118 EXPERIMENTS WITH THE LANGLEY AERODROME. 



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

 carrying thcni. repairing the various breakages, assembling, dis- 

 mounting, and reassembling the various parts of the appliances, and 

 in general relniilding the frame and ap})urtenances 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 car- 

 buretors 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 aerodrome, 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 witli 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 genera- 

 tion and use of power. 



It is impossible for anyone 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 an}^ 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 experi- 

 ment us could be, until the aerodrome was at the location at Avhich 

 the' experiments were to take place. The large machine and its 

 quarter-size counterpart were accordingly placed on board the lai-ge 

 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 

 River, here 3 miles wide, directly ojDposite Widewater, Va., and 

 about 40 miles below Washington and midway between the Mary- 

 land and Virginia shores, where the boat was made fast to moorings 

 which had previously been placed in readiness for it. 



Although extreme delays had already occurred, yet they were not 



I 



