After the Costume Ball (TO MARIAN, AS "AN EARLY FLORENTINE") BY SAMUEL F. BATCHELDER WHEN bronzed Vespucci back to Florence came, Christening two continents by freakish fate, Had he but known the music of thy name He would have begged thee for their sponsor straight. Yet glad am I thou wast not there, sweet dame, When bronzed Vespucci back to Florence came. When Galileo's wonder-working glass Brought down the stars to earth one THE article which follows is the first popular account of their experiments prépared by the inventors. Their accounts heretofore have been brief statements of bare accomplishments, without explanation of the manner in which results were attained. The article will be found of special interest, in view of the fact that they have contracted to deliver to the United States Government a complete machine, the trials of which are expected to take place about the time of the appearance of this number of THE CENTURY.-THE EDITOR. THOU HOUGH the subject of aërial navigation is generally considered new, it has occupied the minds of men more or less from the earliest ages. Our personal interest in it dates from our childhood days. Late in the autumn of 1878, our father came into the house one evening with some object partly concealed in his hands, and before we could see what it was, he tossed it into the air. Instead of falling to the floor, as we expected, it flew across the room till it struck the ceiling, where it fluttered awhile, and finally sank to the floor. It was a little toy, known to scientists as a "hélicoptère," but which we, with sublime disregard for science, at once dubbed a "bat." It was a light frame of cork and bamboo, cov ered with paper, which formed two screws, driven in opposite directions by rubber bands under torsion. A toy so delicate lasted only a short time in the hands of small boys, but its memory was abiding. Several years later we began building these hélicoptères for ourselves, making each one larger than that preceding. But, to our astonishment, we found that the larger the "bat," the less it flew. We did not know that a machine having only twice the linear dimensions of another would require eight times the power. We finally became discouraged, and returned to kite-flying, a sport to which we had devoted so much attention that we were regarded as experts. But as we became Copyright, 1908, by THE CENTURY CO. All rights reserved. LXXVI- 63 641 |