Tom Edison's Airship Talk with Santos-Dumont
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SANTOS-DUMONT IN HIS NEW YORK APARTMENTS -M. A 1MB,
OK THE AERO CLVH OK PARIS, ON THE Kid I IT.
EX-SEC It ETA It Y
THOMAS A. EDISON IN
(Copyright. 192. by Herbert Wallace.)
I I mankind ought t be ashamed of
A I ,,..! l,n..fi,,uo I tin urnMem nf
aerial navigation by human be
ings was not solved years ago.
He also makes the rather remarkable sta e
menl that, while Santns-Dumunt has done
a great thing iu steering airships about
through the air, it will bo a lcng time be
fore any contrivance for air navigation is
commercially possible, because no Inventor
will be able to secure any reward for his
labor in this line f woik under the preen
patent laws. To make this great possibility
practical, it seems that we shall have to
establish a sort of protective academy of
in...M,n,,n ulili-ti shall reward the successful
Inventor of the commercial airship.
"I was down in Florida recently and one
day I watched u big bird I think It was a
vulture that floated about In the air a
whole hour without moving Us wings pre
cept ibly. When dod niacin that bird He
gave It a machine to fly with, but He dllu't
give it much else. He gave the bird a very
small brain with which to direct tho move
ments cf the machine, but Ho gave to a
ii. an a much larger brain in proportion to
that of the bird."
Mr. Edison Is not the first to make such
a comparison, but when he talked this way
the other day to Santos-Dumont, the Hra
zilian aeronaut, there was a world of mean
ing In the words. The wizard of the labora
tory was much Interested In the young man
who had startled Paris and the world by
steering an alrBhip over the city, not once,
tut several time.
"You are the only man who has done
such a thing," exclaimed Mr. Edison.
"I amo sure you have never worked on
ti- problem of aerial navigation," replied
' Santos-Dumont, "or you would have ac
complished years ago more than I have
done now." The aeronaut was not trying
to be complimentary; he has thi? highest
admiration for Mr. Edii-on and his Inventive
genius.
"I don't know about that," said Edison.
"I did take It up once several vears aso
and built a specially light motor to be
operated by exploding gunpowder. 1 ex
perimented a lot In lifting weights with it,
tut I worked with a email model and did
not attempt to fly. I gave it all up because
I had a number of other things to do
which were far more profitable."
"I'll tell you," he went on earnestly, "if
the patent ofllco only protected the in
ventor suflklently the problem of aerial
navigation would have been solved thirty
years ago."
l ii m I nixciird I lie ll il ooii.
Santos-Dumont looked at Edison with
some surprise and turned to M. Aime, his
companion, to remark that had th.- laws
been right the thing would have bieu douo
before he was hern. Mr. Edison saw the
discomfiture) of his guest and remarked:
"llut you are all right. You are on thj
right track. You have made an alrslilp
and you havu steered it and you have mauv
a step toward the tiual solution of tne
problem. Keep at it. Hut Ret rid of your
balloon. Make It smaller all the time."
"Have you noticed, Mr. Edi-on," inquired
th.- aeronaut, "that I am making the bal
loon smaller every time I build a new air
ship?" "Yis, ami that's right," replied EdlSJii.
"but make it smaller yet. You are d.ting
well, but U will take a long time to make
the thing commercially possible. When you
get your balloon part smaller and yet
smaller until it in so small that you cannot
see It with a nilcroucope then you will
have it. Then you will have solved the
problem."
Here, in a nutshell, is Mr. Edison's solu
tion of the problem of aerial navigation.
He believes firmly that it can be solved,
llut he believes lust as firmly thai the solu
tion must be reached by means of the flying greatest factor of this problem is to get
make the machine rise and to keen it iu
sutlicieiit motUn to hold it in position a
tenaiu number of feet above the earth, lie
constantly refers to the figure of the bird
which anyone may see rise and fly at wil'.
"Take the case of tho vulture," he said.
"More Is a natural flying machine which is
a thousand times as heavy as tho air it dis
places. Iu a few seconds of leisurely flight
V can sweep over a distance which man
finds encumbirid with all sorts of obstacles
and there is scarcely a flutter of its wings
iu the operation. There Is nothing there
but a machine and a small bruin and it is
not a very remarkable machine either.
Why is It that a man cannot make a flying
machine as elllclent as the bird? A loi
pe. pie say that it was never meant that
man should fly; that if nature had Intend d
such n thing, man would have been pro
vided with the necessary machinery in his
b dy, such as is now possessed by the llrd.
Hut you might Just as well say that It was
never Intended that man should have any
light aside from the sun and the moon and
saw which were originally provided for
hiiii, or that he shculd not move aboil
faster with the aid of wheels because n
wheels were supplied to him by nature."
No Kleelrlo 1'lyliiK Machine.
