DIRIGIBLE BALLOONSINTRODUCTIONOf the first attempts of men to emulate the flight of birds, we have no knowledge, but one of the earliest, perhaps, is embodied in the myth of Icarus and Daedalus. Xerxes, it is said, possessed a throne which was drawn through the air by eagles. The Chinese have sometimes been given credit for the invention of the balloon, as they have for many other scientific discoveries. It is related that a balloon was sent up at Pekin in celebration of the ascension of the throne by an emperor in the beginning of the fourteenth century.Fig. 1. De Lana Airboat.Fig. 1. De Lana Airboat.Early Attempts.Leonardo da Vinci devoted some time to the problem of artificial flight. His sketches show the details of batlike wings which were to spread out on the downward stroke and fold up with the upward stroke.Francisco de Lana planned to make a flying ship the appearance of which was somewhat like that shown in Fig. 1, by exhausting the air from metal spheres fastened to a boat. The boat was to be equipped with oars and sails for propulsion and guiding. The method in which he purposed to create the vacuum in the spheres consisted of filling them with water, thus driving out the air, then letting the water run out. He thought that if he closed the tap at the proper time, there would be neither air nor water in the spheres. His flying ship was never constructed, for he piously decided that God would never permit such a change in the affairs of men.The First Flying Machine.In 1781, Meerwein of Baden, Germany, constructed a flying machine, and was the first, perhaps, to intelligently take into account the resistance of the air. He took the wild duck as a basis of calculation, and found that a man and machine weighing together 200 pounds would require a wing surface of from 125 to 130 square feet. It is of interest to note that Lilienthal, who met his death in trying to apply these principles, over one hundred years later found these figures to be correct. Two views of Meerwein’s apparatus are shown in Fig. 2. The construction involved two wood frames covered with cloth. The machine weighed 56 pounds and had a surface area of 111 square feet. The operator was fastened in the middle of the under side of the wings, and over a rod by which he worked the wings. His attempts at flight were not successful, as his ideas of the power of a man were in error.Fig. 2. Meerwein Flying MachineFig. 2. Meerwein Flying MachineClassification.All attempts at human flight have gone to show that there are four possible ways in which man may hope to navigate the air. He may imitate the flight of birds with a machine with moving or flapping wings; he may use vertical screws or helices to pull himself up; he may use an aeroplane and sail the air like an eagle; or, lastly, he may raise himself by means of a gas bag and either drift with the wind or move forward by means of propellers.In these attempts, apparatus of several different types has been developed. The types are classed in two general divisions based on their weight relative to that of the atmosphere, viz, thelighter-than-air machinesand theheavier-than-air machines. Lighter-than-air machines are those which employ a bag filled with a gas whose specific gravity is sufficiently less than that of the air to lift the bag and the necessary attachments from the earth, and include simple balloons and dirigibles. Heavier-than-air machines, which will neither rise nor remain in the air without motive power, include all forms of aeroplanes.
