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1907 March 8 Sunday at Baddeck [[strikethrough]] 57 American New York 23 Jan 1907 More progress is being made with submarines than with airships because the submarines are at present the more useful engines of destruction. Which shows that civilization keeps hitting only the high places. Times New York 23 Jan 1907 PRIZE FOR AEROPLANES OFFERED TO AERO CLUB Big Purse for Longest Flight in America This Year. J. C. McCOY A BALLOON PILOT Directors Name Committee to Select Team for Interational Race--Conditions for Lahm Cup Contest. A prize, said to be a purse well up in the thousands of dollars, was presented to the Aero Club of American yesterday for the purpose of being offered by the club for the longest aeroplane flight this year in America. Cortlandt Field Bishop announced this fact at the close of a meeting of the Directors yesterday. "I cannot tell the value of the prize nor the name of the donor," said Mr. Bishop. "I will say, however, that the man making this substantial offer is one of our best-known citizens. I have been authorized to appoint a committee to formally accept the gift, and to draw up conditions for its competition. When these conditions are accepted by the donor his name and the value of the prize will be announced. Samuel H. Valentine and Augustus Post were appointed a committee to select the members of the American team for the international balloon race to be held Oct. 19 at St. Louis. Six candidates have already applied, being Leo Stevens, Roy Knabenshue, Dr. Julian P. Thomas, Alan R. Hawley, J. C. McCoy and George Walsh. The entries do not close until Feb. 1, and by that time Mr. Bishop said he believed the number would be considerable enlarged. "You can state," continued Mr. Bishop, "that Lieut. Frank P. Lahm, the present holder of the Gordon Bennett International Balloon Cup, has been selected by the Directors as a member of the team this year. That leaves two men to pick from the other applicants. No elimination race will be held, as that would be impossible, and would hardly be productive of satisfactory results. The committee will consider the past experience of all candidates, and will soon send out blanks asking them to reply to certain questions. By Feb. 20, at least, the records will be thoroughly revised, and I hope that the entire team can be announced by that time." The Aero Club at yesterday's meeting granted its first license as an aeronautic pilot to J. C. McCoy of this city. Mr. McCoy received his license under the provision that a pilot duty licensed by any affiliated club may apply and receive a license by another club. Tribune New York 23 Jan 1907 AERIAL LOCOMOTION. THE TETRAHEDRAL KITE. A Many Celled Structure the Steadiest Aeroplane. Professor Alexander Graham Bell, in the National Geographic Magazine for January. No one has contributed more to the modern revival of interest in flying machines than our own Professor Langley, the late secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The constant failures and disasters of the past had brought into disrepute the whole subject on aerial flight by man; and the would-be inventor or experimenter had to face not only the natural difficulties of his subject but the ridicule of the skeptical world. To Professor Langley is due the chief credit of placing this subject upon a scientific basis. The Wright brothers began by repeating the gliding experiments of Lilienthal, with improved apparatus of the Hargrave type as modified by Chanute. After having made many successful glides through the air without a motor they followed in the footsteps of Langley and propelled their machines by means of twin screws operated by engine power. They were successful in launching their apparatus into the air, and it flew, carrying one of them in it. Their machine has flown not once simply, but many times, and in the presence of witnesses. The Wright brothers' successful fling machine travels at the rate of about thirty-seven miles an hour; and, judging from its great flying weight (nearly two pounds per square foot of supporting surface), it is unlikely that it could enter into any description of experiments that are still n progress, or to submit plans for an aerodome which are still under discussion. I shall, therefore, simply say, in conclusion, that I have recently been making experiments in propelling, by means of aerial propellers, a life-raft supported, catamaran fashion, on two metallic cylinders. The whole arrangement, with a marine motor on board, is exceedingly heavy, weighing over 2,500 pounds, and it is sunk so low that the water level rises at least to the middle of the supporting cylinders, so that the raft is not at all adapted for propulsion and cannot attain great speed. The great and unnecessary weight of this machine has led to an interesting, and perhaps important, discovery that might have escaped attention had the apparatus been lighter and better adapted for propulsion. [[image]] A TETRAHEDRAL KITE, ARRANGED FOR TOWING. The wings are composed of Japanese waterproof paper. (From The National Geographic Magazine for January.)
