AUTOMOBILES
This is a subject in which every boy is interested. While few mechanics have the opportunity to actually build an automobile, it is the knowledge which he must acquire about every particular device used, that enables him to repair and put such machines in order. The aim of this book is to make the boy acquainted with each element, so that he may understand why it is made in that special way, and what the advantages and disadvantages are of the different types. To that end each structure is shown in detail as much as possible, and the parts separated so as to give a clear insight of the different functions, all of which are explained by original drawings specially prepared to aid the reader.
MOTORS
To the boy who wants to know the theory and the practical working of the different kinds of motors, told in language which he can understand, and illustrated with clear and explicit drawings, this volume will be appreciated. It sets forth the groundwork on which power is based, and includes steam generators, and engines, as well as wind and water motors, and thoroughly describes the Internal Combustion Engine. It has special chapters on Carbureters, Ignition, and Electrical systems used, and particularly points out the parts and fittings required with all devices needed in enginry. It explains the value of compounding, condensing, pre-heating and expansion, together with the methods used to calculate and transmit power. Numerous original illustrations.
AEROPLANES
This work Is not intended to set forth the exploits of aviators nor to give a history of the Art. It is a book of instructions intended to point out the theories of flying, as given by the pioneers, the practical application of power to the various flying structures; how they are built, the different methods of controlling them; the advantages and disadvantages of the types now in use; and suggestions as to the directions in which improvements are required. It distinctly points out wherein mechanical flight differs from bird flight, and what are the relations of shape, form, size and weight. It treats of kites, gliders and model aeroplanes, and has an Interesting chapter on the aeroplane and its uses In the great war. All the illustrations have been specially prepared for the work.
| PAGE | |
| INTRODUCTORY | 1-3 |
| CHAPTER I. THEORIES AND FACTS ABOUT FLYING | 5-32 |
The "Science" of Aviation. Machine Types. Shape or Form not Essential. A Stone as a Flying Machine. Power the Great Element. Gravity as Power. Mass and Element in Flying. Momentum a Factor. Resistance. How Resistance Affects Shape. Mass and Resistance. The Early Tendency to Eliminate Momentum. Light Machines Unstable. The Application of Power. The Supporting Surfaces. Area not the Essential Thing. The Law of Gravity. Gravity. Indestructibility of Gravitation. Distance Reduces Gravitational Pull. How Motion Antagonizes Gravity. A Tangent. Tangential Motion Represents Centrifugal Pull. Equalizing the Two Motions. Lift and Drift. Normal Pressure. Head Resistance. Measuring Lift and Drift. Pressure at Different Angles. Difference Between Lift and Drift in Motion. Tables of Lift and Drift. Why Tables of Lift and Drift are Wrong. Langley's Law. Moving Planes vs. Winds. Momentum not Considered. The Flight of Birds. The Downward Beat. The Concaved Wing. Feather Structure Considered. Webbed Wings. The Angle of Movement. An Initial Movement or Impulse Necessary. A Wedging Motion. No Mystery in the Wave Motion. How Birds Poise with Flapping Wings. Narrow-winged Birds. Initial Movement of Soaring Birds. Soaring Birds Move Swiftly. Muscular Energy Exerted by Soaring Birds. Wings not Motionless.
| CHAPTER II. PRINCIPLES OF AEROPLANE FLIGHT | 33-39 |
Speed as one of the Elements. Shape and Speed. What "Square of the Speed" Means. Action of a "Skipper." Angle of Incidence. Speed and Surface. Control of the Direction of Flight. Vertical Planes.
| CHAPTER III. THE FORM OR SHAPE OF FLYING MACHINES | 40-49 |
The Theory of Copying Nature. Hulls of Vessels. Man Does not Copy Nature. Principles Essential, not Forms. Nature not the Guide as to Forms. The Propeller Type. Why Specially-designed Forms Improve
| CHAPTER IV. FORE AND AFT CONTROL | 60-64 |
The Bird Type of Fore and Aft Control. Angle and Direction of Flight. Why Should the Angle of the Body Change. Changing Angle of Body not Safe. A Non-changing Body. Descending Positions by Power Control. Cutting off the Power. The Starting Movement. The Suggested Type. The Low Center of Gravity. Fore and Aft Oscillations. Application of the New Principle. Low Weight not Necessary with Synchronously-moving wings.
