with models, the aerial locomotive has been a great success. No doubt
also it is pleasant to contemplate the possibility of traversing space
like a bird, a meteor, or a comet, and the absolute impossibility of
"getting off the rails;" but what, we would ask, would be the result of
a hitch--ever so small--in the working of the steam-engine or of the
spring motor?
If a railway engine breaks down, there are all sorts of chances of
escape open to the traveller. The engine may not quit the rails, or it
may bound off alone, snap the coupling chains and leave the carriages to
run until they come to a gradual standstill; or, the concussion may be
so modified that no serious injury may result; or, should it come to the
worst, the traveller may be among the fortunate number who make
"miraculous escapes." But if a crank of an aerial machine should snap
while it is careering through space, or even a screw get loose and cause
a momentary stoppage of the motor, it is abundantly evident that escape
from total and swift destruction would be "miraculous" indeed, for the
whole affair would come to the ground like a thunderbolt, and "leave not
a wrack behind!"
Probably it might be answered in reply that a parachute attached to the
machine, or the inclined planes acting as a parachute, would moderate
the descent. Well, there may be _something_ in that; nevertheless,
parachutes have not yet proved themselves to be very trustworthy,--and
we are constrained to reiterate the fact, that while an accident causing
the break-down of the motive power of a steamboat or a railway carriage
does not necessarily involve fatal consequences, an accident which
should stop the motive power in an aerial locomotive would _almost_ to a
certainty, result in a grand smash, which would involve machine and
passengers in one inconceivable whirl of chaotic destruction.
Whether this machine shall ever be successfully completed or not, it is
evident that it still engages the earnest attention of men, as we gather
from the following paragraph recently published in the _San Francisco
Bulletin_:--
"At a meeting of the Aerial Navigation Company, held on Friday, July 24,
1869, in San Francisco, it was voted to raise the necessary funds to
construct an improved avitor of large size. The opinion of the
engineers of the company was unanimous as to success so far, and the
feasibility and success of the projected flying-ship. It will be about
150 feet in length, 20 to 40 feet diameter of the gasometer, with
propelling blades on each side of the centre, describing a radius of
about 16 feet. The propellers are shaped like a steamship's, with two
blades, each very light. They will be driven by a steam-engine of
five-horse power, weighing, with boiler connections and water, 430
pounds weight. The planes on each side for floating the machine will be
about twenty feet wide at the centre of the machine, and made in
sections, so that they can be depressed or elevated at pleasure with the
rudder or tail. The gasometer will be made in sections, so that in the
event of accident to one section, the remainder will be sufficient for
all practical purposes; indeed, it is claimed that the ship can fly
through the air with such speed that the sustaining power of the planes
alone will be sufficient to maintain the avitor in mid-air. The
gasometer will be made, probably, of thin muslin or silk, saturated with
gutta-percha. It is to carry four persons, and will be ready for trial
in sixty or ninety days. The result of this experiment will be looked
for with great interest all over the country."
The Americans, with that vigour of conception and promptitude in action
for which they are celebrated, have done a good deal in the cause of
aerostation; but, as their doings and experiences have been in many
respects similar to those men whose voyages have been already recounted
or touched upon, it would involve too much repetition to detail them
here. Some of their attempts, however, have outshone those of the men
of the eastern hemisphere. For instance, Mr J. Wise, a noted aeronaut,
has several times exploded his balloons while in the air, to show that
the fragments with net-work form a sort of parachute which moderates the
descent. He also, with Mr La Mountain and others, accomplished in 1859
the longest flight on record, namely, 1150 miles in less than twenty
hours; and the latter gentleman did 300 miles in four hours in the same
year. Another American, Mr Lowe, made an enormous balloon, with which
he resolved to cross the Atlantic in about 48 hours. We await the
accomplishment of this feat with much solicitude!
In conclusion, we may say that the subject of aerostation is still in
its infancy, and that we have still to learn how to conduct ourselves
properly when--Up in the Clouds.
THE END.