FLYING MACHINES
Early attempts at flight. The Dirigible. Prof. Langley's
experiments. The Wright Brothers. Count Zeppelin. Recent aeroplane
records.
CHAPTER II
WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY
Primitive signalling. Principles of wireless telegraphy. Ether
vibrations. Wireless apparatus. The Marconi system.
CHAPTER III
RADIUM
Experiments of Becquerel. Work of the Curies. Discovery of Radium.
Enormous energy. Various uses.
CHAPTER IV
MOVING PICTURES
Photographing motion. Edison's Kinetoscope. Lumiere's
Cinematographe. Before the camera. The mission of the moving
picture. Edison's latest triumph.
CHAPTER V
SKY-SCRAPERS AND HOW THEY ARE BUILT
Evolution of the sky-scraper. Construction. New York's giant
buildings. Dimensions.
CHAPTER VI
OCEAN PALACES
Ocean greyhounds. Present day floating palaces. Regal
appointments. Passenger accommodation. Food consumption. The one
thousand foot boat.
CHAPTER VII
WONDERFUL CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE
Mating Plants. Experiments of Burbank. What he has accomplished.
CHAPTER VIII
LATEST DISCOVERIES IN ARCHAEOLOGY
Prehistoric time. Earliest records. Discoveries in Bible lands.
American explorations.
CHAPTER IX
GREAT TUNNELS OF THE WORLD
Primitive Tunnelling. Hoosac Tunnel. Croton aqueduct. Great Alpine
tunnels. New York subway. McAdoo tunnels. How tunnels are built.
CHAPTER X
ELECTRICITY IN THE HOUSEHOLD
Electrically equipped houses. Cooking by electricity. Comforts and
conveniences.
CHAPTER XI
HARNESSING THE WATER-FALL
Electric energy. High pressure. Transformers. Development of
water-power.
CHAPTER XII
WONDERFUL WAR SHIPS
Dimensions, displacements, cost and description of battleships.
Capacity and speed. Preparing for the future.
CHAPTER XIII
A TALK ON BIG GUNS
The first projectiles. Introduction of cannon High pressure guns.
Machine guns. Dimensions and cost of big guns.
CHAPTER XIV
MYSTERY OF THE STARS
Wonders of the universe. Star Photography. The infinity of space.
CHAPTER XV
CAN WE COMMUNICATE WITH OTHER WORLDS?
Vastness of Nature. Star distances. Problem of communicating with
Mars. The Great Beyond.
Introduction
The purpose of this little book is to give a general idea of a few of
the great achievements of our time. Within such a limited space it was
impossible to even mention thousands more of the great inventions and
triumphs which mark the rushing progress of the world in the present
century; therefore, only those subjects have been treated which appeal
with more than passing interest to all. For instance, the flying machine
is engaging the attention of the old, the young and the middle-aged,
and soon the whole world will be on the wing. Radium, "the revealer,"
is opening the door to possibilities almost beyond human conception.
Wireless Telegraphy is crossing thousands of miles of space with
invisible feet and making the nations of the earth as one. 'Tis the
same with the other subjects,--one and all are of vital, human interest,
and are extremely attractive on account of their importance in the
civilization of today. Mighty, sublime, wonderful, as have been the
achievements of past science, as yet we are but on the verge of the
continents of discovery. Where is the wizard who can tell what lies
in the womb of time? Just as our conceptions of many things have been
revolutionized in the past, those which we hold to-day of the cosmic
processes may have to be remodeled in the future. The men of fifty
years hence may laugh at the circumscribed knowledge of the present
and shake their wise heads in contemplation of what they will term our
crudities, and which we now call _progress_. Science is ever on the
march and what is new to-day will be old to-morrow. We cannot go
back, we must go forward, and although we can never reach finality in
aught, we can improve on the _past_ to enrich the _future_. If this
volume creates an interest and arouses an enthusiasm in the ordinary men
and women into whose hands it may come, and stimulates them to a study
of the great events making for the enlightenment, progress and elevation
of the race, it shall have fulfilled its mission and serve the purpose
for which it was written.
CHAPTER I
FLYING MACHINES
Early Attempts at Flight--The Dirigible--Professor Langley's
Experiment--The Wright Brothers--Count Zeppelin--Recent Aeroplane
Records.
