AERONAUTICS
To fly in the air has been the dream of all peoples in all ages. "Oh
that I had wings like a dove! Then would I fly away and be at rest!"
sang the Psalmist. It would seem from the recent inventions in the
science of aeronautics that this dream is to become in the near future
a practical experience of our every-day lives.
A balloon is an apparatus with an envelope filled with gas, the
specific gravity of which is less than that of the atmosphere near the
surface of the earth. It is practically at the mercy of air-currents.
The science of balloon aeronautics dates definitely from 1783, when the
Montgolfier brothers at Angonay in France constructed their first
balloons. These Frenchmen and their successors developed the spherical
balloons to a state of efficiency which has scarcely been improved upon
to this day. The balloon in time came to be adopted throughout Europe
for military uses, mainly for the purpose of spying out the enemy's
position and defenses.
A dirigible balloon usually has an elongated envelope and is equipped
with a motor and a rudder by which it can be steered at will against a
moderate wind. Balloon aeronautics became popular in 1898, when
Santos-Dumont, a wealthy young Brazilian, performed a series of
spectacular feats with his dirigible balloon. Immediately ballooning
became the sporting fad in France and the craze spread rapidly over the
Continent and to England. Numerous airships of the dirigible type made
their appearance and many balloon factories were established.
[Illustration: A WRIGHT BIPLANE By Courtesy of Brooks Brothers]
In Germany every community has its aero club. In the United States
there are about 300,000 club members scattered throughout the land who
individually or collectively own over 200 balloons. All of the great
nations own one or more aerial warships of the dirigible type, as well
as numerous spherical balloons.
An aeroplane, as commonly known, is a machine which is sustained in the
air by one, two, or three sets of rigid surfaces or planes. Unlike the
balloon, it is heavier than air, and it must therefore maintain its
position in the air by some form of mechanical propulsion. It must, in
other words, fly like a bird.
[Illustration: A BLERIOT MONOPLANE]
The first aeroplane was invented by Henson, an Englishman, who in 1843
flew his machine, using a two-horse-power steam engine. In 1888 and in
1900 two other practically successful models appeared, one made by a
French and the other by an English inventor. Langley, an American, who
began experimenting in 1885, managed to fly over the Potomac in 1896.
The Wright brothers made their initial flights under motor power in
1903.
During the years since 1903 innumerable types of aeroplanes have been
developed, all based upon the lines laid down by Langley, Henson,
Maxim, and other pioneers. Among the most successful experimenters have
been Farman, Delagrange, Bleriot, Curtiss, and the Voisins.
The flapping-wing machine is called an orthopter (_orthos_, straight,
+ _ptera_, wing) and is supposed to copy bird flight. Screw-flyers,
called helicopters, lift themselves from the ground by the thrust of
varying numbers of rapidly moving propellers, revolving horizontally.
Some startling feats have been performed in the field of aeronautics.
On August 7, 1910, John B. Moisant, an American, flew in a Bleriot
monoplane across the English Channel, a distance of about twenty-five
miles, in thirty-two minutes. He carried one passenger. On September
12, 1910, Claude Grahame-White, an Englishman, flew in a Farman biplane
thirty-three miles in thirty-four minutes, near Boston, winning a prize
of ten thousand dollars.
Every day new ideas take shape and are developed in some form that
promotes the pleasure, comfort, or safety of mankind. There seems to
be literally no limit to man's inventive power. His brain teems with
thoughts and his hands labor incessantly to force his thoughts into
material forms. He mounts higher and higher on the scale of
civilization, casting away old ideas, inefficient methods, and
worn-out machines, and substituting the new and wonderful things which
he has achieved.
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