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Flight, January 9th, 1909.

&»•-•-

A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress ofAerial Locomotion and Transport.

OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.;

N o. 2. Vol. I.] J A N U A R Y 9TH, 1909."Registered at the G.P.O."]

as a Newspaper. J[""Weekly. Price Id.L Post iFree, lid.

FLIGHT.44 , ST. MARTIN'S LANE. LONDON, W.C.

Telegraphic address : Truditur, London. Telephone : 1828 Gerrard.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES.FLIGHT will he forwarded, post free, to any part of the world at the

following rates: —

U N I T E D KINGDOM.

3 Months, Post Free6 „

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A B R O A D .

3 Months, Post Free .

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Cheques and Post Office Orders should be made payable tothe Proprietors of F L I G H T , 44, St. Martin's Lane, W.C., andcrossed London and County Bank ; otherwise no responsibility willbe accepted.

Should any difficulty be experienced in procuring FLIGHT from

. local newsvendors, intending readers can obtain each issue directfrom the Publishing Office,by forwarding remittance asabove.

NOTICE.—Advertisement instructions should reach theoffice, 44, St. Martin's Lane, W.C., by first post, Thursday.The latest time for receiving small alterations for Advertise-ments is 12 noon, Thursday. No alterations can be madeafter that hour.

I F we had for a moment harboured a single doubtas to the precipitateness of our action in bringing out

F L I G H T at this early stage in the growth of the aeronauticindustry, all misgivings on that score would have beenswept away in their entirety during the past week by thephenomenal reception that has been accorded to our firstnumber. Congratulations and promises of hearty supporthave literally poured in upon us from every part of theKingdom, and gratuitous notifications have reached usfrom the most unexpected quarters that steps have alreadybeen taken by numbers of enthusiasts and their friendsto ensure obtaining the weekly issues with regularity.By Monday last, No. 1 was out of print at this office,thus necessitating reprinting; while, at the time ofwriting, orders still continue to arrive by every post whichit is quite impossible to fill. At the bookstalls, too, thesame apologies have had to be offered—the unanimoustale being " sold out." Needless to say, we are not onlysurprised at the overwhelming heartiness of this welcome,but are very gratified at the healthy prospects which arethereby opened up for the new industry and pastime in

"Great Britain.

-.. ? : • ' • ' . . . • '•"•: :

' •'.• ":

' "• 2 :

O N January 1st the first notice of FLIGHT in apublic newspaper of any sort appeared in the MorningPost, and by way of recording this " historical" greetingwe reproduce below theappreciation of ourcontemporary.It is but one, and may serve as an example of a largenumber of notices of welcome throughout the country,and to all of those who have thus signalised our adventwe return many sincere thanks. It will be our endeavourto live up to the good opinions of our friends. . ,

Thus the Morning Post:—

" With the new year the subject of artificial flight is to beencouraged in a practical fashion by the issue in Britain of a weeklypaper from to-morrow onwards bearing the apt title F L I G H T . Thejournal will be published at a penny, so that it will be within thereach of all interested in the practical progress of aerial locomotionand transport, while the fact that it is to be issued from the offices ofThe Atltomo or Journal is a guarantee that the production will besomething in every sense worthy the great movement, the currentstory of which it will record in words and pictures. Apart fromincluding an excellent retrospect of the past year as well as a veryfull account of the Paris Aeronautical Exhibition, this week's issueof I'he Aulomotor Journal contains the first of a new series of full-page portraits of prominent motorists, Prince Francis of Teck,Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club, being so presented to thereaders of the paper in question."

I T seems almost unbelievable at the present stage in the

history of aviation that the new pastime should alreadyhave an industry. But such is indeed the case; and, aswe had occasion to point out last week, this fact was oneof the most striking aspects of the first Paris AeronauticSalon. There are in France to-day firms who are notmerely willing to build aeroplanes, but who are manufac-turing them as a staple business, and who are prepared toaccept orders for them and guarantee them to fly with thesame readiness that a motor manufacturer undertakes toprovide a motor car. True, the experiments in flighthave been going on for a long time, but it is, after all,only quite recently that any marked degree of successhas been attained. Equally true is it that there arefirmsin England who have laid themselves out to buildmachines to the requirements of any experimenters ; butalasior the blindness of British patronage andpatriotism,customers have heretofore been far to seek.

It was not, of course, to be supposed that the French,of all people, would be blind to their opportunities in acommercial direction, but it must be confessed that there

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was hardly reason to expect that nonchalant aviditywith which those concerned have risen to theoccasion. This attitude, too, is all the more startling,inasmuch as although flight has interested a great manypeople in the m otor world — so tha t the two greatmovem ents have becom e very closely co-related—yetthe pioneer firms in this new-born aeronautic industrycan hardly be described as having been drawn from

motoring ranks. On e am ong the few names really wellknow to the motor world is that of Messrs. Clement,who are associated with the manufacture of cars ; anotheris that of Messrs. Bleriot, whose lamps are knownwherever motors travel by n ig ht ; and a third is that ofMessis. Antoinette, who have specialised in the produc-tion of multi-cylinder " V " type engines, and whosedesigns are put into practice in this country by theAdam s Manufacturing Co. But among the firms whosenames aeronautics has brought to light is that of Messrs.Voisin, who have been responsible for the designand construction of the Farman and Delagrangemachines, and who have since built one for Mr. Moore-Brab azon. Th ey have begun well, and are, it is fair to say,

quite the most successful constructors in F rance at th emom ent. Another important firm is the EtablissementsR. E. Pelterie, whose present plant is already capable ofbuilding every part of an aeroplane, including the engine.

The ir works were founded more than a year ago, andhave now developed into quite a large factory. Am ongother work which they have undertaken has been the con-struction of the cars for the " Ville de Bordeaux " and sisterairships ; but their speciality is, of course, the manufactureof the R E . P . engines, which have been de signed, from Ato Z, for aeroplane propulsion. Aeroplanes, as well asairships, which bear the trade mark " A st ra " are made bya firm (Soc. Sourcouf) which includes Messrs. Sourcoufand Kapferer, who were at one time engineers of M.

Deu tsch de la M eurthe's great dirigible " La Ville deParis." Similarly, too, an entirely new company, namedthe Compagnie Generate de Navigation Aerienne, hasbeen formed to build Wright aeroplanes, and of thisconcern M . Michel Clemen ceau, son of the well-knownFrench Minister, is a leading spirit.

Apart from those who build complete flying machines,there are even more w ho build eng ines ; but here, as isonly natural, names already known in the automobiletrade are more in evidence. Am ong them are Gobron-Brillie, Renault, Clement, Anzani, Gnome, Antoinette,Bariquand and Marre, and, last but not least, the BritishJ.A .P . T he J.A .P. firm, who have been very successfulin the construction of bicycle engines, have now

specialised in the manufacture of aeromotors, with theresult that they hav e introduc ed two m ulti-cylindermodels of the " V " type.

Besides the aeroplane as a whole, and the engine bywhich it is driven, there is the framework forming itsbody, and the surface material covering its wings, to giveopportunities for comm ercial developm ent. It is par-ticularly interesting to find w oodwork so largely employedfor th e former purpose, an d there seems to be a largefield for very extensive development in this directionalong .really inter estin g and scientific lines. Tw oconcerns which are making a study of this workare the Soc. Construction d'Appareils Aerienne andMessrs. Letford and Niepc e. The construction ofwooden propellers may also be included in this par-ticular section of the industry . Th ey naturally form a pro-duct of the two firms we have just m entioned ; but evengreater prominence is given to them by Messrs. Chauv iere.

With regard to the material for covering the surface ofaeroplanes, that made by the Continental Tyre Co. is ofcourse unique at the present time, and is likely to remainso for some little time to come. Tho se manufacturerspossess extraordinary facilities for its manufa cture, and havecom e upon the scene with years of experience bt-hindthem in the construction of similar fabric for balloons.

Needless to say, there is an all too obvious moral for

Great Britain to draw from all this activity in F rance .As yet, only a very few individ uals have conqu ered theair. But it is even now a foregone certainty that ere verylong participation in the conquest will becom e q uitegeneral. When that tim e comes, it goes without sayingthat the industrial side of the movement will become ofvital national importanc e : and the value of having beento the fore early in the day will be felt with full force inevery civilised country. It is common knowledge thatthe United Kingd om has utterly failed to get away wellat the star t; but all may yet be well if the recognitionof that fact is made to act as an immediate stimulant tothe British nation . It is interesting to record aremark made to us by M. Rene Quinton—the founder of

the Ligue Nationale Aerienne—during a conversation wehad with him at the recent Salon, for he unhesitatinglyexpressed the view that England was two or three \ earsbehind already. Th at is, however, a French ma n's viewof the situation ; and, in mitigation of its sting, we can, atleast, recall the fact that even in France it is two English-speaking men who have so far led the van.

The prospects of the coming season are bright enoughfor England if only sufficient enthusiasm can be aroused inplace of past lethargy. All being well, there sh ould be aninteresting aero show (as a section of the Heavy VehicleExhibition) at Olympia in March, for the secretary of theS.M. M.T . was diligently canvassing the exhibitors at theSalon to bring their machines over to this country. If he

has met with any marked degree of success, that alone willgive a great fillip to the m ove me nt; while, if the Societyare able to obtain the co-operation of the A ero Club of t heU.K ., the Exhibition ought to attract the attention ofSport and Fashion to the existence of the new pastime.

