Boston’s Aeronaut Convention – 1896

Boston’s Aeronaut Convention – 1896

          The following article appeared in The Topeka State Journal, (Topeka, Kansas), on July 18, 1896.

CLOUD TOURISTS 

Aeronauts Will Hold A Unique Convention At Boston

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Flying Machine Contests

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Men of science rom all parts of the world will show the possibilities of aerial navigation.  

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     Folks afflicted with the balloon fever will have a chance to indulge the disease to the uppermost limit before long.  An aeronautical convention, the very first of its kind, is to be held in Boston in the early part of September, and flying sharps from all parts of the world will attend to show their fellows what wonderful things they have accomplished in the matter of touring among the clouds.  

     It is almost unnecessary to state that this convention may be the means of causing a revolution in the matter of quick transit.  The men who will attend it are not reckless, untutored spirits; on the other hand they are intelligent scientists who believe that aerial navigation is not only possible but that within a few years it will be a popular reality, indulged in by great financial corporations and by private individuals.  Popular interest in aeronautics has been aroused all over the world by the balloon expedition to the North Pole by Explorer Andree.  recent experiments by meteorological experts in kite flying have also excited the public mind in the matter, and it is fair to presume that when the famous aeronauts convene at Boston their doings will be heralded to all the ends of the earth.

     The convention has been arranged by the Aeronautical Society of Boston.  This is composed of only twenty men, but each one of the twenty is a man skilled in the work of the organization.  The society was only formed in May of 1895.  Professor William H. Pickering, the astronomer of Harvard College, is the president.  He has taken up the study of aeronautics for the purpose of furthering the science of astronomy, believing that the scope of the latter will be enlarged to a limitless degree when astronomers are able to sail above the clouds.  

A Famous Gathering    

     The best known of the scientists who will attend the convention are Herr Otto Lilienthal, of Berlin; Willis L. Moore, Chief of the United States Weather Bureau; A. S. Potter, also of the Weather Bureau’s staff; William A. Eddy, whose many experiments in kite flying have made him famous; J. Woodbridge Davis, inventor of the life-saving kite; Octave Chanute, who has been a recognized authority on flying machines for more than fifty years; Professor S. P. Langley, director of the Smithsonian Institution; Gilbert T. Woglom, of New York; Alexander Graham Bell, of telephone fame, who within the past year or two has given much time to the study of aerial navigation, and possible Laurence Hargrave, of New South Wales.

     Much of the work for the convention arrangements have fallen upon Albert A. ????? will probably take place at Milton, a suburb of Boston.  The reason of the selection of Milton is that there is a fair sized sheet of water near at hand.  All aeronauts have a weakness for making ascents in the vicinity of water.  Experience has taught them that it is pleasanter to fall a few hundred feet into deep water than to smash into the earth.  It is quite probable that if no water were near at hand many of the designers would refuse to show off their flying machines at the competition.

The Competition

     The various contests are classified as follows:

     Prize A – For the kite showing the maximum of lift to the minimum of drift in a breeze having a velocity of more than fifteen miles per hour.

     Prize B – For the kite showing the maximum of lift to the minimum of drift in a breeze having a velocity of less than fifteen miles per hour.

     Prize C – For the kite keeping its equilibrium through the greatest extremes of wind velocity.

     Prize D – For the soaring machine of free flight which, after gaining velocity, shall make the best course.  The excellence of the course to be judged by the maximum length and the minimum of undulation.  Energy may be given to the machine by carrying it to a height. 

     Prize E – For the best self-propelled machine.    

One of Professor Langley’s Flying Machines

     The great interest will center in the flying machines, and according to experts this feature of the program will be a duel between the designs of Professor Langley, of Washington, and Herr Lilienthal, of Berlin.  Professor Langley’s machine is a contradiction of the principles recognized by all of the other designers of flying machines.  In other words, the aim of the average designer is to produce a machine lighter than the air.  Professor Langley believes that the weight of the machine has nothing to do with its flying capacity.  He claims that the great essential is the driving force.  If enough power can be introduced, he argues that a machine of any weight can be driven through the air.

     It was the lowly turkey buzzard that gave this idea to Professor Langley.  On this subject he says; “Did you ever think what a physical miracle it is for such a bird as one of our common turkey buzzards to fly in the way it does?  You may see them any day along the Potomac, floating in the air, with hardly the movement of their feathers.  These birds weigh fro five to ten pounds; they are far heavier than the air they displace; they are absolutely heavier than so many flatirons.”    

A Mysterious Machine       

     Professor Langley has been most reticent about the construction of his machine.  He uses steam as a driving power.  It is in the distribution and form of the solid matter, he says, which allows it to float through the air, and the greater the speed attained the less danger there is of the machine falling.  Less than three months ago Professor Langley sent a small machine on a flight of nearly half a mile through the air in the presence of Alexander Graham Bell.  The machine was built of steel, weighed 24 pounds and measured 14 feet from end to end.  It was 1,000 times heavier than the air supporting it.  Great secrecy attended the experiment, and the world would probably have never known of it had it not been for the enthusiasm of professor bell.  Professor Langley is now at work on a larger and heavier machine, in which the driving power will be much greater.  It is possible that the new machine will be exhibited at the Boston convention.

The Lilienthal Idea  

     Professor Langley does not believe that man has sufficient strength  to fly with artificial wings.  His rival, Herr Lilienthal, does.  His machines are constructed on that idea.  With the Lilienthal machine it is necessary to start the flight from a high hill.  The flyer buckles on the machine, takes a sharp run and jumps into space.  The big wings on the machine are supposed to do the rest.  The novice, when he runs and jumps, usually hits the ground with his face.  Herr Lilienthal has had an artificial hill fifty feet high built near his home at Gros Lichterfelde, a suburb of Berlin.  From this eminence he has made repeated flights of 250 yards.    

