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Show THE PROSPECTS FOR FI.YINO. DliCUlllo or the Dllllrnlllet lu the 1V r ainii-1 light. Professor lllmon Now comb is the nil thor of mi article In The huh pendent on the subject of "The Outlook Tor the h'lj lug Machine " 1 he outlook Is vorj gloomy from the piofesMii's standpoint. stand-point. He points out a number of difficulties, dif-ficulties, which he "-ajs arc oiil.v ptellm-lnary ptellm-lnary ours patent on the suifucc. A more fundamental nm still, which the writer feels niaj pmw itiMii immutable, immuta-ble, Is based on 11 law of linttno which we are bound to nieepi It Is that when we iuc lease the size of suili a machine without changing Its model wo tin 1 ease the weight In piopoitlou to the cube uf the lluuir (lltiieulous Tor example suppose that an luveutoi succeeds, as well he mii.v. In iiiukliig a machine which will go Into 11 mutch case, jet loinpieto in all Its puts, able to fly mound the loom II iiiuj eaii.v n button, but nothing lieuvlei. Illatul by his success, he mnkcH one on the nitnu model twice 11s large In evcr.v dimension. The pails of the Hist, wMch lire ouo inch in length, he In creases to two Inches l'.vcrj put Is twlco as long, tw Ice as bto.ul anil tvv lee ns thick. The result Is that his machine Is eight times ns heavj ns before. But the MiHtuining sui face Is only four times ns great. As computed with the smnltcr machine, its ratio of elective-ness elective-ness is reduced ono-half. It may tnrry two or three buttons, but will not carry car-ry ocr four, because tho total weight, machine plus buttons, can only be quadrupled, nnd if he more th'iu quadmplcs the weight of the iiinchlne he must less than quadruple that of tho load. How many of such enlaige-ments enlaige-ments must ho make before his iiinchlne iiin-chlne will cease to sustain itself, be-fore be-fore It will fall ns an inert mass when we seek to make It fly through the nlr? Is thero any size nt which It will be nblo to support 11 human being? Wo may well hesitate before wo answer this question in the nlllimathc. It Is of Interest to notice thnt the law 13 rc erscd lu tho enso of a bod, vv hlch Is not supported by the lesistnnee of n fluid in which it Is Immersed, but floats In It tho ship or balloon, for example. When wo double, the linear dimensions of a steamship in nil its parts wo lucieiibc not only her weight, but her floating power, her carrying capacity and her engine capacity eight-fold, eight-fold, llut the resistance which she meets with when passing through the water nt a given speed is only multiplied multi-plied four times. Hence, tho larger wo build tho steamship tho more economical econom-ical the application ot power necessary to drive It The pioportlonatcly diminishing dimin-ishing resistnuco which in tho 11 Ing machine represents the floating power Is in the ship something to bo overcome. over-come. Thus, there Is a complete reversal re-versal ot the law in its practical application ap-plication to the two cases. The balloon Is In the snmo class with the ship. Practical dltllcultles aside, the larger It Is built the more effective ef-fective It will be, and tho moro advantageous advan-tageous will be tho ratio of the power which Is ncccssaij to drlvo It and the resistance to bo overcome. If, therefore, w 0 arc cv cr to have aerial navigation with our present knowledge of natural capabilities it Is to tho ail ship floating In tho nlr, rather rath-er than tho lljlng machine resting on the nlr, to which wo nro to look. In th'o light of tho law which I havo laid down, tho subject, while not nt all promising, seems worthy of moro attention at-tention than It has rccclv cd. , |