En gla nd, moreover, is far from lacking firms who areready and anxious to build aeroplanes. Th ere is thewell-known firm of Sh ort Bro thers , who are officialengineers of the Aero Club, and who already have aconsiderable amo unt of construction in hand. And ,amongst others, there is Mr. Howard T. Wright—abrother of Mr. Warwick Wright, the prominent motorist—who has been personally engaged in expeiimental workfor a long time past. It only needs, in fact, mor e pioneer

investigators like Mr. Moore-Brabazon—who wll now,we trust, find sufficient encou ragem ent to ke ep him atwork in this country— and this little n ucleus will receivethe breath of life for which it is at present pining. Th ereare, we know, several promin ent p eople in this co untrywho have already passed beyond a mrrely academicinterest in the problem of flight; and, while we heartilywish them every person al success, we sincerely trust thatthey will so work that their country may even now beginto benefit from their labo urs. It will not be long beforethe Aero Club and the Aeronautical Society—not tomention the Ae roplane Club, which we even yet hope tosee merged into the senior body—will have their trial-grounds ready for use; and meantime we hope all our

readers arc preparing the wa \, in accorda nce with theirmeans, by giving such support as they can afford to theinfant indus try which is destined to revolutionise civilisation during the present century.

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JANUARY % 1909.

THE FIRST PARIS AERONAUTICAL SALON.{Continued from page 11 , Jatutary 2nd.)

T H E following is a brief description of the various aeroplanes at the Paris Aeronautical Show :—

** R.E.P. (No. 2)."

Monoplane constructed throughout at the R .E .P.works (Billancourt, Seine). T he wings extend laterallyfrom the forward end of a longitudinal steel girder of semi-circular section, and are so made and mounted that theycan be warped for the purpo ses of steering. T he girder

H

has fixed keels above and below ; the latter terminates ina rudder, and b ehin d th e rudder is the elevator. Infront is the engine, driving a 4-bladed tractor screw.

A feature of the construction is the cover-ing of the entire machine with fabric, so as topresen t an u nbrok en surface. Also the topan d bottom keels give an unusually large verti-cal area. Un der ordinary conditions, themachine is controlled by a single pivotedlever, which operates the elevator and warpsthe wings. T he rudder is operated by aseparate lever working in a notched quadrant, and a

third lever is used for setting the elevator at differentnormal angles.

their new Juvisy Aerodrom e, which opens on Janu ary

10th. T he general lines of the machine are well knownto readers of The Automotor Journal. It has in addi-tion to the two main planes an elevator in front anda rudder e nclosed by a box-kite tail behind. T he pilotsits in the centre between the main plane s, and is thus

jus t in front of th eengine — a 50-h.p.8-cyl. Antoinette—which drives a 2-

— _ . b 1 a d e d propeller' ^ W mounted on the end

of its crank-shaft.T here are two sidecurtains between

the main planes,one near each end.Kapferer ("Astra").

Double monoplane built by the Soc. Sourcouf. It isa much larger machine than the majority of the single-

I

\iO

•" Delagran ge N o . 3."Biplane con structed by Voisin Freres, and exhibited by

4.he Soc. d'E ncou ragem ent d'Aviation in order to advertise

seaters, and has a somewhat heavy appearance. T herear main p lane has slightly less spread, and isslightly lower, than the front main plane ; th e pilot'sseat is just in front of the rear plane. At the rearextremity of the longitudinal girder is the rudder and theA1 elevator, both members

being divided to extendon each side of a centralaxis. T he engine—a 7-cyl. 35-h.p. R.E .P.—isplaced right in front anddrives a 2-bladed tractorscrew mounted direct onthe end of the crank-shaft.a .L .1

" Bleriot (No. 9)."Mon oplane built at the Bleriot works. It has a V-

section longitudinal girder frame, part of the surface of

PARIS AERO SALON.—Side view of the Bleriot Monoplane "N o . 9Jblack, is the flexible radiator.

T he central part of the body, which is

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'JANU ARY 9, 1909.

which is formed by the Bleriot flexible radiator describedelsewhere. Addition al radiating surfaces, constructedon the same principle, but in a different form, are

a small keel to give stability. In front is a 25-h.p. 7-cyl.R .E .P . engine, driving a 4-bladed tractor-screw.fixed directto its crank-shaft.

arrang ed, Ven etian blind fashion, in front. Vellum-likepape r is used as a covering surface for all the planes andthe body. At the rear are the rudder and the elevator,also a small fixed horizontal plane. Th e tips of the

" W r ig h t . "Full-sized mod el, not intended for trial purposes, con-

structed by Chantiers de France at Dunkirk for the Com p.Generale de Navigation Aerienne, of which M. Lazare

main wings are pivote d for steering, in conjunction withthe rudd er. In front is th e engine, a 50-h.p. 16-cyl.Anto inette, driving a 4-bladed flexible tractor screwmounted directly on the crank-shaft.

Weiller—who bought the French patents from the Wrights.—is a director. Th e sales are controlled by M. MichelClem enceau— son of the well-known Minister—who states-that he has already disposed of no fewer than thirty-

two machine s. Th e firstmodels are to be ready in.

"Ble r io t (No . 10) ."Biplane constructed to carry three passengers, including

the pilot. It is quite the largest aerop lane in the exhibi-tion and one of the largest in existence. Th e accommo-dation is distinctly cramp ed, both front seats being onthe same side as the engine and occupying bu t little m oreroom . Th e third seat, a mere box, is immediatelybehind, alongside the slanting chain which drives a largewooden propeller. Two flexible radiators, described else-

where, form side curtains between the main planes, andtwo m ore side curtains are formed by the triangular frameswhich extend backwards to carry a pair of elevators.Part of the upp er main plane is cut away to clear thepropeller, and the recess has small kite-shape d baffle-curtains on either side.

February, and will be tested at Cannes, where M.Clem enceau h as selected his trial ground. T he machines-are to be fitted with 25-h.p. Wright engines, made byMessrs. Bariquand and M arre ; the transmission is by

chains, one crossed and the other direct, to two wooden-propellers, as on Wright's own mach ine. Th e controlis by two levers. On e lever, th at on the pilot's.

A

" B l e r i o t ( N o . l i ) . "Monoplane having a relatively narrow spread, only

7 metres. At the rear of the longitudinal girder is a fixedplane with p ivoted elevating tips, and above it is therudder. Hig h up, above the main wings, in the centre, is

right, is moved sideways to steer, by the rudder andby warping the wings, while another lever to the leftcontrols the elevator. Th e w arping is don e by diagonalwires attache d to the rear corners of both main planes ,and the m aximum deflection is abo ut 15 cms . Both planes-

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•warp the same way at the same extremity of the machine,but opposite extremities move in contrary directions.T he front edges of both planes are unaffected except,perhaps, indirectly.

*f

Vendome (N o .

Monoplane of

2)."

birdlike appearance, constructed byM. Ven dom e. It is peculiar for its method of control.Two independent levers are used to warp the main wingseither in the same or contrary sense, according as it iswished to ascen d or steer. Qu ick steering is effected bypedal control of steering-tips superposed on the extremitiesof the main wings. At the rear is an elevator-tail set bya third lever.T h e t r a c t o r -screw is in front,direct-driven bya 3-cyl. Anzaniengine.

**Clement-Bayard.* '

Monoplane designed by M. Tatin and built byM. Chauviere for Messrs. Clement-Bayard, the well-known firm of autom obile engineers, who have equippedit with an entirely novel type of engine ma de by them-selves, which was illustrated in The Automotor Journalof Decem ber 2 6th, 1908, p. 1694. It is a remarkab ly

" Bregu et-Riche t (N o . 2)." . . , ,»

Helicopter-aeroplane, combining the principles of thelifting screw with the aeroplane pure an d sim ple. Th e

screws are two in num ber, and are placed at anangle of 40 degs. to the vertical between the frontand rear biplanes.

They are driven by bevel gearing from a 50-h.p.8-cyl. Antoinette engine placed transversely, and

are stated to give a starting lift of300 kilogs. with a horizontal pull of250 kilogs. at 300 r.p m. Each screwhas four flexible blades, and is 4*3metres in diameter. Of the two main

planes, the biplane at the rear has a spread of 14 metres,while the monoplane in front is 10 metres across;together (and with a few other smaller planes) a totalof 60 sq. metres surface is provided. Th e rudd eris behin d, and the elevator in front beneath the fixedmonoplane.

Between the main plane are two horizontal steeringplanes, which twist in an inverse sense, and are con-trolled by a pedal. Th e m achine weighs 550 kilogs.,and has been constructed at Douai by M. Breguet; itsframe is made entirely ofand looks cumbersome, butdimensions.

steel,nots

Itvery

is very large,heavy for its

£>"

substantial-looking machine, and a peculiar feature ofits construction is the upward curvature of the tipsof the main wings. All surfaces are covered with alight-coloured varnished silk, which looks at first glancelike aluminium . Th e pilot sits in the bows, and th e

LtJEUME

planes are attached to the centre of the girder frame.Carried by long wooden beams stretching out far behindis the elevator and rudder.

" Vo i s in -Fa rman N o . 1 "

Biplane constructed by Voisin Freres on the lines of" Farman N o. 1," and equipped with a dummy pilot togive reality to its setting over the grand staircase, whereit looks for all the world as if abo ut to fly off from thebalusters . T he general lines of this mac hine are thesame as th e " Delagrang e," and it presents the sameworkmanlike appearance which is characterising the

Voisin produc-tions. It is neitherclumsily heavynor flimsily light,

but appears to have just areasonable degree of rigiditywhich does the builders creditfor their judgment in design.

" Lejune (No- 1)."

