EXPERIMENTS WITH THE LANGLEY AEKOUROME. 119 



SO trying as the ones \A'hich boo'an imniediatoly after tlie work was 

 thus transferred to the lower Potomac. 



The object in constrlicting the quarter-size counterpart of the 

 hirge machine was to duplicate in it the bahmcing and relative pro- 

 portions of power, surface, etc., that had l)een arranged in the large 

 one, so that a test of it might be made which wouhl determine 

 whether the large machine should be tried as arranged or the bal- 

 ancing and other arrangements modified. The launching appa- 

 ratus, which had proved so emin(^ntly successful with the original 

 steam-driven models in 18t)(), was considered a thing so well tested 

 that it had, as I have stated, been duplicated on a suitable scale for 

 use with the large aerodrome, and it was felt that if this apparatus 

 were exactly simihir to the smaller one it would be the one appliance 

 least likely to mar the experiments. 



In order to test the quarter-size model it was necessary to remove 

 its launching track from the top of the small house boat and place it 

 u[)on the deck of the large boat, in order to have all the work go on 

 at one place, as it was impossible, on account of its unseaworthiness, 

 to moor the small house l>oat in the middle of the river. 



Wliile this transfer of the launcliing apparatus from, the small 

 boat to the large one was being made, the changed atmospheric con- 

 ditions incident to a large body of water over which thick fogs hung 

 a great j^ortion of the time, from those of a well-protected shop on 

 the land, began to maiufest themselves in such ways as the rusting of 

 tlie metal parts and fittings, and the consequent disarrangement of 

 the adjustment of the necessarily very accurate pieces of apparatus 

 connected with the ignition system of the engine. These difficulties 

 might have partly been anticipated, but there were others concerning 

 which the cause of the deterioration and disarrangement of certain 

 parts and adjustments was not immediately detected, and conse- 

 quently when short preliminary shop tests of tlu' small machine' were 

 attenq^ted just prior to launching it, it was found that the appai-atus 

 did not work projierly, necessitating repairs and new^ constructions 

 and consequent delay. Although the large house boat with the entire 

 outfit had been moved down the river on July 14, 1903, it was not 

 until the Stli of August that the test of the quarter-size model was 

 made, and all of this delay was directly due to changed atmospheric 

 conditions incident to the change in locality. Tliis test of the model 

 in actual llight was made on the 8tli of August, 1903, when it worked 

 most satisfactorily, the launching apparatus, as always heretofore, 

 performing ])erfectly, while the model, being launched directly into 

 the face of the wind, flew directly ahead on an even keel. The bal- 

 ancing proved to be perfect, and the power, su])|)orling surface, 

 guiding, and ecpulibrium-preserving etl'ects of the riuUler also. The 



