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- Route of British military dirigibles from France to England, 1900
After four preliminary ascensions the great air ship started from Moisson to her destination at Farnborough, having on board Henri Julliot, Louis Capazza, the pilot, Alexander Bannerman, director of the aëronautic military school at Aldershot, and five other men. It was a triumphant and glorious voyage, one of the most splendid in the history of aërostation. Piloted by aid of chart and compass, and by signal fires and captive balloons arranged along her route, the vessel followed a direct course, without check or hindrance, crossing a wide part of the English Channel and arriving before the hangar at Aldershot, where the British soldiers awaited her, and where she was safely landed, having made the whole voyage of 230 miles in 5.5 hours, at a level varying between five hundred and two thousand feet. As shown by the accompanying map, about one third of the route lay over the Channel, or, more accurately, 78 miles, which was traversed in two hours. Thus the whole journey was accomplished at an average speed of nearly forty-two miles an hour, or in less time than it could be effected in any other way than through the air. - Mouillard’s aëroplane
But Mouillard did more than theorize; he built soaring machines and soared a little. His third and best glider, illustrated, was a tailless monoplane made of curved agave sticks screwed to boards, and covered with muslin. The aviator, standing in the open space C, harnessed the plane on with straps looped round his legs and shoulders, and fastened to the points D D. His forearms, passing under straps, rested on the board, enabling him to tilt the whole by shifting his weight - Da Vinci’s designs for human flying-gear
Leonardo da Vinci, who was a gifted engineer as well as an artist, devised a flying gear for man which shows some dynamic improvement over the mechanism of the old-time angels, flying gods, and hobgoblins. As shown in the accompanying sketch, it provided for gravitational balance by use of an expanding tail projecting well to the rear. Moreover, the propulsion was to employ both arms and legs. This design is considered very remarkable for the time in which it was produced, probably a few years before the discovery of America; and yet it is but one of Da Vinci’s quaint aëronautical inventions, as will appear later. - Longitudinal section of Female Cockroach
Longitudinal section of Female Cockroach, to show the position of the principal organs. Oe œsophagus S.gl, salivary gland S.r salivary reservoir Cr crop G gizzard St, chylific stomach R rectum Ht heart N.C nerve-cord Uses Of the uses to which Cockroaches have been put we have little to say. They constitute a popular remedy for dropsy in Russia, and both cockroach-tea and cockroach-pills are known in the medical practice of Philadelphia. Salted Cockroaches are said to have an agreeable flavour which is apparent in certain popular sauces. - Every day Rose-Red cut fresh flowers and arranged them for the house
- She plunged her hand deep down in her pocket and drew out a bright new nickel
- General Meusnier’s proposed dirigible, 1784
While Blanchard and other aëronauts were paddling their globose bags in search of favorable winds, vainly hoping thereby to direct their course in the air, General Meusnier of the French army, and member of the Academy of Sciences, made a systematic study of the requirements for practical air navigation. After some research on forms suitable for aëronautic hulls, he designed a power balloon having a pointed car suspended from a bag of goose-egg form, this latter embodying his idea of the best shape for a balloon that must cleave the air swiftly and resist deformation. The propulsion was to be effected by means of three coaxial screw propellers, supported on the rigging between car and bag, and actuated by eighty men, for lack of a light artificial motor. He thus hoped to obtain a moderate velocity which, combined with skillfully selected air currents, would enable the ship to reach her destination in ordinary weather - Hargrave’s model screw monoplane, 1891
In 1891, twelve years after Tatin’s experiment, Lawrence Hargrave, of Sydney, Australia, made a similar compressed air monoplane, with a single-screw propeller, but without wheels for launching and lighting. The model, which is shown, had a wing-spread of 20 square feet, weighed about three pounds, and flew 128 feet in eight seconds. The weight carried was at the rate of 90 pounds per horse power, a very encouraging result. Two years later he described a small steam engine which he had developed, weighing 10.7 pounds per horse power, and capable of driving the model about two miles, though he did not use it for that purpose, being engrossed with other researches. - Penaud’s aëroplane toy, 1871