DIRIGIBLE BALLOONSINTRODUCTIONOf the first attempts of men to emulate the flight of birds, we have no knowledge, but one of the earliest, perhaps, is embodied in the myth of Icarus and Daedalus. Xerxes, it is said, possessed a throne which was drawn through the air by eagles. The Chinese have sometimes been given credit for the invention of the balloon, as they have for many other scientific discoveries. It is related that a balloon was sent up at Pekin in celebration of the ascension of the throne by an emperor in the beginning of the fourteenth century.Fig. 1. De Lana Airboat.Fig. 1. De Lana Airboat.Early Attempts.Leonardo da Vinci devoted some time to the problem of artificial flight. His sketches show the details of batlike wings which were to spread out on the downward stroke and fold up with the upward stroke.Francisco de Lana planned to make a flying ship the appearance of which was somewhat like that shown in Fig. 1, by exhausting the air from metal spheres fastened to a boat. The boat was to be equipped with oars and sails for propulsion and guiding. The method in which he purposed to create the vacuum in the spheres consisted of filling them with water, thus driving out the air, then letting the water run out. He thought that if he closed the tap at the proper time, there would be neither air nor water in the spheres. His flying ship was never constructed, for he piously decided that God would never permit such a change in the affairs of men.The First Flying Machine.In 1781, Meerwein of Baden, Germany, constructed a flying machine, and was the first, perhaps, to intelligently take into account the resistance of the air. He took the wild duck as a basis of calculation, and found that a man and machine weighing together 200 pounds would require a wing surface of from 125 to 130 square feet. It is of interest to note that Lilienthal, who met his death in trying to apply these principles, over one hundred years later found these figures to be correct. Two views of Meerwein’s apparatus are shown in Fig. 2. The construction involved two wood frames covered with cloth. The machine weighed 56 pounds and had a surface area of 111 square feet. The operator was fastened in the middle of the under side of the wings, and over a rod by which he worked the wings. His attempts at flight were not successful, as his ideas of the power of a man were in error.Fig. 2. Meerwein Flying MachineFig. 2. Meerwein Flying MachineClassification.All attempts at human flight have gone to show that there are four possible ways in which man may hope to navigate the air. He may imitate the flight of birds with a machine with moving or flapping wings; he may use vertical screws or helices to pull himself up; he may use an aeroplane and sail the air like an eagle; or, lastly, he may raise himself by means of a gas bag and either drift with the wind or move forward by means of propellers.In these attempts, apparatus of several different types has been developed. The types are classed in two general divisions based on their weight relative to that of the atmosphere, viz, thelighter-than-air machinesand theheavier-than-air machines. Lighter-than-air machines are those which employ a bag filled with a gas whose specific gravity is sufficiently less than that of the air to lift the bag and the necessary attachments from the earth, and include simple balloons and dirigibles. Heavier-than-air machines, which will neither rise nor remain in the air without motive power, include all forms of aeroplanes.
INTRODUCTIONOf the first attempts of men to emulate the flight of birds, we have no knowledge, but one of the earliest, perhaps, is embodied in the myth of Icarus and Daedalus. Xerxes, it is said, possessed a throne which was drawn through the air by eagles. The Chinese have sometimes been given credit for the invention of the balloon, as they have for many other scientific discoveries. It is related that a balloon was sent up at Pekin in celebration of the ascension of the throne by an emperor in the beginning of the fourteenth century.Fig. 1. De Lana Airboat.Fig. 1. De Lana Airboat.Early Attempts.Leonardo da Vinci devoted some time to the problem of artificial flight. His sketches show the details of batlike wings which were to spread out on the downward stroke and fold up with the upward stroke.Francisco de Lana planned to make a flying ship the appearance of which was somewhat like that shown in Fig. 1, by exhausting the air from metal spheres fastened to a boat. The boat was to be equipped with oars and sails for propulsion and guiding. The method in which he purposed to create the vacuum in the spheres consisted of filling them with water, thus driving out the air, then letting the water run out. He thought that if he closed the tap at the proper time, there would be neither air nor water in the spheres. His flying ship was never constructed, for he piously decided that God would never permit such a change in the affairs of men.The First Flying Machine.In 1781, Meerwein of Baden, Germany, constructed a flying machine, and was the first, perhaps, to intelligently take into account the resistance of the air. He took the wild duck as a basis of calculation, and found that a man and machine weighing together 200 pounds would require a wing surface of from 125 to 130 square feet. It is of interest to note that Lilienthal, who met his death in trying to apply these principles, over one hundred years later found these figures to be correct. Two views of Meerwein’s apparatus are shown in Fig. 2. The construction involved two wood frames covered with cloth. The machine weighed 56 pounds and had a surface area of 111 square feet. The operator was fastened in the middle of the under side of the wings, and over a rod by which he worked the wings. His attempts at flight were not successful, as his ideas of the power of a man were in error.Fig. 2. Meerwein Flying MachineFig. 2. Meerwein Flying MachineClassification.All attempts at human flight have gone to show that there are four possible ways in which man may hope to navigate the air. He may imitate the flight of birds with a machine with moving or flapping wings; he may use vertical screws or helices to pull himself up; he may use an aeroplane and sail the air like an eagle; or, lastly, he may raise himself by means of a gas bag and either drift with the wind or move forward by means of propellers.In these attempts, apparatus of several different types has been developed. The types are classed in two general divisions based on their weight relative to that of the atmosphere, viz, thelighter-than-air machinesand theheavier-than-air machines. Lighter-than-air machines are those which employ a bag filled with a gas whose specific gravity is sufficiently less than that of the air to lift the bag and the necessary attachments from the earth, and include simple balloons and dirigibles. Heavier-than-air machines, which will neither rise nor remain in the air without motive power, include all forms of aeroplanes.
