The San Francisco call. [volume], January 29, 1910, Page 3, Image 3

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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THE SAX FRAXCISCO CALL, SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 1910.— THE JUNIOR CALE
WORK OF JUNIOR AERONAUTS
Wir.SON MARSIIALf-
I"I 1~" LITTLE more than two years
J\ aeo the Wright brothers were
/ \ just beginning that series of ex
pwiments which was to estab
lish the "heavier than air" flying ma
chine or aeroplane on a firm and. prac
tical basis. Thousands of boys who flew
kites eagerly read of the : great avia
tors' triumphs In America and France,
' and there*was a general Interest awak
ened , that was, bound. to ! produce re
sults.' , } ; r
\u25a0The boys who had devoted their at
tention 'to 'J'kites began to t try to build
model aeroplanes. The early attempts
were more or less successful, more on
account of lack of Information than In
- genuity, as this being : an' absolutely
new science no text books'.could be.ob
tained.
But as aeronautics grew in popu
larity the boys began to pick up many
new things aided by two powerful in
fluences," and . it was not long before
these youthful aeronauts began to at
tract wide attention by their airships'
performances., ,
The boys first began to show their
real ability as aeroplane builders when
the New York Y. M. C. A. began its
\ public model tests some months, ago.
I" These tests. :were to demonstrate the
work of the aeronautical class, In
charge" of' William R.ltimball and
\u25a0Charles A. * Stewart, • assistant edu
cational instructor of the' Y. M. C. A.
-'.., The class was for men, but the tests
were open to any one who wanted to
enter a ; model for trial/,;, This brought
.out the boys, who quickly proved what
could do when the silver cup for
. the best model flights was competed .for.
This cufy\ offered ;. by ; li. . R. Adams,
was to be awarded to the competitor
who. had tye. best three flights, meas
( ured iin official competition.
There was a great struggle to carry
, off this prize, and here*, the .boys did
[hlg things. The first' "leg? of the cup
;> was won by 12 year, old Wilson Mar
shall, who. .at the contest held in the
, West Side.V.M, C. a. athletic field flew
Ills monoplane- over 50; feet. ! Marshall
..kept up his good work. by winning the
second leg, .making a flight of more
-than 60 feet, but the older contestants,
determined not to be beaten by a boy,
. made some fine flights, and as a result
Master Wilson ivas beaten at the suc
ceeding contests, held in George J.
, Gould's private riding > academy In the
ABOUT COMMON THINGS
Invention and Development of the Thermometer
GUSSIE P. DU BOIS
"-p-IIE man who invented the thor-
I momcter was the one who also
invented | the pendulum and the
telescope. His name was Galileo
'Galilei. He took a glass bulb' about
tho size of a nun's egg having a tubo
the size of a straw. Then he warmed
this bulb In his hands and turned It
upside down in a dish of water. As
soon as the bulb cooled the water in
the tube rose a little above the level
of that In tho dlah. This really did
measure heat and cold after a fashion,
but it was, not practical. It was, how
ever, a beginning, and in a few years
changes and improvements were com
mon enough.
One of tho; men who set to work on
these improvements " was a phyßlclan,
a Frenchman, named Jean Hey. He
made a very important discovery,
which in Itself ought to have brought
him wealth and fame, but he never
had either. This was the discovery
that liquids expand with heat and con
tract with cotd. He had used Galileo's
thermometer in treating fevers and so
was familiar with its workings.
It was 50 yeara after this that they
fame to use mercury. Every one made
hit* own scale, so, up to this time, no
two read alike, and they were consid«s.
••rmi lit tl«* more than curiosities. You,
M9i experiments in those days required/
liutli time ami money, and neither the
R. S. BARXABY
Twenty-second regiment armory in
New York city.
But this did not happen until Wilsen
and another boy, Percy W. Pierce,
had put up a . strong" flight.
Percy's best effort was 115 feet "radial
distance," made by this 28 Inch mono
plane. Radial distance means the dis
tance in a straight line by tape meas
ure from the start tofinish of -the flight.
All j measurements are, made by this
method, as It Is impossible to, measure
the curving flight. • .; '
. Percy Pierces machine is* one of the
best and simplest models of' the mono
plane.. This is now the favorite type to
build, as It Is much easier; to make
than the, biplane. This Is because the
monoplane" has'but one set; of planes,
instead of two,; a3 v ln the Wright- ma
chine, which has one above the other.