 

 

     

 

         

 

 

Boston Kite Flying Experiments – 1890s

Boston Kite Flying Experiments of the 1890s

     Kite flying experiments intended to further the study of meteorology and aeronautics, as well as influence possible designs for future flying machines, were conducted in the 1890s at the Blue Hills Observatory in Milton, Massachusetts.  The program was administered by the Boston Aeronautical Society, an organization that was founded in the spring of 1895.  The society initially consisted of about twenty members, each considered an expert in their field of research. 

     The mission of the society was to encourage experiments with aerial “machines”, (not necessarily mechanical) and to collect and disseminate knowledge relating to solving the problems of aerial navigation, for it was still a time when manned mechanical flight had not yet been perfected.

     In April of 1896 it was announced that the society had decided to include in its mission the encouragement of research and development of kite design.  As an incentive, the society offered monetary prizes for kites that could perform in certain ways.   

     The kites used in the Blue Hills experiments weren’t toys, but large, well designed, scientific instruments meant to fly at high altitudes to gather atmospheric readings.  On July 4, 1896, it was stated in the Evening Star, a Washington D. C. newspaper, “The Boston Aeronautical Society holds that the kite is a scientific instrument of value, and worthy the attention of those who take an interest in scientific equipment.”

      Some of the kite experiments resulted in kite-altitude records being set. On July 21, 1896, what was described as a “flight of kites” was sent up from the Blue Hills Observatory.  The kites were strung together in tandem, and the uppermost kite soared to the record breaking height of 7,200 feet above sea level according to the altimeter device which had been attached to the string below it.  The observatory, it was said, is situated at 625 feet above sea level.

     During another flight the string connected to the kites broke while they were 2,000 feet in the air, sending them and the attached instruments sailing off and out of sight.  They were later recovered three miles away from their starting point. 

     On August 1st a new kite-altitude record was achieved when a string of kites reached 7,333 feet.   The event was witnessed by fifty members of the Appalachian Club. 

     Not long afterward, a new altitude record of 7,441 feet was established.    

This illustration of William Eddy’s kite configuration as he photographed Boston from above appeared in newspapers of the day.

     One man who came to Boston to participate in the Blue Hills kite experiments was William Abner Eddy, (1850-1909), of Bayonne, New Jersey.  Eddy was the inventor of the “Eddy Kite”; a some-what diamond shaped kite of large proportions which lacked a tail. 

     In August of 1896, Eddy arrived with twenty-two of his kites with the intention of taking aerial photographs of Boston by suspending a camera in the air and working the shutter remotely from the ground.  Mr. Eddy was already credited with taking the first aerial kite photograph in the United States in Bayonne, N.J., on May 30, 1895. 

     Eddy began his photographic trials over Boston on Monday, August 24, from the roof of the post office building, and continued them throughout the week.  The first picture was taken from an altitude of 400 feet, the second at 700 feet, and the next four at 500 feet.

     On August 25, as Eddy was attempting to take his seventh aerial picture over the city, the string to the kites broke, sending all nine kites and his camera crashing to the street, but it was reported that it did not appear that the camera was too badly damaged, or the film compromised.     

     When all of the film plates were later developed, it was found that Mr. Eddy had captured some great aerial views of the Boston Common area, Beacon Street, Commonwealth Avenue, Tremont and Washington Streets, and the Charles River.  Some were taken from an altitude of 1,500 feet.       

     The kites Mr. Eddy employed for the project measured seven feet in diameter and between four to eight were flown at the same time depending on the wind. 

     Besides his camera, Mr. Eddy also attached a self-registering thermometer to record temperatures at different altitudes above the city to be compared with temperatures above the Blue Hills Observatory from kites being flown there during the same time.      

     In the autumn of 1896 further kite experiments were conducted at the Blue Hills Observatory to gather meteorological data.  In these experiments, nine kites attached by piano wire and carrying meteorological instruments reportedly rose to nearly 9,000 feet. 

     One newspaper, The Austin Weekly Statesman, described the process: “The kites were three in number, all of them on this occasion of the Eddy pattern, two of them being at the end of the line and the third some hundreds of feet below.  The kites were of large size, two of them being six feet in their largest dimension, and the third one a monster of nine feet, presenting some 65 square feet of surface to the wind.  This varied from 18 to 31 miles per hour at the surface, and the pull of the wire which held the kites mounted at times to upwards of 125 pounds.” 

      Sources:

     Courier Democrat, (Langdon, N.D.), “Taken From A Kite – Ingenious Method Of Taking Photographs”, August 1, 1895

     Evening Star, (Washington, D. C.), “Kites And Science”, July 4, 1896 

     The Topeka State Journal, (Topeka, Kansas), “Cloud Tourists – Aeronauts Will Hold A Unique Convention In Boston”, July 18, 1896

     The Topeka State Journal, “New Kite Record”, July 25, 1896  

     The Herald, (Los Angeles, CA.), “Great Kite Flying”, August 2, 1896

     The Evening Times, (Washington, D.C.), “Photos From The Sky”, August 24, 1896

     The Sun, (New York, N.Y.), “Eddy’s Kite String Broke”, August 26, 1896

     The Roanoke Daily Times, (Roanoke, VA.), “Kite Photograph Of Boston”, August 27, 1896 

     Waterbury Democrat, (Waterbury, Ct.), “Mid-Air Photographs”, August 28, 1896 

     The Austin Weekly Statesman, (Austin, TX.), “High Kite Flying In Boston”, October 1, 1896  

     The Chicago Eagle, (No Headline), October 31, 1896

 

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