The wonders of modern mechanismA résumé of recent progress in mechanical, physical, and engineering science . from alittle explosion, he concluded that it was best to stoj) whilehis head remained on his shoulders. Coopers idea, andalso Maxims at that time, was to lift the machine by apropeller turning on a vertical shaft and thrusting down-ward. At first thought this seems the only feasible way,yet the problem was solved by making propellers thatthrust backward like those of ocean steamers, inclinedplanes, called aeroplanes, being used to sustain the weight. FLYING MACHINES. 131 Maxims experim
The wonders of modern mechanismA résumé of recent progress in mechanical, physical, and engineering science . from alittle explosion, he concluded that it was best to stoj) whilehis head remained on his shoulders. Coopers idea, andalso Maxims at that time, was to lift the machine by apropeller turning on a vertical shaft and thrusting down-ward. At first thought this seems the only feasible way,yet the problem was solved by making propellers thatthrust backward like those of ocean steamers, inclinedplanes, called aeroplanes, being used to sustain the weight. FLYING MACHINES. 131 Maxims experiments were made iu a large field, where helaid a railway track, his idea beiug to rim the machinealong the track until it acquired a speed of about thirty-fivemiles an hour, when it ought to leave the track and soarupward. He met with a great deal of difficulty in securinga motor sufficiently light. The oil-engine seemed suitablebecause of the light weight of the fuel, but he was unableto build one light enough to come within the necessarylimits. Next he tried an engine using naphtha as steam is Fig. maxims flying machink. used. Naphtha vaporizes at such a low temperature thatthis seemed likely to succeed. It was a mechanical suc-cess, but the extreme danger, resulting from the greatinflammability of the vapor, caused its abandonment. Atlast Mr. Maxim came back to the steam-engine, andsought to devise one that might meet his wants. Herethe great difficulty was with the boiler. He must avoidcarrying a great steel shell with a large body of finally succeeded in building a boiler having thin 132 WONDERS OF MODERN MECHANISM. copper water-tubes, through which a forced circulation ofwater was kept up, and secured eight hundred feet ofheating surface with only thirty feet of flame surface. Hisfuel is gasoline, and, although the boiler makes moresteam than the three hundred and sixty-fjur horse-i^owerengines consume, yet it weighs but twelve hundred pounds,including the
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