The Dragon Fly or Reactive Passive Locomotion a Theory of Aerial Navigation by a Disciple of Bacon - Tapa blanda

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1882. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER I. Reactive Locomotion. An Inventors Maxims. I know nothing until I try. The way to discover is to doubt. The way to invent, do it the other way. Everything that ought to be done, can be done. Nothing is " good enough " that can be done better. Winds or Force-density in the Atmosphere the source of Aerial Locomotion. "A moderate wind moves at the rate of seven miles an hour, a storm at thirty-six miles, a hurricane at eighty, whilst air rustling into vacuum at 3 2 Fahr. and barometer 30 inches, reaches the velocity of 884 miles per hour." Lardners Philosophy. S far as we can glean anything from fable and history, the First and Original Theory upon which mankind proceeded in their attempts at locomotion in the air, was the BirdTheory. The Second Theory, originated just one hundred years ago, and was the Balloon Theory. All attempts at air navigation based on these two theories have failed. I now offer to the world a Third Theory. The D number three is regarded by many as the "lucky number," so that we have the expression in common use, "the third time is always sure to win." I venture to hope that it may in this cafe prove true. The wind that opposes the bird is also the power that floats it; and the problem of locomotion in the air for all the creatures that fly in it is one of flotation primarily, from whatsoever source or by whatsoever means the windpreflures may be induced. The men of 1782 were quite right in regarding flotation as the pivot in the problem, wrong only in mistaking specific-gravity-flotation for the method of Nature. And those who before and those who since 1782 have theorized and experimented to solve the problem of aerial navigation have failed because their attention has been wholly fixed upon the machine or flying creature i...