Prof. Langley's Aeroplane of 1893

JF Ptak Science Books  Quick Post

In the Department of Victorian Understatement, the example following would be ranked...nominal. This was a general leading statement on a short one-page review of Samuel P. Langley's¹ model flying machine, found in the pages of the Scientific American for 22 April 1893 by H.E. Mead and quoting from the New York Herald. This is one of Langley's earliest physical attempts at a flying machine, coming after four years of work (the same year work was commenced by Hiram Maxim and with the more mature work of Octave Chanute), the drawbacks of which began the article's review:

• “The only apparent drawback to this particular method of aerial flight is in maintaining an upright position of the apparatus, free from the ground, until sufficient velocity is attained for soaring ; and the means of alighting after flight. Other than the above mentioned difficulties (for which Professor Langley may have provided), the principle seems feasible, more especially when backed by so careful and competent authority.”

So, basically, it seems that what the machine was wanting was the ability to fly and land. This was never meant to hold a pilot, and was entirely experimental.  The characteristics of the model:

• 
  “It is 15 feet in length and 5 centimeters (or practically 2 inches) in diameter. To give rigidity to the skeleton, longitudinal ribs of stiff steel are provided, intersected at intervals by cross ribs of pure aluminum, the result being a lattice framework of great strength.”
• “There are four boilers of thinly-hammered copper, weighing a little more than seven pounds each, and they occupy the middle portion of the fish Screws of various pitches and ranging from 20 to 80 centimeters in diameter have been experimented with, but it is not yet definitely determined which shall be adopted for· trial. With the smallest the engines develop a speed of 1, 700 revolutions a minute. With the larger ones the speed is somewhat decreased. A thin jacket of asbestos covers the upper portion of the body of the fish.”
• “The wings, or aeroplanes, are sector-shaped and consist of light frames of tubular aluminum steel covered with China silk. The front one is 42 inches wide in the widest part and has an extreme length of 40 feet from tip to tip. The rear one is somewhat smaller. Both aeroplanes are designed to be adjustable with reference to the angle they present to the air.”

It is interesting to note the attention this short perspective gave to the security and secrecy of the research:

• “At the (Smithsonian) institution the strictest injunctions were laid on the watchmen to keep all intruders off the scent. The watchmen themselves were instructed to turn their backs or walk to the other end of the corridor when word was passed from the chief that some article was to be conveyed to or from the secret chamber.”

To be fair about this some amount of secrecy was involved given the status of the kookiness in which much of the general public view the pursuit of flight--or at least the construction of large, relatively heavy models like this one. Langley had an enormous reputation to protect, and one part of that security was to keep that intact while the aeroplane was in its developmental phases, keeping the project free from derision which may have caused a problem so far as funding was concerned. That said,  Langley had conducted lectures in the great hall in which he demonstrated the flying capability of 16-gram models, so that part of his research was very public. Also, there was some proprietary work being conducted, so there's that aspect of the secrecy bit. The Wright Brothers would be very cautious for some of these reasons, though they steadfastly used their own money generated from their bicycle shop.  (By the way "aeroplane" was not used quite yet, I believe, as a word for the aircraft, but rather as a name for the wings, and for their sections.) 

Langley would never be on quite the right page in these earliest days of heavier-than-air powered flight, and in slightly less than a decade he would be out of the adventure altogether after his large-scale aerodrome took and immediate nosedive into the Potomac from its moored scow launching pad--it was the Wrights of course who saw a far clearer and more incisive (and brilliant) ways in the power train, material, launching, and how to control the plane once in flight and how to keep it aloft. 

Notes:

1. Langley has appeared often on this blog for one reason or another and if you want some background on the man simply search his name in the Google search box at upper right.