Contemporary with Pilcher, Mr. Octave Chanute and Mr. A. M. Herring, in America, were emulating the work of Lilienthal. Mr. Chanute was an experienced civil engineer, who had previously written a history of aviation, and experimented with numerous flying models; Mr. Herring, his employee for the time, was a mechanical engineer who had assisted in Langley’s experiments, and previously had flown a Lilienthal glider, and had made researches in the science of mechanical flight. On June 22, 1896, accompanied by two assistants, they went into camp among the sand dunes, on the southern shore of Lake Michigan, to study the art of navigating an aëroplane without artificial motive power. Mr. Chanute thought that the maintenance of equilibrium under all circumstances was at that time the most important problem of aviation; and that until automatic stability was secured, it would be premature and dangerous to apply a motor. He wished to evade, for he did not relish, Lilienthal’s way of balancing by shifting the body and kicking wildly at the stars. His main purpose, therefore, was to acquire the pilot’s science; but secondarily he would learn much about the architecture of gliders, the behavior of air currents, the elements of propulsion and sustentation.
PLATE XVII.
CHANUTE’S FIVE DECK GLIDER.
HERRING IN CHANUTE BIPLANE.
HERRING’S COMPRESSED-AIR BIPLANE.
(Courtesy Carl Dientsbach.)