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Show PLANE STANDS STILL IN AIR Germans Leap to Safety By Parachutes When Motors Fail WASHINGTON. July 3 The helicopter heli-copter or vertical rising air machine, is not an Impossibility, and should a real ue for such a type arise Kuccess-ful Kuccess-ful ones may be sen before many years, according to Dr Albert F fthm. aeronautical expert for the navy, Had there been a need for the helicopter during the war, he said, any of secral types could have been perfected per-fected of which working models have been flnwn. Pr. Znhm is an expert. on design and construction of all manner of flying machines. For several years he has applied his time to perfection of the airplane, and Is weil qualified to pass upon the capabilities of any. Much interest has been shown of lato In reports of successful machines of the helicopter type being perfected in both Germany and England However, How-ever, while some flights have been made, none of any consequence are reported by a machine equippel with horizontal propellers. or revolv.ng planes, designed to rise rertically from a confined space and descend on the same. That the helicopter Is possible. Dr. Zahm said, is proved by the German machine, which, rising- eaveral times to moderate heights, carried observers remained almost stationary while In the air, and descended in safety The machine, however, has made no extended ex-tended flight, such a would prove Its dependability, but was tethered to tho ground by a mooring rope. At times, when the motors faille, tne machine dropped and the passengera saved themselves only by leaping with parachutes. para-chutes. SUCKS LARGE PRIZE The experiments are continuing, however, with the purpose of perfecting perfect-ing a motor which can be depended upon to maintain the machine without sudden failure, the scientist explained, for as soon as tho engine stops, the maenlne cannot glide to tho ground, as does an airplane, but drops vertically In a proper descent the propellers should be whirled slowly to ease the landing. Present hopes of attaining successful success-ful vertical flight rest mainly upon the endeavors of Emll Berliner. Washington Wash-ington inventor, whose experlenco with the helicopter havo extended over a long time; and of Louis Brennan, of London, whose newest machine Is reported re-ported op nearlng completion. He is working to win the 50.000 pound prize offered by the British air ministry for successful flight The helicopter upon which most experimentation ex-perimentation has been made, consists mainly of two or more propellor screws mounted horizontally on a vertical ver-tical shaft, bearing engines, fuel and passengers. Equal numbers of propellor propel-lor blades must revolve in opposite directions di-rections that the body of the machine may not spin like a top. Th motors mo-tors tanks and boay have been mount- TM-,Kitirirn. but tho Ger man machine has a sort of pulpit car mounted at the top of the shaft over the propellors for the operators. TWO TYPES OFFERED Whether or not this type of machine, ma-chine, Is brought to actual use, Dr. Zahm stated, fit least, two other t poof po-of pianos that may fly vertically have been offered to the government This fact Is not widely known. One of these, of which Dr. Zahm observed experiments with a working model, wa-s almot Identical with the present tvpe of plane, except that, mounted behind the body, were two sets of air vanes, In groups, tilted at an adjustable -ngle, like those of Venetian blinds. When the powflr was turned on. he said, the "wash' of the air stream from the propellors. pushing agalns: these groups of vanes caused the model to rise gently vertically. Th? model was hold In mid air by the action, ac-tion, and when the power diminished, it returned gentlv to earth. A full Hlzed machine of the type, he said would be- equipped With engines of Immense power. In order to furnish sufficient air pressure, and when driven driv-en to a sufficient altitude, the vanes would 1"" so adjusted that horizontal motion would remit The plane i ould j then fly In the usual manner, finally-using finally-using the vanes again to descend vertically. ver-tically. tiirkf prOpkllors The other typ'5 offered to tho army, h .id. w:i3 of the present wing plan, equipped with three propcilors, two i .i : ,r out tr.ward the wing ends ir.d with vertical ruiiders and ailerons similar to those in use The quicker lifting power was to be gained by having hav-ing the wash of the central propellOl act upon elevators 0" the tall of the body, while the side propellors would wash n(?alnst the special ailerons on the wing tips. When in the air. Dr. Zahm continued, contin-ued, tills machine could maneuver exatls U does the ordinary plane, cut figures :mil Jo "btunts" besides losing los-ing able to. rest motionless in any de-Ired de-Ired position vertical with nose up, If need be. Tho best feature, he said, is that both piano of the new types are entirely en-tirely feasible and mn to constructed construct-ed ai any time In fact, several European Eu-ropean Inventors and manufacturer aro patenting deslKns of the second l type, notably the Frenchman Blerlo; on? of tho pioneers of aviation. Experts for thv government studied stud-ied the second tyDO during the war. It was explained, but the matter went no) further. BREAKS FORCE OF FALL The goners I dr iM backs of their con-' struction. Dr. Zahm said were, first.' the great cost, second, the Increased weight of the machines as compared with present engine efficiency; and,' third, the need ol developing motoi-s: with greater power and less weight per horsepower, and with a greater amount of dependability As It is, lie -aid, a successful helicopter may be I flown to ,iny height, but the operat-l ors will never know when the engine lll gle a cough and die away. The German experimenters however he .nided. havo in part overbalanced this disadvantage It has been determined de-termined by experiment that a propeller propel-ler of three or four narrow blades, caused to revolve b the air pre-ssurc resulting from a forced descent with a dead engine, will develop as much parachute reslstanco as a solid disci of the diameter of the blade spread. In addition, the German machine Is equipped with air cushions on the landing bottom so that the landing, if forced, may be made comparatively easy. .lr-ms of steering experimental helicopters, he-licopters, and of which one would unodoubtedlv bo used In a successful machine are two The flnet Is a means of tilting the propellor shaft or the Whole machine, when It will travel I in that direction, the second being tho use of vanes, similar to those already' described. With tho latter, Dr Zahm1 thinks a helicopter sufficiently powered, pow-ered, should bo as able to cut capers' In the air as aviators do at present. I Any of the typea advanced, would In warfare, he of rreat use In bomb dropping or for observation. The main disadvantage, that of belnc- - good j target for artillery fire while sta-tlpnery, sta-tlpnery, could he offset by quickness1 of movement from point to point, and I thort stops while hovering I 8tlll Dr. Zahm points out in sum- l mlng up. the fact that the war de-paftmenl de-paftmenl was offered such machines at a time when all resources were being be-ing expended In better or more efficient effi-cient Implements of warfare, and rejected re-jected them although the, are completely com-pletely feasible. Is sufficient indication indica-tion of their war value. As to their tielnp put to commer ial or Social uses, the Immense expense Precludes tho j possibility. I |
