Show ALP N r N iteld AT 4 9 all 14 t Z iw or 00 Y V 0 Z 47 4 kal 17 um 9 aa feln 1 A I 1 AW ARK n ag M 1111 1 1 1 1 I 1 g 4 ezot v zee NE 25 I 1 say 4 E SPERRY of new york city lias has given aviation a new start inasmuch as he has provided a way to rob it of some of its mo most st insidious perils ills his apparatus is an automatic stabilizer which maintains the equilibrium of the flying machine no matter how fickle may be the condition of the air aloft dont let this term stabilizer puzzle you a bit you can just as well substitute the more familiar word balancer it if you happen to have access to a list of 0 aeronautical accidents during the last two years especially ally where the heavier than air flying machino machine Is concerned you will find that the majority of 0 the catastrophes have been attributed to loss ot of control loss of control Is merely another way of saying that the air pilot was caught napping or taken suddenly unawares and before he could apply the usual facilities to right his machine the air craft was dashing earthward and utterly beyond human arrest perhaps it was a sudden rust gust of wind the sweep of 0 a cross current or even an air hole that started the upsetting or tipping movement but the result was disaster the outcome Is not difficult to explain it if one half realizes the airmans problem the aviator when once afloat aloft has hag a task pretty much akin to fo that of the slack rope performer his machine can re reel ea from side to side or tip lengthwise with the utmost ease especially it if the aeroplane be of comparatively comparative br light weight and of the racing type from the moment the pilot takes his seat it if the wind currents be variable he has to juggle continually with his wing tips or ailerons to prevent too much lateral rolling and too to a lesser degree he has to manipulate the tall tail planes to check any pitching or tossing on the part of the head bead of the aeroplane the lateral control he exercises by shoving hla his body sidewise dewise ei against an enveloping yoke and the longitudinal correction he applies by means of a lever which he either pushes away from him or draws toward him as the case requires in time the skilled airman does this more or less involuntarily unta rily responding to the motions of his craft unhappily however his corrective efforts are relatively sluggish and they are applied only after the aeroplane it has as obtained a considerable angle of heel or pitch it Is perfectly plain that the aviator at best when depending upon his own initiative but poorly imitates the efforts of a soaring bird which can maintain its poise steadily even though fitful and the change of force extreme the w wind ind be apparently tile the bird does this without rocking violently in its endeavor to hold itself balanced but simply because the eye cannot the sweep seep ot of its wing tips we do not see trace race mr sperry by his itself poised tow how t ow it keeps anilizer sf has made this secret of 0 natural flight clear to us the bird Is sensitive to tile the first disturbing current and instinctively acts to offset it dy by catching the upsetting force beginning only the slightest flexing in its very is necessary to meet the contingency of tho tha wing tips words the bird never permits tinge tangency tin gency ricy in other it it meets hand of 0 the upper tile the wind to get the approaching menace so to speak promptly it the bird were ivere as and neutralizes it at once relatively insensitive as the avia aviator torp the changeful air currents would mean the wind or gusty danger to it that they do to the pilot same all this substantially changed 1 mr sperry has sit and how j by his gy gyroscopic roscol ic stabilizing apparatus proved successfully he be has a achieved this end was by his winning th ow M arize ze offered by tho the french aviation commission there were 57 competitors peti tors entered in that contest ot of aeroplane safety devices and the american victory is one ona in which we should take a good deal of pride by that success aviation broadly acquires a new element of practicability and the flying machine will have far wider fields of dally daily usefulness open to it we are now within reach of that state of the art where flying will be as sate safe as batching yat ching the air pilot will have little more to do than simply to steer his machine to right or to left or up and down as he may desire the stabilizer will keep him bid from upsetting and will even check him should he deliberately trespass toward the hazardous in some wilful movement now a gyroscope will ordinarily react against the external disturbing force no matter in what direction that upsetting effort Is applied how then does mr sperry make use of the gyroscope in stabilizing the aeroplane and especially how does he produce harmony of action when he util bitzes tour four of these remarkable little spinning flywheels the tour four gyroscopes are combined in pairs paira one pair to regulate the flexing of the wing tips and the other pair to prompt the shifting shit ting of the tail planes now each pair must be dead to the force which calls for action in the other and again there must be an even measure of conflict between the two gyroscopes constituting a pair that Is to say the gyroscopes tor for lateral stabilizing are opposed to each other like two persons facing and alternately pushing and pulling each other to obtain the right of 0 way suddenly some one tries to clear the patch by shoving