In 1871 M. A. Penaud produced the interesting toy aëroplane shown in the figure. The model is propelled horizontally forward by a single screw, actuated by twisted rubber, and is fastened, as shown, to the middle of a long stick or backbone. The center of mass of the machine is well to the front, tending to plunge the model earthward like a heavy-headed arrow; but this down-diving is promptly checked by the tiny rudder which is so inclined as to counteract the diving proclivity. That is to say the rudder dips so as to receive the aërial impact on its upper surface; which impact increases with the speed of flight and causes the bow to rise, until the weight before the wings just balances the impact on the rudder at the rear. The equilibrium is thus automatic, on the principle expounded by Sir George Cayley sixty years earlier. - The Expulsion
Genesis 3:22 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken - Methods Employed by Indians of Hafting Stone Weapons
- Wenham’s aëroplane, 1866
In 1866, two decades after the flight of Stringfellow’s monoplane, Mr. F. H. Wenham, another Englishman illustrious in the annals of aëronautics, patented the multiplane; that is, an aëroplane comprising two or more superposed surfaces. This proved to be a valuable contribution to the art of aviation, and continues in use at the present time. The device furnished an increase of sustaining surface without enlargement of the ground plan. It moreover lends itself conveniently to a strong and simple trussing of the surfaces. Some designers protest that superposed surfaces blanket one another; but the advantages just named seem amply to compensate for this objectionable feature. If the surfaces be properly spaced, very little interference is found; moreover, any blanketing that may occur diminishes the drift as well as the lift,[20] though not necessarily in the same proportion. Wenham’s aëroplane is illustrated. The rider lies underneath the multiple wings, so as to diminish the resistance to progression through the air. The apparatus could thus be used as an aërial toboggan for coasting down the atmosphere. To prolong the flights two flappers actuated by a treadle were to be employed, their ends being hinged at a point above the operator’s back. Though the device was patented, no very serious efforts were made to operate it practically. Once, indeed, the inventor took his glider to a meadow and mounted it, during a lull in the evening wind, but soon a gust caught him up, carried him some distance from the ground and toppled him over sidewise, breaking some of the surfaces. The machine disclosed some good working principles; but it was inadequately ruddered, and too feebly constructed, to weather the buffets of the prevailing ground currents. - New and Correct Globes
- The first wanderers of the earth - Tribal migration in prehistoric times
From the painting of “Cain” by Ferdinand Cormon - Baseball player catching a ball
- Abraham blessed by Melchizedek
Genesis 14:19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: - Noah's Sacrifice
Genesis 8:20 And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. - The Etrich monoplane of 1910
The prominent feature of Etrich’s monoplane was the elastic construction of its wings and tail. Across the rigid main bars of each wing were fastened numerous ribs with bamboo terminals, thus making the rear margin and tip of the wing flexible. Similarly the tail, or horizontal rudder, was framed of bamboo. Hence the pilot, by use of control wires, could flex both the wing margins and the tail up and down at will, to steer the machine, or he could let go the controls and allow the distorted surfaces to spring into their normal positions, and the machine to pursue the even tenor of its way. - Tatin’s aëroplane model, 1879
In 1879 M. Victor Tatin made some very promising tests with the model shown, so promising, in fact, as to convince many that human flight was even then practicable. This little flyer was a twin-screw monoplane mounted on wheels, and actuated by an oscillating compressed air engine, the whole machine weighing 3.85 pounds, and supported by a silk plane measuring 16 by 75 inches. The central body of the aëroplane was a thin steel tube three feet long by four inches in diameter containing the compressed air, and weighing only one pound and a half, though strong enough to endure a pressure of twenty atmospheres. When the model was allowed to run round a board walk 46 feet in diameter, tethered to a stake at the center, it quickly acquired a speed of 18 miles an hour, rose in the air, and flew a distance of fifty feet. - You'll take cold
- The habitations of man in all ages of the world’s history
At first man built twig huts in trees, but becoming better matched with his animal foes he took to caves and underground habitations. Our illustration of the latter shows a section through the soil. Lake dwellings marked a distinct advance. Other varieties of primitive habitations are the leaf hut, the tents of skin, the mud hut, and the beehive hut of stone. Roman villas are still models of beauty. American “skyscrapers” are peculiar to our time; but all early forms of dwellings, while marking progress, have existed contemporaneously throughout history. - Lana’s proposed vacuum balloon
