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The announcement of the offer of a 15,000 prize by Mr. Gould for' the best multiple-motor aeroplane has brought a flood of correspondence to this office, some of it solicited, the rest voluntary. With a view to ascertaining the views of leading men among those who have expert technical knowledge and experience in both the theory and art of aviation, the Editor asked for the written opinion of several of these. We publish herewith a few of the letters of reply. Others will appear in later ' issues of the Scientific American : To the Editor of the Scientific American: I have yours of the 14th, inclosing copy of rules governing the competition for the Gould-Scientific American Trophy. The rules as drawn up by you are excellent, and just at this moment I do not see that they need any additions. However, I shall keep them constantly in mind, and if on further consideration of them I think of any suggestions I will communicate them to you promptly. Charles M. Manly. Whitehall Building, New York. To the Editor of the Scientific American: With reference to the inclosed preliminary draft of the proposed rules for the Gould 15,000 prize for the best twin-engine aeroplane, the only change which I would suggest is that the person making the entry should not be required to operate the machine. ' It seems to me that this prize will offer an incentive to overcome what is now an inherent danger of the aeroplane, namely, the liability of the engine to stop or break, thereby causing the machine to fall. A. Lawrence Rotch, Director. Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, Hyde Park, Mass. To the Editor of the Scientific American: Your letter of June 14th was received during my absence, and was held for my attention. I think your tentative rules governing the Gould prize are first rate, and have nothing to suggest, unless that a clause be inserted that makes it understood that both propellers may be running all of the time. It would be very bad engineering to attempt to stop one propeller entirely. I think you can count on our entering a machine for the contest. New York. G. H. Curtiss. To the Editor of the Scientific American: Referring to your article, Mr. Edwin Gould offers 15,000, etc., which appeared in, the issue of June 11th, 1910.. Explanatory of my main object will state: At this time I am gathering the material for the construction of a new type of heavier-than-air flying machine (for which application for a patent has been made) which will come within the scope of the statement given in the above-mentioned article. As the proposition enters upon new ground, and as you have kindly stated that the Editor will gladly consider any suggestions which the reader may. make, I offer the following: Owing to the fact that some amount of experimenting must be done with flying machines as specified, considerable time should be allowed between the opening of the contest and the closing of the same. It is possible that persons desiring to participate may be separated by great distance, therefore, the various trials should not be confined to any particular portion of the country, but allowed under similar rules at the point most available to the party or parties who shall enter their machines, if the same be satisfactory to the promoter. The suggestions are offered with a view of gaining the most desired results by producing something new, furthering the improvements now under way, and allowing many more to produce that which they deem will advance the mechanical in aerial navigation, which would not be the case if contests were all confined to a limited district. , Harry H. Hinde, Member Aero Club of California. Riverside, Cal. A CORRECTION. To the Editor of the Scientific American: In your issue of July 2d, on page 4, in the editorial entitled, The Annual Slaughter of Trespassers on Railroads, the statement is made that figures THE EARLIEST WRIGHT FLIGHTS.--A LETTER FROM WILBUR WRIGHT. To the Editor of the Scientific American: The Scientific American of June 25th contains an editorial which says: Curtiss was using hinged wing tips in his earlier machines, with which he made public flights antedating the open flights of the Wrights. The use of the catch expression open flights is calculated to give to the general reader an entirely false impression regarding the real facts. The general construction of the Wright machines, and the method of control whiclr has now become so widely copied, were well known to aviators in general and to Mr. Curtiss in particular long before he began building aeroplanes. The Scientific American of February 22nd, 1902, contains several pictures of Wright machines, and gives an abstract of an illustrated article in the printed Journal of the Western Society of Engineers, containing an account of the construction of the machine and its novel methods of control. In 1903 M.r. O. Chanute 'Visited Europe in the interests of the St. Louis Exposition, and while in Paris gave an illustrated lecture on aviation in America, setting forth what he had witnessed during visits to the Wright camp at Kitty Hawk in 1901 and 1902. In the same year (1903) he wrote an article for L'Aerophile giving scale drawings of the Wright 1902 machine. Aroused by this news, several members of 1he Aero Club of France decided to form a sub-commission on aviation, the club having been heretofore solely a balloon society. Mr. Archdeacon,the prime mover, gave an order to a French workman for the construction of a copy of the Wright 1902 glider. This aeroplane du. type de Wright, from which grew the Voisin, Farman, and earlier Bleriot machines, was tested at Berck in April, 1904, by a young man from Lyons, M. Voisin, it being his debut in aviation. Pictures of this pioneer French-built machine of the type Wright were published