Biplane constru cted by Messrs. Pischoff and Ko echlin ,of Billancourt, for M. Lejune. It is a feeble lookingjob in bamboo and unvarnished linen, but is designed alittle after th e lines of the W right m achin e in general

appearan ce, although thecontrolling plane s are quitedifferent. Th ere are twodouble elevators in front,situate some way apart,and a simple vertical rudderbehind enclosed in a box-kite tail a la Voisin. The

whole apparatus only weighs 150 kilogs., and is equippedwith but a 12-h.p. 3-cyl. Buch et engine. Th e Wrightsystem of chain transmission with twin propellers is used.

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**Antoinette-**

Monoplane built and engined by the Soc. Antoinette.It has, like the " Bleriot N o. 9 ," a particularly light,

Santos Dumont's " La Demoiselle.**Besides being the smallest mac hine at the show," " La

Demoiselle " hangs aloft by a wire like a toy butterfly sothat few of the visi-tors noticed its exist-ence. It is a mono -plane having a twin-

c y l i n d e r e n g i n emounted above the

The enginetwo-bladed

speedy appe aranc e, and is not unlike a huge dragon-flywhen viewed from ab ove. Th e long V-section girderframe, resembling a racing skiff, enhances its sportingeffect, and suggests that the type might become verypopu lar if ultimately proved to be successful. Partof the frame is filled in by the condenser-tubesbelonging to the Antoinette installation, as describedelsewhere. At the rear is the rudd er and the

elevator; both are small triangular surfaces, andthe former is placed immediately above the latter.They also both form extensions of fixed triangularplanes forming a cross-tail.

" P ischoff -Koechl in ."Monoplane having a car built like a boat, and with the

pilot's seat well forward immediately between the mainwings. In front is a divided elevator, and there is anotherbehin d in addition to a divided rudde r. T he controllingapparatus was not assembled, nor was anyone in evidenceon the stand to explain what would be employed.Imm ediately be hind the main w ings are two woodenpropellers, driven by chains from a twin-cylinder (opposed)horizontal engine.

®

wings.drives atractor-screw and theaviator sits beneath

on a light saddle. T he spread of the wings is only about5 metres, and their surface only abou t 9 sq. metres . T h etotal weight is only 67 kilogs., so that it can be very5total

readily handled by one man; it has already achievedsome short flights.

Table of Reference Letters for the Sketches of Aeroplanes*

A1

C

Main wings or planes.Tail or small supple-

mentary fixe d plane.Elevator.Rudder.

D

KKGH

Steering tips .Engine .Pilot's seat.Propeller or tractor screw.Kee l .

05?

AEROPLANE PROPELLERS.IT is a very singular fact that a prop eller is regard ed bythe un initiated as the simplest possible kind of app aratus;while, by those who know or try to know the facts, it islooked upon as one of the most puzzling devices in the

TABLE OF PROPELLERS AT THE PARIS SALON.

Aeroplane.

Aluminium Blades

R. E.P . (No. 2 ) . . . P .E . P .Bleriot (N o. 9, 11) BleriutAntoinette . . .j AntoinetteKap ferer. . . . j —Delagran ge ... Voisin...Farm an ... . . . Voisin ...

— i Soc C.A.A.

Front

Middle

Drive.dZ;

d

ter

Remarks.

Mounted on Steel Tubes.

Direct

2 ' 2

2*52 * O

m .

1 "3

Wright ...Bleriot (No.Clement ...

10).

Vendome (No. 2)

Breguet

Ch. de FranceBleriotChauviere

VendomeLetordSoc. C.A.A. ...

Breguet

Gnome

Wooden Propellers.Middle Chains

ChainBevel

Fron t Direct I 2

2 • 8 — ! One chain crossed.

Special Construction.Mid dle! Bevel 2 ] 4 j4"25!

Front : Direct | 1 4 2-0

whole science of engineering. Its study is an educa tionin itself, and an entertaining one to boot, for to read theinnumerable different theories on the subject which havebeen propo unde d from time to time by various investi-

gators of the laws appe rtaining tothe propulsion of ships—for it is,of course, in marine work that thepropeller has h itherto found its fieldof greate st utility —is often dive rt-ing, to say the very least.

Very little is known about the

aerial propeller at the present day,and it is very evident that a greatdeal will have to be found outbefore the utmost capabilities ofaerial engines are turned to the bestadvan tage. It is very certain thatsome of the propellers on view atthe Salon will not be consideredas high-class examples of designand workmanship in a few years tocome, but then it is also just asobvious that very serious efforts arealready being made by differentfirms to cope with the problem ina fashion that is at once scientificand comm ercial. In days whenit is difficult enough to get themac hine as a whole to fly at all, it

qok .p .h . a t I400 r .p .m.Flexible.

Soc. Constr. d 'AppareilsAeriens, makers.

with'4 2"5 Horizontal engineI vertical crank-shaft.

2 '4 5 2 'ol Flexible.Make any size, to order.Soc. Constr. d 'Appareils

Aeriens, makers .

Hollow aluminium flexibleblades; variable pitch.

Thin steel, flexible.

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is not surprising that experimenters should seek tohave a propeller on their machine which they canplay about with to their heart's content, rather than onewhich is the last word in refinement and finish. T heprrpfller-blade which consists of an aluminium paddieriveted to the flattened end of a steel tube, the otherend of which is stuck tangentially into a suitableboss, forms an adm irable device for experimental purposes,inasmuch as both the effective diameter and also thepitch can be varied at will.

Th e pitch, it may be remarked for the benefit of thosewho are interesting themselves in this subject for thefirst tim e, is th e d istanc e w hich th e pr< peller theo-reticallv advances through the air in making onecom plete revolution. It is, in effect, a meas ure ofthe angle at which the blades are set relativelyto their plane of rotation. If they are set wholly in theirplane of rotation, tha t is to say, at right angles to theshaft which drives them , they have no pitch at all, and •

consequently exert no thrust upon the mac hine ; con-versely, if the blades lie parallel with the shaft, they have aninfinite pitch, but again exrrt no thrust, although they actvery well a~ pad dles to disturb t he air. It is in this latterform that they make a very useful kind of dynamometerfor absorbing the power of an engine for testing purposes.In practice, the blades of aerial propellers are generallyset at such an angle that the pitch works out, roughlyspeaking, at a figure which is between 60 per cent, and100 per cent, of the diameter. At the present tim e,however, there is very little of a decided character aboutthe propellers in use, although it is interesting and in-structive to bear in m ind that in those at present em-ployed, there is often an ap prox imate equality between

the diameter and the pitch.In our rem aiks upon the co nstruction and design of

aerop lanes, we dea lt w ith the relative positions of pro-pellers, and pointed out certain considerations whichhave to be taken into account when comparing propellerswhich are placed behind the machine so as to push,with the screws which are placed in front so as to pull.It is, therefore, unnecessary to deal further w ith t hesubject.

Flexible Propel lers .

At high speeds, a propeller, like any other rigid bodyrevolving about an axis, possesses very considerableinertia of a peculiar kind which makes it display a marked

resistan ce to the tilting of its axis of revolution . Th isresistan ce is term ed gyroscopic force, and is only inevidence when the propeller is in mo tion ; it increases ifthe speed increases, and it is more pronounced in heavypropelle s of large diameter than in those which are smallan d light. Th is g yroscop ic force is so powerful that itmay have a serious effect upon the control of a machineas a whole, and h as even been known to snap th eprope ller shaft in two rathe r than allow the propeller tofollow the piiching an d tossing of an aeroplane in unsteadyflight. This is naturally a serious aspect in propellerdesign, and the fact that many constructors of aeroplanesfavour the use of a tractor-screw mo unted direct on thecrank-s' aft to the high-speed engine has led the makersof propellers—who in many instances, of course, are themakers of the aeroplanes also—to use flexible blades.Th ese , by springing a little when the shaft is suddenlytilted, absorb some of the gyroscopic force, and thusprevent its effect being quite so prono unced . Insome cases this flexibility is carried to an extreme,as for instance in the propeller a ttached to the Gno me

rotary engine, which has long blades made of thin sheetsteel. It is particularly interesting to notice, how ever,that the attribute of flexibility is by no means necessarilyconfined to metal propellers, for there is a wooden tractorscrew on the Vendome aeroplane which can be bent toquite a considerable degree without damage.W o o d v. A l u m i n i u m .

Alum inium, on accou nt of its lightness, is a favouritematerial for the construction of propeller blades, and inmost cases they are, as has been mentioned, riveted to theflattened end of a steel tube. Th e rib thus formed bythe flattened tube on the back of the blade is probably acentre of local air disturbance, and as such may possiblybe condem ned in future as a source of wasted power.Experiments at all times have ever gone to show thatpropellers working in a fluid—and air is a fluid—are mostefficient when they have smooth, even surfaces undis-turbed by projections and lumps.

Wood is finding favour as a material for propellers with

many experimenters, and there are some examples ofvery high-class work to be seen at the Salon. Properlymade, a wooden propeller has a beautifully smoothpolished surface, a nd being solid from boss to tip it isfree from any join ts an d projection s likely to waste power.In order to avoid warping, the best wooden propellersare built up out of numerous thin layers in a m annerwhich is commonly followed by pattern makers whenconstructing the wooden cores trom which iron castingsare mou lded. In the larger wooden propellers, the blademay be made hollow for the sake of lightness andflexibility, and it is thus m ade in the Ven dom e propeller.In some cases the wood is bound with fine fabric to givegreater strength.

