OCR Text |
Show "AVUTOK HERE TALKS W FLIGHT Harold Scrap?, a youn aviator of New York, pasted through Opden yesterday yes-terday on route to San Francisco, where he will represent ' the Green Aeroplane house of New York. He wa4 accompanied by H. D. Walker, who will take his initial course In aeroplane management under the tutelage tute-lage of SeracR. The latter was formerly connected with the Curtis company at Ham mondsport and gained his first knowl edge of scientific aviation from that past maeter of American fliplit. "The Green biplane," said Mr. Scragg, "has a number of improvements improve-ments which I think are distinct from auythlng yet tried by ablators in this country. The main feature Is the elimination elim-ination of flexible wins-tips which have caudfd the Wright brothers fo much trouble In protecting their claims la the pateDt offices of this end foreign countries. "I am by no means a supporter of the Wrights In their claims as the original inventors of the flexible winc-tlps. winc-tlps. Anyone who has kept pace with aerial Inventions will admit that the ronaldeoa aeroplane, which was experimented ex-perimented with at Berkley, Cal., a number of years ago, had the flexible tip as Its principal feature At that time the motor had not been attached to the machine, and the experiments were carried on by hoisting the plane I 1... J - . I V... ,.w.r.r,- r.t a balloon several thousand feet Into the air. where the machine was cut loose and allowed to descend by gliding glid-ing down on the air. "The most startling maneuvers were performed with every success with tbe plane, the operator upon several occasions demonstrating Its self-righting qualities by allowing himself and the plane to be suspended bottom-side bottom-side up, from which position It was cut away and allowed to right Itself automatically and glide to earth In a series of curves and evolutions. "These experiments were cut short. however, by an accident which bercn the machine and Its operator one day. It had been cut loose from a tremendous tremen-dous height and was apparently but repeating many previous performances perform-ances -when a stay or brace gave way. allowing It to fall to earth, a mass of wreckage, the aviator meeting a horrible hor-rible death below. "Here was the origin of the flex-Ible flex-Ible wlngtlp steering and balancing features which the Wrights claim tin their own Invention, and to protect which claims they have brought Innumerable Innu-merable damage suits against aviators In this country and Europe." |