52 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. ()2 



". . . . 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 consequently when short preliminary shop tests of the 

 small machine were attempted just prior to launching it, it was found 

 that the apparatus did not work properly, 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 8th 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. This test of 

 the model in actual flight was made on the 8th of August, 1903, when 

 it worked most satisfactorily, the launching apparatus, as always here- 

 tofore, performing perfectly, while the model, being launched directly 

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

 balancing proved to be perfect, and the power, supporting surface, 

 guiding, and equilibrium-preserving effects of the rudder also. The 

 weight of the model was 58 pounds, its sustaining surface 66 square 

 feet, and the horsepower from 2|- to 3. 



" This was the first time in history, so far as I know, that a success- 

 ful flight of a mechanically sustained flying machine was made in 

 public. 



" I have spoken of the serious delays in the test of the small machine 

 caused by changed atmospheric conditions, but they proved to be 

 almost negligible compared with what was later experienced with 

 the large one 



" ... Something of the same troubles which had been met 

 with in the disarrangement of the adjustments of the small engine 

 was experienced in the large one, although they occurred in such a 

 diflferent way that they were not detected until they had caused 

 damage in the tests, and these disarrangements were responsible for 

 broken propellers, twisted shafts, crushed bearings, distorted frame- 

 work, etc., which were not finally overcome until the ist of October. 

 After again getting everything in apparent readiness there then 

 ensued a period of waiting on the weather until the 7th of October 

 (1903), when it became sufficiently quiet for a test which I was now 

 beginning to fear could not be made before the following season. In 

 this, the first test, the engineer took his seat, the engine started with 

 ease and was working without vibration at its full power of over 

 50 horse, and the word being given to launch the machine, the car 