A propeller which is of an altogether uncommondescription is that employed on the Breguet mac hine. Ithas hollow blades built up from strips of aluminiumarranged transversely, and overlapping one another likethe sections of a lobster shell. Each strip is con tinuo usacross the face and th e back of the blade, and itsextremities meet together to form a sharp edge. It isthis edge which trails through the air as the propellerrevolves, the advancing edge being quite blunt and round,as it is formed by the bend in the strip of aluminium.Between the folds of the alum inium strips, which arebuilt up about a central steel tube, are light steel springs,and the whole construction is such that the blade isextraord inarily flexible and of a very resilient chara cter.It is stated by the inventor of the machine that the bladeshave been thus designed to afford an automaticallyvariable pitch.

In the table on page 22, details are given of the pro-pellers mounted on some of the leading machines.

Aeroplane Engines .IN the next and concluding instalment of our report

of the Paris Salon, we shall deal with the aeroplaneengines. The se form, as everyone interested in flightrealises, an all-important section of the industry, forto a great extent it may be said that the recordswhich are achieved in the future by the leading aviators

will in a large measure directly depend on the excellenceof their motors. Already, as m any of our readers know,from various descriptions which have appeared in thecolumns of The Automotor Journal, some remarkabledevelopm ents have taken place in the design of motorsfor aero plan e work. In most cases, in fact, the typeswhich have been developed are quite different from thosein use on motor cars.

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JANUARY 9, 1909.

"Wright 's F in al Effort for the 1908 M icheli n Pr ize.

A s we ann oun ced last week would be the case,Wilb ur Wright mad e a further attem pt on th e last dayof 1908 to improve upon his record for the MichelinC up . T he fact that he was very nearly frozen stiff onW ednesd ay, D ecem ber 30th, made no difference what-ever to the carrying out of his intention that he wouldagain do his best on Thursday, December 31st.A ccordingly at abo ut a quarter past eleven he had h ismachine brought out of the shed and made preparationsto ascend. Very soon afterwards he made a start, andeverything went well for ab out 40 m inutes or so, whenhe had to come down because the petrol tank wasleaking

Lunch intervened, but afterwards Wright said he would

mak e anoth er attempt, so up in the air he rose again,nothing daunted by the Arctic cold. On and on hetravelled through the air, until his record of De-cem ber 18th, which stood officially at 99"8 kilom s., wasbroken , and still he co ntinued unti l, having been aloftfor 2h. 20m . 23s., and hav ing acco mp lished officially1247 kiloms., he at last descended.

Th e course was the same as that employed onformer occasio ns ; tha t is to say, it was triangula r inshape, and the total of its three sides amo unted to 2-2kiloms. Th e start took place at 2 p.m. exactly, and sunset,which terminated the trial as far as the Michelin Prizewas concerned, was calculated to occur at 4h. 19m. 33s.p.m . allowing for th e difference in longitu de betw eenLe M ans and Paris. Wright finished his 56th turn of thetriangle at ^h. 19m. 6^5., and th e sun set before ano therlap was accom plished. Th e flight by which he winsthe Michelin C up is, therefore, 123-2 k iloms. in length,and its official duration is 2h. 18m. 3 3| s. After the sunhad set, Wright's flight was continu ed for a distance ofI* I kiloms. on th e course, and 0*4 kilom. return ing tothe shed, thu s bringing th e world's record up to12 47 kiloms. in a duration of 2h. 20m. 233-s. Th ese are,of course, the official distances and times ; it goes with-out saying that the actual d istance traversed during theflight was far greater. I t is quite possible th at W rightmay have actually achieved a distance of 100 miles,although that is perhaps an outside estimate.

T h e F i v e A t t e m p t s .T H I S last, which was so successful, was W right's

fifth official atte mp t for the M ichelin C up , and it isinteresting to summ arise t he series of results. Th e firstimpo rtant flight took place on Mo nday, Septem ber 21st—alm ost imm ediately after hearing of his broth er'sunfortunate accident—when a flight lasting ih. 31m. 2of-s.was accomp lished, of which, however, only 52m.occurred before sunset. Th e record for the cup on thisoccasion was, therefore, a d istance of 4 1 miles only.On September 24th, the record was slightly increased to54m. 3*s. On Septem ber 28th the hour was exceededin a flight of in . 7m. 24s. Tw o long passenger flightsin connection with the Weiller contract intervened at this

period, and were ih. 4m. 26fs. and ih. 9m. 45fs.respectively. I t was no t, therefore, until December 18ththat a further attempt was made, and it was then that heaccomp lished the flight of ih . 54m. 53fs., which werecorded last week. Inclu ding the attempt which was

made on December 30th, which did not improve uponthe record of Decem ber 18th, the trials may be said tobe six in number.

T h e Off ic ial R eport .

T HE Sarthe Aero Club has sent in its official reportto the Aero Club of France relating to the trial onDecem ber 31st, and the following are the leading factswhich the document contains :—

The trial took place at the Auvours Camp on De-cember 31st, 1908, unde r the auspices of the AviationComm ittee of the Sarthe Aero Club. Th e track wasmarked out by three flags forming an isosceles trianglehaving two long sides of 1,000 metres each, and a baseof 200 metres. T he w ord to go was given at 2 p.m.exactly, and th e aeroplane left th e starting rail at

2h. om. 3s. Wrigh t passed th e first post, which cou ntsas the start for th e Michelin Cu p, at 2h. om. 324s. H eaccomplished 56 circuits, which is equal to a total lengthof 123-2 kiloms., in 2h. 18m. 33f s. dura tion. Th e lastpass ige past th e starting post before sunset took placeat 4h. 19m. 6LS. Sunset at Paris on the date inquestion occurred at 4I1. n m . p.m., and an allowance of8m. 33

-26s. was made for the difference in longitude.

Th e signatories to the report are Messrs. Leon Bollee,Durand, Rene Pellier, L. Vernay, Veber, and Bariller.

W h a t H e H a s W o n .

B Y his flight on Thursday, or rather by his series offlights above mentioned, for none of them have ever been

beaten, Wright secures the Michelin Prize, which isundoubtedly the Blue Ribbon of aviation at the presenttime. H e becomes the nominal holder of the trophy,which is valued at 10 ,000 francs, and secures 20,000francs in cash. In addition he wins the Triaca Prize of500 francs, which is open to members of the Aero Clubof France and members of the Aero Club of Americaonly.

M . Ba r thou a s a Passenge r .

BESIDES making two attempts for the Michelin Cupin one day, Wilbur W right conclud ed his experiences in1908 by taking up M. Barthou, Minister of Public Works,as a passenger. Th at official had come specially to Le

Mans for the purpose of watching Wright fly, and ifpossible of flying with him, but it was not until twentyminutes past five that he was able to realise his desire.I t was then quite dark, and Wilbur W right and his pas-senger only remained in the air for about four minutes.

Wilbur Wright Gains Weight.AFTER giving short flights to a few of his friends,

Wilbur Wright, on Saturday, January 2nd, proceeded withhis preparations for leaving Le Mans, including theweighing of his aeroplane and himself. The formerscaled 364 kilogs., and the latter 71 kilogs., which itappears is an increase of some 8 kilogs. or so on his -weight since his arrival in the Sarthe district. As Wright

remarked on this occasion, "flying seems to fatten -p eo ple ." . . - ^ v - . ; : sWr ight ' s Souveni r .

As a memento of his pleasant stay amongst them,the members of the Sarthe A ero C lub are presenting

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JANUAR Y 9, 1909.

Wilbur Wright with a work of art in bronze by thesculptor Ca rvin. Th e subject is entitled " Muse de1'Aviation," and is symbolical of a goddess laying bare theSecrets of'Flight possessed by birds. It was designed byM. Carvin, and submitted for selection as the MichelinCup, in which, however, it was unsuccessful.

Orville Wright En Route for France.

ORVILLE WRIGHT and his sister, Katherine, sailedfrom America on January 5th on the " Kaiser Wilhelmder Grosse " ; as quickly as possible they will join WilburWright.

The Wrights ' Programme.

AT the present time Wilbur Wright is awaiting thearriva l of his bro ther in Paris, but before leaving for Pauhe will return to Le Mans in order to complete thedesign s for the new engines which a re being m ade forhim by M. Bollee. At Pau he will remain for ab out amonth, and will continue his lessons to his pupils,

Count de Lambert, M. Paul Tissandier, and CaptainsGer ardville a nd Love lace. Afterwards he will leave forAm erica, there to take up th e work in connec tion withthe U .S.A. Army contract at the point where his brotherwas so unfortunately compelled to leave off by hisaccide nt. In the meantim e Orville Wright will remain atPau to superintend the construction of six aeroplaneswhich the brothers are under contract to deliver. Subse-quen tly W ilbur Wright will return from America, an dtogether they will embark upon still more ambitiouswork.

A Dutch Invitation.

LAST week it was the Italians who were anxious to

get Wilbur Wright to go and see them, and now it is theDutchmen, for it is reported that the Dutch AeronauticSociety has sent Wilbur Wright an invitation to givesome performances with his machine in Holland.

Wright's New Engine.

WILBUR WRIGHT is having a new engine built forhim by M. Leon Bollee, and hopes to be able to succeedin achieving much longer flights with his machine whenit has been fitted, than have been found altogetherfeasible hitherto. H e anticipates voyages—it is only fairto call them that—up to 150 miles in length, but he doesnot think that the generality of people will be able to dovery much with the aeroplane just yet, and he also thinks

that to attempt flying over houses and towns at thepresent time would be somewhat rash. As to his ownmethod of descent on runners, which has been muchcriticised, he says that he intends continuing this practice,although he hopes to be able to discard his starting gearin the future.