It is hard to determine when men first essayed the attempt to fly. In
myth, legend and tradition we find allusions to aerial flight and from
the very dawn of authentic history, philosophers, poets, and writers
have made allusion to the subject, showing that the idea must have
early taken root in the restless human heart. Aeschylus exclaims:
"Oh, might I sit, sublime in air
Where watery clouds the freezing snows prepare!"
Ariosto in his "Orlando Furioso" makes an English knight, whom he names
Astolpho, fly to the banks of the Nile; nowadays the authors are trying
to make their heroes fly to the North Pole.
Some will have it that the ancient world had a civilization much higher
than the modern and was more advanced in knowledge. It is claimed that
steam engines and electricity were common in Egypt thousands of years
ago and that literature, science, art, and architecture flourished as
never since. Certain it is that the Pyramids were for a long time the
most solid "Skyscrapers" in the world.
Perhaps, after all, our boasted progress is but a case of going back
to first principles, of history, or rather tradition repeating itself.
The flying machine may not be as new as we think it is. At any rate
the conception of it is old enough.
In the thirteenth century Roger Bacon, often called the "Father of
Philosophy," maintained that the air could be navigated. He suggested
a hollow globe of copper to be filled with "ethereal air or liquid
fire," but he never tried to put his suggestion into practice. Father
Vasson, a missionary at Canton, in a letter dated September 5, 1694,
mentions a balloon that ascended on the occasion of the coronation of
the Empress Fo-Kien in 1306, but he does not state where he got the
information.
The balloon is the earliest form of air machine of which we have record.
In 1767 a Dr. Black of Edinburgh suggested that a thin bladder could
be made to ascend if filled with inflammable air, the name then given
to hydrogen gas.
In 1782 Cavallo succeeded in sending up a soap bubble filled with such
gas.
It was in the same year that the Montgolfier brothers of Annonay, near
Lyons in France, conceived the idea of using hot air for lifting things
into the air. They got this idea from watching the smoke curling up
the chimney from the heat of the fire beneath.
In 1783 they constructed the first successful balloon of which we have
any description. It was in the form of a round ball, 110 feet in
circumference and, with the frame weighed 300 pounds. It was filled
with 22,000 cubic feet of vapor. It rose to a height of 6,000 feet and
proceeded almost 7,000 feet, when it gently descended. France went
wild over the exhibition.
The first to risk their lives in the air were M. Pilatre de Rozier and
the Marquis de Arlandes, who ascended over Paris in a hot-air balloon
in November, 1783. They rose five hundred feet and traveled a distance
of five miles in twenty-five minutes.
In the following December Messrs. Charles and Robert, also Frenchmen,
ascended ten thousand feet and traveled twenty-seven miles in two
hours.
The first balloon ascension in Great Britain was made by an experimenter
named Tytler in 1784. A few months later Lunardi sailed over London.
In 1836 three Englishmen, Green, Mason and Holland, went from London to
Germany, five hundred miles, in eighteen hours.
The greatest balloon exhibition up to then, indeed the greatest ever,
as it has never been surpassed, was given by Glaisher and Coxwell, two
Englishmen, near Wolverhampton, on September 5, 1862. They ascended
to such an elevation that both lost the power of their limbs, and had
not Coxwell opened the descending valve with his teeth, they would
have ascended higher and probably lost their lives in the rarefied
atmosphere, for there was no compressed oxygen then as now to inhale
into their lungs. The last reckoning of which they were capable before
Glaisher lost consciousness showed an elevation of twenty-nine thousand
feet, but it is supposed that they ascended eight thousand feet higher
before Coxwell was able to open the descending valve. In 1901 in the
city of Berlin two Germans rose to a height of thirty-five thousand
feet, but the two Englishmen of almost fifty years ago are still given
credit for the highest ascent.
The largest balloon ever sent aloft was the "Giant" of M. Nadar, a
Frenchman, which had a capacity of 215,000 cubic feet and required for
a covering 22,000 yards of silk. It ascended from the Champ de Mars,
Paris, in 1853, with fifteen passengers, all of whom came back safely.
The longest flight made in a balloon was that by Count de La Vaulx, 1193
miles in 1905.