in numerous French papers of that year and also in the New York Press of March 20th, 1904. A second Archdeacon machine with a motor was illustrated in the Scientific American of December 17th, 1904, which says in the accompanying text, It resembles the Wright aeroplane in its general principles, but contains certain modifications in detail. The French patent, explaining in detail the new Wright system of control, was published in 1904. The American patent was published in 1906. The Scientific American of April 7th, 1906, published numerous pictures of Wright machines, and after mentioning the horizontal front rudder, says, There may also be other patentable improvements for maintaining the transverse stability, such as a method of twisting the planes slightly at either end. In 1907 Dr. Bell organized the Aerial Experiment Association, with Lieut. Selfridge as secretary, and Mr. Curtiss as chief of construction. Lieut. Selfridge wrote to the brothers Wright in behalf of the association, asking for information regarding the construction of gliders, and was referred to the drawings and description in the Wright American patent and to the drawings and description. in the Aerophile article of 1903. Lieut. Selfridge in answer said he had obtained a copy of the patent, and hoped to obtain the other paper soon. At first only the general form of the Wright machine was copied in the machines constructed by Mr. Curtiss, but soon the adjustable tips began to appear, their necessity having become apparent. It was only in 1908 that Mr. Curtiss began using adjustable tips. Judge Hazel was aware of these facts, and in his decision mentioned this correspondence as cne of the reasons for granting the temporary injunction. Wilbur Wright. The 1910 Rhelras Aviation Meet, Last August the aviation meet at Rheims, which was the first aviation meet of any consequence to be held anywhere in the world, was a great success, and resulted in the making of many records, particularly that for endurance of 3 hours by Henry Farman in his biplane. In November, 1909, Farman increased this record to 144 miles in 4:06:25. This year the prinicpal records were made by monoplanes and were chiefly records of speed and distance. After doing some marvelous flying in wind and rain on the opening day of the meet (July 3rd), Charles Wachter was precipitated to earth from a height of 500 feet owing to the breaking of the wings of his Antoinette monoplane, and was instantly killed. This accident threw a pall over the opening days of the meet, but nevertheless some excellent flying was accomplished. On the third day, Alfred Leblanc covered! 100 kilometers (62.1 miles) on his Bleriot monoplane in 1 hour, 16 minutes, and 11 seconds, or at t'le rate of 48.9 miles The Asbury Park Aviation Meet. Asbury Park's aviation meet was opened early last week with flights by Glenn Curtiss. Mr. Curtiss made trips up and down the beach, passing over the piers and performing evolutions above the sea. At one time, while running along the beach in order to start, a wave struck his propeller and smashed it. During several days, Curtiss made flights when considerable wind was blowing. Not till last Friday did Walter Brookins make his first flights' at Atlantic City with his Wright biplane. Brookins drew exclamations of delight from the spectators at the dips and sharp turns he accomplished with his Wright machine. This is the first time that a Wright and a Curtiss biplane have flown in competition. The latter appears to be the faster machine, but it is intended to test out the speed capabilities of both in a 50-mile race before the meet is over. The Chicago to New York 25,000 Prize Flight. The rules were announced last week, governing the aeroplane race from Chicago to New York to be held under the auspices of the Chicago Evening Post and the New York Times. The contest is to start on October 8th and is to be open only to aviators who have shown a record of sustained flight of one hour or more. Practice flights must be made in Chicago by all contestants during the week previous to the start of the race. All contestants must start upon the date set unless this is postponed because of adverse weather. The start may be delayed until October 15th. Seven days are allowed in which to complete the distance, which is approximately a thousand miles, if the line of the railroad is followed. Hamilton, Mars, and - Captain Baldwin have already entered for this race, and it is probablE) that there will be at least halffscore of entries. compiled by the Pennsylvania Railroad alone show that 465 passengers lost their lives on that system's lines in 1899, etc. This, of course, should have been trespassers, but it seems to me, in view of the seriousness of the mistake that a correction should be made. J. W. Lee, Jr. Philadelphia, Pa. an hour. He also established new records for 30, 40, and 5<4 kilometers; while Morane, also on a Bleriot monoplane, beat Curtiss's 20-kilometer (12.4 mile) record of 15: 50 35 by covering this distance in 13 minutes and 8 seconds. Mr. Curtiss, it will be remembered, won the Bennett cup race last year in the time above given, and thus brought the trophy to America. The Bennett race will be held this year on October 22nd over a 100 kilometer course above Long Island. Each nation is allowed three contestants. On July 5th, Latham, Leblanc, and Labouchere all qualified as the French representatives in the Bennett cup race for 1910. The first-named uses the Antoinette monoplane,. while the other two avivators fly Bleriot machines. During the. fourth day of the meet the weather was bad, the consequence being that very little flying took place. President Fallieres visited the aerodrome, and Latham made a flight in his Antoinette monoplane despite the strong wind. Weymann and De Baeder, the latter carrying a passenger, also