Moore-Brabazon's Bad Luck.MOORE-BRABAZON, who had also entered to compete

for the Michelin C up, had the misfortune to have hismechanic injured by an explosion of the petrol tank, andperforce ha d to aband on further hope for 1908— returningto Tara Hall, his Irish home, for a week's rest.

Farman Unsuccessful.

IN spite of much experimenting, Henry Farman wasalso unsuccessful in putting up a good flight for th eMichelin Cup . H e mad e several unimp ortant flights ofshort duration in the presence of the Committee of theAero Club of France, but in the end he becamethoroughly disheartened and took his machine back tothe shed.

British Ar m y Aeroplane. •AFTER a period of seclusion in its shed, following

upon the somewhat unpleasant termination to its firsttrial flight, the British Army aeroplane emerged intothe light again late on Wednesday afternoon in chargeof Mr. S. F. Cody, under the supervision of ColonelCapp er. In the interim the machine has undergo nesome considerable alteration, particularly in connectionwith the elevators and rudder.

Th e aeroplane is of the biplane type, and has an8-cyl. 50-h.p. Antoinette engine installed immediatelyabove the centre of the front edge of the lower deck.The engine drives two tractor-screws through chain-gearing. Th e pilot sits immediately behind the engine.Extended on an outrigger, consisting of two parallelbeam s, is a vertical rectangular rud der at the rear, whilein front are three elevators carried by a triangular frame-work. Th e central plane , which is some 20 ft. in span,is the elevator proper; the smaller pivoted planes on

either side are under separate control, and are moreparticularly for the purpose of maintaining stability.Behind the central elevator is a vertical plane.

No attempt was made to fly with the machine, butexperiments were carried out by means of ribbons tied tothe framework in order to observe the nature of thedraug ht from th e screws. A short trial run over theFarnborough Common was also made.

Mr. Howard Wright's Work-M R . HOWARD WRIGHT'S helicopter is now c ompleted,

and has been sent out to Italy. We are informed thatthe tests of this flyer, carried out in England , have beenemin ently satisfactory. M r. Wright is now building, foran English enthusiast, a large bi-plane, which he hopesto com plete early in February. Both his workshops inHigh Street, M arylebone, and his larger premises atBattersea Park, are now busily employed on machinesbeing constructed to order.

" Bleriot X I " to be Tried. -AT any mom ent now, the short-span Bleriot

mono plane No . X I may be expected to make its trialsat Issy.

Aeroplane Model Trial at Nice.

COINCIDENT with th e M onaco Aeroplane Meeting,there is a scheme afoot to organise a com petition forflying models at Nice. Thos e interested should write to

M. Bonhomme, 3, Rue Pertinax, Nice.

A Giant Helicopter—the Zako.

A RUSSIAN engineer residing at Brussels, namedZakovenko, has designed a monster helicopter, which it issupposed will be able to lift about twenty passengers.Its estimated weight is 5,700 kilogs.

T he Am erican A e O at "the Federation.

THE Aero Club of America has nominated Mr.Roger Wallace, Chairman of the Aero Club of theUnited Kingdom, to be its representative at the meetingof the Federation next week in London.

The " C.A.M."T H E S E are the initials under which the FrenchCommission Aerienne Mixte will in all probability bepopularly known in the future, and as this body is forall practical purposes the most important aviation com-mittee in France, it is as well that they should be broughtprominently before that section of the public which isinterested.

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JANUARY 9, 1909.

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The last meeting of the Committee took place onDecember 22nd and 30th under the Chairmanship ofM. Loreau , when the statu tes were definitely ado pted .Th e Comm ittee has decided that the province of aero-nautic sport, so far as France is concerned, shall bedivided into two sections, one relating to balloons, whichwill be controlled by the Sports Comm ittee of the Aero

Club of France, and the other relating to flying machinesand aviation matters generally, which will be under thecontrol of the C A M .

Th e C.A .M. itself is to be exclusively composedof delegates from the A utomo bile Club of Franc e, theAero Club of France, the Cbambre Syndicale des Indus-tries Aeronautique, and the Ligue Nationale Aerienne,each body to send five representatives. Th e objects ofthe C.A.M. are as follows :—

The elaboration of rules relating to flying sports.The application of those rules.The sanctioning of special rules.Keeping a record of events.Issuing licencesto organising bodies and competitors.

The C.A.M. has constituted itself as a national tribunalof appeal, but recognises the Interna tional Fede ration,although at the present time this recognition is subject toa mod ification being effected in the cons titution of theFed eratio n. If these modifications are not put intoeffect before Octo ber 31st, the C.A .M. will contin ue itscontrol, which in principle is arranged to e xpire at theend of this year.

T he first Intern ation al flight m eeting at Mo naco willtake place under F.A.I, rules, with supplementary regu-lations established by the C.A.M.

Progress of Mechanical Flight-IN the table which appeared in our issue of last

week, owing to a printers error, the flight made by

Mr. Henry Farman on October 30th, was not marked asa flight across Country. This , of co urse, was the flightfrom Chalons to Rheims, which will go down to historyas one of the most noteworthy performances of the earlydays of the new movement. Th e table also did notmake special mention of height records. At present, therecord stands to th e c redit of Wilbur Wright, who flewat an altitude of over 100 metres when winning thesecond Sarthe High Flight Prize. Previous to this theonly official records for height were those of Farman andWright, both of whom secured the Aero Club of France'sprize for a flight at a height of 25 metres, the former onOctob er 31st, at Chalons, and the latter on No vem-ber 18th, at A uvours, when he also secured the firstSarthe High Flight Prize.

Aeronautic Level Competition. 'T H E entries for the competition for level indicating

devices, organised by the Aviation Committee of theAero Club of France, closed on December 31st, 1908.

N e w Daily Mail Cross Chann el Prize.

WITH the termination of 1908 the original DailyMail prize of ^ 5 0 0 for the first aeroplane to cross theCha nnel expired, but in their issue of Janua ry 1st thisyear our contemporary announces the creation of a newprize of ^1,000 which has been established under thesame conditions.

Seven entries in ail have been received for the prize, our

contemporary announces. Tho se who have sent in theirname s are as follows :— Capt. W indham, Mr. Moore-Braba-zon, M. Ltjeune, Prince Serge Bolotoff, MM. Pischoff andKoechlin, Messrs. Voisin, and Messrs. Antoinette.

New Prix de la Commiss ion, ' •

COUNT HENRY DE LA VAULX, acting on behalf of an-anonymous person, has placed at the disposal of theAero Club of France a sum of 10,000 francs for thecreation of a single prize under the title of Prix de laCommission Sportive de l 'Aero Club de France. T h e

Com petition is to take place under F .A .I, rules, and isopen under certain conditions to all types of flying,mac hines, and also to dirigibles not exceeding 1,200cubic m etres capa city. Briefly explained , the event will-consist of accomplishing a specified course not exceeding170 kiloms . on a specified da}-, but the pre cise details arenot yet published.

Prize for a Book on Flight.TH E prize of ^1,000 offered by King Leopold of

Belgium will be awarded this year for the best treatise on-aerial navigation.

Brescia Circuit.

MAYTERS are progressing in respect to the proposed'

aeronau tic meeting at Brescia, which is to take place inSeptem ber of this year, and an influential comm ittee has-been formed. T he events, for which 100,000 francs willbe set aside as prize money , will comprise as the mostimportant detail a trial over a d istance of 150 kiloms.Th is will consist of mak ing five laps of a circuit, over agreat plain which is 10 kiloms. wide and 8 kiloms. long,and is encum bered by n either villages, trees, nor oth erobstacles. It has already been specified that the med iumheight at which flights will be cons idered to be eligiblefor the competition is 10 metres above the ground.Attem pts may be made on any day, and at any timeduring the mo nth that the event is open. A prize willbe awarded to those who have shown the best results

over the specified course, and it is intended to b egenerous in the matter of consolation prizes.

Th e Brescia "Circuit" which has been selected for the bigflight meeting to be held in this district during the present

year.

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J A N U A R Y 9, 1909.

Ne w Rules for Trial Flights.

T H E Aviation Committee of the Aero Club ofFrance has just issued certain rules to be observed inconnection with official flights to take place under theirobservation. The first rule relates to the marking of thecourse, and the second to its method of measurement.

I t is further specified that the only recognised records inflight are (r) records of distance, and (2) records ofduration. Specified distances and durations are men-tioned which will alone be recognised, and flights inwhich there is a descent will be placed in a differentcategory to those in which the aeroplane is aloft all thetime.

In effecting a flight, should an aviator touch one ofth e marks with his machine, he will have to make acomplete circle of the post before continuing.

In making measurements, distances up to 5 kiloms.must be measured direct. Distances between 5 and50 kiloms. must be measured on an on mce map havinga scale of 1 :80,000. Distances above 50 kiloms. willbe considered as equivalent to the length of the arc onth e surface of a globe, neglecting variations of altitude.

T h e recognised distances over which records may betimed are as follows : 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500,

1,000, 1,500, iScc, kiloms. Increm ents to be in units of

500 kiloms. for distances above i,oco kiloms.

Records for duration will be allowed as follows:I , 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10 and 24 hours. Durations above

24 hours to beby multiples of24 hours. In both distance

and duration records, the Aero Club will recognise thenumber of passengers carried.

Gross Airship No. 3.

A N O T H E R Gross airship is being constructed in

Germany, andwill be larger than its predecessor, besideshaving many important modifications based on previousexperience.

Four Zeppelins for the German Navy.

