How It Flies; or, The Conquest of the Air: The Story of Man's Endeavors to Fly and of the Inventions by Which He Has SucceededFerris, Richard
Science
How It Flies; or, The Conquest of the Air: The Story of Man's Endeavors to Fly and of the Inventions by Which He Has Succeeded
Ferris, Richard
Aeronautics
Voisin biplanes at the starting line at Rheims in August, 1909.
They were flown by Louis Paulhan, who won third prize for
distance, and Henri Rougier, who won fourth prize for altitude.
In the elimination races to determine the contestants for the
Bennett Cup, Paulhan won second place with the Voisin machine,
being defeated only by Tissandier with a Wright machine. Other
noted aviators who fly the Voisin machine are M. Bunau-Varilla
and the Baroness de la Roche.]
The machine is mounted on two wheels forward, and two smaller wheels
under the tail.
This description applies to the standard Voisin biplane, which has
been in much favor with many of the best known aviators. Recently
the Voisins have brought out a new type in which the propeller has
been placed in front of the planes, exerting a pulling force upon the
machine, instead of pushing it as in the earlier type. The elevating
plane has been removed to the rear, and combined with the rudder.
A racing type also has been produced, in which the vertical curtains
have been removed and a parallel pair of long, narrow ailerons
introduced between the main planes on both sides of the centre. This
machine, it is claimed, has made better than 60 miles per hour.
The first Voisin biplane was built for Delagrange, and was flown by him
with success.
THE FARMAN BIPLANE.
The second biplane built by the Voisins went into the hands of Henri
Farman, who made many flights with it. Not being quite satisfied with
the machine, and having an inventive mind, he was soon building a
biplane after his own designs, and the Farman biplane is now one of the
foremost in favor among both professional and amateur aviators.
It is decidedly smaller in area of surface than the Wright and Voisin
machines, having but 430 square feet in the two supporting planes. It
has a spread of 33 feet, and the planes are 7 feet wide, and set 6 feet
apart. In the Farman machine the vertical curtains of the Voisin have
been dispensed with. The forward elevator is there, but raised nearly
to the level of the upper plane, and placed 9 feet from the front edge
of the main planes. To control the equilibrium, the two back corners
of each plane are cut and hinged so that they hang vertically when not
in flight. When in motion these flaps or ailerons stream out freely
in the wind, assuming such position as the speed of the passing air
gives them. They are pulled down by the pilot at one end or the other,
as may be necessary to restore equilibrium, acting in very much the
same manner as the warping tips of the Wright machine. A pair of tail
planes are set in parallel on a framework about 20 feet in the rear of
the main planes, and a double rudder surface behind them. Another model
has hinged ailerons on these tail planes, and a single rudder surface
set upright between them. These tail ailerons are moved in conjunction
with those of the main planes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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