AERONAUTICS. 



213 



Wenham^ has advocated the employment of superimposed 

 planes, with a view to augmenting the support furnished 

 while it diminishes the horizontal space occupied by the 

 planes. These planes Wenham designates Aeroplanes. They 

 are inclined at a very slight angle to the horizon, and are 

 wedged forward either by the weight to be elevated or by the 

 employment of vertical screws. Wenham's plan was adopted 

 by Stringfellow in a model which he exhibited at the Aero- 

 nautical Society's Exhibition, held at the Crystal Palace in 

 the summer of 1868. 



The subjoined woodcut (fig. 110), taken from a photograph 



Fig. 110.— Mr. Stringfellow's Flying Machine. 



of Mr. Stringfellow's model, gives a very good idea of the 

 arrangement ] ah c representing the superimposed planes, d 

 the tail, and g/the vertical screw propellers. 



The superimposed planes {a b c) in this machine contained 

 a sustaining area of twenty-eight square feet in addition to 

 the tail {d). 



Its engine represented a third of a horse power, and the 

 weight of the whole (engine, boiler, water, fuel, superimposed 

 planes, and propellers) was under 12 lbs. Its sustaining 

 area, if that of the tail (d) be included, was something like 

 thirty- six square feet, i.e. three square feet for every pound 

 — the sustaining area of the gannet, it will be remembered 

 (p. 134), being less than one square foot of wing for every 

 two pounds of body. 



1 Aerial Locomotion," by F. H. Wenham. — World of Science, June 1867. 



