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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0157.PDF
MARCH 20, 1909. thrust the machine downwards, but by altering the range of curvature of the front flexing planes for controlling the flight path, and by making sundry other minor adjustments, matters were found to work satisfactorily. The relatively enormous size of these propellers by comparison with the French ones, as well in the matter of diameter as of surface, is extraordinary, quite apart from the great pitch that they have and from the fact that two propellers revolving in opposite directions are employed in place of one as generally exploited by the French school, many of the foremost members of which, however, are now inclining to use two propellers, even as in biplanes they are having to space them two metres apart, which the Wrights all along maintained was the closest possible distance without losing efficiency through the compression of the air by the bearing of the upper plane being com- municated to the upper surface of the lower plane. The relatively little disturbance of air caused by the revolving Wright propellers cannot but impress anybody who has watched other machines. The Americans seem to play, and you do not see anybody making wires taut, as- in the case of the rigid French-built machines. Having run the motor for a while, during which he has been busy with an oil-can, Wilbur Wright may ask for some hot water. " Don't suppose there's any," says the mechanic, strolling off. "What about that they wrere making tea with?" shouts Wilbur after him. " Go- and ask the chef fellow." Meantime he gets busy with a spanner, hangs his watch up on one of the struts that heads from the runners to the upper main plane, and calls out, " Smoke, somebody, please." Immediately half-a-dozen responsive puffs enable him to see the exact extent to which the wind has veered round during his testing. The hot water being now forthcoming, and thick grease having been stuffed into the guide tubes through which the propeller chains pass, Wilbur strides down- the starting-rail in his tremendously energetic manner to the point where the rope tackle runs round the pulley wheel. Now you may come forward and lend a hand at the hauling, even as Mr. A. J. Balfour has delighted to " Flight " Copyright Photo. JUST OFF!—This snapshot was taken three seconds after Wilbur had polled the release catch. It shows you his"flying face" and characteristic crouch, with cap pulled well over the eyes, the gaze being fixed in the far distance. You see, too, how the front portion of the machine is slightly raised by the pull being nearly at the normal flyingangle. As he reaches the end of the rail Wilbur will pull back the lever in his left hand with all his might to set the front planes at the maximum angle to the wind. disturb only that amount of air which is necessary for the actual propulsion of their machine, there being seemingly no churning to waste. Anybody accustomed to seeing a petrol motor run in a chassis, or on a bench, receives a shock on beholding the engine start in the Wright aeroplane. "Shiver my timbers !" you exclaim, instinctively, as it appears to bounce and wriggle about on the pliant frame. When it is running slowly at the start, it seems inevitable that its breaking adrift can be a matter of minutes only. Yet if you try to follow the vibrations to any extremity of the machine you will fail to do so. The shocks caused by the power pulses are quite absorbed before they reach the extremities of the main planes, or the flight path control planes forward, or the vertical rudders behind. Then it begins to dawn on you that this non-rigid type of biplane, with its extraordinarily simple and ingenious design for resisting shocks at those points where they are likely to be received, has really no need of coil springs, pneumatic shock-dampers, combinations of levers and other guess contrivances. The scheme allows plenty of do. As the weight begins to rise, you will hear a murmur from the roadway where the thousands who have not ten francs to spare for the privilege of entering the enclosed ground wait patiently, knowing that once the craft has been launched in the air, they will see its performances as well as any of the privileged ones. Wilbur walks slowly back along the rail with the releasing catch mechanism in his hand. Presently he climbs under the aeroplane and sets everything himself, nobody else ever being entrusted with this important business. It is not void of risk, though the only awkward incident that has ever occurred in this connection was when something missed, and Orville found himself and the machine rushing down the rail at forty miles an hour with the motor working and nobody aboard. That was in the early days in America. During the scurry, he managed to climb to the motor and stop it, but suffered a wrench to his shoulder that left it weak and stiff for a matter of eighteen months thereafter. " Who tied this up " asks Wilbur, pointing to some- thing as he climbs out from under the machine. A
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