10 is aly > ool Ca a 
aed eae 
BOR SE 
A VISIT TO THE HOME OF THE BIPLANE 
THE MANUFACTURE of the WONDERz 
FUL NEW MACHINES at MARBLEHEAD 
66 RIVE me to the Burgess- Wright Biplane Work- 
shops’? and then I thought what a curious 
fact it was that I had made such a request 
in the most ordinary and matter of fact 
fashion, as if I had been enroute to biplane studios 
from time immemorable. It was my first trip however, 
and I had more or less curiosity as to just what I 
should find. What I found was new and _ strange. 
The workshops are located in the ship yard of the 
firm of Burgess and Curtis, and are guarded with much 
vigilance from the gaze or intrusion of the outsider. 
Yachts and boats of every descrip- 
tion meet the eye at every turn as 
one enters the sacred precincts, 
and to the lover of water sports a 
visit to this end of the establish- 
ment is well worth while. It is 
where the biplanes are being con- 
structed that the real fascination 
lies today, and it is with a sensation 
of awe and wonder that one gazes 
for the first time upon one of these 
frail crafts of the air and realizes 
that the new era of aerial naviga- 
iont, long the dream of certain 
inventors and so called fanaties, has 
at last become an established reality, 
and is from day to day growing in 
public favor as ‘has no other in- 
vention of the age, with the possible 
exception of the automobile. The 
biplane being constructed for the 
personal use of Mr. Curtis of the 
firm, is resting upon a truck in the work-shop nearly 
finished, and it was with no little pride that it was shown 
and its merits discoursed upon by one high in authority 
apon the subject. 
Far be it from the thought of an 
unmechan- 
ically con- 
strueted brain 
to enter into an 
elaborate des- 
cription of the 
biplane. The 
technicalities of 
the subject are 
too eompli- 
eated, too deli- 
cate tobe 
handled lightly 
and by the un- 
edueated in the 
art, sufficient to 
say that the 
Preparing a Burgess- Wright Biplane for flight 
Atwood making a turn ober Swampscott 
bird machine, poised for all the world like a giant 
butterfly upon its auto truck, its white wings immacu- 
late and its hundreds of fine wires crossing and re- 
crossing the mechanism in a wonderful puzzle is 
fascinating. This particular biplane is very much lke 
the one used by Mr. Atwood in his world famous flights, 
with the exception of the engine, and it is Mr. Curtis’ 
intention to perfect this machine to such a degree that 
acrial navigation conducted upon sane and common 
sense principles will be insured. Several workmen were 
employed upon the glider, which was uncompleted, but 
, the biplane was so nearly finished 
that a very comprehensive idea of 
its workings was to be gathered by 
the attentive guest, and it is par- 
ticularly simple of explanation after 
such a discourse. It is the belief of 
Mr. Curtis that the day is not far 
distant when the few sections of the 
mechanism that have up to date been 
the bone of contention among the 
experts will_have been so regulated 
and adjusted as to give the best 
possible results, and then it will be 
simply a matter of popular senti- 
ment whether or no the aeroplanes 
have arrived for practical purposes. 
To the uninitiated the navigation 
of the air is attended by real terrors 
that seem almost impossible to over- 
come, but it is a well known fact 
that those men and women who have 
thus far taken up the art have 
proven to their own satisfaction the practicability of 
this method of transportation, and the pleasures of the 
sky pilot are such as to amply recompense for any dis- 
turbed mind with which the first steps are bound to be 
taken. 
When such -[@ 
men as the 
Wrights, Cur- 
tis, Atwood and 
Tlamilton have 
lent their ap- 
proval to such 
a tremendous 
invention it is 
bound to im- 
press the popu- 
lace at large 
with the won- 
derful possibil- 
ities it unfolds. 
There is no 
Atwood with a passenger over Swampscott 