| CHAPTER V. DIFFERENT MACHINE TYPES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS | 65-73 |
The Helicopter. Aeroplanes. The Monoplane. Its Advantages. Its Disadvantages. The Bi-plane. Stability in Bi-planes. The Orthopter. Nature's Type not Uniform. Theories About Flight of Birds. Instinct. The Mode of Motion. The Wing Structure. The Wing Movement. The Helicopter Motion.
| CHAPTER VI. THE LIFTING SURFACES OF AEROPLANES | 74-84 |
Relative Speed and Angle. Narrow Planes Most Effective. Stream Lines Along a Plane. The Center of Pressure. Air Lines on the Upper Side of a Plane. Rarefied Area. Rarefaction Produced by Motion. The Concaved Plane. The Center of Pressure. Utilizing the Rarefied Area. Changing Center of Pressure. Plane Monstrosities. The Bird Wing Structure. Torsion. The Bat's Wing. An Abnormal Shape. The Tail as a Monitor.
| CHAPTER VII. ABNORMAL FLYING STUNTS AND SPEEDS | 85-93 |
Lack of Improvements in Machines. Men Exploited and not Machines. Abnormal Flying of no Value. The Art of Juggling. Practical Uses the Best Test. Concaved and Convex Planes. How Momentum is a Factor in Inverted Flying. The Turning Movement. When Concaved Planes are Desirable. The Speed Mania. Uses of Flying Machines. Perfection in Machines Must Come Before Speed. The Range of its Uses. Commercial Utility.
| CHAPTER VIII. KITES AND GLIDERS | 94-112 |
The Dragon Kite. Its Construction. The Malay Kite. Dihedral Angle. The Common Kite. The Bow Kite. The Box Kite. The Voison Bi-plane. Lateral Stability in Kites, not Conclusive as to Planes. The Spear Kite. The Cellular Kite. Tetrahedral Kite. The Deltoid. The Dunne Flying Machine. Rotating Kite. Kite Principles. Lateral Stability in Kites. Similarity of Fore and Aft Control. Gliding Flight One of the Uses of Glider Experiments. Hints in Gliding.
| CHAPTER IX. AEROPLANE CONSTRUCTION | 113-130 |
Lateral and Fore and Aft. Transverse. Stability and Stabilization. The Wright System. Controlling the Warping Ends. The Curtiss Wings. The Farman Ailerons. Features Well Developed. Depressing the Rear End. Determining the Size. Rule for Placing the Planes. Elevating Plane. Action in Alighting. The Monoplane. The Common Fly. Stream Lines. The Monoplane Form.
| CHAPTER X. POWER AND ITS APPLICATION | 131-142 |
Features in Power Application. Amount of Power Necessary. The Pull of the Propeller. Foot Pounds Small Amount of Power Available. High Propeller Speed Important. Width and Pitch of Blades. Effect of Increasing Propeller Pull. Disposition of the Planes. Different Speeds with Same Power. Increase of Speed Adds to Resistance. How Power Decreases with Speed. How to Calculate the Power Applied. Pulling Against an Angle. The Horizontal and the Vertical Pull. The Power Mounting. Securing the Propeller to the Shaft. Vibrations. Weaknesses in Mounting. The Gasoline Tank. Where to Locate the Tank. The Danger to the Pilot. The Closed-in Body. Starting the Machine. Propellers with Varying Pitch.
| CHAPTER XI. FLYING MACHINE ACCESSORIES | 143-166 |
The Anemometer. The Anemograph. The Anemometrograph. The Speed Indicator. Air Pressure Indicator. Determining the Pressure From the Speed. Calculating Pressure From Speed. How the Figures are Determined. Converting Hours Into Minutes. Changing Speed Hours to Seconds. Pressure as the Square of the Speed. Gyroscopic :Balance. The Principles Involved. The Application of the Gyroscope. Fore and Aft Gyroscopic Control. Angle Indicator. Pendulum Stabilizer. Steering and Controlling
| CHAPTER XII. EXPERIMENTAL WORK IN FLYING | 167-186 |
Certain Conditions in Flying. Heat in Air. Motion When in Flight. Changing Atmosphere. "Ascending Currents." "Aspirate Currents." Outstretched Wings. The Starting Point. The Vital Part of the Machine. Studying the Action of the Machine. Elevating the Machine. How to Practice. The First Stage. Patience the Most Difficult Thing. The Second Stage. The Third Stage. Observations While in Flight. Flying in a Wind. First Trials in a Quiet Atmosphere. Making Turns. The Fourth Stage. The Figure 8. The Vol Plane. The Landing. Flying Altitudes.
