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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 0473.PDF
JTJLY 2, 1915. "Flight" Copyright. The hinged joint of the top plane extensions on the L. and P. biplane. KM! seen from the pilot's seat is a dash board carrying, as we have already said, a very complete set of instruments including air speed indicator, tell-tale oil glass, clock, compass, altimeter, and revolution indicator. In front of the dash board and under the sloping bonnet are mounted the petrol and oil tanks, from where the fuel and lubri cant run to the engine. The latter—a 35-4° h.p. Anzani —is mounted on a steel plate capping the front ends of the four longerons of the nacelle. Aluminium inspection doors on the side give access to the interior for inspec tion of oil pump and magneto. Two exhaust pipes, to each of which are we'ded three short branch pipes attached by bolts to the exhaustiports in the top of the cylinders, carry the exhaust gases away underneath the nacelle, thus doing away with the con tinuous spray of smoke and oil with which the 35 h.p. engines are in the habit of regaling the pilot. Apart from adding in this manner to the comfort of the occupants, the exhaust pipes serve to a certain extent as silencers. AT Tl " THAT," said Uncle Prosser, stepping before a large glass-case, " that, children, is the only perfect specimen now extant of the Eques vulgaris aut hortus, which, as you don't now learn obsolete and practically useless languages, I will translate for you ; it means ' common or garden horse.' " " Please, uncle, what is a horse ?" *' I am not surprised at your question, my dear Tommy, for that overworked and underfed animal has long been extinct. From curious old prints and books we learn that what is known among savants as the ' great horse age' terminated early in the twentieth century. It was succeeded by the ' age of wheels,' which, developing as it did the muscular powers of mankind, made flying with artificial wings the easy matter we find it to-day." " But what possible use could people have for such animals?" " You must bear in mind, my dear Henry, that electricity was only known to these ancients as a force, which, transmitted through a wire, would deflect a needle at a given distance. As a motive power on a large scale it was practically unknown. Cumbrous engines, driven by steam or petroleum, were in use on steam-boats, trains, and road vehicles, but when I tell you that to get from London to Rome took 64 hours, and the idea of running over there for lunch and returning the same afternoon was simply unheard of, you will form a notion of their slow rate of progression." " But surely they made use of the Percussion Post, uncle ?" " I am talking of days long anterior to that useful invention—days when people in cities could fill the air with smoke and noise, and no one dreamt of mitigating these evils. The pneumatic tyre and motor car were the first gropings in the dark, but for many years after these inventions the horse was used in a tractive capacity. That it was eminently unsuited for the purpose you may gather from the fact that they seldom lasted more than 50 years (Professor Three-quarter rear view of the L. and P. biplane. ® ® ® ® IBILE SHOW OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SECTION. By W. P. FRENCH. Bukvurrum only allows • Flight" Copyright. IN THE them half that age), required to be constantly fed and looked after, and rarely exceeded a speed of 18 miles an hour ! " " How is it, uncle, that we never encounter the skeleton of a horse in our geological investigations?" "From what we can learn of that strange age, it appears that when these horses arrived at an advanced age they were devoured body and bones by packs of wild dogs called Folkshounds. These dogs are supposed by some historians to have been very fierce, and there is a picture in a semi-religious paper of the period entitled Punch, which shows two young men from London endeavouring to escape frcm the pack by riding off on horseback, pursued by these ferocious animals. Others, again, assert that both horses and hounds joined in the pursuit of a still fiercer and more predatory animal called the ' fox,' or fax, probably a species of bear, and the combats between these savage animals were regarded as ' sport' by the early English settlers in Britain. It is a great pity that the great fog and subsequent combustion of London destroyed so many of the archives, otherwise we might arrive at some more definite conclusions." " Please, uncle, what monstrosity in machines can this have been ? " "That, my dear nephew, is the railway engine—locomotus idiolicus—very different, as you see, from the electric motor of our own day, and rarely attaining a speed of more than loo miles in an hour. Some think that the guard ran in front of the train holding a red flag, but as Sprinter's accelerative motoped had not been invented at the time I speak of, it is improbable that such was the case. During the recent excavations in London they have dis covered what were at first thought to be catacombs, but are now bslieved to have been subterranean training grounds for these unsightly monsters."—Motor News. 473
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