It was found in practice that the power required diminished indefinitely with the increase of speed The wings were fixed aeroplanes, two on each side, and there was a 1 udder of special design which did both the lateral and the vertical steering The machine could have flown much farther in fact, Lorn its performances there was no reason to doubt (the inventor said) that it could not have flown for an indefinite period Its short flight was only due to the necessit) for preventing its straying away over the land and into the forests

SANTOS DUMONT In the next illustration the famous Brazilian aeronaut is seen in the flight which drew from the Figaro the enthusiastic woids quoted at the opening of this article We publish the illustration to-day to complete the series of recent flyers. In our next we propose to descube the performance of the machine, while completing the story of ballooning to date (To be continued )

Foi electricity still another use has been found — namely, in the launching of vessels. The British battleship Agamemnon, recently launched, slid to the water by this new method. A series of interlocking levers were connected with the electrical arrangement. The Countess of Aberdeen, who performed the ceremony, turned a wheel which controlled the apparatus, thus closing the circuit and releasing the triggers that held the man-of-war on either hand The time occupied by the ceremony was very brief. From the instant the Countess put her hand to the wheel, to the ship's clearing the ways, was a matter of but one minute and fifty seconds. To safeguard against the contingency of the vessel's not starting of herself, powerful hydraulic rams were placed one on each side of the vessel. No use was found, however, for either of these