Popular Science Mo7ithly 



At the pre- 

 se n t time, 

 aeronautical de- 

 signers in America 

 have been hampered 

 by the fact that there 

 is not a dependable avia- 

 tion motor manufactured in 

 this country to-day. In 

 Europe there has been a great 

 advance in the manufacture of 

 aeronautical motors, chiefly because 

 several automobile manufacturers turned 

 their attention to this phase of the motor 

 industry. Firms with international rep- 

 utations for motor designing, such as the 

 Mercedes in Germany, the Renault in 

 France and the Sunbeam in Great 

 Britain, have designed aeronautical mo- 

 tors which are giving the greatest satis- 

 faction under the most difficult war con- 

 ditions. 



Until very lately, the aviation motors 

 made in this country have been manu- 

 factured by companies which had little 



539 



motor of to-day, the most formidable 

 obstacle in the path of aviation will have 

 been overcome. 



If the war has accomplished no other 

 useful end, it has advanced the progress 

 of aviation many years. In the United 

 States, without the spur of military and 

 naval aeronautics, aviation was regarded 

 as a profession from circus performers., 

 whose main duty was to "loop the loop,'*' 

 and provide thrills for the crowds. 

 Now, with aircraft manufacturers turn- 

 ing out aeroplanes at the rate of sixteen 

 a day, the public is beginning to realize 

 that it is a remarkably healthy infant 

 industry, closely rivaling the unpre- 

 cedented growth of the automobile 

 industry in its early stages. One of the 

 foremost aeronautical experts in the 

 country recently said to the writer: 



"Within one year after the signing of 

 peace between the European powers, the 



slow speed — a fault which has probably been remedied by now. The hug,^ i;.-t ^; i.i;., „l.;„1 



craft is shown by comparison with the men standing beside it. Remember that there are 



some aeroplanes now flying which are even larger than the one here pictured 



or no previous experience in motor de- 

 signing. The Packard Company has de- 

 signed a promising twelve-cylinder avia- 

 tion motor, and the Simplex Automobile 

 Company is equipping the rejuvenated 

 Wright Aeroplane with a well-designed 

 and carefully Iniilt motor, which in its 

 first tests has justified the hopes placed 

 in it by its designers. 



When automobile manufacturers co- 

 operate with aeroplane builders and suc- 

 ceed in developing an aeronautical motor 

 which is as dependable as the automobile 



first aeroplane will make a successful 

 flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Very 

 soon aeroplanes will be carrying our mails 

 to inaccessible spots. Shortly after this 

 will come the carrying of passengers on 

 a schedule as regular as that of our 

 Twentieth Century Limited. Many of us 

 will live to see the aerial expresses with 

 many planes, multijile engines, and an 

 enormous carrying capacity, which will 

 take us to San PVancisco or even to Lon- 

 don and Paris as easily as we can now 

 ride to Kansas City." 



