92 OUR PHYSICAL WORLD 



and in 1897 an improved avion rose and skimmed over the 

 earth for 300 yards, the first successful ascent of a heavier-than- 

 air machine with a man on board. One of Ader's machines 

 is still exhibited at the Institute of Arts and Sciences in Paris. 

 This ascent could hardly be called a successful flight, for the 

 aviator was at the mercy of his machine rather than having it 

 under control. It was badly damaged when it descended. It 

 remained for those men who had acquired skill in balancing the 

 gliders to make the first real flight. Before describing their 

 experiences, however, mention should be made of the work of an 

 American inventor, S. P. Langley, then secretary of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution at Washington. 



He began experimenting in 1887 with the avowed purpose of 

 producing an aeroplane. He made many models, powered with 

 rubber bands, that flew successfully. He was so encouraged 

 that he made some larger models that were driven by steam, and 

 these flew also ; one especially made flights of nearly a mile. The 

 United States government then put funds at his disposal to build 

 a large machine. This was provided with a gasoline engine and 

 tried in 1903. It was the first aeroplane to carry a gasoline 

 engine a distinct advance in the power plant of the aeroplane. 

 The machine carried a weight equal to that of a man as pilot. 

 It was launched from the deck of a houseboat on the Potomac 

 River, but the tip of one wing caught on a wire stay on the boat, 

 and the aeroplane toppled over into the water as it rose from the 

 deck of the boat. Langley 's funds were now exhausted, so the 

 machine was housed as a curiosity in the Museum of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. It is interesting to note, however, that this 

 machine was taken out and flown by Orville Wright in 1914 

 (Fig. 39). This, however, was after the inventor's death. 



Meanwhile Orville and Wilbur Wright, of Dayton, Ohio, had 

 been learning to use the Chanute biplane glider and had altered 

 and improved it. The fixed tail of the Chanute glider was 

 replaced by a plane that was movable so it would steer the biplane 

 up or down. The wings were also capable of movement so that 



