CHAPTER VIII 

 THE EXPERIMENTAL ENGINE 



It will be recalled that the contract for the engine for the large aerodrome, 

 which had been entered into on December 12, 1898, called for its completion on 

 February 28, 1899. Between the time when the engine should have been com- 

 pleted and May, 1900, the engine builder had been engaged in a continuous 

 series of changes on it, all connected with what might be briefly called its proper 

 functioning. The actual mechanical construction of the more important parts 

 had been admirably executed, and this main portion of the constructional work 

 had been completed within the time called for by the contract. The trouble was 

 that the engine, which was of the rotary cylinder type, would not furnish any- 

 thing like the power which had been expected of it, and which the size and 

 number of its cylinders indicated that it should furnish. No one who has not 

 had practical experience in the development of gasoline engines, can understand 

 or appreciate how fourteen months could be spent in changes in the minor de- 

 tails of the engine with the expectation that each contemplated change would 

 bring success; and to anyone who has had experience in the matter, an attempt 

 to explain the delays would merely seem like a history of his own experiences. 

 It is, therefore, sufficient to say that the delay on the engine had now reached 

 a point where it was necessary to bring it to a successful completion imme- 

 diately or to abandon it definitely, and either find a competent builder who 

 had already built engines which, while not necessarily light, were successful, 

 and who would undertake to construct a light one on the same principles, or, as 

 a last resort, to turn to steam ; and even the contemplation of this was appalling. 

 On May 6, 1900, the writer went to New York to see what could be done 

 towards assisting the engine builder to complete the large engine and also, if 

 possible, the small one which had been ordered for the quarter-size model later 

 described. He immediately made brake tests of the engine to determine ac- 

 curately just what effects were being produced by the different changes the en- 

 gine builder was making. Upon the first test the engine was found to develop 

 only 2.83 horse-power, and this could not be maintained for more than a few 

 minutes, when without any apparent cause and withoul any signs of overheat 

 ing the engine would altogether cease to develop any power. After remain- 

 ing in New York for several weeks, during which time many changes were made 

 in the engine, he finally got it to the point where it would develop four horse 

 power continuously; but, as it seemed impossible to get any better results with- 



218 



