NATURE 



[August i, 1895 



Mr. Maxim calculates that, after making all allowances, 

 he can at present lift 28 pounds per horse-power : but that, 

 with improvements, he hopes to raise this figure to 50 or 

 60 pounds, and then a machine could take a flight of 500 

 or 600 miles. 



When the machine is perfected, Mr. Ma.\im claims that 

 the railway track may be dispensed with ; and that a 

 short run over a moderately le\el field will enable it to 

 attain the velocity necessar>' to rise. As far as landing is 

 concerned, he says that the aerial navigator will touch 

 the ground while moving forward, and the m.ichine will 

 be brought to rest by sliding on the ground for a short 

 distance. In this manner very little shock should result, 

 v/hereas if the machine is stopped in the air and allowed 

 to fall directly to the earth without advancing, the shock, 

 though not strong enough to be dangerous (?) to life or limb, 

 might be sufficient to disarrange or injure the machinery. 



These numbers are taken from Mr. .Maxim's lecture on 

 " Experiments in .Aeronautics," before the Society of 

 Arts, November 28, 1S94, where a full account of the 

 mechanical details will be found. Each engine is a two- 

 cylinder compound, with the cranks set at iSo" ; in this 

 way the inertia stresses are self-contained, and racking of 

 the framework is avoided ; a similar arrangement is 

 adopted by Mr. Thomycroft in his recent torpedo boats. 

 A photograph showed Mr. Maxim lifting with ease one 

 of these engines, from which 180-horse power can be 

 developed. The boiler is, if possible, a still more 

 wonderful miracle of lightness for its power, weighing 

 only 1000 lb., and providing 360-horse power ; the fire is 

 given by a steel burner with 14,000 jets, made from the 

 naphtha vapour delivered from an automatic gas gene- 

 rator. For details the reader must be referred to Mr. 

 Maxim's lecture : but the chief result arrived at may be 

 summarised as a performance of one-horse power for 

 every 1 1 lb. of weight in the motor complete. 



At this rate a lo-horse-power motor can be produced, 

 which will weigh considerably less than an ordinary man ; 

 so that when .Sir. .Maxim can spare a little leisure from 

 this fascinating problem of flight, he can beat easily the 

 perfonnance of the steam carriages recently competing 

 m France, and carrj- ofi", we hope, the prize of ^1000 

 offered in this country by the proprietors of the £'//i,'///ct'/-y 

 and some day we may see his motor utilised for purposes 

 of militar>- traction, and galloping round the smartest 

 battery of artiller)- on Woolwich Common. 



Mr. Maxim eschews the gas bag of balloons and the 

 use of vertical screws for securing levitation, and he 

 relies cntirch- on the upward thrust on the aeroplane and 

 wings, mounted at a slope of about I in 8, due to the 

 currents of air rushing past them. 



These surfaces are formed of canvas, stretched on a 

 skeleton frame"ork of hollow steel rods for the struts 

 and thin steel wire for the ties ; the large central .lero- 

 plane is composed of two parallel canvas surfaces, with a 

 space between, and in this way the shape is preserved 

 better ; and the general set of the wings, smooth like 

 cardboard, should excite the envy and stimulate the 

 imitation of our sailmakers for yacht racing. The front 

 and rear wings are shown pivoted about a horizontal axis, 

 so as to act as rudders in a vertical plane. 



The machine is started from the position in the photo- 

 graph, l)cing tied up to the indicator post shown in its rear ; 

 the pr()peller> are then set in motion, and soon drive a 

 gale of "mil in their wake ; when the pull of the rope 

 h.i ' ' .1 definite amount, say 2000 lb., a hook is 



re!' tlic machine starts on its journey along the 



Ira. r.. ' 111 ran now carr)' out his original notion 



«f cxpi th a model machine, tied to a post in a 



^alc of 1 . .in hour, to be found every afternoon 



in the taiions of California, in an artificial gale produced 

 in 111'; A.il.i of his propellers. Dynamometers register 

 si' '>■ the thrust of the propellers, so that much 



inv formation ronrcrning the dynamics of screw 



NO. 1344. VOt,. 52] 