| CHAPTER XIII. THE PROPELLER | 186-195 |
Propeller Changes. Propeller Shape. The Diameter. Pitch. Laying Out the Pitch. Pitch Rule. Laminated Construction. Laying up a Propeller Form. Making Wide Blades. Propeller Outline. For High Speeds. Increasing Propeller Efficiency.
| CHAPTER XIV. EXPERIMENTAL GLIDERS AND MODEL AEROPLANES | 191-206 |
The Relation of Models to Flying Machines. Lessons From Models. Flying Model Aeroplanes. An Efficient Glider. The Deltoid Formation. Racing Models. The Power for Model Aeroplanes. Making the Propeller. Material for the Propeller. Rubber. Propeller Shape and Size. Supporting Surfaces.
| CHAPTER XV. THE AEROPLANE IN THE GREAT WAR | 206-222 |
Balloon Observations. Changed Conditions in Warfare. The Effort to Conceal Combatants. Smokeless Powder. Inventions to Attack Aerial Craft. Functions of the Aeroplane in War. Bomb-throwing Tests. Method for Determining the Movement of a Bomb. The Great Extent of Modern Battle Lines. The Aeroplane Detecting the Movements of Armies. The Effective Height for Scouting. Sizes of Objects at Great Distances. Some Daring Feats in War. The German Taube. How Aeroplanes Report Observations. Signal Flags. How Used. Casualties Due to Bombs From Aeroplanes.
| GLOSSARY | 223-242 |
| FIG. | PAGE |
| 1. Tangential flight | 16 |
| 2. Horizontal flight | 18 |
| 3. Lift and drift | 19 |
| 4. Normal air pressure | 20 |
| 5. Edge resistance | 20 |
| 6. Measuring lift and drift | 21 |
| 7. Equal lift and drift in flight | 25 |
| 8. Unequal lift and drift | 25 |
| 9. Wing movement in flight | 29 |
| 10. Evolution of humming-bird's wing | 30 |
| 11. A skipper in flight | 35 |
| 11a. Monoplane in flight | 52 |
| 12. Angles of flight | 53 |
| 13. Planes on non-changing body | 55 |
| 14. Descent with non-changing body | 56 |
| 15. Utilizing momentum | 57 |
| 16. Reversing motion | 58 |
| 17. Showing changing angle of body | 59 |
| 18. Showing non-changing angle of frame | 60 |
| 19. Normal flight, with propeller pulling | 61 |
| 20. Action when propeller ceases to pull | 62 |
| 21. Synchronously-moving planes | 63 |
| 22. Stream lines along a plane | 75 |
| 23. Air lines on the upper side of a plane | 78 |
| 24. Air lines below a concaved plane | 79 |
| 25. Air lines above a convex plane | 80 |
| 26. Changing centers of pressures | 81 |
| 27. Changing centers of pressures | 81 |
| 28. Bird-wing structures | 81 |
| 29. Bird-wing structures | 81 |
| FIG. | PAGE |
| 30. One of the monstrosities | 83 |
| 31. Flying upside down | 89 |
| 32. Chart showing range of uses | 92 |
| 33. Ribs of dragon kite | 96 |
| 34. The Malay kite | 96 |
| 35. Dihedral angle | 96 |
| 36. Common kite | 97 |
| 37. Bow kite | 98 |
| 38. Sexagonal kite | 98 |
| 39. Hargreave kite | 99 |
| 40. Voison biplane | 100 |
| 41. Spear kite | 101 |
| 42. Cellular kite | 101 |
| 43. Tetrahedral kite | 102 |
| 44. Deltoid formation | 103 |
| 45. Deltoid formation | 103 |
| 46. The Dunne bi-plane | 104 |
| 47. Rotable umbrella kite | 105 |
| 48. Action of wind forces on kite | 107 |
| 49. Farman ailerons | 115 |
| 49a. Rule for spacing planes | 119 |
| 50. Frame of control planes | 119 |
| 51. Side elevation of frame | 120 |
| 52. Frame with running gear | 120 |
| 53. Plan view | 122 |
| 54. Alighting | 123 |
| 55. Common fly. Outstretched wings | 125 |
| 56. Common fly. Folded wings | 126 |
| 57. Relative size of wing and body | 126 |
| 58. Plan of monoplane | 128 |
| 59. Side elevation, monoplane | 129 |
| 60. Horizontal and vertical pull | 137 |
| 61. Speed indicator | 144 |
| 62. Air pressure indicator | 145 |
| 63. The gyroscope | 151 |
