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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0499.PDF
AUGUST 21, 1909. THE CODY FLYER. AT the present moment, when the eyes of the world are directed to the scintillating progress of the aviators on the Continent, S. F. Cody alone shines as a flying star above British soil. His work as a Government servant in the construction and use of what was originally the British Army flyer has been most painstaking, and there is not a man in the country but should feel genuine pleasure at the large measure of success which has now come to reward his labours. What Cody has already done is little compared with what he may reasonably be expected to accomplish now that he is well on the road to victory, and that, again, is a mere nothing compared with what the pilot himself enthusiastically and confidently hopes to achieve. The flyer, although belonging to the category of tailless biplanes, in reality belongs to a class apart, for it is by far the largest and heaviest machine with which successful flights have yet been accomplished. It embodies much originality in design, and not a little, we believe, of Mr. Cody's own handicraft, for, like the genuine enthusiast that he is, he lives alongside his beloved machine and makes himself personally responsible for its every detail. Many of these latter, too, are the objects of impending patents, and for this reason we are not at liberty to disclose their nature. One of them, for instance, is hidden behind the canvas bag which will be observed immediately below Mr. Cody's •- feet in the accompanying excellent photo- graph of the central portion of the machine. '• The Chassis. This view, which really shows the most interesting part of the flyer, illustrates two of the more conspicuously original features in the design, these being the construction of the chassis and the arrangement of the seats. The chassis, according to the photo- graph, is apparently a three-wheeled affair, but in reality the machine is intended to travel over the ground on the main pair of wheels only, any lack of balance being checked in front by the temporary action of the leading wheel, and behind by a laminated wood skid, which depends like a kangaroo's tail from the rear of the main frame. Further use of the leading -wheel is of course to take the shock of striking an obstacle, and it needs no more than a glance at the photograph to realise how very massive and strong is the pyramid-like construction of the outrigger on which it is supported. This same triangular system of construction is in evidence elsewhere also, another notable instance being the principal wood members which slope up to the top deck on either side of the pilot and his passenger. It is to these members that the lower booms of the bamboo outrigger, which carries the elevator and front rudder, are fastened by metal clips. Mr. Cody is one of the few constructors who have placed any faith in bamboo, but inspection of the photograph will reveal the important detail that he takes the precaution of binding the bamboo between each joint to prevent the splitting to which bamboo is liable. The main struts throughout the machine have a sharp-edged oval section. The Arched Decks. The main planes have a span of 52 ft) a chord of 7 ft. 6 ins. and a gap of 9 ft. in the centre, which diminishes to 8 ft. at the extremities. The aspect ratio is nearly 7, which is comparatively high, and should be conducive to considerable lift efficiency. Another most important feature of the flyer is the arching of the span of both main decks, this principle not having been previously adopted, so far as we are aware, in any power- driven flyer, although Wilbur Wright, in his account of his early gliding experiments, states that " We decided to begin alterations at the wing tips, and the next day made the necessary changes in the trussing, thus bringing the wing tips 6 inches lower than the centre." The above mentioned alteration was for the purpose of making the 1902 glider like their previous models in order to eliminate a difference which might possibly have been the cause of a trouble they were then investigating. Glenn H. Curtiss, in the "June Bug," of which an illustration will be found in the Souvenir Supplement of FLIGHT of March 20th, arched the upper deck concave Mrs. Cody in the passenger's seat of her husband's flyer last Saturday,just before the start for one of the splendid flights which Mr. Cody accomplished on that day. 5OI C 2
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