Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, Parts I and II Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Volume 27 Number 3, Publication 1948, 1911

The extended series of shop tests which had occupied a considerable portion of the late winter and early spring of 1903 had demonstrated the following facts: First, with the aer...

During the years 1892 and 1893, it will be recalled, four aerodromes, known as Nos. 0, 1, 2, and 3, had been built, which were of two general types of construction. First, that...

The general plan for the large aerodrome was never a matter of uncertainty. At the time when the first general designs were made there had been in the history of mankind only on...

Immediately after the contract for the engine had been placed and the actual work had been begun, attention was given to the problem of providing means for properly launching th...

An examination of the wings of birds, whether those of soarers or of any other type, impresses one not only with the general strength of the wing, but also with the fact that, w...

Reference has already been made to the development of the “cast-off” apparatus that was used at Quantico for launching the aerodrome. An initial velocity is indispensable, and a...

I have elsewhere mentioned that the difficulties of launching even a very small model aerodrome are considerable. Early experiments were tried with an apparatus something like a...

The main requirement in an engine for an aerodrome--aside from reliability and smoothness of operation, which are necessary in an engine for any kind of locomotion—is that it sh...

the experiments with actual flying models, made chiefly at or near Washington, from the earliest with rubber motors up to the construction of the steam aerodromes that performed...

In an aerodrome it is essential not only that its component parts shall be so disposed that the initial equilibrium is correct and highly stable, but also that some efficient me...

In dealing with the development of the aerodrome, subsequent to the early rubber-driven models, the very considerable work done and the failures incurred with other types of mot...

Owing to the very considerable changes which constructional reasons necessitated in the relative positions of the center of pressure, center of gravity, and line of thrust from...

The use of a house-boat seemed to Mr. Langley so indispensable in former years in making open-air tests of the models that he decided from the outset, though advised by the writ...

“These researches have led to the result that mechanical sustentation of heavy bodies in the air, combined with very great speeds, is not only possible, but within the reach of...

It will be recalled that the contract for the engine for the large aerodrome, which had been entered into on December 12, 1898, called for its completion on February 28, 1899. B...

By “balancing” I mean such an adjustment of the mean center of pressure of the supporting surfaces with reference to the center of gravity and to the line of thrust, that for a...

Although in 1896 Mr. Langley had made the firm resolution not to undertake the construction of a large man-carrying machine, as he realized that his multitudinous administrative...

In the development of man-carrying flying machines two well-defined paths are open. First: Starting with gliding machines, in which gravity furnishes the motive power, the opera...

With reference to the supporting and guiding surfaces of Aerodromes Nos. 4, 5, and 6, Aerodrome No. 4, in its earliest condition mentioned in the preceding chapter, was taken in...

In June, 1902, after the proper adjustments of the carburetor and other accessories of the engine had been accurately determined in the tests on the testing frame, the engine wa...

The steady flight of one of the gliding models referred to led to the construction of a new set of wings for No. 5, patterned after those used on the gliding model. These wings,...

In “Experiments in Aerodynamics,” I have given the result of trials, showing that the pressure (or total resistance) of a wind on a surface 1 foot square, moving normally at the...

Harting, P. Observations of the relative size of the wings and the weight of the pectoral muscles in the vertebrated flying animals. Annual Report of the Aeronautical Society of...

under pressure to such an extent that not only was their effective area greatly reduced, but the outer portions were upturned so as to catch the air upon the upper surfaces, the...

I[2] announced in 1891,[3] as the result of experiments carried on by me through previous years, that it was possible to construct machines which would give such a velocity to i...

This Memoir was in preparation at the time of Mr. Langley’s death in 1906, and Part I, recording experiments from 1887 to 1896, was written by him. Part II, on experiments from...

In some early experiments in 1887 with the small models without motor power, which have not been particularly described, two pairs of wings, in the same plane, were employed for...

The present work, entitled “Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight,” as planned by the late Secretary Samuel Pierpont Langley, follows his publications on “Experiments in Aerodynam...