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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0387.PDF
JULY 3, 1903; THE CURTISS BIPLANE. AMERICA NOW POSSESSES ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING FLYERS YET CONSTRUCTED:THE CURTISS BIPLANE BEING BUT LITTLE MORE THAN HALF THE WEIGHT OF THE WRIGHT MACHINE. VERY important and very interesting developments are taking place in America, and it is every day becoming more and more evident that the wonderful success of the Wright Brothers has inspired others in the field with the most intense desire to go one better along original lines. And of these enthusiasts there is no one who has yet done more than Mr. Glenn H. Curtiss, whose latest achievement is the evolution of what bids fair to be the most successful one-man flyer which has yet been built. By a " one-man " machine, we mean a flyer which is essentially designed to carry the pilot alone, and is neither equipped nor capable of carrying a passenger. That is to say, the design of the machine and power plant have been cut down as low as it has been con- sidered safe, in order to reduce the weight and to render possible a machine which is only a fraction of the size of those made by the Wrights and Voisin. Comparatively few have experimented in this direction, and yet it is not only one of the most attractive sides of flying machine design, but it is also at the same time one of the most scientific, comparable in a sense to that period in motoring when the cleverest engineers in the movement were devoting their energies to the building of weight-limit racers. The One-Man Typz. One of the keenest of sportsmen on the subject of small machines is Santos Dumont; in fact, he is a little inclined to affect the Lilliputian scale altogether, for his "Demoiselle" flyers are just a little too skimpy to be representative of a sound constructive type at the moment. In this country Mr. A. V. Roe is attempting to fly with a bicycle engine mounted on a heavier sort of machine, and it has thus been left to Mr. Curtiss in America to evolve what may be termed the first rational type of one-man machine, although even in his flyer we are of the opinion that the power plant which is said to be capable of 30-h.p. has been designed on unnecessarily generous lines, and that it might have led to a much greater achievement had the same skill been exercised in the design of an engine of but little more than half that power. The weight of the engine itself without its accessories is only 85 lbs. The radiator, magneto, &c, add another 107 lbs., and thus bring the power plant complete up to 192 lbs., which is still considerably below anything of this power actually in successful use. It is, of course, very easy to understand why a pioneer of a new type does not want to take too many risks simultaneously, and having, as Curtiss has, cut down the supporting area of the main plane to 272 sq. ft., whereas those on the Wright flyer are about 560 sq. ft., it is perhaps not to be wondered at that he should hardly desire in the first instance to take risks-also with the engine. The Designer and His Associates. To our readers who have followed the progress of flight in America, Mr. Curtiss' name is already well known, for it will be remembered that he was associated with the design and construction of the fivers which were built by the Aerial Experiment Association, of which Dr. Alex. Graham Bell was President. Of these machines the "June Bug" and "Silver Dart "are those which have been most successful. This association is now dissolved, but Mr. Curtiss is still associated with Mr. A. M. Herring in his designs. Mr. Herring is a pioneer who, to the newcomers in the world of flight, is perhaps less well-known by the name than he ought to be, for it should never be forgotten that Herring commenced his flight experiences while working as assistant to the famous Chanute, whose gliders he for the most part piloted. After leaving Chanute, Mr. Herring still continued his researches, and as far back as 1897, proceeded to equip a double deck machine with an engine and propeller, with the idea of definitely achieving horizontal flight. At first he built a petrol engine, but it was not altogether successful. Then he made a compressed air engine with which he is I f THE CURTISS BIPLANE IN FLIGHT.—Snapshot taken during one of the successful trial flights which Mr.iCurtisshimself made at Hammoadsport before handing his machine over to the Aeronautic Society at Morris Park. The photograph shows the flyer at a height of 100 feet above the ground. 389 C 2
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