Animal Locomotion; or, walking, swimming, and flying: With a dissertation on aëronauticsPettigrew, James Bell
Science
Animal Locomotion; or, walking, swimming, and flying: With a dissertation on aëronautics
Pettigrew, James Bell
Aeronautics; Animal locomotion
_As to the nature of the Forces required for propelling Artificial
Wings._--Borelli, Durckheim, and Marey affirm that it suffices if the
wing merely elevates and depresses itself by a rhythmical movement in a
perpendicular direction; while Chabrier is of opinion that a movement
of depression only is required. All those observers agree in believing
that the details of flight are due to the reaction of the air on the
surface of the wing. Repeated experiment has, however, convinced me
that the artificial wing must be thoroughly under control, both during
the down and up strokes--the details of flight being in a great measure
due to the movements communicated to the wing by an intelligent agent.
In order to reproduce flight by the aid of artificial wings, I find
it necessary to employ a power which varies in intensity at every
stage of the down and up strokes. The power which suits best is one
which is made to act very suddenly and forcibly at the beginning of
the down stroke, and which gradually abates in intensity until the end
of the down stroke, where it ceases to act in a downward direction.
The power is then made to act in an upward direction, and gradually
to decrease until the end of the up stroke. The force is thus applied
more or less continuously; its energy being increased and diminished
according to the position of the wing, and the amount of resistance
which it experiences from the air. The flexible and elastic nature of
the wave wing, assisted by certain springs to be presently explained,
insure a continuous vibration where neither halts nor dead points are
observable. I obtain the varying power required by a direct piston
action, and by working the steam expansively. The power employed is
materially assisted, particularly during the up stroke, by the reaction
of the air and the elastic structures about to be described. An
artificial wing, propelled and regulated by the forces recommended, is
in some respects as completely under control as the wing of the insect,
bat, or bird.
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