Of the first attempts of men to emulate the flight of birds, we have no knowledge, but one of the earliest, perhaps, is embodied in the myth of Icarus and Daedalus. Xerxes, it is said, possessed a throne which was drawn through the air by eagles. The Chinese have sometimes been given credit for the invention of the balloon, as they have for many other scientific discoveries. It is related that a balloon was sent up at Pekin in celebration of the ascension of the throne by an emperor in the beginning of the fourteenth century.
Fig. 1. De Lana Airboat.Fig. 1. De Lana Airboat.
Fig. 1. De Lana Airboat.
Early Attempts.Leonardo da Vinci devoted some time to the problem of artificial flight. His sketches show the details of batlike wings which were to spread out on the downward stroke and fold up with the upward stroke.
Francisco de Lana planned to make a flying ship the appearance of which was somewhat like that shown in Fig. 1, by exhausting the air from metal spheres fastened to a boat. The boat was to be equipped with oars and sails for propulsion and guiding. The method in which he purposed to create the vacuum in the spheres consisted of filling them with water, thus driving out the air, then letting the water run out. He thought that if he closed the tap at the proper time, there would be neither air nor water in the spheres. His flying ship was never constructed, for he piously decided that God would never permit such a change in the affairs of men.
The First Flying Machine.In 1781, Meerwein of Baden, Germany, constructed a flying machine, and was the first, perhaps, to intelligently take into account the resistance of the air. He took the wild duck as a basis of calculation, and found that a man and machine weighing together 200 pounds would require a wing surface of from 125 to 130 square feet. It is of interest to note that Lilienthal, who met his death in trying to apply these principles, over one hundred years later found these figures to be correct. Two views of Meerwein’s apparatus are shown in Fig. 2. The construction involved two wood frames covered with cloth. The machine weighed 56 pounds and had a surface area of 111 square feet. The operator was fastened in the middle of the under side of the wings, and over a rod by which he worked the wings. His attempts at flight were not successful, as his ideas of the power of a man were in error.
Fig. 2. Meerwein Flying MachineFig. 2. Meerwein Flying Machine
Fig. 2. Meerwein Flying Machine
Classification.All attempts at human flight have gone to show that there are four possible ways in which man may hope to navigate the air. He may imitate the flight of birds with a machine with moving or flapping wings; he may use vertical screws or helices to pull himself up; he may use an aeroplane and sail the air like an eagle; or, lastly, he may raise himself by means of a gas bag and either drift with the wind or move forward by means of propellers.
In these attempts, apparatus of several different types has been developed. The types are classed in two general divisions based on their weight relative to that of the atmosphere, viz, thelighter-than-air machinesand theheavier-than-air machines. Lighter-than-air machines are those which employ a bag filled with a gas whose specific gravity is sufficiently less than that of the air to lift the bag and the necessary attachments from the earth, and include simple balloons and dirigibles. Heavier-than-air machines, which will neither rise nor remain in the air without motive power, include all forms of aeroplanes.