The "backbone*' ,of Percy's machine is
of light wood; and the two cambric' sails
or planes are 24 Inches Wide for the
front and 12 inches wide for the rear
plane. * i' 4 • \u25a0
. One propeller serves to drive the ma
chine through the air. It is located at
the front of the machine, directly below
the motor base. The propeller is oper
ated by a "rubber band motor"— that is,
it is connected with the end of a string
of heavy rubber bands knotted' \u25a0 to
gether and twisted taut by turning the
propeller round and round. The rubber
bands being fastened to the stationary
frame of the aeroplane at the other
end naturally twist up tight, and when
the propeller is released their unwind
ing makes *the propeller, revolve. This
motive principle is applied to nearly all
models, machine was, built uri
• aided' from plans drawn and originated
entirely >by the young aeronaut. - Tho
accompanying picture shows him in
his workshop with his machine. .
Another boy who figured largely in
these contests was R. S. Barnaby, . a
I Trinity schoolboy of New York, ; whose
aeroplane models were of a particularly
high grade of workmanship and.' com
pared favorably In construction, ap
pearance and flight with those. of older
'Contestants. " ;- '
These "contests have resulted in a
most Important outcome to the Juvenile
aeronauts.' Realizing .what a . future
v lies in the aeronautical field, and hav
ing noted the widespread interest the
latest V. . M. C. A? flights had created
among the boys, Mr. Kimball, the aero
nautical instructor, with Mr. Stewart's
common nor tho middle class of the
people had much ; of either. < Then,
(strange as It may seem, new discov
eries were not welcomed as. they are
now; there was Jealousy and doubt
among scholars, and If an obscure man
\u25a0> brought forward a new invention it
was quite likely to be condemned as
dangerous. Indeed, Galileo,, himself
was brought before the tribunal and
compelled to renounce upon his knees
the truths that he had discovered. This,
too, was as late as 1633. In spite of all
this men went on discovering and In
venting, and the thermometer improved.
'\u25a0 The duke of Tuscany had both time
and money. He filled the bulb with
alcohol, sealed it by melting the glass
tip and marked the degrees on tho
tube. All sorts of methods followed,
were used for a time and then dropped.
Sir Isaac Newton studied over the
thermometer problem, but he was not
successful. Ills proposal was tho uso
of "lint seed oil" instead of alcohol.
All this time the extremes of heat
and cold were unsettled. Newton unade
melting snow and the heat of / the
human body to be these extremes. Then
Robert Hooke, another British scien
tist, went a step farther. Ho placed
the extreme of cold where tho mercury
stood when the bulb was placed in
freezing distilled water;' other water
may contain ingredients that hasten or
hinder its freezing, 'but distilled water
always freezes at the same tempera
ture, and this wua a very important
point.
TERCY. PIERCE IN HIS , WORKSHOP.
assistance, has arranged to Inaugurate .
a separate \u25a0 class In aeroplane model,
and kite building for boys under 18, >
starting this month.
\u0084 Mr. Kimball is very well qualified to
undertake this class,' being a practical
aeronaut both in experience as a. "flier"
and in the <science,of building airships:;
of all kinds for commercial purposes. .
He is also secretary of the, Aeronautic,
\u25a0society of New York and is in: the
closest ' touch with all the .doings of
.the flying world. . . : *.\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0' . V
-X*ie aim 'of the boys' class will bo to,
teach the'rudimenls of the aeronautical
science so that a boy. can learn enough
to fit him to enter , the' more .advanced -
class for men and to make aeronautics
his regular life profession. v
Besides that,, the boys can derive no
end of " amusement \u25a0 and I profit ; ' f rom
model making* and- flying. Many' are
already able to dispose of their models
at good prices, and there Is one boy;,
who has a regular contract! to turn* out
.one model, a day. ;;•
The cost of the course is very small
and extends over a period of ten weeks.
It includes .experimental kite flying,,
. model makin 37 the development of mo- j
tive power and a : thorough : drilling in ,
aeronautical arithmetic, a knowledge
of which is necessary to build abso
lutely correct and practical machines—
the kind that a- man size aeroplane
could be constructed from. \u25a0'\u25a0.-.';.'.\u25a0 \u25a0v \u25a0
Another great influence. ln, develop
ing the boy aeronauts has been .the
Junior aero club of America. \u25a0
Now comes a name noted everywhere
in thermometer making— Gabriel Daniel ,
.Fahrenheit, born in Germany, in 1600. ;
IT© was the first one to use mercury ,
In thermometers and he' also invented
the Fahrenheit scale. He was a maker
of mathematical - Instruments, and his
great skill In working In .glass helped
him In ; carrying out his ideas. Hi's :\u25a0
thermometers : are the ones most, used
In England and the United States. .'. His
success was largely in the making and
filling of the tubes, for he learned the
art of making a fiat space In them and
also making them of uniform size,
Let \u25a0' us see now Just what a ther
mometer Is. Simply described it Is n
Blender glass tubo containing mercury
or alcohol. Heat causes this to rise In
the tube, cold, causes It to fall. The
more accurately this rise and fall can
be, measured the more exact is the In
strument. This heat and cold Is shown .