The first vacuum balloon was proposed by the Jesuit father, Francis Lana, and described in his book Podromo dell’Arte Maestra Brecia, which appeared in 1670. Though not a practical project like Gusmao’s, it was very ingenious, and marks an interesting phase in the evolution of the fundamental idea of the air ship, or “balloon” as it was called by the inventor, who then coined the word now in common use. Lana proposed to use four copper spheres each 25 feet in diameter and 1/225 inches in wall thickness, quite well exhausted of air, to give ascensional force which he computed at 1,200 pounds aggregate for the four spheres. From these he would suspend the passengers in a boat having a mast and sail to propel the ship in time of favorable wind. Having computed the buoyancy according to well-known physical laws, he could see no possible objection to his project “unless,” he writes, “it be that God would never permit this invention to be practically applied, in order to prevent the consequences that would ensue therefrom in the civil and political government of men.” - Man and the Universe
- Vertical cylinder
- Eiffel Tower 1889
- Girl with doll and cat
- Armstrong’s hydraulic crane
- Launoy and Bienvenu’s helicopter, 1784
In 1784 Launoy and Bienvenu, the first a naturalist, the second a mechanician, exhibited before the French Academy the interesting toy shown. This was the first power-driven helicopter, and is said to have lifted itself in the air quite readily. As may be observed it consists of two coaxial screws rotating in opposite directions actuated by the power of an elastic stick, like a bow. The screws were each about one foot in diameter and made of four feathers; one screw being fastened to the top of the rotating shaft, the other fastened to the bow, which rotated in the contrary direction. The little model excited much interest, particularly as its inventors expected to build a man-carrying helicopter on the same plan. The larger project was obviously without merit; for no combination of springs can maintain flight for more than a few seconds even on the most favorable scale. - Worthington tandem compound steam pumps
- How the snow did fly as he dug and scraped and shoveled
- Various levels of the Eiffel Tower
- Rope-geared hydraulic freight elevator
- General arrangement of Otis Elevator in the tower
- Correcting erection discrepancies
- The Saurian Age
- Morse Elevator
- Backmann’s proposed helicoidal elevator
- Siemens’ electric rack-climbing elevator of 1880
- General arrangement of the Roux Combaluzier
- Final development
- English direct plunger Elevator
- Ancient Egypt’s strange books and pictorial records, made of papyrus
Papyrus, a tall, graceful, sedgy plant, supplied the favourite writing material of the ancient world, and many priceless records of antiquity are preserved to us in papyri. The pith of the plant was pressed flat and thin and joined with others to form strips, on which records were written or painted. The above is a photograph of a piece of Egyptian papyrus, showing both hieroglyphics and picture-writing. The oldest piece of papyrus dates back to B.C. 3500. - Cross
- Peacock
- Harp
- Teagle elevator in an English mill about 1845
- The Death of Abel
Genesis 4:8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. - Glaisher and Coxwell
Parseval Kite Balloon. Another valiant English leader in aërostation was James Glaisher, member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. As one of a committee of twelve appointed by that body in 1861, to explore the higher strata of the atmosphere by means of the balloon, he volunteered his services as an observer, when no other capable man could offer to do so. With a professional aëronaut, Mr. Coxwell, and a new balloon specially constructed for the work, cubing 90,000 feet, he made eleven ascensions for the society, four from Wolverhampton, seven from Woolwich. Incidentally he made seventeen other ascents of various altitude; not at the expense of the committee, but as a scientific passenger in public balloon ascents advertised beforehand. - divider
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- Honor Bright faithfully fed all his pets
- Motor and drive mechanism of Siemens’ elevator
- Diagram of a modern spherical balloon with ripping panel
The ripping panel, invented in 1844 by America’s foremost pioneer aëronaut, John Wise, is a simple and an excellent practical device. This is a long patch running longitudinally above the equator[8] of the balloon, feebly sewed to the envelope, and having a cord, called the “ripping cord,” extending down to the car along the outside or inside of the bag, so that the pilot on coming to earth can let out the gas quickly by tearing a rent in the balloon, thus flattening it promptly on the earth’s surface, so as to avoid dragging and bumping if any wind prevails. - Section through cabin of the Otis elevator
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- Court and Tower of the Palace, Palenque
The tower situated in the southern court is considered by Waldeck as the crowning work of all. The picture is a reduction from Waldeck’s drawing, and no doubt indicates the true number of its stories, as well as the remarkable growth of vegetation upon its roof. The descent of the little roots and tendrils of the trees above in quest of nourishment, furnish a striking illustration of the luxuriant vegetable growth which pervades the region. - square divider