made exhibition flights on their biplanes for the President. All three exhibited great skill in battling with the wind. On the fifth day, a new distance record was made by Olieslagers with his Bleriot monoplane. The Belgian remained aloft 3 hours and 20 minutes and covered 256 kilometers (159.07 miles) at an average speed of 47.43 miles an hour. Farman's records for- distance (232 kilometers or 144.4 miles) and speed were broken, although' his endurance record was not ' touched. The other feature of this day was the height record established by Latham who, according to his registering barometer, attained a height of over 5,000 feet, although the height taken by the observers (who, however, were unable to see the monoplane during a considerable period when it was hidden by clouds) was 1,384 meters (4,540 feet). Latham made this spectacular flight as evening came on, and for fully fifteen mintes he was out of sight of the spectators. He came near losing his sense of the horizontal while soaring among the clouds. Hearing the bomb, which was exploded at 7 P. M. to announce the close of the meet for that day, he began his descent. Upon emerging from the clouds, he found himself above the city of Rheims. He then steered his machine back to the aerodrome in a long swift descent, and succeeded in landing beside the shed without mishap. Morane, on his Bleriot, also made a height record of 1,100 meters (3,600 feet). He ascended very rapidly and also made a swift descent. The sixth day of the meet new longdistance records were made by Olieslagers and Latham. After the latter had flown 150 kilometers (93.20 miles) in 2 hours, 1 minute, and 6 seconds at a speed of 46.18 miles an hour, the former twice beat this record by covering the same distance in 1 hour, 58 minutes, and 20 seconds and again in 1 hour, 54 minutes, 25 seconds. The latter time corresponds to a speed of 48.67 miles an hour. Olieslagers also reduced the 200-kilometer (124.27-mile) record to '2 hours, 35 minutes and 18 seconds, an average speed of 48.01 miles an hour. M. Leblanc made new records for five and ten kilometers of 3 minutes, 12 45 seconds and 6 minutes, 33 45 seconds respectively. These times correspond to speeds of 57.91 and 56.79 miles an hour. FARMAN'S NEW MONOPLANE. Farman has hitherto flown only with biplane, either of the Voisin design or his own. Recently, however, he made his appearance with a monoplane of which we herewith present two photographs. His new machine, so far as we can judge, seems very like his biplane, with the exception that the lower supporting surface has been removed. The span of its single surface is 25, feet, and the over all length somewhat less. The total weight is 660 pounds. The photographs show a novelty in construction, namely, that the main plane lies some distance above the framework, so that the aviator's view of the ground below is unimpeded. The new machine is driven by a 50-horse-power Gnome motor and ChauviSre propeller. The rudder is mounted above the rear plane with a triangular fin in front of it. The rear plane or tail is divided, the rear half serving as an elevator or horizontal rudder. Successful trial flights have been made by Mr. Farman in this new flyer. The Synthesis of Caoutchouc. As a result of the announcement by Prof. Harries of the synthesis of caoutchouc from isoprene, it has been rumored in Germany that the Elberfeld Farben Fabriken, the successors of Bayer&Co., in whose laboratories the same result had been obtained, had already commenced the manufacture of synthetic caoutchouc on a commercial scale. This is not true. At a general meeting of the stockholders of the company in April, 1910, the directors announced the successful synthesis of caoutchouc in the laboratories of the company, but admitted that the manufacture is not for the present commercially possible. On this occasion it was remarked that more than fifteen years elapsed between the first synthesis of indigo, which was effected by Prof. Bayer in 1880, and the beginning of the commercial manufacture of indigo by the Ba-dische Anilin- und Sodafabrik in 1896. The commercial synthesis of rubber will be immensely beneficial to the country in which it is first accomplished. The India-rubber i'ndustry is of comparatively recent growth, and first attained important proportions after the discovery of the process of vulcanization by Goodyear in 1839. Within the last half century the world's annual consumption of India rubber has been multiplied more than one hundredfold. It is now estimated at more than 70,000 tons, worth at normal prices about 130,000,000, and at the present inflated prices at more than 250,000,000. These figures show that the commercial synthesis of caoutchouc would be far more important than that of indigo, the annual consumption of' which does not exceed in value 20,000,000. It should be borne in mind, however, that the current market price of India rubber has been greatly increased by the. disproportion between supply and demand, and that the price of natural rubber would be greatly reduced by the accomplishment of commercial synthesis. This result has taken place in the case of indigo, and particularly in that of camphor. It is very likely also that the methods by which natural rubber is obtained can be greatly improved. Although the India rubber of commerce is derived from a number of species of trees, it is almost. certain that the great differences between specimens coming from different countries are due chiefly to differences in the methods. of collection and coagulation, some of which are very' primitive. When the coagulation of the sap has been rationally studied and reduced to practice, it is almost certain that both the quantity and the quality of the product will be greatly improved, and that the inferior grades will disappear from the market.
