The New Art Of Flying | by Waldemar Kaempffert
From Icarus to the Wright Brothers is a far cry. In the centuries that have elapsed more lives have been lost in aeronautic experimentation than in devising telephones and telegraphs. These tragedies of science have lent a glamour to the flying-machine; so much so, indeed, that the romance rather than the technique of flying interests the reading public. Yet this attitude of wonder is pardonable. Only a few years ago the inventor of a flying-machine was classed, even by scientists, with the misguided enthusiast who spends his life in devising perpetual motion machines or in fruitless attempts at squaring the circle. It is hard to realise that the building of aeroplanes is now elevated to the dignity of a legitimate engineering pursuit.
| Title | The New Art Of Flying |
| Author | Waldemar Kaempffert |
| Publisher | Harper & Bros |
| Year | 1911 |
| Copyright | 1911, Harper & Bros |
| Amazon | The New Art of Flying |
Preface- When the time comes for some historian of the far-distant future to survey critically the technical achievements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and to weigh the comparative economic importa...
- Chapter I. Why Flying Machines Fly
- An aeroplane is any flat or slightly curved surface propelled through the air. Since it is considerably heavier than air, an inquiring mind may well ask: Why does it stay aloft? Why does it not fall? ...
- Why Flying Machines Fly. Continued
- Octave Chanute, a French engineer resident in the United States, continued the work of the ill-fated Lilienthal. Realising the inherent danger of a glider in which the operator must adapt himself to t...
- Chapter II. Flying Machine Types
- The flying creatures of nature — insects, birds, fishes, and bats — spread wings that lie in a single plane. Because their wings are thus disposed birds may be properly regarded as single-decked flyin...
- Flying Machine Types. Continued
- The many-planed flying-machine was probably carried to its extreme by an Englishman, Mr. Horatio Phillips. Between 1881 and 1894 he made a series of experiments which resulted in his building a multip...
- Chapter III. The Plane In The Air
- A rowboat, a mud-scow, a battleship, and a racing yacht, whatever aesthetic differences they may present, are roughly similar in form. The swifter the vessel the finer will be the lines of its hull. N...
- The Plane In The Air. Continued
- Fig. 9. The plane B B is at a greater angle of incidence than the plane A A. If its speed be 10 miles an hour, it will, while travelling horizontally 25 feet, overcome its tendency to fall to D. I...
- Chapter IV. Starting And Alighting
- In a previous chapter it has been pointed out that like every soaring bird an aeroplane must be in motion before it can fly. Even the early dreamers appreciated the fact. How that preliminary leap int...
- Starting And Alighting. Part 2
- On the 24th another trip was made and another day spent ineffectively on account of the wind. On the 27th there was a similar experience, and here four days and four (round-trip) journeys of sixty m...
- Starting And Alighting. Part 3
- Fig. 12. The special launching device invented by the Wright Brothers. The device consists of an inclined rail, about seventy feet long; a pyramidal derrick; a heavy weight arranged to drop within the...
- Chapter V. How An Aeroplane Is Balanced
- Drop a flat piece of cardboard from your hand. It will fall. But as it falls its surface will offer a certain resistance, so that it becomes in effect a parachute. The amount of its resistance will de...
- How An Aeroplane Is Balanced. Part 2
- As a result of inclining the tips at opposite angles, the near side of the plane offers more resistance to the air than the far side. Hence the near side will be retarded and the far side accelerated....
- How An Aeroplane Is Balanced. Part 3
- Fig. 26. The system of ailerons and rudders devised by Henry Farman for maintaining fore-and-aft and side-to-side balance. Fig. 27. The Farman biplane. The ailerons are the flaps on the pla...
- How An Aeroplane Is Balanced. Part 4
- Still another way of obtaining a certain amount of automatic stability is to employ vertical surfaces to prevent tilting and to distribute the pressure more evenly over the main surfaces. An example i...
- How An Aeroplane Is Balanced. Part 5
- The tail corrects the see-saw motion or pitching of a flying-machine in flight. The further back that it is placed the greater will be the steadying effect. If placed too far back, however, a dead c...