FO U R Zeppelin airships have, it is stated, beenordered for the German Navy, and the Admiralty hasbeen instructed to prepare floating docks for them.They will be built under thepersonal superintendenceofCount Zeppelin, andwill have a capacity of from 12,000to 14,000 cubic metres each. They will cost about^50,000 each, and are intended more for use as scoutsthan as aggressive ships ofwar. Two are to be stationedat Wilhelmshafen, and two at Kiel.

Capt- Hildebrandt's Airship.

C A I ' T . HILDF.HRANDT, who published some little

while ago a book on ''Airships, Past and Present,"hasjust bought a dirigible from Messrs. Baldwin, the well-

known American aeronauts. The airship was tried atHammondsport, and is capable of remaining aloft for5 hours; it is quite'a small machine.

C O R R E S P O N D E N C E .* # * The name and address of the writer {not necessarily tor

publication) MUST in all cases accompany letters intended for

insertion, or containing queries.

PROGRESS IN FLIGHT.

To the Editor of F L I G H T .

S I R , — I shall be very pleased if you will forward to me the firstcopy of F L I G H T , together with a subscription form.

I was much interested in Mr. Moore-Brabazon's letter in TheAutomotor Journal of January 2nd. It is a standing rebuke toEnglishmen that he can advise—and with good reason—any experi-menters to go to France. In Paris onefeels the beating pulse ofa new era. It causes no surprise if, on looking up , one sees a" direagable " performing graceful evolutions ; picture postcards ofall the aeroplanes command a ready sale ; aeroplanes in flight formsone of the chief advertisements for many of the cinematographentertainments; and on the evening following Wilbur Wright'ssensational high flying in connection with the " Height Prize," I sawit reproduced on the cinematograph at a lecture given by the

Comte de la Vaulx on the "Conquete de l'Air." The humbleenthusiast is not regarded as an " amiable lunatic " in Franc?.

I was in Paris for a little over three months recently, and, notbeing blessed with too much time or money, I had towait for anopportunity to visit Le Mans. At last it came—October 31st; afriend was going to Le Mans on his car. I was doomed to somedegree of disappointment. A new carburettor float caused troubleby not being a free fit on the spindle; a tyre punctured, and anexhaust-valve spring broke ; with the result that we arrived atAtivours just as Mr.Wright finished his flight for the day. To addto our disappointment, we had come via Chartres, and had alsomissed M. Bleriot's cross-country flight near that town.

I am afraid that I have trespassed on your valuable time,butI must wish you every success with your new venture, F L I G H T , andhope that it will do something to " wake up England."

I remain, Sir,yours faithfully,Bristol, January 1st. G. H. CHA LLEN G ER.

To the Editor of F L I G H T .

S I R ,— I n your last issue you publish a letter from Mr. Moore-Brabazon ; w th the views therein expressed I must entirely disagree.

If those who have enthusiasm in the direction of flight are to leavefor France, how is English enthusiasm to be generated ?

No onedenies the apathy that exists here, but surely it is againstthe tradition of ourrace to dismount at the first ditch and attend thefinish in a foreign car.

What of Voisin ? I ordered some propellers fifty days ago for myflying machine. These were promised in eight days, but nodoubtwith the great facilities (?) and the vast experience of this well-known firm, we shall probably receive them before eight months

have elapsed.Even in this retrograde and old-fashioned country, I have no

doubt I could have built and delivered within eight weeks ofaccepting the order any aeroplane that was not more complicatedthan either Wright's or Voisin's (Farman's).

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Moreover, that the machine would b ; English-built throughout,and would compare favourably with other machines both for price,finish, and weight.

One must, however, admire the efforts that our French friendshave made, and also we are bound to envy them the support theyreceive.

The views here expressed in no way essen my enthusiasm for theefforts Mr. Moore-Brabazon has made; I only wish he wouldtranslate them into English.

Yours faithfully,

Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, J AC K H U M P H R Y .

Jan.4th.

A WANT—AN ENGINE FOR MODELS.

To theEditor of 'FLIGHT.

S I R ,- — I t waswith much pleasure that I welcomed the issue ofF L I G H T , as an independent journal, devoted to the science ofaviation, and I would add my small effort towhat, I know, will be avery torrent of applause.

The fact that you have expressed your willingness to throw openyour correspondence columns, I give as my excuse for troubling youin what, at first sight, may seem a minor point.

Many of us, however, who are engaged in the construction ofmodel flying machines are met with a real difficulty in the matterofengines with which to drive them.

The majority of small petrol motors—say up to ii-h.p.—are lartoo heavy and inefficient to be ofmuch use for experimental nights,and most other types are quite out of the question.

If you could see your way to giving this matter your attention,you would be conferring a great boon on a large army ot reallyserious workers.

It is also quite possible that some enterprising manufacturer isonly waiting for the hint to design a small engine for this specialpurpose. . . . - ,

Yours faithfully,' ' ' E. B. E L D R I D G E .

Oxford, January 5th.

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JAN UA RY 9, 1909.

THE AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.To the . ' • ; • • , .

Members of the Aero Club of the United Kingdom.166, PICCADILLY, LOND ON, W.,

DEAR SIR, OR MADAM, January 6th, 1909.Official Notices.

I am instructed by my Com mittee to inform you that from the comm encem ent of the year 1909, an OfficialOrgan of the Aero Club of the U nited Kingdom , entitled " F L IG H T , " will be sent out weekly to all members ofthe Club free of charge.

The attention of members is particularly directed to the column headed " Aero Club of the United Kingdom,"wherein all noticesan d announcements affecting the Club w ill appear from time to time, instead of being communicated

by circular as heretofore.Lecture.

M. Rob ert Esnault-Pelterie, of Paris, has promised to deliver a lecture on A viation, with cinematographillustrations, on Tuesday, January 12th, 1909, at 4.30 p.m.

The Committee of the Royal Automobile Club have kindly placed their premises, 119, Piccadilly, London, W.,at the disposal of the Aero Club for this occasion. Mem bers of the Aero Club , who are not mem bers of the RoyalAuto mob ile Ciub, wishing to attend, are requested to apply to me for tickets of admission not later than Saturday,the 9th inst.

Yours faithfully,H A R O L D E . P E R R IN ,

" • __ . Secretary .

THE AERO CLUB OF THE UNITEDKINGDOM.

{Officiallycommunicated by the Secretary.)

T H E following new members have been elected to theAero Club this year :—

Frank P. Armstrong.Bertram Blount.Mrs. Hart O. Berg.

W. H. Buxton.Henry Birnbaum.A. E. Berriman.Capt. Hon. Dudley Carle-

ton, J.P.Serge Vincent de Bolotoff.

F. G. Freeman.William Graham, J.P.C. Graham.Rev. R. V. Greene.Sir William Goff, Bart.H. Jacques.Col. H. S. Massy, C.B.Mrs. H. S. Massy.Capt. E. M. Maitland. .Anthony G. New.Mervyn O'Gorman.Capt. A. G. Ritchie.Noel W. Richardson.

Somers Somerset, J.P.Marquis de Mouzilly

Mars.

H. Gordon Selfridge.Major H. F. Trippel.Clarens Tweedale.Count Wrangel.Philip Waterhouse.

St.

Medal of the Aero Clubo£ the U.K.

". ." : Federat ion Aeronau tique Internationale .

The meeting of the Federation Aeronautique Inter-nationale will take place at the Ho tel Ritz, London , W.,commencing on Monday, January nt h , 1909. Th efollowing delegates have been appointed to represent theAero Club of the United Kingdom :—

Ernest C. Bucknall. Prof. A. K. Huntington.Vice-Admiral Sir Charles V. Ker-Seymer.

Cam pbell, K.C .M .G ., C. F. Pollock. ,.'. ' ,-•C.B., D.S.O. Ho n. C. S. Rolls. ... .'.. ".,..Col. J. E. Capper, C.B., Viscount Royston.

R.E . Roger W. Wallace, K.C.Martin Dale.

Delegates from the following countries are expected toattend:—France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy,Spain, America, and Austria.

The appeal of the Aero Club of the United Kingdomagainst the award in the G ordon-Benn ett Long-D istanceBalloon Race will be heard at the conference. Regu-lations for International competitions for " Heavier-than-Air " machines will also be considered.

The hospitality of the Royal Automobile Club willbe extended to the foreign delegates attending the

conference.

Northcliffe Cup.

Th e N orthcliffe Cup has been aw arded to Mr. Jo hnDunville, who accomplished the longest balloon journeyduring the year 1908. On December n t h Mr. JohnDunville, accompanied by Mr. C. F. Pollock and M r.Philip Gardner, started from the Chelsea Gas Works anddescended at Crailsheim, in Germany, a distance of480 miles.

Svenska Aeronautiska Sallskapet-

Th e mem bers of the Aero Club have been invited totake part in the balloon competitions to be held in con-

junction with the Northern Games, at Stockholm, onFebruary 16th and 17th. Mem bers wishing for furtherparticulars are requested to communicate with theSecretary, at 166, Piccadilly, W. .

£500 Cross-Channel Prize for Flying Machines-

M. Ruin art has offered a prize of ^ 5 0 0 for a Cross-Ch annel flight, open till Janua ry 1st, 1910. Th e ruleshave been received for the consideration of the AeroClub of the United Kingdom , and will be issuedshortly.

H A R O L D E . P E R R IN ,

Secretary.

For Particulars and Advantages of the Aero Club'•.::-:'•:'•". League see page iii (cover). '

28

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•JANU ARY 9, 1909.

THE WRIGHT AND VOISIN TYPESOF FLYING MACHINE,'

A COMPARISON BY F. W. LANCH ESTER.(Concluded from page 16.)