A mammoth balloon was built in London by A. E. Gaudron. In 1908 with
three other aeronauts Gaudron crossed from the Crystal Palace to the
Belgian Coast at Ostend and then drifted over Northern Germany and was
finally driven down by a snow storm at Mateki Derevni in Russia, having
traveled 1,117 miles in 31-1/2 hours. The first attempt at constructing
a dirigible balloon or airship was made by M. Giffard, a Frenchman,
in 1852. The bag was spindle-shaped and 144 feet from point to point.
Though it could be steered without drifting the motor was too weak to
propel it. Giffard had many imitations in the spindle-shaped envelope
construction, but it was a long time before any good results were
obtained.
It was not until 1884 that M. Gaston Tissandier constructed a dirigible
in any way worthy of the name. It was operated by a motor driven by
a bichromate of soda battery. The motor weighed 121 lbs. The cells
held liquid enough to work for 2-1/2 hours, generating 1-1/3 horse
power. The screw had two arms and was over nine feet in circumference.
Tissandier made some successful flights.
The first dirigible balloon to return whence it started was that known
as _La France_. This airship was also constructed in 1884. The
designer was Commander Renard of the French Marine Corps assisted by
Captain Krebs of the same service. The length of the envelope was 179
feet, its diameter 27-1/2 feet. The screw was in front instead of
behind as in all others previously constructed. The motor which weighed
220-1/2 lbs. was driven by electricity and developed 8-1/2 horse power.
The propeller was 24 feet in diameter and only made 46 revolutions to
the minute. This was the first time electricity was used as a motor
force, and mighty possibilities were conceived.
In 1901 a young Brazilian, Santos-Dumont, made a spectacular flight.
M. Deutch, a Parisian millionaire, offered a prize of $20,000 for the
first dirigible that would fly from the Parc d'Aerostat, encircle the
Eiffel Tower and return to the starting point within thirty minutes,
the distance of such flight being about nine miles. Dumont won the
prize though he was some forty seconds over time. The length of his
dirigible on this occasion was 108 feet, the diameter 19-1/2 feet. It
had a 4-cylinder petroleum motor weighing 216 lbs., which generated
20 horse power. The screw was 13 feet in diameter and made three hundred
revolutions to the minute.
From this time onward great progress was made in the constructing of
airships. Government officials and many others turned their attention
to the work. Factories were put in operation in several countries of
Europe and by the year 1905 the dirigible had been fairly well
established. Zeppelin, Parseval, Lebaudy, Baidwin and Gross were
crowding one another for honors. All had given good results, Zeppelin
especially had performed some remarkable feats with his machines.
In the construction of the dirigible balloon great care must be taken
to build a strong, as well as light framework and to suspend the car
from it so that the weight will be equally distributed, and above all,
so to contrive the gas contained that under no circumstances can it
become tilted. There is great danger in the event of tilting that some
of the stays suspending the car may snap and the construction fall to
pieces in the air.
In deciding upon the shape of a dirigible balloon the chief
consideration is to secure an end surface which presents the least
possible resistance to the air and also to secure stability and
equilibrium. Of course the motor, fuel and propellers are other
considerations of vital importance.
The first experimenter on the size of wing surface necessary to sustain
a man in the air, calculated from the proportion of weight and wing
surface in birds, was Karl Meerwein of Baden. He calculated that a man
weighing 200 lbs. would require 128 square feet. In 1781 he made a
spindle-shaped apparatus presenting such a surface to the resistance
of the air. It was collapsible on the middle and here the operator was
fastened and lay horizontally with his face towards the earth working
the collapsible wings by means of a transverse rod. It was not a
success.
During the first half of the 19th Century there were many experiments
with wing surfaces, none of which gave any promise. In fact it was not
until 1865 that any advance was made, when Francis Wenham showed that
the lifting power of a plane of great superficial area could be obtained
by dividing the large plane into several parts arranged on tiers. This
may be regarded as the germ of the modern aeroplane, the first glimmer
of hope to filter through the darkness of experimentation until then.
When Wenham's apparatus went against a strong wind it was only lifted
up and thrown back. However, the idea gave thought to many others years
afterwards.
