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  is being built
Prof. Robert W. Wood, professor of experimental physics in the Johns Hopkins University, with Mr. Otto Luyties, a local engineer of scientific tastes, are approaching completion, and the actual work of construction will begin soon. Professor Wood has been carrying on these experiments in the Hopkins laboratory for months.
The purpose of these experiments has been to test extensively the lifting power and the steadiness of action of screw propellers as the means of ascension and propulsion, and, on the basis of the valuable results obtained by Professor Wood, a large flying machine will be constructed at Sparrows Point under the direction of the two inventors. The materials are on the way from Chicago, and it is expected that by the time they are on the ground and ready for use Professor Wood will have completed his preliminary investigations and decided on the type of propeller best fitted for the purpose.
The projected flying machine is of the "helicopter" type, which depends on a series of screw propellers variously arranged, for the power of rising in the air and for propulsion. The "helicopter,"
accordingly, is of the class of flying machines that are heavier than air, and have no connection whatever with the vaunted aeroplane, or with the many types of airships that depend on balloons or gas bags for their support.
The models which have thus far occupied the attention of Professor Wood do not resemble the popular idea of the flying machine at all, and appear to be nothing but a set of electric fans with a
few weights hooked to them. The models are, indeed, only a series of two, four and six bladed screw propellers, supplied with motive power by a tiny motor and attached to an arrangement whereby the
lifting power can be tested. With these extremely simple arrangements, however, some valuable results have been got. It has been discovered, for example, that one of the little fans tested was able to raise a total weight of 2.8 pounds when attached to a 1-12 horse-power motor.
Such results have been secured with the little propellers, and when a series of propellers from 40 to 60 feet in diameter, attached to a 100-horse-power steam engine, start to work it is thought that sufficient power will be developed to satisfy the demands of the inventors. The stated dimensions are those of the intended flying machine, which is soon to be begun. The 100-horse-power engine will weigh about 900 pounds. The flying machine will be equipped with a special steering gear of Professor Wood's own design. It is not known who will make the first ascension. 
It was rumored that the flying machine was to be entered in the aeronautic contest to be held at the Jamestown Exposition this summer in the contest for "flying device heavier than air with motor and operator," but Professor Wood stated recently that he did not expect the flying machine to be in perfect trim by that time, and the inventors are unwilling to enter the contests unless they are sure of the capabilities of the machine and have it in the best possible condition.