I T would t hus app ea r t ha t i n add i t i on t o be ing cons ide r ab ly l e ss

ef f ic ient in i t s screw prop el le r (a tax pai d for the con st ruc t iona ladv an t ag e o f a d i r ec t d r i ve ) , t he Vo i s in m ach ine i s a l so s l i gh t l y l e ss

ef f ic ient considere d as a g l ider , tha t i s to s ay, i t s g l id ing a ncl e i sno t qu i t e a s good as t ha t o f t he Wr i gh t m ac h ine ; t he m ach in e i s

aerodynamically less efficient.

T he r eason o f t h i s m a y be due t o t he f ac t t ha t i t has a l e ss a spec trat io , but it ma y qui t e wel l a lso be due to m an y other causes ; theVo i s in m ac h ine has r e l a t i ve ly g r ea t e r i d l e su r i ace sub j ec t t o sk in

f r ict ion, a lso the susta ining sur faces of the ta i l ac t on ai r t ha t hasa l r eady been t r odden by t he ae r o f o i l .

T he auth or i s not a l toge ther sat isfied th at the gl id ing angle i sac tua l l y a s low as t ha t deduced above ; i t is poss ib l e t ha t t he m o to r s

wi th t he m ac h ines a t t he ve loc i t y s t a t ed i n bo th cases r un som e-wha t f a s te r t han t ha t dec l a r ed , and t h a t conse quen t l y t he p i t ch of t he

p r ope l l e r s i s p r opo r t i ona t e ly l e ss , s i nce t h i s has been dedu ced f r omthe revolu t ion speed. An er ror of th is k i nd , so long as i t i s m uch

the sam e fo r bo th m ach in es , wou ld no t m a te r i a l l y a f fec t t he r e su l t sexcep t t ha t i n bo th cases t he g l i d ing ang l e wou ld be p r opo r t i on a t e lyg r ea t e r , t he e r r o r m ay poss ib ly am ou n t t o a m a t t e r o f abou t 10 pe r

c e n t .I t i s a l so wor th wh i l e no t i ng t ha t w ha t i s t e r m ed t he m e an o r

ac tua l p i t c h o f t he p r op e l l e r b l ade s w i l l be g r ea t e r t han t he e f fec ti ve

p i t ch ; t he p i t ch a s m eas u r ed f rom the b l ade ang l e i s p r oba b ly i n t heW r igh t p r ope l l e r abou t 15 pe r cen t , m or e t han t he e f fec ti ve p i t ch ,

and i n t he Vo i s in abou t 25 pe r cen t . On t h i s bas i s t he Vo i s in3 "6 f t . bec om es 4 ' 5 f t . (— I '3 7 me tres ) , a nd the W rig ht 9 /6 f t .beco mes I I f t . ( - 3*35 m e t r e s ) .

T a k i n g t h e g l i d i n g g r a d i e n t t a n y f o r t he Wr igh t m ach ine a s

•135 , and t ha t of t he Vo i s in m a ch in e ' 150 , va lues w h ich t he au tho rcons ide r s m os t p r obab ly a c lo se app r o x im a t ion t o t he t r u th , we m ayr ough ly l ook upon t he r e s i s t ance a s accoun t ed l o r a s fo l l ows :—

W r i g h t . V o i s i n .

Sk in f r ic t ion, I = '01 . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 lbs. 60 lbs.

S t r uts and wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 , , 20Aer o nau t , m o to r , & c . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 , , 10Ra dia tor and tan ks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 >> 2 5

Alig ht in g gea r . . . . . . . . . . . . . — , , 10S u s t e n t a t i o n ( p o w e r e x p e n d e d a e r o d y n a m i c a l l y ) . . . 6 0 , , 1 0 0

I5S » 225 „

Th e above do no t co r r e spond exac t l y w i th t he sugges t ed va lues oft a n y, bu t t hey a r e a s nea r a s t he a u tho r can e s t im a te a t p r e se n t .

Th e add i t i on i n t he case o f t he Wr igh t m a ch in e i s a tr if l e h igh , andtha t of the Voisin i s a l i t t le low. Possib ly the faul t i s wi th sugge stedva lues t hem s e lves , and t he r e i s r ea l l y l e ss d if f e rence be tw een t he

g l i d ing ang l es t han has been suppo sed .

I n c o n v e r s a t i o n w i t h t h e a u t h o r , M r . W i l b u r W r i g h t h a s s t a t e dtha t he m a kes no a l l owanc e f or sk in f r ic t i on and t ha t he be li eves i t

t o be neg l i g ib l e . Th e r e i s ev iden t l y cons ide r ab l e scope ye t fo rguess - wo r k . I t is qu i t e l i ke ly t he des igne r s t hem se lves cou ld no t

g ive a m uc h be t t e r app r ox i m a te ba l ance - shee t o f t he r e s i s t anceaccoun t t han t ha t he r e p r esen t ed . I t i s poss ib l e t ha t t he co - ef f ic i en tof sk in f r ic t ion £ is less than - oi ; for these large sur faces and high

ve loc i t i e s i t is conce ivab ly no m or e t han ha l f t h i s va lue . I t i sequa l l y poss ib l e t ha t t he o the r d i r ec t r e s i s t ances , s t r u t s , w i r e s ,

& c , hav e been under es t im a te d , t h e r e m a y a l so be f au l ts o f a smu ch as 10 or 15 per cent , in the est ima te of the ene rgy ex-pen ded i n su s t en t a t i on , bu t i t is qu i t e ce r t a in t ha t sk in f r i ct i on i s

not ne gl ig ibl e but that i t i s a sub stan t ial qu ant i ty of the orderind i ca t ed , i t is a l so qu i t e ce r t a in t ha t t he g l i d ing an g l e o f t he

m a ch ine s i s r ound abou t t h e va lues g iven 1 :6 t o 1 : 8 , and i snow her e nea r 1 : 12 a s has been s t a t ed i n a r ecen t pape r on t hesu bje ct ; i t i s a lso im pro ba ble th at the ef f ic iency of prop ulsi on is in

any case a s h igh a s 75 pe r cen t , a s it has som et im es b een r ep r esen t ed( in t he case o f t he W r igh t m ach ine ) a l t houg h i t m ay i n bo th cases

be a few per cent , grea ter tha n given in the presen t pap er .

On t he who le t he adv an t a ge ce r t a in ly r e s t s w i th t he W r igh t

m a c h i n e f ro m t h e a e r o d y n a m i c s t a n d p o i n t .S t ab i l i t y .— W e now pass on t o cons ide r t he ques t i on o f s t ab i l i t y

a n d c o n t r o l .

(A ) L o n g i t u d i n a l s t a b i l i t y .

I n t he case o f t he W r ig h t m ach ine it i s c l a im ed by Mr . W r ig h th im se l f t ha t t he s t ab i l i t y depen ds en t i r e ly on t he sk i l l an d add r es s o f

* A paper read before the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, Decem-ber Sth, 190S.

the aeronau t ; in fact, if we are to credit the unch allenged accountof Mr. Wrig ht's declaration on the subject, he does not believe inthe possibility of safety, under ordinary weather conditions, beingachieved by the inherent properties of the m achine. He says tha tsooner or later the fatal puff must come that will end the flight.

The author's own observations on the flight of the Wright machinefully confirm the statement that Mr. Wright does depend entirelyupon his manipulative skill. It appears that in fligh t the leadingplan e trav els throu gh the air, carrying little or no lo ad ; in th eordina ry conditions of straig ht flight their direction is as nearly a scan be estimated parallel to the frame of the main aerofoil, and bothseem to move almost exactly edgeways. It follows from this tha tthe m achine canno t be autom atically stable , for if the plane werefixed for any period of time, and if during that period the machinemade the smallest pitching movement either one way or the other,the resulting change of pressure on the leading plane (or planes)would tend to exaggerate the initial m ovem ent, and the machine

would turn over. The position of the machine with the leadingplanes fixed is comparable to an arrow travelling feather first, andthis condition is one of instability.

In brief, not only does Mr. Wright design definitely for hand-contro lled equilib rium , but he has no belief in the possibiliy ofmak ing a machine safe by its own inherent stability. Th e sutccessof the VV right method shows that there is at least more than one xvayto fly.

In the Voisin machine, on the contrary, it has been the intentionof the designer that the machine should be automatically andinherently stable, and unquestionably to a great extent he has suc-ceeded. The author is at present compelled to speak with somereserve as to the degree of success that M M. Voisin have achieved ;they have promised to supply particulars that will enable the pointto be investigated, but up to the time of writing this promise hasnot been redeemed. In the meantime it may be remarked thatthe disposition of the organs of the Voisin m achine is such as

will give autom atic stability if the following conditions are ful-filled :— (i) If the pressure is less (per sq. ft.) on the tail than on themain aerofoil so that the attitude of the aerodrome to its line offlight is one of stable equilibrium ; (2) if the areas a nd disp osition ofthe surfaces, the amo unt of inertia, th e velocity of flight, and thenatural gliding angle, are related to comply with the n/uatioii ojstability^ so that any oscillation in the vertical plane of flight willnot tend to an increase of amplitude.

