June 24, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



953 



the -wish that we had something better, and 

 during the siege of Charleston Major Richard 

 Butt and Captain James E. Place, of the en- 

 gineers, and myself frec^uently discussed the 

 details of a machine that should not only take 

 up observers and go where we wished and 

 come back, but carry bombs with high ex- 

 plosives to punish the enemy. The ' come 

 back ' part was of importance. The balloon 

 would go, if the wind was right, but we had 

 no way to make it come back as was wanted, 

 hence it was never made to go. 



The flight of birds was observed, buzzards, 

 crows, eagles and gulls particularly. The 

 machine must meet the requirements, to start, 

 to go, to come back, to land safely — all were 

 considered. There was no record that these 

 questions had ever been before considered to 

 be done mechanically, without gas. We con- 

 sidered gas-bag inflation as so objectionable 

 as to be out of the question. Any machine 

 held up by rarefied air or its equivalent pre- 

 sented so large a surface that power could not 

 be had to drive it against the air, and unless 

 it could go against the air quicker than the 

 air itself moved, it was of no use for our 

 purposes. 



The ordnance department had tables of at- 

 mospheric velocities, so it was known what 

 had to be encountered. During the siege of 

 Charleston nothing was accomplished, but 

 shortly after the Tenth Army Corps was 

 moved up into Virginia and Petersburg was 

 attacked, the means of finding out what the 

 €nemy was doing became a very prominent 

 ■question with the engineers. 



The tin toy was experimented with and a 

 four-inch diameter fan was spun up to an 

 elevation of over a hundred feet. 



Major-General Benjamin F. Butler com- 

 manded the Army of the James and that in- 

 cluded the tenth corps, and upon seeing what 

 the tin toy did, immediately expressed the be- 

 lief that a machine could be made that would 

 navigate the air and give us the information 

 desired, and could do more by dropping high 

 explosives, and gave the writer an order to 

 report ofiicially upon the subject. No data 

 could be found that gave any encouragement. 

 The Duke of Argyle had organized a society 



in England, of which he was president, but 

 except with gasholders to sustain the weight 

 his society had done nothing. This society 

 was communicated with, but before any reply 

 was received drawings were made for a ma- 

 chine that should be screwed up and screwed 

 forward, which if it could be made to ascend 

 could be made to descend as slowly as desired, 

 and it was to have planes by which to glide. 



The theory was to imitate the little tin 

 model and add to it gliding planes, and the 

 drawings showed four fans to lift, two above 

 an engine, two below, and two fans to propel 

 and steer, one in front and one behind; the 

 rear fan on a shaft that moved in a horizontal 

 segment, so as to change the direction of the 

 push, and make the rear fan not only a pro- 

 peller, but a rudder at the same time. Across 

 the machine was to be a horizontal shaft, on 

 which on either side of the machine were to 

 be gliding planes and automatic balancing 

 balls. These were to slide in and out so as to 

 maintain an equilibrium. 



It had been observed that buzzards secured 

 a vast amount of their progress by gliding, 

 and the intention was to screw up and then 

 glide in a descending curve, and by so doing 

 save power, using the weight of the machine 

 itself, and when the curve had come near 

 enough to the earth, change the angle of the 

 gliding planes, and by momentum go up as 

 far as the impulse would aid in doing, using 

 again at the same time the elevating screws. 

 It was provided with a light supporting frame 

 like the runners of a sleigh, on which to alight 

 and to stand when at rest. 



The body was to contain fuel and water and 

 a high-pressure boiler and engine, and was to 

 be shaped like a thick cigar. The length of 

 the machine was about fifty-two feet, and from 

 tip to tip of the gliding plane wings a little 

 more. It was proposed to hang from the mid- 

 dle of the body a weight that could be lifted 

 or lowered to act like the legs of a bird in 

 fiight and to balance it as the tail of a kite 

 does. This vertically hanging weight was 

 also to extend or draw in the balancing balls 

 after the manner of the balancing pole used 

 by the tight-rope walker. 



It was argued that as a locomotive made to 