In 1885 the brothers Lilienthal in Germany discovered the possibility
of driving curved aeroplanes against the wind. Otto Lilienthal held
that it was necessary to begin with "sailing" flight and first of all
that the art of balancing in the air must be learned by practical
experiments. He made several flights of the kind now known as _gliding_.
From a height of 100 feet he glided a distance of 700 feet and found he
could deflect his flight from left to right by moving his legs which
were hanging freely from the seat. He attached a light motor weighing
only 96 lbs. and generating 2-1/2 horse power. To sustain the weight he
had to increase the size of his planes.
Unfortunately this pioneer in modern aviation was killed in an
experiment, but he left much data behind which has helped others. His
was the first actual flyer which demonstrated the elementary laws
governing real flight and blazed the way for the successful experiments
of the present time. His example made the gliding machine a continuous
performance until real practical aerial flight was achieved.
As far back as 1894 Maxim built a giant aeroplane but it was too
cumbersome to be operated.
In America the wonderful work of Professor Langley of the Smithsonian
Institution with his aerodromes attracted worldwide attention. Langley
was the great originator of the science of aerodynamics on this side
of the water. Langley studied from artificial birds which he had
constructed and kept almost constantly before him.
To Langley, Chanute, Herring and Manly, America owes much in the way
of aeronautics before the Wrights entered the field. The Wrights have
given the greatest impetus to modern aviation. They entered the field
in 1900 and immediately achieved greater results than any of their
predecessors. They followed the idea of Lilienthal to a certain extent.
They made gliders in which the aviator had a horizontal position and
they used twice as great a lifting surface as that hitherto employed.
The flights of their first motor machine was made December 17, 1903,
at Kitty Hawk, N.C. In 1904 with a new machine they resumed experiments
at their home near Dayton, O. In September of that year they succeeded
in changing the course from one dead against the wind to a curved path
where cross currents must be encountered, and made many circular
flights. During 1906 they rested for a while from practical flight,
perfecting plans for the future. In the beginning of September, 1908,
Orville Wright made an aeroplane flight of one hour, and a few days
later stayed up one hour and fourteen minutes. Wilbur Wright went to
France and began a series of remarkable flights taking up passengers.
On December 31, of that year, he startled the world by making the
record flight of two hours and nineteen minutes.
It was on Sept. 13, 1906, that Santos-Dumont made the first officially
recorded European aeroplane flight, leaving the ground for a distance
of 12 yards. On November 12, of same year, he remained in the air for
21 seconds and traveled a distance of 230 yards. These feats caused
a great sensation at the time.
While the Wrights were achieving fame for America, Henri Farman was
busy in England. On October 26, 1907, he flew 820 yards in 52-1/2
seconds. On July 6, 1908, he remained in the air for 20-1/2 minutes.
On October 31, same year, in France, he flew from Chalons to Rheims,
a distance of sixteen miles, in twenty minutes.
The year 1909 witnessed mighty strides in the field of aviation.
Thousands of flights were made, many of which exceeded the most sanguine
anticipations. On July 13, Bleriot flew from Etampes to Chevilly, 26
miles, in 44 minutes and 30 seconds, and on July 25 he made the first
flight across the British Channel, 32 miles, in 37 minutes. Orville
Wright made several sensational flights in his biplane around Berlin,
while his brother Wilbur delighted New Yorkers by circling the Statue
of Liberty and flying up the Hudson from Governor's Island to Grant's
Tomb and return, a distance of 21 miles, in 33 minutes and 33 seconds
during the Hudson-Fulton Celebration. On November 20 Louis Paulhan,
in a biplane, flew from Mourmelon to Chalons, France, and return, 37
miles in 55 minutes, rising to a height of 1000 feet.
The dirigible airship was also much in evidence during 1909, Zeppelin,
especially, performing some remarkable feats. The Zeppelin V.,
subsequently re-numbered No. 1, of the rigid type, 446 feet long,
diameter 42-1/2 feet and capacity 536,000 cubic feet, on March 29,
rose to a height of 3,280, and on April 1, started with a crew of nine
passengers from Frederickshafen to Munich. In a 35 mile gale it was
carried beyond Munich, but Zeppelin succeeded in coming to anchor.
