TO THE PRESS: The present experiments being made in mechanical flight have been carried on partly with funds provided by the Board of Ordnance and Fortification and partly from private sources, and from a special endowment of the Smithsonian Institution. The experiments are carried on with the approval of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.
The public’s interest in them may lead to an unfounded expectation as to their immediate results, without an explanation which is here briefly given.
These trials, with some already conducted with steam-driven flying machines, are believed to be the first in the history of invention where bodies, far heavier than the air itself, have been sustained in the air for more than a few seconds by purely mechanical means.
In my previous trials, success has only been reached after initial failures, which alone have taught the way to it, and I know no reason why the prospective trials should be an exception.
It is possible, rather than probable, that it may be otherwise now, but judging them from the light of past experience, it is to be regretted that the enforced publicity which has been given to these initial experiments, which are essentially experiments and nothing else, may lead to quite unfounded expectations.
It is the practice of all scientific men, indeed of all prudent men, not to make public the results of their work till these are certain. This consideration, and not any desire to withhold from the public matters in which the public is interested, has dictated the policy thus far pursued here. The fullest publicity, consistent with the national interest (since these recent experiments have for their object the development of a machine for war purposes), will be given to this work when it reaches a stage which warrants publication.
(Signed.) S. P. LANGLEY.
[p281]
Although it was impossible to immediately find funds for actively continuing the work, the writer finally, after some delay, persuaded Mr. Langley to allot a small sum from a limited fund which personal friends had some time previously placed at his disposal for use in any experiments he might wish to make. This small sum was used to meet the expense of the workmen who were kept employed long enough to completely repair the main frame so that, should further experiments be possible at a later time, there would be no danger of important parts and fittings having been lost in the meantime, and even if no further experiments were made the frame would be in such condition that others could profit from an examination of it, the frame itself embodying the solution of many important problems which had cost much time and money.
In the spring of 1904, after the repairs to the main frame were well under way, the writer on his own initiative undertook to see what could be done towards securing for Mr. Langley’s disposal the small financial assistance necessary to continue the work; but he found that while a number of men of means were willing to assist in the development of the aerodrome, provided arrangements were made for later commercialization, yet none were ready to render the assistance from a desire to assist in the prosecution of scientific work. Many years prior to this Mr. Langley had had some very tempting propositions made to him by certain business men with a view to carrying on the work in a way that would lead to later commercial development. He had never patented anything previously in his life, and although many friends had urged that it was only proper that he should patent whatever of value had been developed in connection with the aerodromes, he steadfastly refused to do so. He had given his time and his best labors to the world without hope of remuneration, and he could not bring himself at his stage of life to consent to capitalize his scientific work. Success seemed only a step away, and his age was such that any delay in achieving success increased the probability of his not living to see it, but he maintained positively and resolutely that, if neither the War Department nor others felt sufficient interest in the work to provide the small amount of funds necessary to continue the experiments, and they therefore could be continued only by his giving in and permitting his work to be capitalized, he would have to deny himself the hope of living to see the machine achieve success.