Though, as we have seen, most of the early attempts at aerial navigation
were made by foreign engineers, yet we are proud to number among the
ranks of the early inventors of heavier-than-air machines Sir Hiram
Maxim, who, though an American by birth, has spent most of his life in
Britain and may therefore be called a British inventor.
Perhaps to most of us this inventor's name is known more in connection
with the famous "Maxim" gun, which he designed, and which was named
after him. But as early as 1894, when the construction of aeroplanes was
in a very backward state, Sir Hiram succeeded in making an interesting
and ingenious aeroplane, which he proposed to drive by a particularly
light steam-engine.
Sir Hiram's first machine, which was made in 1890, was designed to be
guided by a double set of rails, one set arranged below and the other
above its running wheels. The intention was to make the machine raise
itself just off the ground rails, but yet be prevented from soaring by
the set of guard rails above the wheels, which acted as a check on it.
The motive force was given by a very powerful steam-engine of over 300
horse-power, and this drove two enormous propellers, some 17 feet in
length. The total weight of the machine was 8000 pounds, but even with
this enormous weight the engine was capable of raising the machine from
the ground.
For three or four years Sir Hiram made numerous experiments with his
aeroplane, but in 1894 it broke through the upper guard rail and turned
itself over among the surrounding trees, wrecking itself badly.
But though the Maxim aeroplane did not yield very practical results,
it proved that if a lighter but more powerful engine could be made, the
chief difficulty iii the way of aerial flight would be removed. This was
soon forthcoming in the invention of the petrol motor. In a lecture to
the Scottish Aeronautical Society, delivered in Glasgow in November,
1913, Sir Hiram claimed to be the inventor of the first machine which
actually rose from the earth. Before the distinguished inventor spoke of
his own work in aviation he recalled experiments made by his father
in 1856-7, when Sir Hiram was sixteen years of age. The flying machine
designed by the elder Maxim consisted of a small platform, which it
was proposed to lift directly into the air by the action of two
screw-propellers revolving in reverse directions. For a motor the
inventor intended to employ some kind of explosive material, gunpowder
preferred, but the lecturer distinctly remembered that his father said
that if an apparatus could be successfully navigated through the air it
would be of such inevitable value as a military engine that no matter
how much it might cost to run it would be used by Governments.
Of his own claim as an inventor of air-craft it would be well to
quote Sir Hiram's actual words, as given by the Glasgow Herald, which
contained a full report of the lecture.
"Some forty years ago, when I commenced to think of the subject, my
first idea was to lift my machine by vertical propellers, and I actually
commenced drawings and made calculations for a machine on that plan,
using an oil motor, or something like a Brayton engine, for motive
power. However, I was completely unable to work out any system which
would not be too heavy to lift itself directly into the air, and it
was only when I commenced to study the aeroplane system that it became
apparent to me that it would be possible to make a machine light enough
and powerful enough to raise itself without the agency of a balloon.
From the first I was convinced that it would be quite out of the
question to employ a balloon in any form. At that time the light
high-speed petrol motor had no existence. The only power available being
steam-engines, I made all my calculations with a view of using steam as
the motive power. While I was studying the question of the possibility
of making a flying machine that would actually fly, I became convinced
that there was but one system to work on, and that was the aeroplane
system. I made many calculations, and found that an aeroplane machine
driven by a steam-engine ought to lift itself into the air."
Sir Hiram then went on to say that it was the work of making an
automatic gun which was the direct cause of his experiments with flying
machines. To continue the report:
"One day I was approached by three gentlemen who were interested in the
gun, and they asked me if it would be possible for me to build a flying
machine, how long it would take, and how much it would cost. My reply
was that it would take five years and would cost L50,000. The first
three years would be devoted to developing a light internal-combustion
engine, and the remaining two years to making a flying machine.
"Later on a considerable sum of money was placed at my disposal, and the
experiments commenced, but unfortunately the gun business called for
my attention abroad, and during the first two years of the experimental
work I was out of England eighteen months.
"Although I had thought much of the internal-combustion engine it seemed
to me that it would take too long to develop one and that it would be a
hopeless task in my absence from England; so I decided that in my first
experiments at least I would use a steam-engine. I therefore designed
and made a steam-engine and boiler of which Mr. Charles Parsons has
since said that, next to the Maxim gun, it developed more energy for its
weight than any other heat engine ever made. That was true at the time,
but is very wide of the mark now."
Speaking of motors, the veteran lecturer remarked: "Perhaps there was no
problem in the world on which mathematicians had differed so widely as
on the problem of flight. Twenty years ago experimenters said: 'Give us
a motor that will develop 1 horse-power with the weight of a barnyard
fowl, and we will very soon fly.' At the present moment they had motors
which would develop over 2 horse-power and did not weigh more than a
12-pound barnyard fowl. These engines had been developed--I might say
created--by the builders of motor cars. Extreme lightness had been
gradually obtained by those making racing cars, and that had been
intensified by aviators. In many cases a speed of 80 or 100 miles per
hour had been attained, and machines had remained in the air for hours
and had flown long distances. In some cases nearly a ton had been
carried for a short distance."
Such words as these, coming from the lips of a great inventor, give us a
deep insight into the working of the inventor's mind, and, incidentally,
show us some of the difficulties which beset all pioneers in their
tasks. The science of aviation is, indeed, greatly indebted to these
early inventors, not the least of whom is the gallant Sir Hiram Maxim.