Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xliv. (1900), No. II. 7 



onl\- approximately correct, the problem of aerial locomo- 

 tion could have been solved in an ideal manner, as the 

 ascensional power would be derived from stationary appa- 

 ratus without the use of machinery. By discharging steam 

 downwards, the generator with a car attached would rise 

 in the air, and lateral discharges of small amount would 

 prope! the whole apparatus in any direction required. 



16. Numerous experiments made on the discharge of 

 steam and of air at pressures from 10 lbs. to 120 lbs. per 

 sq. in. directly into the atmosphere, and from orifices of 

 various forms, proved conclusively that, while the rate of 

 discharge was much less than that deduced from established 

 theory, the amount was far too great for the reactive force 

 to be utilised as a motor in aerial or any other kind of 

 locomotion. 



17. Experiments were next made to ascertain if the 

 rate of efflux would be diminished materially by causing 

 steam of 60 lbs. pressure to be discharged through a suc- 

 cession of deep gratings arranged in a cylinder, and also 

 through similar gratings in a long rectangular chamber 

 with a space of several inches between each grating. The 

 results of these experiments showed that, while the rate of 

 discharge was greatly reduced b)' the number of gratings 

 through which the steam was discharged for the same 

 area of orifice, the reactive force was always less than 

 twice the effective steam pressure, just as when the dis- 

 charge was made through a simple orifice. 



18. The same results were obtained when air of a 

 constant pressure of 120 lbs. was discharged through a 

 series of short thermometer tubes and expanded into a 

 succession of cavities between the tubes. 



19. With a constant number of short tubes and 

 alternating cavities, as in the preceding experiment, and 