Someone asked Mr. Ellison whether his
niw storage battery would be of service
in solving the problem of aerial naviga
tion. "Ob, no, of couive not," he replied. "It
would be too heavy. We must get the
lightest nossiblo motive power. Thus tho
HIS LAltilltATl
the final i-."lu
ll Y.
machine and not by the airship. Only with
the machine, he says, can air navigation
ivcr be made either safe or commercially
profitable. This will be clear to the reader
when it is explained that In Mr. Edison's
vocabulary the terra "airship" applies to quickly and
a contrivance that, being lighter than the weighs little.
air, floats in it as a ship floats on the
water. The term "flying machine," on the
other hand, refers, as he uses it, to a con
trivance heavier than the air it is Intended
to navigate. At rest such an apparatus
would not float at all, the poorer of flotation
being furnished by the high speed at whi n
it moves. In Edison's mind, then, aerial
navigation Is simply a question of sufficient
motive power, properly applied, to over
come the lack of buoyancy necessary to
vi ry lignl moior wnicn win u iii"
enough to operate the flying machine
properly. The best thing uow in sight for
this purpose Is a gasoline or gunpowder
motor, something that will get up poer
which, at the same time,
Santos-Dumont is on th"
right track in this regard, but be can't go
much farther till he gets rid of bis gas
bag. You cannot control a balloon In a
gale of wind. In order to make a com
mercial possibility of the alrBhip It will be
necessary to make Its operation absolutely
sure and Its use Fafe. The flying machine
Is bound to come, but it will take some
time at the rate we are progressing now."
It was suggested to Mr. Edison that
perhaps ho might take up the problem
again himself and a.sslsl In
tion.
"No, I will not go Into any, lung whlili
cannot be prelected from the pirates who
live olT the work of iuv.nlois, an.l I do
not believe it would be possible to secure n
patent on either a Hying machine or an
airship or any part of one that would stand
tho test of the courts. If soiueou.'
should make a commercially successful
flying machine dozens would at once copy
the models and take away the fruits of th.
original Inventor's labor. There Isn't a
Judge in the country who would hold that
there was really any invention In such an
apptuatus, because s.p mm h has been done
and wriiti n about It t hat the only difference
between t tit succes-fiil machine, which is
to be, and the many failures, which have
been, will be very slight. I doulit whether
Htiy new principle will be discovered on
which even a claim for a patent may b.'
made.
"The man or men who really solve the
problem of flying through the air will find
out nothing new. l'owerfui motors of won
derful compactness, will be applied to a
framework of extreme lightness and that
will be all there will be tu It. Doubtless,
this framework will be something similar
to the physical structure of a bird. I do
not believe It will be difficult, because wu
have many mechanical devices now which
are superior to the devices used by nature
In human be Ing.i and animals, and I do not
see why we may not put together a contriv
ance which will be at least equal to the
machine and brain of the bird."
I'rof. I.iiiikI' ' l inir.
I'rof. S. I'. Langley of the Smithsonian
Institute, Washington, was one of the first
men In this country to experiment with
Hying machines machines heavier than
the air unless we admit the immortal
Darius Green and his far-famed flying ma
chine Into our chronology of scientific ex
periments. I'rof. Langley had a theory
to prove and proved It. He did not accom
pany his aerodrome in Its flights, but he
demonstrated beyond a shadow of doubt
that mechanical flight Is possible. Sir
Hiram Maxim showed this also with his
aeroplane. As a man of pure sc ience, who
had much work to do, Langley proved all
he wanted to. It is time now for others
to make the flying machine commercially
available. It took I'rof. Langley several
years to develop Iilb main tdia. as to Hying,
but during those years he reached muny
interesting conclusions which will doubt
less be taken into account by the Invfflitors
who attempt to follow him and carry out
the idea of Edison as to navigating the
air.
In his picl.niluury experiments, I'rof.
I.angley ehowid that, disregarding the frlc
lion, which Is slight, a Smi-pound pinto
could be moved through the nlr at a rate
of fifty miles an hour with the expenditure
of cue horse power energy. That Is, a ton
of weight could be drawn horizontally
through spuce and upon the air
with an engine of only ten horse
power. Iu his airship No. 7, SantoB
Duinont will have engines of ninety ag
gregate horse power sulllcienl to move a
Hat plate weighing nine tons through th
air ut the rate of fifty miles an hour. As
a matter of fact, the Santos-Dumont No.
7 will weigh when collapsed lesd than a
ton and when the gas bag Is filled with
hydrogen tlm whole machine will have a
lifting powir of 2,fui pounds. With this
equipment the young man hopes to speed
through the air at tho rate of forty-five
miles an hour.
It must be clearly understood, however,
that the Santos-Dumont type of alrnhip
cannot bo operatic! In u stiff breeze or In
changeable winds; Indeed, the, aeronaut
docs not make any claim that he can nav
Igatu the air in all kinds of weather,
(iiven fuir weathel Santos-Dumont will HO'
hisllate to launch his craft and fly away
over cities and bchs; tho sensation of fear
seems to be entirely absi ut from Ills
make-up.
I always have a good deal to do wh.n
I am in my ship," he explains, "and I do
not have time to think about being afraid.
I don't know what It Is to be afraid of
falliug."
liilciettiuH r.MTliin-ii.
It sn'iiiB an almost universal belief
that the air itself offcis tremendous re
sistance to the passage of any body through
It. As a matter of fact. It doisn't. The
bird In Its flight litis be n both a constant
wonder to man ami an unending promoter
of hope that some day ho may equal It
aerial movements, but If the air resisted
flight, according to the computations of
(Coiitinui d on Seventh Page.)
Scenes at the Red Oak Conflagration From Photographs Taken at the Time
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