THE LANGLEY AERODROME 467 



of 1901, and were of much more power than those originally designed; 

 but nearly a year and a half had been spent not only in their comple- 

 tion, but in properly coordinating the various parts of the frame 

 carrying them, repairing the various breakages, assembling, dismount- 

 ing and reassembling the various parts of the appliances, and in gen- 

 eral rebuilding the frame and appurtenances to correspond in strength 

 to the new engines. 



There are innumerable other details, for the whole question is one 

 of details. I may, however, particularly mention the carburetors, 

 which form an essential part of every gas engine, and such giving 

 fair satisfaction for use in automobiles were on the market at the 

 time, yet all of them failed to properly generate gas when used in the 

 tests of the engine working in the aerodrome frame, chiefly because 

 of the fact that the movement of the engine in this light frame must 

 be constant and regular or the transmission appliances are certain of 

 distortion. It was, therefore, necessary to devise carburetors for the 

 aerodrome engines which would meet the required conditions, and more 

 than half a dozen were constructed which were in advance of anything 

 then on the market, and yet were not good enough to use in the aero- 

 drome, before a satisfactory one was made. These experiments were 

 made in the shop, but with an imitation of all the disturbing influences 

 which would be met with in the actual use of the machine in the air, 

 so as to make certain, as far as possible, that the first test of the 

 machine in free flight would not be marred by mishaps or unseen 

 contingencies in connection with the generation and use of power. 



It is impossible for any one who has not had experience with such 

 matters to appreciate the great amount of delay which experience 

 has shown is to be expected in such experiments. Only in the spring 

 of 1903, and after two unforeseen years of assiduous labor, were these 

 new engines and their appurtenances, weighing altogether less than 

 5 pounds to the horsepower and far lighter than any known to be then 

 existing, so coordinated and adjusted that successive shop tests could 

 be made without causing injury to the frame, its bearings, shafts or 

 propellers. 



And now everything seemed to be as nearly ready for an experiment, 

 as could be, until the aerodrome was at the location at which the ex- 

 periments were to take place. The large machine and its quarter-size 

 counterpart were accordingly placed on board the large house boat,, 

 which had been completed some time before and had been kept in 

 Washington as an auxiliary shop for use in the construction work, and 

 the whole outfit was towed to a point in the Potomac Eiver, here three 

 miles wide, directly opposite Widewater, Va., and about forty miles 

 below Washington and midway between the Maryland and Virginia 