- Chapter VI. Making A Turn
- In straightaway flight an aeroplane is balanced to a certain extent by the main supporting surfaces (the large spread of which counteracts sudden inclination) and also by the position of the centre of...
- Chapter VII. The Propeller
- Feathering paddles, somewhat like those to be found on steamboats, beating wings, like those of a bird, sweeps or oars have all been suggested as means for propelling the flying-machine; but the screw...
- The Propeller. Part 2
- It is a significant fact that the conspicuous successes have all been achieved with two-bladed propellers. All recent systematic and comparative experiment points to the fact that a two-bladed propell...
- The Propeller. Part 3
- Like the marine turbine, the aerial engine runs too fast for the best propeller speeds. The Wright brothers overcame this difficulty by the somewhat unmechanical expedient of chain gearing, one chain ...
- Chapter VIII. Aeroplane Motors
- Marvel as we may at the wonderful ingenuity displayed in the modern flying-machine, we have still much to learn from soaring birds. Little as we know of the efficiency of curved surfaces in the air, w...
- Aeroplane Motors. Part 2
- Fig. 37. Gyrostat mounted in an aeroplane according to the system of A. J. Roberts. The gyrostat is controlled by a pendulum which swings to the right or to the left, according to the tilt of the ...
- Aeroplane Motors. Part 3
- Fig. 58. Fig. 59. Figs. 58 and 59. Engine with four cylinders radially arranged. When many cylinders are used it is impracticable actually to put all the connecting rods to work ont...
- Aeroplane Motors. Part 4
- Fig. 38. The new Wright biplane in which the horizontal or elevating rudder is mounted in the rear. Photograph by Edwin Levick. The horse-power required for flight varies to a certain extent...
- Chapter IX. The New Science Of The Air
- So far as the earth is concerned, the sun is very much in the position of a man who practically utilises only a single cent out of a fortune of $22,000,000 and throws the rest away; for only 1/2,200,0...
- The New Science Of The Air. Part 2
- The scientific projection of the human mind to the upper atmosphere was not achieved merely by the invention of instruments and means for elevating them. Our eyes could not read the instruments when t...
- The New Science Of The Air. Part 3
- Sounding-balloons reach astonishing elevations and generally travel at railroad speed. Often they rise to heights of over fifteen miles and cover distances of seven and eight hundred miles at the rate...
- The New Science Of The Air. Part 4
- Up to the height of the permanent-inversion layer the temperature falls at a rate which increases somewhat with altitude, but which may be placed roughly at rather over 1/2 C. per hundred met...
- The New Science Of The Air. Part 5
- In Dr. Assmann's plan, a number of the Public Weather Service stations are to be furnished by the Lindenberg Observatory with a theodolite, an inflating-balance for determining the ascensional force o...
- The New Science Of The Air. Part 6
- Fig. 63. Motor of the Wright biplane. Besides guiding the aerial traveller on his way some means must be devised of conveying useful information to him. It will often be of great importance to ...
- Chapter X. The Perils Of Flying
- From what has been said in the foregoing chapter it may well be inferred that a man who attempts to fly in the unsteady lower stratum of the atmosphere in which we live is almost in the same position ...
- The Perils Of Flying. Part 2
- In this connection Prof. G. H. Bryan has pointed out that the distinction between equilibrium and stability should be kept in mind. An aeroplane is in equilibrium when travelling at a uniform rate in ...
- The Perils Of Flying. Part 3
- In the case of a biplane (Fig. 69) the framing of the main wings usually consists of four longitudinals running the whole span of the wings, and these are braced together, both vertically and horizont...
- The Perils Of Flying. Part 4
- Fig. 67. Mechanism of a meteorograph which records the velocity of the wind, the temperature, the humidity, and the barometric pressure. Photograph by George Brayton. That the question of sp...
- Chapter XI. The Flying Machine In War
- Unlike any battle that has ever been fought in the world's history, the battle of the future will be a conflict waged in three dimensions. Long before its artillery will have volleyed and thundered, e...