Other Zeppelin balloons made remarkable voyages during the year. But
the latest achievements (1910) of the old German aeronaut have put all
previous records into the shade and electrified the whole world. His
new passenger airship, the _Deutschland_, on June 22, made a 300
mile trip from Frederickshafen to Dusseldorf in 9 hours, carrying 20
passengers. This was at the rate of 33.33 miles per hour. During one
hour of the journey a speed of 43-1/2 miles was averaged. The passengers
were carried in a mahogany finished cabin and had all the comforts of
a Pullman car, but most significant fact of all, the trip was made on
schedule and with all regularity of an express train.
Two days later Zeppelin eclipsed his own record air voyage when his
vessel carried 32 passengers, ten of whom were women, in a 100 mile
trip from Dusseldorf to Essen, Dortmund and Bochum and back. At one
time on this occasion while traveling with the wind the airship made
a speed of 56-1/2 miles. It passed through a heavy shower and forced
its way against a strong headwind without difficulty. The passengers
were all delighted with the new mode of travel, which was very
comfortable. This last dirigible masterpiece of Zeppelin may be styled
the leviathan of the air. It is 485 feet long with a total lifting
power of 44,000 lbs. It has three motors which total 330 horse power
and it drives at an average speed of about 33 miles an hour. A regular
passenger service has been established and tickets are selling at $50.
The present year can also boast some great aeroplane records, notably
by Curtiss and Hamilton in America and Farman and Paulhan in Europe.
Curtiss flew from Albany to New York, a distance of 137 miles, at an
average speed of 55 miles an hour and Hamilton flew from New York to
Philadelphia and return. The first night flight of a dirigible over
New York City was made by Charles Goodale on July 19. He flew from
Palisades Park on the Hudson and return.
From a scientific toy the Flying Machine has been developed and
perfected into a practical means of locomotion. It bids fair at no
distant date to revolutionize the transit of the world. No other art
has ever made such progress in its early stages and every day witnesses
an improvement.
The air, though invisible to the eye, has mass and therefore offers
resistance to all moving bodies. Therefore air-mass and air resistance
are the first principles to be taken into consideration in the
construction of an aeroplane. It must be built so that the air-mass
will sustain it and the motor, and the motor must be of sufficient
power to overcome the air resistance.
A ship ploughing through the waves presents the line of least resistance
to the water and so is shaped somewhat like a fish, the natural denizen
of that element. It is different with the aeroplane. In the intangible
domain it essays to overcome, there must be a sufficient surface to
compress a certain volume of air to sustain the weight of the machinery.
The surfaces in regard to size, shape, curvature, bracing and material,
are all important. A great deal depends upon the curve of the surfaces.
Two machines may have the same extent of surface and develop the same
rate of speed, yet one may have a much greater lifting power than the
other, provided it has a more efficient curve to its surface. Many
people have a fallacious idea that the surfaces of an aeroplane are
planes and this doubt less arises from the word itself. However, the
last syllable in _aeroplane_ has nothing whatever to do with a flat
surface. It is derived from the Greek _planos_, wandering, therefore the
entire word signifies an air wanderer.
The surfaces are really aero curves arched in the rear of the front
edge, thus allowing the supporting surface of the aeroplane in passing
forward with its backward side set at an angle to the direction of its
motion, to act upon the air in such a way as to tend to compress it
on the under side.
After the surfaces come the rudders in importance. It is of vital
consequence that the machine be balanced by the operator. In the present
method of balancing an aeroplane the idea in mind is to raise the lower
side of the machine and make the higher side lower in order that it
can be quickly righted when it tips to one side from a gust of wind,
or when making angle at a sudden turn. To accomplish this, two methods
can be employed. 1. Changing the form of the wing. 2. Using separate
surfaces. One side can be made to lift more than the other by giving
it a greater curve or extending the extremity.
In balancing by means of separate surfaces, which can be turned up or
down on each side of the machine, the horizontal balancing rudders are
so connected that they will work in an opposite direction--while one
is turned to lift one side, the other will act to lower the other side
so as to strike an even balance.
The motors and propellers next claim attention. It is the motor that
makes aviation possible. It was owing in a very large measure to the
introduction of the petrol motor that progress became rapid. Hitherto
many had laid the blame of everything on the motor. They had
said,--"give us a light and powerful engine and we will show you how
to fly."
