646 



NA TURE 



[OCTOUER 26, 1905 



drome, half of which sum was to be available immediately 

 and the remainder when required. 



The flying weight of the. machine complete, with that 

 of the aeronaut, was 830 pounds ; its sustaining surface, 

 1040 square feet. It therefore was provided with slightly 

 greater sustaining surface and materially greater relative 

 horse-power than the model subsequently described which 

 flew successfully. The brake horse-power of the engine 

 was 52 ; the engine itself, without cooling water, or fuel, 

 weighed appro.ximately i kilogram to the horse-power. 

 The entire power plant, including cooling water, car- 

 burettor, battery, &c., weighed materially less than 

 5 pounds to the horse-power. Engines for the large 

 machine and for a model of the large machine one-fourth 

 of its linear dimensions were completed before the close 

 of 1901, and they were immediately put in their respective 

 frames, and tests of them and of their power-transmission 

 appliances were begun. 



A test of the quarter-size model in actual flight was 

 made on August 8, 1903, when the machine worked most 

 satisfactorily, the launching apparatus, as always hereto- 

 fore, performing perfectly, while the model, being launched 

 directly into the face of the wind, flew directly ahead on 

 an even keel. The balancing proved to be perfect, and 

 the power, supporting surface, guiding, and equilibrium- 

 preserving effects of the rudder also. The weight of the 

 model was 5S pounds, its sustaining surface 66 square 

 feet, and the horse-power from 2?, to 3. This was the 



Fig. I.— Reproduction clan n;. I ' y.. |,,,, 



itself and hitherto unpublished, shovviTig the tiLrodrome m mulion before 

 it had actually cleared the house boat. On the left i<: seen a portion of 

 a beam, being a part of the falling ways in which the front wing was 

 caught, while the front wing itself is seen twisted, showing that the 

 accident was in progress before the aerodrome was free to fly. 



first time in history, so far as I know, that a successful 

 flight of a mechanically sustained flying machine was 

 tnade in public. 



Serious delays in the testing of the small machine were 

 caused by changed atmospheric conditions, but they proved 

 to be almost negligible compared with what w'as later 

 experienced with the large one. 



On October 7, 1903, the weather became sufficiently 

 quiet for a test. In this, the first test, the engineer took 

 his seat, the engine started with ease and was working 

 without vibration a' its full power of more than 50 horse, 

 and the word being piven to launch the machine, the car 

 was released and the aerodrome sped along the track. 

 Just as the machine leii /he track, those who were watch- 

 ing it, among whom were two representatives of the Board 

 of Ordnance, noticed that the machine was jerked violently 

 down at the front (being caught, as it subsequently 

 appeared, by the falling ways) (Fig. i), and under the full 

 power of Its engine was pulled into the water, carrying 

 with it Its engineer. When the aerodrome rose to the 'sur- 

 face It was found that while the front sustaining surfaces 

 had been broken by their impact with the water yet the 

 rear ones were comparatively uninjured. As soon as a full 

 NO. 1878, VOL. 72] 



e.Kamination of the launching mechanism had been made, 

 it was found that the front portion of the machine had 

 caught on the launching car, and that the guy post, to 

 which were fastened the guy wires which are the main 

 strength of the front surfaces, had been bent to a fata! 

 extent. The machine, then, had never been free in the air, 

 but had been pulled down as stated. 



On December 8, 1903, a test was made at Arsenal Point, 

 quite near Washington, though the site was' unfavour- 

 able. The engine being started and working most satis- 

 factorily, the order was given by the engineer to release 

 the machine, but just as it was leaving the track another 

 disaster, again due to the launching ways, occurred. This 

 time the rear of the machine, in some way still un- 

 explained, was caught by a portion of the launching car, 

 which caused the rear sustaining surfaces to break, leaving 

 the rear entirely without support, and it came down almost 

 vertically into the water. 



Entirely erroneous impressions have been given by the 

 account of these experiments in the public Press, from 

 which they have been judged, even by experts, the 

 impression being that the machine could not sustain itself 

 in flight. It seems proper, then, to emphasise and to 

 reiterate, with the view of what has just been said, that the 

 machine has never had a chance to fly at all, but that the 

 failure occurred on its launching ways ; and the question 

 of its ability to fly is consequently, as yet, an untried 

 one. 



There have, then, been no failures so far as the actual 

 test of the flying capacity of the machine is concerned, 

 for it has never been free in the air at all. The failure 

 of the financial means for continuing these expensive ex- 

 periments has left the question of their result where it 

 stood before they were undertaken, except that it has been 

 iinionstrated that engines can be built, as they have been, 

 il little more than one-half the weight that was assigned 

 I- the possible minimum by the best builders of France 

 ind Germany; that the frame can be made strong enough 

 t'' carry these engines, and that, so far as any possible 

 prpvision can extend, another flight would be successful if 

 ilic launching were successful; for in this, and in this 

 il'ine. so far as is known, all the trouble has come. 



The experiments have also given necessary information 

 iluuit this launching. They have shown that the method 

 which succeeded perfectly on a smaller scale is insufficient 

 I'll a larger one, and they have indicated that it is desirable 

 tliat the launching should take place nearer the surface 

 of the water, either from a track upon the shore or from 

 a house boat large enough to enable the apparatus to be 

 1 lunched at any time with the wings extended and perhaps 

 V, ith wings independent of support from guvs. But the 

 I (instruction of this new launching apparatus would involve 

 further considerable expenditures that there arc no present 

 means to meet; and this, and this alone, is the cause of 

 their apparent failure. 



Failure in the aerodrome itself or its engines there has 

 been none; and it is believed that it is at the moment of 

 success, and when the engineering problems have been 

 srlved, that a lack of means has prevented a continuance 

 of the work. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge.— The number of first-year students matricu- 

 lated on Saturday, October 21, was 1008. Last year at 

 the same date the number was 884. With those matricu- 

 lated during the Lent and Easter terms, the total for the 

 civil year 1905 is 1039; but this number will be slightly 

 increased, as several freshmen were unable to attend on 

 Saturday. Hitherto the largest entry has been 1027, in the 

 year i8go. The number of medical students is 117; there 

 IS also a large entry of engineering students and of 

 candidates for the economics tripos. 



The professor of mineralogy has. with the consent of 

 the \ ice-Chancellor, re-appointed Mr. A. Hutchinson, of 

 I eriibroke College, to be demonstrator in mineralogy and 

 assistant curator for five years from January i, 1906.' 



1 he special board for biology anci geology has nomin- 

 f^u^ ''■J- -^^ '^°"*' °f Trinity Hall, to use 'the university 

 table at Naples for six months as from October i, 1905.' ' 



