A Short History of Balloons and Flying Machines |
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Replete with many sketches of dubious contraptions. A short history indeed -- it was written 4 years after the Wright Brothers' flight.
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A Short History of Balloons and Flying Machines Lord Montagu,B. Baden-Powell No preview available - 2017 |
Common terms and phrases
aërial aëronaut airship apparatus appeared ascended attained attempted ballast balloon body bound built Car Illustrated carried CHAPTER Cloth clouds constructed containing cords Count covered descended diameter directed distance earth effect engine escaping experiment fall feet fell field fire flight float flying France Gardens ground half head height hold horse-power hour inland post Insurance invention Italy journey kites land less lift London looked LORD lost machine March means metres miles minutes moon morning motor mounted nearly night October once Paris passing Piccadilly prevent Price propeller reached record rise ROAD rope rose Sadler seen September short sight soon speed square starting strong successful surface took tower travelled trials turned valve vessel voyage wind wings
Popular passages
Page 122 - I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, From the seas and the streams ; I bear light shade for the leaves when laid In their noonday dreams. From my wings are shaken the dews that waken The sweet buds every one, When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, As she dances about the sun.
Page 56 - Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep ; If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take ; And this I ask for Jesus
Page 119 - Soon shall thy arm, unconquer'd Steam, afar Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car ; Or, on wide-waving wings expanded bear The flying chariot through the fields of air...
Page 9 - Sir, said he, you have seen but a small part of what the mechanic sciences can perform. I have been long of opinion, that instead of the tardy conveyance of ships and chariots, man might use the swifter migration of wings ; that the fields of air are open to knowledge, and that only ignorance and idleness need crawl upon the ground.
Page 10 - The artist was every day more certain that he should leave vultures and eagles behind him, and the contagion of his confidence seized upon the prince. In a year the wings were finished, and, on a morning appointed, the maker appeared furnished for flight on a little promontory : he waved his pinions awhile to gather air, then leaped from his stand, and in an instant dropped into the lake.
Page 9 - Nothing, replied the artist, will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome. If you will favour my project, I will try the first flight at my own hazard. I have considered the structure of all volant animals, and find the folding continuity of the bat's wings most easily accommodated to the human form. Upon this model I shall begin my task to-morrow, and in a year expect to tower into the air beyond the malice and pursuit of man.
Page 122 - The sweet buds every one, When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, As she dances about the sun. I wield the flail of the lashing hail, And whiten the green plains under, And then again I dissolve it in rain, And laugh as I pass in thunder.
Page 118 - Its tender foliage, and declines its blooms. But far in the fierce sunshine tower the hills, With all their growth of woods, silent and stern, As if the scorching heat and dazzling light Were but an element they loved. Bright clouds, Motionless pillars of the brazen heaven, — Their bases on the mountains — their white tops Shining in the far ether — fire the air With a reflected radiance, and make turn The gazer's eye away.
Page 9 - The labour of rising from the ground," said the artist, "will be great, as we see it in the heavier domestic fowls; but as we mount higher, the earth's attraction, and the body's gravity, will be gradually diminished, till we shall arrive at a region where the man will float in the air without any tendency to fall : no care will then be necessary but to move forwards, which the gentlest impulse will effect. You, sir...
Page 10 - He waved his pinions a while to gather air, then leaped from his stand, and in an instant dropped into the lake. His wings, which were of no use in the air, sustained him in the water, and the prince drew him to land, half dead with terror and vexation.
Bibliographic information
| Title | A Short History of Balloons and Flying Machines |
| Author | Baden Fletcher Smyth Baden-Powell |
| Editor | Lord Montagu |
| Publisher | Car Illustrated, 1907 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | 7 Aug 2006 |
| Length | 123 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |