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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The latest experiments with Prof. Wellner's flying machine 

 do not seem to favor the construction of those air-ships which are 

 intended to rise by the strength of their lifting power only, this 

 power sufficiently outbalancing their weight. Some eminent 

 European aeronauts Profs. Pistio, Miller, Hauenfels, and Well- 

 ner himself now favor the principle of partial disburdening by 

 the application of some gas or other, which will add to the lifting 

 power of the machine. 



Important and very animated discussions of the present 

 aspect of aeronautics have recently taken place in London and 

 in Vienna. In the Aeronautic Section of the British Association 

 Prof. H. Maxim laid before his colleagues a detailed report of the 



Fig. G. Wellner's Sail-wheel Flying Machine fob Four Persons. 



experiments made with the model which he has had constructed 

 for the purpose, and which, though it has met with an accident 

 and has not led to a definite result so far, has certainly brought 

 the vital question nearer to its solution. Prof. Maxim's appara- 

 tus is a wonder of ingenuity. It carries its provision of fuel in 

 the form of naphtha in a small, exceedingly light boiler^ so con- 

 structed as to cause a constant, unvarying pressure. The ma- 

 chine proved able to rise and fly for thirteen hours at a velocity 

 of more than fifty English miles per hour. Its two large screw- 

 propellers are set in motion by two compound engines, the strong- 

 est in proportion to their size that have ever been made. Their 

 construction allows of the power being raised within one minute 

 from two hundred to three hundred and twenty-five pounds per 

 square inch. The screws are capable of more than five hundred 