propulsion can be obtained here, especially if Mr. Maxim 

 will stretch a wire carrying ribbons across the axes of 

 the propellers, in front and in rear, to measure the direction 

 of the air currents. The speed in air Mr. Maxim deals 

 with is about double the speed of the torpedo boat in 

 water; but the eflfect of "cavitation" in water, which is 

 beginning to trouble the naval architects, is one which 

 will not concern the propeller working in air. 



Now that the main mechanical difficulties of construc- 

 tion have been overcome, a longer track is required for 

 the purpose of practice in vertical steering while the 

 machine is off" the ground, but bearing upwards against 

 the outer rails. It is unfortunate that ditficulties should 

 have been thrown in the way of making an extension of 

 the present track beyond the domain of Haldwyns Park ; 

 so another practice ground, perhaps a sheet of water, 

 must be found, not too far from headt|uarters or from 

 skilled assistance. 



During a short interval of delay, caused by a refractory 

 pump, an adjournment was made to a gravel-pit close by, 

 to witness a performance of the .Maxim automatic gun. 



Ancient and medi.i;val mythology is full of references 

 to flying machines, from Dadalus and his son Icarus, and 

 Archytas of Tarentum, to 



" The story of Cambuscan Iwld 



. . . .'Vnd of the wondrous horse of brass 

 On which the Tartar king did ride '' 



of Chaucer's Squieres Tale ; and to Johnson's " Rasselas," 

 Peter Wilkins, Baron Munchausen, and .Ruber's opera " le 

 Cheval de Uronze." 



•' Rasselas," chapter vi., "A Dissertation on the .^rt of 

 Flying," is so curiously apposite that some extracts may 

 well find a place here. 



" .-Vmong the artists that had been allured into the 

 Happy X'alley, to labour for the accommodation and 

 pleasure of its inhabitants, was a man eminent for his 

 knowledge of the mechanic powers, who had contrived 

 many engines, both for use and recreation." "This 

 artist was sometimes visited by Rasselas, who was 

 pleased with every kind of knowledge, imagining that 

 the time would come when all his acquisitions would 

 be of use to him in the ojien world. He came one day 

 to amuse himself in his usual manner, and found the 

 master busy in building a sailing chariot. He saw that 

 the design was practicable upon a level surface, and 

 with expressions of great esteem solicited its com- 

 pletion. 'Sir,' said the master, 'you have seen but a small 

 part of what the mechanic arts can perform. I have long 

 been of opinion that instead of the tardy conveyance of 

 ships and chariots, man might use the swifter migration 

 of wings, that the fields of airare open to knowledge, and 

 that only ignorance and idleness need crawl upon the 

 ground." " ' The labour of rising from the giounil will be 

 great,' said the artist, ' as we sec it in the heavier domestic 

 fowls ; but as we mount higher the earth's attraction 

 and the body's gra\ily will be gradually diminished, till we 

 arrive at a region where man shall float in the air without 

 any tendency to fall ; no care will then be necessary but 

 to move forward, which the gentlest impulse will effect.' 

 ' Nothing,' replied the artist, ' will ever be attempted 

 if all possible objections must be first overcome. If you 

 will favour my project 1 will try the first flight at my own 

 hazard. I have consi<lcic(l the structure of all volant 

 animals, and find the folding continuity of the bat's wings 

 most easily accommodated to the human form. Upon 

 this model I will begin my task to-morrow, and in a year 

 expect to tower into the air beyond the malice and pur- 

 suit of man.'" " The Prince visited the work from time 

 to time, observed its progress, and remarked many 

 ingenious contrivances to facilitate motion and unite 

 levity with strength. The artist was every day more 

 certain that he should leave vultures and eagles behind 

 him, and the contagion seized ujion the Prince. In a 