From the behaviour of the machine it is not possible to tellwhether these conditions are complied with, because it is fitted wi tha horizontal rudder in front, by which the aeronaut can correct anydepartu re from the straight line, and this appliance is unq uestionablyutilised to destroy any oscillation that would oth erwise arise ; it is abig rudder, about one-quarter the area of the aerofoil, and skilfullyhand led it would entirely mask the natural free oscillation period ofthe m achine. From observation of the flight, the author is ofopinion that whether or no the machine has inherent stability or not,the actual fact is that its motion (in the sense unde r discussion)is just as m uch hand-controlled as the Wrig ht machine. In thehands of a beginner the machine w ould, however, very likely beable to take care of the aeionaut to some extent, performing oscilla-tions the while, until the aeronaut h as learned to take care of themach ine ; th is view is suggested by the fact that many of th eobservers who saw Farm an and Delagrar.ge early in their careerwitnessed the phugoid oscillation, whereas the author, who sawFarman only a few weeks back, could not detect any oscillation atall, except for a brief period after he first left the ground, and thisin spite of the fact that the day was by no m eans calm— a veryperceptible breeze was blowing.

M. Colliex, engineer to MM. Voisin, claims t hat the flight pathof their machine is stable on the following grounds :—

(1) A one-tenth scale model showed itself quite stable in glidingflight.

(2) A machine mounted by Delagran ge made a smooth glide toearth without the intervention of the aeronaut in any way wh en the

ignition was cut off at 8 metres altitude.The first of these tests would be quite satisfactory if due pre-

cautions are taken to ensure that the model test is m ade under theconditions of corresponding speed. As a matter of fact, the velocityof the model was nearly half that of the full-sized ma chin e, insteadof slightly less than o ne-third, as it should have been. In conse-

t " Aer ia l F l i g h t , " Vo l . I I , Aer o d o n e t i c s , C h ap . V an d VI .

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JANU ARY 9 , 1909 .

qu enc e, it follows from the equa tion tha t its factor of stability wasabout three times that of the full scale mach ine, so that the experi-men t cannot be considered conclusive. Th e evidence of the flightof the actual machine in the h and s of Delagran ge also is insufficient,for the horizontal distance th at th e mac hine w ould glide from aheigh t of 8 metres altitude w ould be approx imately 55 metres, andthis is little more than on e quar ter of a phase length. For thistest to be considered satisfactory, the machine should be allowedsome four or five free oscillations, and the phase len gth being about

600 ft., this involves a flight path of ab out 3,000 ft. length, or afall of about 500 ft., tha t is, 150 metre s. The re is thus no proofat present forthcoming as to the stability or otherwise of the flightpath of the Voisin mac hine, but it is at least the intention of themak ers that it should be longitudinally stable, and , from con-versations that the autho r has had with M M . Voisin, and withtheir engineer, M. 'Colliex, they appear to be alive to niany of thepoints that conduce to such stability.

(B) Lateral Stability.—In the Wright machine the lateralstability is und er the direct control of the aeronaut, the " twowings " of the aerofoil being given a twist by straining the structureby means of wires arranged diagonally in the rear panels of the twoend bays on either hand. This causes the wings to meet the air atdifferent angles of incidence, and so any desired turning mom entabou t the axis of flight (within certain limits) is at comm and. Th ismech anism is employed to neutralise the influeuce of wind gusts,an d to correct the position of the m achine should it acquire anunde sirable list. It is also utilised to prevent the mach ine canting

too much when turn ing, and to facilitate its employm ent in thisrespect, the rudder aft and the twisting of the wings are operated byone lever, the m otion to the right and left be ing utilised to puttension on the diagonal wires one way or the other, and the move-ment forward and backward works the rudder.

It is desirable to correct a false impression that is current on theaction of the wing-twist. It has been supposed by some that it isused to give the cant required by the machine when turning, but suchis not the case. If the ru dder is used, the m achine almost imme-diately gets a cant owing to the greater pressure on the wing thatin turning is moving faster through the air, and this cant becom es,if unchecke d, far too severe. The twist is then used to check the•cant, the wing on the outer circle (that is, farthest from the centreof curvature), being "fe ath ered ," the inner one having its angle of.incidence increased.*

In the Voisin mach ine no hand-adjustm ent is provided to enablethe aeronaut to control the lateral stability, hence in this case it is

definitely automatic. Th e Voisin machine is steered by means of a•vertical rudder arrange d between the fixed tail m emb ers, and thereis appare ntly no special mechanism to prev ent the over canting ;consequently Farman, in his flights, commonly turns in a leisurelymanner, employing a circle of considerable radius, whereas Wrightmay often be seen to perform sensational evolutions, turning w ithhis wings canted to nearly 30 degs. on a radius of perhaps not morethan 60 or 70 yards. Far ma n has recently had fitted to his machinesome adjustable flaps, to give, in effect, the wing-twist employed byW righ t. Presumab ly this is to facilitate turnin g, for the flight of themach ine does not suggest that they are otherwise wanted . Und erother circumstances the lateral stability leaves little to be desired.

Summarising the comparison, from the aerodonetic standpoint,the author is inclined to think that the Voisin machine has theadvantage, as containing more of the features that will be embodiedin the flying machine of the future. Mr. Wrigh t's co ntention thatit only requires a big enough puff of wind to upset a machine thatdepends upon its own inherent stability is certainly true, but

probably the same is equally true of the hand-co ntrolled mach ine.Th ere is a limit to the extent of the control that can be exercised,and with hand control we have, too, the possible failure of the humanmach ine. Th e fact is that the secret of stability is contained in theone word velocity, and until it is possible to aLtain higher speeds offlight, we cannot hope to see the flying machine in everyday use.

The re is one other point of comparison, that if space permittedthe auth or wyuld like to mak e. As il is a few words must suffice.

The constructional methods employed by Wright and Voisin presenta striking contrast. Th e Wrigh t machine is astonishing in itssimplicity—not to say apparent crudity of detail—it is almost amatter of surprise that it holds together. Th e Voisin machine hasat least some pretensions to be considered an engineering job.

Mr . Wrig ht defends his meth ods by asking w hat would be safdby an engineer to the rigging of a sailing vessel if shown it for thefirst time, and to some extent the analogy is a good reply to theobje ction ; still the author feels (perha ps wrongly) that there is a

considerable amou nt of the Wrig ht " mechan ical detail " that migh t

* A certain patentee sent th e author a specification of his invention in which arudder was carefully arrangeH to act spirally, to give a cant in the direction ofthe banking, that is, the direction in which the turning moment is alreadyexcessive. H e might be well advised to take ou t another patent for the samedevice, arranged to act in exactly the opposite way.

be revised with advantage, at least before the machine is placed inthe hands of the private user. How ever, " the proof of the puddingis in the eating ," and in spite of the rudim entary character andaggressive simplicity of the constructional detail of the Wrightmach ine, it appears not to come to pieces, but continues to fly d ayafter day without showing any signs of weakness or disintegration.

On the question of the m otor and transmission mechan ism wetread on difficult grou nd, for the Voisin system of meta l prop ellerkeyed direct to the crank -shaft is so immeasu rably su perior, from

the purely mechanical standpoint, to the chain-drive and woodenpropellers of Wright that comparison is unnecessary. Since, how-ever, the simple and direct arrang eme nt adopted by M M. Voisin ispaid for at the price of about a 15 per cent, tax on the transmittedhorse-pow er, the question is evidently one of the balance of advan-tages and disadv antages that are of entirely different kind s. Th eauthor has reasons for supposing that if in the machine of the futurethe geared propeller survives (for it is essentially the use of gearing inthe Wrigh t machine that perm its the better propo rtions of propellerto be used l it will be in the form of a propeller or prop ellers cen trallysituated, thus resembling the Voisin arrangement, rather than in thedistribution of propellers such as at present employed by the BrothersW right. Th e simplicity of the direct-drive may, however, alone besufficient to outweigh any eco nomic adv antages th at gearing ma ypossess. I personally consider the W right disposition of propellers tobe a source of dang er. If a torque is applied to an aerodrom e abouta vertical axis, rotation about this axis at once begins, and the outerwing travelling through the air faster than the inner experiences a

greater lifting reaction, and if the torque is sufficient, the machineis very soon (in nautical ph raseology) on its "b ea m -e nd s. " It isevid ent tha t if one of the prop ellers fail from th e fracture of a chainor other cause, unless the motor be instantly stopp ed, the wholepower of the mo tor, and therefore the whole thrust, will be trans-mitted through the other propeller, causing a torque about a verticalaxis that must be overw helmin g. If the motor is prom ptly stoppe dthen much will depend whether the propeller that has failed isscotched or free. If it has jambed then it will probably balance byits drag the other propeller, which is either stopped also or isdriving the motor against its internal friction ; if, on the contrary,it is free, then the drag of the other propeller will be unba lanced ,and there is a serious torque in the opposite sense to that whichwould have existed if the motor ha d still been running . W heth erMr. Wright can, in the latter case, by wing-twisting and otherconto rtions, save himself from destruction I do not know. It is said(vide Press a short time ago) that a chain actually broke in flight

and the machine safely landed ; the altitude when the acc identoccurred was stated to be only 4 or 5 metres, so that Mr. W rightdid not have a fair chance of exhib iting his resources. It is to beh s d that he will not htve such a mishap at a higher alt i tude.

Photo by J. Theodoresco, Paris.

' • .Goupy Trip lane, fiited with Anzani motor.

NEW COMPANIES REGISTERED.A e r o p l a n e s , L t d . — Capi ta l ^100, in £1 shares. Formed to

manu facture, let on h ire, and otherwise deal in ae roplanes, flyingmachines, bal loons, & c, whether propelled by petrol , steam, gas,or other motive power.

B O O K S R E C E I V E D . — Artific ial and Natural Flight. BySir Hira m Maxim. Lon don : Whitta ker and Co. Price 5.5-. net.

Aeronautical Patents—Applied for in 1909.Published January "jth, 1909.7i37°> J- SAWAKD. Airship.

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