CHAPTER IV 



HOUSE-BOAT AND LAUNCHING APPARATUS 



The use of a house-boat seemed to Mr. Lahgley so indispensable in former 

 years in making open air tests of the models that he decided from the outset, 

 though advised by the writer against doing so, to use the same plan on a much 

 larger scale in connection with the large aerodrome. Aside from its supposed 

 utility as a convenient and apparently safe place from which to launch the aero- 

 drome, the house-boat was valuable as a portable workshop for making neces- 

 sary repairs and as a temporary storehouse for the apparatus, thereby sav- 

 ing much packing and unpacking. It also provided sleeping quarters for the 

 workmen. 



It was early seen that this plan would require a boat at least 60 by 40 feet, 

 which could he built only at a large initial cost. But as the experience with mod- 

 els had so firmly convinced Mr. Langley that it was necessary not only that the 

 aerodrome be launched over the water, but also at a considerable height above it, 

 and from a station that commanded all points of the compass, he decided to 

 adopt this plan for the large aerodrome, and designs for such a boat were ac- 

 cordingly made in the latter part of 1898. 



Tn order to insure the completion of this house-boat by the time the aero- 

 drome was expected to be ready for trial, it was built under contract. Imme- 

 diately after its delivery in May, 1899, work was begun on the superstructure 

 which carried the launching track. This superstructure was a considerable un- 

 dertaking, involving a turn-table weighing aboul 15 tons, supported on a double 

 circular track, and this track in turn was supported entirely from the side walls 

 of the house to avoid having columns in the middle of the floor. From the pho 

 tographs, Plate .'IS, Figs. 1, 2 and ."!, it will he seen that the entire superstructure 

 was supported by three trussed girders extending across the boat above the 



roof and carried by vertical posts built into the side walls of the house. The 

 turn table was 4S feet square and the launching track carried by it was 5 feet 

 gauge by 80 feet long. 



In making tests of the models, if had been the practice to carry the main 

 body of the aerodrome up a ladder to the upper works of the boat, the wings 

 being also carried up in the same manner. As the large aerodrome was ex- 

 pected to weigh at least (140 pounds, of which 350 pounds would be the steel 

 frame with its undefachable parts, such as the engine and its appurtenances, it 

 was seen that something more effective than a ladder would need to he provided 

 for getting the aerodrome from the interior of the boal to the launching track 



156 



