Airships past and present, together with chapters on the use of balloons in connection with meteorology, photography and the carrier pigeon . rderthat the air may besufficiently compressedbeneath the sails. Themachine can then hoverin the air. The motorshave then their work to do in the shape of driving it forward. As a start, it would besatisfactory to make the machine work with special arrangementsfor launching it; but it ought to be understood that this is only atemporary expedient. Otherwise the area over which it would bepossible to fly such a machine would be very limited. This point has
Airships past and present, together with chapters on the use of balloons in connection with meteorology, photography and the carrier pigeon . rderthat the air may besufficiently compressedbeneath the sails. Themachine can then hoverin the air. The motorshave then their work to do in the shape of driving it forward. As a start, it would besatisfactory to make the machine work with special arrangementsfor launching it; but it ought to be understood that this is only atemporary expedient. Otherwise the area over which it would bepossible to fly such a machine would be very limited. This point hasbeen borne in mind by another inventor, Herr Hofman of Berlin,who uses the kinetic energy generated by the fall to start hismachine. It is built on legs or stilts. When ready to start, thelegs are laid against the body, and the wings folded together in the FLYING MACHINES. 105 middle. Just before the flight begins, the wings are unfolded andthe legs placed more upright. The centre of gravity is thereforeraised, and the machine is started in this position, so that the pro-pellers can be set to work. A considerable speed is soon reached,. Fig. 58.—Hofmanns first model with carbonic acid motor. because the sails are carried in a horizontal position. The legsare then jerked up against the body, and the whole thing beginsto fall. In doing so, it turns over so that the sails are no longerparallel to the ground, while the motor continues to drive it
Size: 2515px × 994px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpubl, booksubjectaeronautics
