JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post Overall Post 5120
I found a short article on human flight ("Flying Machines") in the fourth volume of Scientific American (1848). It is an interesting and occasionally predictive piece that saw a bit into the future, well past the contemporaneous failures and iron-punk possibilities of sky machines, into a place of "mathematical certainty. The writer saw the possibility of heavier-than-air flight, only just not in 1848 (or any time soon). "The air furnishes a vast fund of power for the use of mankind, although as yet they have only used it to propel ships and wind-mills. We live in an age of great discoveries and improvements, and among these will certainly be ranked the navigation of the air."
And so some snippets from the article:
"Flying Machines and Perpetual Motions are very old and unfortunate acquaintances. No people have invented so many as the Germans, and many a poor fellow has lost his life by his fool hardy confidence in some machines he had invented to ride upon the winds, yet for all the accidents that have taken place to high flyers, from the Dutch Doctor at Ratisbone in 1692 to the unfortunate Englishman who perished a few years ago in London when descending by a parachute, there are still to be found new flying machines coming out every few months. An Austrian made quite a fine display in Cremone Gardens, London last winter, by taking several long jumps with a steam flyer. Since that we have heard no more about it, and presume it has met the fate of its illustrious predecessors...
"But the end of flying machines is not yet, and here we insert the description of a new and an original one certainly, taken from the Jacksonian published at Pontiac, Michigan... After describing how wings had been tried to beat the lark and eagle, he says:—“As wings then, have failed, and balloons been attended with no better success, men have begun to think that the end is unattainable, and that flying is a victory which man can never achieve."
"The art of flying simply consists in the suspension and motion of a heavy body in a lighter. Although this may appear contrary to the nature of things, it is what takes place every day, and is seen exemplified in the case of every insect and bird that flies—all of which are heavier than the air."
"As a condor, which weighs many million times as much as a mosquito, flies with ease and rapidity, why should not some still more huge machine traverse the air with equal facility? The resistance of the air in bodies of different velocities ascertained, the capability of heavy bodies to fly may be made a subject of mathematical certainty. In regard to power, taken in connection with the space occupied, there is no form of artificial wing equal to the screw or propeller wheel. While the wings of a bird alternately draw in and strike out, the power of a screw is constant and unvarying. The power with which a given diameter of screw wheel, making a certain number of revolutions per minute, will act upon the air, can easily be determined by experiment, and the elevating force of any number of wheels can thus be ascertained. Having accomplished this, we shall know exactly how much weight can be...
"The power with which a given diameter of screw wheel, making a certain number of revolutions per minute, will act upon the air, can easily be determined by experiment, and the elevating force of any number of wheels can thus be ascertained."
"Let us suppose a machine to be constructed resembling a long railway car, with arms projecting at certain distances from the roof and floor, appearing like the long axles of a wagon wheel. At me extremities or these arms the axles of the screw wheels or wings are inserted, which thus work parallel to the earth, instead of perpendicular, as in a vessel. At the stern of the car are from two to four wheels, to serve as propellers, the side wheels being merely to elevate and suspend the car. In the interior of the car, at the centre, is the steam engine, with the fuel and water, while the extremities are reserved for passengers and baggage. The wings are moved by independent bands connected with the internal machinery, so that the whole or a portion of them may be used at once, for the convenience of ascending and descending. Unlike the heavy railway car, the frame should be constructed of wrought iron, and the roof, sides and floor be covered with thin sheet iron or copper, suitably supported by light frame work where necessary. The wheel wings should be constructed in the same manner—strength combined with lightness being always kept in view. Steam engines are now constructed o great lightness and power, and we have not arrived at the precise epoch when the great feat of navigating the air can be accomplished.”
"The air furnishes a vast fund of power for the use of mankind, although as yet they have only used it to propel ships and wind-mills. We live in an age of great discoveries and improvements, and among these will certainly be ranked the navigation of the air. The most distant voyages, in overland may be accomplished with expedition and little cost by these machines, all that is necessary being wood and water, which are abundant on this continent."
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