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Old 08-01-2010, 07:33 AM
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Were Wright brothers first?

"Maxim invested £20,000 in building a huge, hundred-foot-wingspan, multi-winged machine, in England. It was powered by two lightweight 180-horsepower steam engines that he'd designed for it. Maxim began flight tests in 1894. On the third try the plane was powered up to forty miles per hour, left its track, flew two hundred feet, and crashed. After that, Maxim lost interest in flying. He went on to other inventions."

The point is that in those days, gentlemen with lots of money had hobbies; playthings. Things with no perceived practical value, to be played with for a while until something new caught their interest. There are different versions of the above but contemporary reports say the third run was to see how much lift the machine could generate above its own weight. To do this, as well as the two running rails a third rail was set above them. Lift against this rail could be measured but the machine generated so much lift that it tore the check rail from its mountings and crashed. Victorians were crazy, maybe insane by today's standards. No Health & Safety; "if you want to try it, try it. Your problem if it blows up in your face"

In the U.S. in (I think) the late 19th century, after a series of unfortunate incidents a law was passed making it compulsory for any steam launch to carry a qualified steam engineer. To get round this, someone 'invented' the Naptha engine. Same principle as a steam engine but it boiled Naptha so wasn't classed as a steam engine. Naptha can be distilled from petroleum or coal tar; highly flammable especially when hot. Some had a pipe going to a burner under the boiler.

I don't know how many were built, but I've read that they used to race the things.
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Old 08-01-2010, 08:15 AM
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Are you challenging American Exceptionalism? What nerve.

Regards,

D-Ray
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Old 08-01-2010, 08:26 AM
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merrylander merrylander is offline
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Alexander Graham Bell built the Silver Dart and flew it, don't recall the date. I believe it, or a replica, is in a museum somewhere in the Maritiime provinces.

A Frenchman Bleriot also flew a monoplane, I believe the first single wing aircraft.
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Last edited by merrylander; 08-01-2010 at 11:20 AM.
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Old 08-01-2010, 09:27 AM
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Boreas Boreas is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Combwork View Post
"Maxim invested £20,000 in building a huge, hundred-foot-wingspan, multi-winged machine, in England. It was powered by two lightweight 180-horsepower steam engines that he'd designed for it. Maxim began flight tests in 1894. On the third try the plane was powered up to forty miles per hour, left its track, flew two hundred feet, and crashed. After that, Maxim lost interest in flying. He went on to other inventions."
Was this Sir Hiram? I wish he would have stuck to his flying machine!

John
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Old 08-01-2010, 09:32 AM
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Alexander Graham Bell built the Silver Dart and flew it, don't recall the date.
It was in 1909, 6 years after the Wright brothers' flight. The Wrights weren't the first. Their breakthrough was in controlled flight.

John
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Old 08-01-2010, 09:34 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Boreas View Post
It was in 1909, 6 years after the Wright brothers' flight. The Wrights weren't the first. Their breakthrough was in controlled flight.

John
some would consider that (controlled) important.
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Old 08-01-2010, 11:28 AM
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I've read somewhere that the Russians claim to have been the first, but by a few minutes. I know there is much contention on this issue because there were many people around the globe out to be the first in those days.

Dave
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Old 08-01-2010, 11:59 AM
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Have Fun!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_flight

John
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Old 08-02-2010, 06:22 AM
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Gunfire.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Boreas View Post
Was this Sir Hiram? I wish he would have stuck to his flying machine!

John
I think it was the money he got from the Maxim gun that paid for his experiments. There is lot of nationalism about being first. Everyone knows that the Mallard was the fastest steam engine in the world, but its claimed peak speed of 126 mph on July 3rd 1938 was over a stretch of 60 yards (how the hell do you get an accurate measurement in 60 yards?). It had a slight downhill run just before setting the record.

But 2 years earlier in Germany on May 11th 1936, engine No. 05002 reached a peak speed of 124.5 mph on the flat. It wasn't a 'one of' but went into very fast service. For those who are interested, this site might be worth a look http://www.germansteam.co.uk/Fastest...stloco.html#05

Keeping to timetable was a matter of honor so after a delay caused by line maintenance, the fastest in service run peaked at 121 mph. She stayed in regular service until 1950 then after a rebuild, carried on working until 1958.

Being ruled by Fascists, people did not want to accept that the Germans could produce anything that fast and most importantly, reliable.
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Old 08-02-2010, 10:29 AM
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Hitler used to brag that although Lincolns were highway cruisers, over continuous runs of 100+ they would give up the ghost while a Mercedes would just keep running.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueStreak View Post
I've read somewhere that the Russians claim to have been the first, but by a few minutes. I know there is much contention on this issue because there were many people around the globe out to be the first in those days.

Dave
The Russians invented everything first

Pete
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