Lecture on Artificial Flight: Given by request at the Academy of Natural SciencesKrueger, William G.
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Lecture on Artificial Flight: Given by request at the Academy of Natural Sciences
Krueger, William G.
Aeronautics
Possessing then, all the datas possible on the subject, it is, perhaps,
not so very difficult as is generally supposed, to arrive at a
satisfactory result; and, like other great inventions before, the coming
air ship will also be a rather simple affair. While it will not likely
possess such prodigious weight as 8000 to 10,000 pounds, with a hundred
and twenty horse-power steam engine--sufficient almost for a man of war,
it will neither be as light as a feather, comparatively, but hold the
golden middle.
The inclined planes, in a greatly modified form, will by no means be
discarded, as in fact no flying machine could be built otherwise. But,
as stated before, this is only one principle long recognized, the A B C,
so to speak, towards the solution of the problem. These planes, in
wedging forward, for certain reasons, should be _elastic_, in some
manner, and which has not been attempted by any inventor yet. The frames
and covering of all models, built so far, have been rigid and
immoveable, and yet, even with these great defects, partial success has
been obtained already.
The fan or screw never will be used as the _only_ means in propelling,
but will be very effective in doing service as a part of the whole, with
other contrivances in driving and guiding. But their form and style must
be considerably different from anything known at present.
A modified and peculiar form and style of wings, as mentioned here
before, must also be employed in combination with the planes and fans,
to serve the double purpose of driving and lifting. By the manipulation
of these wings the accumulating and compressed air is thrown underneath
the machine, thereby urging the same in a forward and upward direction,
and by which the planes in front are made to continually rise upon new
layers of the elastic medium, like a kite when the boy runs forward.
The planes must be fixed in such a manner that they can be set at
different angles with the horizon, in order that the machine may rise
sooner when the angle is greatest, because of the greater resistance of
the air against a larger surface exposed; and to glide through the
atmosphere swifter, after elevation has been attained, when the angle of
the planes is most acute, thereby offering the least amount of surface
to the horizontally opposing air. No flying creature rises in the air
vertically, but ascends at an incline.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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