Aerial Locomotion 



2 L 



large kite increases very greatly its lifting 

 power. We now have the possibility of 

 building structures composed exclusively 

 of tetrahedral winged cells that will sup- 

 port a man and an engine in a breeze of 

 moderate velocity without the necessity 

 of constructing a kite of immoderate size. 

 The experiments with the "Frost King" 

 made in December, 1905, satisfied me 

 upon this point and brought to a close 

 my experiments with kites. 



CONCI^USION 



Since December, 1905, my attention 

 has been directed to other points neces- 

 sary to be considered before an aero- 

 drome of the kite variety can be made, 

 and to the assembling of the materials 

 for its manufacture. 



I have had to improve and simplify the 

 method of making the winged cells them- 

 selves. Through the agency of Mr Hec- 

 tor P. McNeil, superintendent of the 

 Volta laboratory, Washington, D. C, who 

 is now taking up the manufacture of 

 tetrahedral cells as a new business, I am 

 now able to obtain cells constructed 

 largely by machinery, and with stamped 

 metal corners to hold the rods together. 

 The process of tying the cells and parts 

 of cells together had proved to be very 

 laborious and expensive, and the process 

 was not suited to unskilled persons. By 

 the new process most of the work is done 

 by machinery, and no skill is required to 

 connect the cells together. 



I have also had to go into the question 

 of motor construction — a subject with 

 which I am not familar — and while wait- 

 ing for the completion of the material re- 

 quired for the aerodrome I have been 

 carrying on experiments to test the rela- 

 tive efficiency of various forms of aerial 

 propellers. 



I have also been occupied with the de- 

 tails of construction of a supporting float 

 adapted for propulsion over the water as 

 a motor boat and also adapted to form 

 the body of the flying-machine when in 

 the air. 



BOATS DRIVEN BY AERIAL PROPELLERS 



Of course, it would be premature for 

 me to enter into any description of ex- 

 periments that are still in progress, or to 

 submit plans for an aerodrome which are 

 still under discussion. I shall therefore 

 simply say, in conclusion, that I have 



" Oionos " Kite in the Air 



This name was applied by the ancient Greeks 

 to the great solitary soaring birds, from 

 which they drew their auguries 



recently been making experiments in 

 propelling, by means of aerial propellers, 

 a life-raft supported, catamaran fashion, 

 on two metallic cylinders. The whole 

 arrangement, with a marine motor on 

 board, is exceedingly heavy, weighing 

 over 2,500 pounds, and it is sunk so low 



