. Collier's new encyclopedia : a loose-leaf and self-revising reference work ... with 515 illustrations and ninety-six maps. e the invention and perfecting ofthe balloon was a triumph of human in-genuity, it offered few of the difficultiesthat faced those who dreamed of navi-gating the air in a heavier-than-airmachine. The very name seemed to defythe immutable law of gravitation. Butthe audacity of the idea acted as a stimu-lant rather than a deterrent. Forcenturies, men have tried to achieve theseemingly impossible. In the time ofthe Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci,, whodid so many things and
. Collier's new encyclopedia : a loose-leaf and self-revising reference work ... with 515 illustrations and ninety-six maps. e the invention and perfecting ofthe balloon was a triumph of human in-genuity, it offered few of the difficultiesthat faced those who dreamed of navi-gating the air in a heavier-than-airmachine. The very name seemed to defythe immutable law of gravitation. Butthe audacity of the idea acted as a stimu-lant rather than a deterrent. Forcenturies, men have tried to achieve theseemingly impossible. In the time ofthe Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci,, whodid so many things and did them ex- 43 AERONAUTICS resented marked advances on anythingbefore achieved, they fell short of realsuccess. Both Maxims and Adiers ma-chines were wrecked at their first did somewhat better. Congresshad appropriated $50,000 to further hisinvention. He had constructed a tandemmonoplane with 48 feet of wing spreadand 52 feet in length. A 50-horse-powerengine was employed. His experimentswere carried on over the Potomac river,but at each of its two trials the machinewas wrecked and thrown into the THE FIRST WRIGHT BIPLANE cellently, sketched out several devices,which were however ineffective, becauseof the lack of the motor power that suc-ceeding centuries have supplied. In the19th century a great deal of attentionwas devoted to the subject in , Henson, Wenham and String-fellow supplied illuminating ideas thatwere afterward utilized, and contribu-tions were made by Penaud and Mouillardin France. Only, however, with the ap-proach of the 20th century did thesetheories and experiments begin to givea real promise of success. Otto Lilien-thal, a German inventor, demonstratedthe principles of passive flight, the valueof the arched wings and the pressure ofair upon the wings at various he not met with a fatal accident in1896, he might have anticipated theWrights. Pilcher, Chanute, and Mont-gomery elaborated and improved onLilienthals wor
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1921