by a scale marked on the tube, and
there are three standard scales. The
Fahrenheit scale puts zero at the point
where the mercury stands when the U
tubo is placed In a mixture of v Ice.'
water and ammonia. This is one fixed
point. The other la found by putting
the tubo into boiling water. Between
these extremes are marked 180 de
grees. The boiling point is 212. ,
The second scale Is named for Its
inventor, a French scholar, De Reau
mur. The third was invented by a
Swede by the name of Celsius, but it is
is named Centigrade, from the method
of marking because there are 100
degrees between the freezing point and '
the boiling point. While we are talk
ing of words, it is interesting to re
member that the word thermometer
This organization has the distinction
of bnlng, the first ,boy»! a«ro club In
America and , wan founded a little more
than twd years ago, by Miss E. L. Todd
of Now York. It was then known as
tho Junior aero club of the United
States, and almost all the members
wore kite filers. But these condi- ,
tlona soon changed aa the boyn began .
to find out more about the making of
aeroplanes through th,e club. . Exhibi
tions of tho club's work were held
and much was done' in the way of
furnishing tho boys with plans and
new ideas in airship building.
In the two years that have passed
the club has grown "\u25a0 and changed In
many ways. Miss Todd, of td- glvrng
it a fine start, relinquished Its dlrec
tlon^and It has since passed into "tho
management, of Edwar"d Durand, who
gave it Its present name. Mr. Durand
is one of tho charter members of the
Aero club of America and . hln ad
ministration as director' has wit-
'„ nessed 'remarkable .progress, the : three
boys singled ;out in this article;; being
- examples of what the Junior, aero. club .
can develop, as : they .are members.
.The? club has no regular officers, but
has grown .so large' that: It; has ' ex
panded \u25a0 into six sections In various
parts of the country,; each": of /which
holds its .own "flights. A. E. Horn :
\u0084 of : New. York; public school ; No. 77v co
' operates: with Mr.'. Durand, and many
\u25a0 of the' pupils, are members 1 of ; the club.' '
v Mr.. Horn has accomplished a great deal
among "the -schoolboys'* in" practical
, model building and flights. ?;. , .
Great plans are now under way to
make as splendid progress in 1910 as
was made jin \ 1909. .Until now the club
" has had no meeting place, but It .will
. hereafter, assemble at the^ooms of 'the
famous aeronaut. .A., Leo Stevens, lwho:
In addition will offer a. cup of sterling
silver, and special- design for 1 the long
est flight made' : by ; a boy's • model aero -
.:' plane in . Greater., New York. - ' ,
Another -silver i^cup, has "been offered
for the >\u25a0 best constructed ; made '
in :'. any.; part of the .country^and . one
thing Is certain,*; when the boys start .
to compete for, these and for other, tro
phies a lready announced 'by the; Young ,
Men's Christian association all records in
flight. and; construction, wlll k ?be : broken. ',
'Besides fthis the' Boys' ; Brotherhood
of Philadelphia has challenged for an
lnt«restate aeronautical meet j during
the current : year i and then ' we shall
see'theboy aeronauts at their very,
best. ' • '" \u25a0 '-•\u25a0;•'\u25a0 \u25a0' , '
comes , \u25a0 from , "thermo," hent, and
"meter,"., moasure. , : *•
; Thero are many different kinds of."
; instruments for ' special uses. Most
of ; you; have doubtless ."smoked" tho
' doctor's thermometer to see if y.ou had
any fever., There is ,a '''submarine: in-'
which' measures the tempora
\u25a0 turo ' of the sea at ; any given depth,
and an earth thermometer, having . a
very, long tube, so that when buried
many feet In the ground the 'top ex
tonda v above\ the', surface;- Mercury
freezes at about 39 degrees below zero
on J the Fahrenheit scale, so, in meas
uring extreme cold, the bulb must' be
.filled with alcohol. On. the other hand,
alcohol .is soon changed into; vapor at
. very high temperatures, while' mercury
docs not boll below 060.
In the making of a good thermome
ter a specially prepared; and costly
quality of glass in required and the
greatest care must be taken In making
th»" tube. Even then, when they are
sorted, many tubes must bo thrown- out
us . imporf ect, yet ; these imperfect ones
• have cost as. much In the making as
the perfect ones. It requires the great
est skill as, well as time and patience
to get the air all out of the tubes and
*the me'reury In. Then the scale must
be'marked and you can readily see why
a cheap thermometer Is seldom quite
correct.
If you want to see a thermometer
that seems to work like magic go to ,
the weather, bureau station and watch
the government instrument muke its
own register of heat and. cold. It will
' Interest you, I am sure, if you .are
curious to know whether your own
thermometer is correct take It with you
and the observer will soon tell you.
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