Travels In Space |
Other editions - View all
Travels in Space; A History of Aerial Navigation E Seton Valentine,F L Tomlinson No preview available - 2015 |
Travels in Space - a History of Aerial Navigation E. Seton Valentine,F. L. Tomlinson No preview available - 2014 |
Travels in Space; a History of Aerial Navigation E. Seton Valentine,F. L. Tomlinson No preview available - 2015 |
Common terms and phrases
accident aerial flight aerial navigation aerial voyage aeronaut aeroplane aerostat aerostation AIR-SHIP altitude aluminium Annonay apparatus appeared artificial atmosphere attached attempt aviation ballast birds Blanchard boiler Calais captain captive balloon carried celebrated Champs de Mars constructed cord Coxwell descended direction dirigible balloon distance Durouf earth Eiffel Tower engine escape experiments feet in diameter fell flying machine France French Garnerin Gaston Tissandier ground horizontal hydrogen idea ingenious invention inventor journey kite later Leonardo da Vinci Lilienthal London Lunardi means ment miles an hour military minutes Montgolfier Montgolfier's motion motive power motor Nadar navigable balloon navigating the air observed obtained occasion Otto Lilienthal parachute Paris passengers Percy Pilcher practical principle propellers proposed propulsion purpose rise rope rose Rozier rudder sailing Santos-Dumont scientific screw silk soaring soon spectators steam success surface sustaining tion took travelled trial velocity vertical vessel Vincent Lunardi weight whole wind wings
Popular passages
Page 284 - ... work which seemed to be specially mine— the demonstration of the practicability of mechanical flight— and for the next stage, which is the commercial and practical development of the idea, it is probable that the world may look to others. The world, indeed, will be supine if it do not realize that a new possibility has come to it, and that the great universal highway overhead is now soon to be opened.
Page 283 - On the occasion referred to, the aerodrome, at a given signal, started from a platform about 20 feet above the water, and rose at first directly in the face of the wind, moving at all times with remarkable steadiness, and subsequently swinging around in large curves of, perhaps, a hundred yards in diameter, and continually ascending until its steam was exhausted, when, at a lapse of about a minute and a half, and at a height which I judged to be between 80 and 100 feet in the air, the wheels ceased...
Page 74 - Wilkins the scheme of flying by artificial wings has been much ridiculed, and indeed the idea of attaching wings to the arms of a man is ridiculous enough, as the pectoral muscles of a bird occupy more than two-thirds of its whole muscular strength, whereas in man the muscles that could operate upon the wings thus attached would probably not exceed one-tenth of the whole mass.
Page 101 - In the Duchy of Nassau, about two leagues from the town of Weilburg." The second was theirs, " Where do you come from ?" " From London, which we left yesterday evening." Their astonishment at this declaration may be easily conceived. The fact, however, was not to be disputed. What they had seen was to the full as marvellous as any thing we might choose to relate, and certainly enough to entitle us to consideration, and command respect.
Page 86 - Provisions, which had been calculated for a fortnight's consumption in case of emergency ; ballast to the amount of upwards of a ton in weight, disposed in bags of different sizes, duly registered and marked, together with an unusual supply of cordage, implements, and other accessories to an aerial excursion, occupied the bottom of the car; while all around the hoop and elsewhere...
Page 191 - ... there was no returning. That was the radical fault of balloons ; one could not elect the place of one's descent. In this emergency it was decided to invite the assistance of such sailors as there were in the capital, as belonging to a class whose training had rendered them familiar with operations and dangers not dissimilar from ballooning. The appeal met with a satisfactory response ; many excellent mariners offered their services ; they were given all possible instructions, and a large number...
Page 199 - Thereupon, the service was regularly organised and was carried on with a fair amount of success throughout the investment of the capital by the enemy. As the despatches were required to be very small and light, recourse was had to microscopic photography. By this means sixteen folio pages of print (32,000 words) were reduced to a pellicule...
Page 23 - For on first sight it is supposed by many to have come from another world ; many fly; others, more sensible, think it a monstrous bird. After it has alighted, there is yet motion in it from the gas it still contains. A small crowd gains courage from numbers, and for an hour approaches by gradual steps, hoping meanwhile the monster will take flight. At length one bolder than the rest takes his gun, stalks carefully to within shot, fires, witnesses the monster shrink, gives a shout of triumph, and...
Page 197 - He was not, alas, to be baulked of his ambition. Driven by a south-easterly wind he passed over the English Channel, where he was seen by some English vessels. While over the vicinity of the Lizard, he dropped his despatches, some of which were afterwards picked up on the rocks. Thus lightened, the balloon rose to a great height, disappeared over the Atlantic billows and was never heard of again. The second balloon, the " Jules Favre," started at half-past eleven with two passengers. Only by a miracle...
Page 3 - There is certainly a flying instrument, not that I ever knew a man that had it, but I am particularly acquainted with the ingenious person who contrived it.