- The Flying Machine In War. Part 2
- Fig. 70. One of the numerous accidents that happened to Louis Blériot before he devised his present monoplane. Photograph by Edwin Levick. Both Generals Picquart and Meunier, the opposing comman...
- The Flying Machine In War. Part 3
- Is the enemy altogether defenceless? Can he offer no resistance? It is inconceivable that he shall lie at the mercy of a great artificial vulture, as helpless as a carcass. Undoubtedly he will have hi...
- The Flying Machine In War. Part 4
- The question of ammunition most suitable for guns is also receiving attention in Germany. The Düsseldorf firm mentioned has introduced a combined shrapnel and ordinary shell for use against both dirig...
- Chapter XII. Some Typical Biplanes
- All biplanes, no matter by whom designed, have certain features in common. Besides the two superposed supporting surfaces from which they take their name, they all have a horizontal rudder or elevator...
- The Wright Biplane
- The two supporting surfaces of the Wright machine consist of canvas stretched over and under ribs of spruce. At a point near the centre these surfaces are three inches thick. The dimensions of the pla...
- The Curtiss Biplane
- Like the Wrights, Mr. Glenn H. Curtiss has departed somewhat from the type that he originally evolved. In his earlier machines (Fig. 25) the supporting planes consisted of rubberized silk stretched...
- The Farman Biplane
- The Farman biplane is the outcome of Henry Farman's experience with the old, cellular Voisin biplanes (Fig. 34). Like Curtiss, he was manifestly influenced by the Wrights, as, indeed, was every French...
- The Sommer Biplane
- The biplane built by Farman's former pupil Roger Sommer (Fig. 83) follows the Farman type rather closely. The supporting surfaces consist of rubber cloth stretched over wooden ribs. The spread is 33 f...
- Chapter XIII. Some Typical Monoplanes
- Monoplanes differ less from one another than biplanes. Nearly all of them have the same system of lateral control, and the same method of mounting the motor. As a general rule this system of lateral c...
- The Blériot Monoplanes
- Louis Blériot is a well-to-do manufacturer of automobile lamps whose attention was directed to flying-machines in 1906. He has the distinction of having broken more machines and more frequently risked...
- The Santos-Dumont Monoplane
- By far the smallest flying-machine of the day is the monoplane designed by Santos-Dumont. Because of its littleness it is extremely fast. The supporting surface consists of silk stretched over bamb...
- Chapter XIV. The Flying Machine Of The Future
- What will the flying-machine of the future be like? He would be a wise man indeed who could predict with any degree of accuracy the exact form and dimensions of the coming aeroplane. The dreams of the...
- The Flying Machine Of The Future. Continued
- Fig. 82. Sommer biplane. Photograph by Edwin Levick. It seems certain that special starting and alighting grounds will be ultimately provided throughout the world. If tramcars must have thei...
- Chapter XV. The Law Of The Air
- It is one of the most difficult tasks of government to adapt existing laws to those incessant changes in the relationships of nations and individuals which are brought about by the invention of new ar...
- The Law Of The Air. Part 2
- It is certain that in order to reduce the possibility of accidents to a minimum only a licensed pilot will be permitted to navigate the air in the future. Judge Baldwin advises that the government iss...
- The Law Of The Air. Part 3
- Each of the contracting States shall permit the navigation of the airships of the other contracting States within and above its territory, reserving the restrictions necessary to guarantee its own s...
- The Law Of The Air. Part 4
- The Swiss delegates protested that this article would permit the establishment of many foreign airships in one nation without the supervision of their own, and then drew attention to a suggestion alre...
- Glossary
- Adjusting Plane Or Adjusting Surface A surface of small area for regulating lateral stability; usually located at the side edge or rear edge of a supporting plane. It is to be distinguished from an...
- Glossary. Part 2
- Centre Of Lift See Centre of Pressure. Centre Of Pressure An imaginary centre in which the air pressure on a supporting surface is theoretically concentrated. Centre Of Thrust See Centr...
- Glossary. Part 3
- Lateral A strut for sidewise bracing in the framework of an aeroplane. Lateral Stability Lateral equilibrium in the side-to-side direction. Lattice Girder A girder with many crossed mem...