The first very light engine to be available was the _Antoinette_,
built by Leon Levavasseur in France. It enabled Santos-Dumont to make
his first public successful flights. Nearly all aeroplanes follow the
same general principles of construction. Of course a good deal depends
upon the form of aeroplane--whether a monoplane or a biplane. As these
two forms are the chief ones, as yet, of heavier than-air machines,
it would be well to understand them. The monoplane has single large
surfaces like the wings of a bird, the biplane has two large surfaces
braced together one over the other. At the present writing a triplane
has been introduced into the domain of American aviation by an English
aeronaut. Doubtless as the science progresses many other variations
will appear in the field. Most machines, though fashioned on similar
lines, possess universal features. For instance, the Wright biplane
is characterized by warping wing tips and seams of heavy construction,
while the surfaces of the Herring-Curtiss machine, are slight and it
looks very light and buoyant as if well suited to its element. The
Voisin biplane is fashioned after the manner of a box kite and therefore
presents vertical surfaces to the air. Farman's machine has no vertical
surfaces, but there are hinged wing tips to the outer rear-edges of
its surfaces, for use in turning and balancing. He also has a
combination of wheels and skids or runners for starting and landing.
The position to be occupied by the operator also influences the
construction. Some sit on top of the machine, others underneath. In
the _Antoinette_, Latham sits up in a sort of cockpit on the top.
Bleriot sits far beneath his machine. In the latest construction of
Santos-Dumont, the _Demoiselle_, the aviator sits on the top.
Aeroplanes have been constructed for the most part in Europe, especially
in France. There may be said to be only one factory in America, that
of Herring-Curtiss, at Hammondsport, N.Y., as the Wright place at
Dayton is very small and only turns out motors and experimenting
machines, and cannot be called a regular factory. The Wright machines
are now manufactured by a French syndicate. It is said that the Wrights
will have an American factory at work in a short time. The French-made
aeroplanes have given good satisfaction. These machines cost from
$4,000 to $5,000, and generally have three cylinder motors developing
from 25 to 35 horse power.
The latest model of Bleriot known as No. 12 has beaten the time record
of Glenn Curtiss' biplane with its 60 horse power motor. The Farman
machine or the model in which he made the world's duration record in
his three hour and sixteen minutes flight at Rheims, is one of the
best as well as the cheapest of the French makes. Without the motor
it cost but $1,200. It has a surface twenty-five meters square, is
eight meters long and seven-and-a-half meters wide, weighs 140 kilos,
and has a motor which develops from 25 to 50 horse power.
The Wright machines cost $6,000. They have four cylinder motors of 30
horse power, are 12-1/2 meters long, 9 meters wide and have a surface
of 30 square meters. They weigh 400 kilos. In this country they cost
$7,500 exclusive of the duty on foreign manufacture.
The impetus being given to aviation at the present time by the prizes
offered is spurring the men-birds to their best efforts.
It is prophesied that the aeroplane will yet attain a speed of 300
miles an hour. The quickest travel yet attained by man has been at the
rate of 127 miles an hour. That was accomplished by Marriott in a
racing automobile at Ormond Beach in 1906, when he went one mile in
28 1-5 seconds. It is doubtful, however, were it possible to achieve
a rate of 300 miles an hour, that any human being could resist the air
pressure at such a velocity.
At any rate there can be no question as to the aeroplane attaining a
much greater speed than at present. That it will be useful there can
be little doubt. It is no longer a scientific toy in the hands of
amateurs, but a practical machine which is bound to contribute much
to the progress of the world. Of course, as a mode of transportation
it is not in the same class with the dirigible, but it can be made to
serve many other purposes. As an agent in time of war it would be more
important than fort or warship.
The experiments of Curtiss, made a short time ago over Lake Keuka at
Hammondsport, N.Y., prove what a mighty factor would have to be reckoned
with in the martial aeroplane. Curtiss without any practice at all hit
a mimic battle ship fifteen times out of twenty-two shots. His
experiment has convinced the military and naval authorities of this
country that the aeroplane and the aerial torpedo constitute a new
danger against which there is no existing protection. Aerial offensive
and defensive strategy is now a problem which demands the attention
of nations.