them from one side and instinctively to maintain their own balance they unite against the intruder it Is just in this fashion that mr sperry unites by seeming opposition each pair of gyroscopes so that they will be absorbed in their mutual struggle until aroused to service in the designed plane of mutual action each gyroscope is not any bigger including its casing than a fair sized fist and dont suppose that the persistent tendency to hold to their chosen planes Is in itself capable of exerting the force that directly pulls the controlling wires that work the several stabilizing surfaces their mission is to feel the need of action and to call into service mechanism of lelent vigor to do what the pilot would otherwise accomplish by swinging his bis body or working a lever in the latest form of h his is stabilizer sir mr sperry has recourse to a power apparatus which he calls a servomotor this servomotor is driven by electricity tri city and is a sturdy apparatus instantly responsive spon sive to the call of the gyroscopes to it are led the control wires and these are oper operated atod immediately med lately upon the first arrival of a tilting or tipping gust of wind without a stabilizer the aeroplane may be unbalanced a goodly number of degrees before the pilot is alive to the situation and the movement acquires even a greater amplitude before he can check it with the sperry stabilizer on the other hand the flying machine is held to its equilibrium well inside of a zone zona of one degree have you ever lost your way in a fog well it if you have then you may appreciate the variety of ways in which an aviator may go astray v aben ben aloft once above the clouds the horizon disappears and within some limits lie ho may not know ickow whether he is going down or whither liis his machine Is heading beading ills his poise when advancing van cing Is always an angular one and he may think himself going straight ahead while in tact fact lie Is actually descending but the risks in ili climbing skyward without knowing the angle of that ascent may be equally perilous A small wind disk Is associated with the mechanism of 0 the stabilizer this little plate la Is so swung that it always feels the tull full force ot of the arriving air current as the aeroplane sweeps on it Is associated with a pressure measuring mechanism and this pre pressure assure corres corresponds ponds to speed in miles per hour this velocity is indicated by a little dial in front of the aviator so that he can know it if watchful how fast his craft is going and whether or not there Is lifting force enough against the aeroplanes aero planes wings to keep the machine safely afloat when ascending the pilot turns the nose of his machine upward he offers a broader surface of his wings to the oncoming air and what he thus loses in movement forward he gains in rise just like the motion of a kite when you pull the string and square its face more nearly with the wind now the aeroplane must move onward at a prescribed minimum speed this velocity differs with different machines and below this speed the air current has not force enough to sustain the craft should an aeronaut seeking to climb too fast halt the speed forward in order to increase the rapidity of rise he is sure to start plunging backward it if that velocity drop ever so BO little below the prescribed minimum required tor for support here Is where the wind gauge plays its vital part automatically should the aviator be heedless or unaware ot of his peril when within a certain limit of tho the speed the wind gauge through associate mechanisms turns the ahe tall tail planes so that that end rises while the head of the machine dips and instead ot of soaring starts upon an earthward in that earthward sweep the craft acquires increased speed gains renewed supporting pressure and Is once more under sate safe control this control however la Is taken out of 0 the hands of the pilot pro tern tem until the required safety speed has been thus obtained this same provision provides against that much feared contingency tin gency the stopping of the propulsive motors during flight it was an accident of this sort that almost cost the lives of an aviator and his wife here a little over a week ago by desperate efforts that pilot managed to keep the zigzag vol of his craft within some bounds and by great good luck the machine landed in the water in sweeping around upon a circular flight especially ally if the turn be at all short the ordinary aviator has a multiplicity of things to do lie must regulate his wing tips or ailerons fun function et ion the tall tail plane and at the same time manipulate the rudder the trouble Is that the rudder and the tall tail plane become som somewhat interchangeable in their actions because of the heeling angle assumed by the craft this Is ia ticklish work and has caused many accidents and cost a number of 0 lives with the sperry stabilizer this hazard is removed the pilot will have nothing to concern himself about except the path ho he wishes Ni to follow the little gyroscopes will ill look out tor for the rest as has been amply proved during the exacting tests in france when the shifting shit ting of the pilot and his mecha mechanic nir set up disturbing forces that would have meant certain destruct destruction ion in an un stabilized aero aeroplane plaue now you know just what sir mr sperry has done tor for aviation I 1 he te has mastered a very hard problem and lie he has made ills his mastery complete |