| 64. Application of the gyroscope | 152 |
| 65. Action of the gyroscope | 153 |
| 66. Angle indicator | 155 |
| FIG. | PAGE |
| 67. Simple pendulum stabilizer | 156 |
| 68. Pendulum stabilizers | 157 |
| 69. Steering and control wheel | 158 |
| 70. Automatic stabilizing wings | 159 |
| 71. Action of stabilizing wings | 159 |
| 72. Into the wind at an angle | 160 |
| 73. Turning a circle | 161 |
| 74. Aneroid barometer | 162 |
| 75. Hydroplane floats | 165 |
| 76. Describing the pitch line | 188 |
| 77. Laying out the pitch | 189 |
| 78. A laminated blank | 191 |
| 79. Arranging the strips | 192 |
| 80. End view of blank | 192 |
| 81. Marking the side | 193 |
| 82. Outlining | 193 |
| 83. Cut from a 4" x 6" single blank | 194 |
| 84. A suggested form | 195 |
| 85. Deltoid glider | 199 |
| 86. The Deltoid racer | 199 |
| 87. "A" shaped racing glider | 201 |
| 88. Making the propeller | 203 |
| 89. Shape and size | 205 |
| 90. Course of a bomb | 210 |
| 91. Determining altitude and speed | 211 |
In preparing this volume on Flying Machines the aim has been to present the subject in such a manner as will appeal to boys, or beginners, in this field of human activity.
The art of aviation is in a most primitive state. So many curious theories have been brought out that, while they furnish food for thought, do not, in any way, advance or improve the structure of the machine itself, nor are they of any service in teaching the novice how to fly.
The author considers it of far more importance to teach right principles, and correct reasoning than to furnish complete diagrams of the details of a machine. The former teach the art, whereas the latter merely point out the mechanical arrangements, independently of the reasons for making the structures in that particular way.
Relating the history of an art, while it may be interesting reading, does not even lay the foundations of a knowledge of the subject, hence that field has been left to others.
The boy is naturally inquisitive, and he is interested in knowing why certain things are necessary,
The author knows from practical experience, while experimenting with and building aeroplanes, how eagerly every boy inquires into details. They want the reasons for things.
One such instance is related to evidence this spirit of inquiry. Some boys were discussing the curved plane structure. One of them ventured the opinion that birds' wings were concaved on the lower side. "But," retorted another, "why are birds' wings hollowed?"
This was going back to first principles at one leap. It was not satisfying enough to know that man was copying nature. It was more important to know why nature originated that type of formation, because, it is obvious, that if such structures are universal in the kingdom of flying creatures, there must be some underlying principle which accounted for it.
It is not the aim of the book to teach the art of flying, but rather to show how and why the present machines fly. The making and the using are separate and independent functions, and of the two the more important is the knowledge how to make a correct machine.
Hundreds of workmen may contribute to the
The art is still very young; so much is done which arises from speculation and theories; too much dependence is placed on the aviator; the desire in the present condition of the art is to exploit the man and not the machine; dare-devil exhibitions seem to be more important than perfecting the mechanism; and such useless attempts as flying upside down, looping the loop, and characteristic displays of that kind, are of no value to the art.