Requirements Engineering for Software and Systems

2nd Edition Phillip A. Laplante download pdf

https://ebookultra.com/download/requirements-engineering-for-software-
and-systems-2nd-edition-phillip-a-laplante/

Visit ebookultra.com today to download the complete set of

ebook or textbook!
Here are some recommended products for you. Click the link to
download, or explore more at ebookultra.com

Real Time Systems Design and Analysis 3rd Edition Phillip

A. Laplante

https://ebookultra.com/download/real-time-systems-design-and-
analysis-3rd-edition-phillip-a-laplante/

Encyclopedia of Information Systems and Technology Two

Volume Set 1st Edition Phillip A. Laplante (Editor)

https://ebookultra.com/download/encyclopedia-of-information-systems-
and-technology-two-volume-set-1st-edition-phillip-a-laplante-editor/

Flexible Software Design Systems Development for Changing

Requirements 1st Edition Bruce Johnson

https://ebookultra.com/download/flexible-software-design-systems-
development-for-changing-requirements-1st-edition-bruce-johnson/

Managing Software Requirements A Use Case Approach 2nd

Edition Dean Leffingwell

https://ebookultra.com/download/managing-software-requirements-a-use-
case-approach-2nd-edition-dean-leffingwell/
Engineering safe and secure software systems 1st Edition
C. Warren Axelrod

https://ebookultra.com/download/engineering-safe-and-secure-software-
systems-1st-edition-c-warren-axelrod/

Software Reliability Engineering More Reliable Software

Faster and Cheaper 2nd Edition John D. Musa

https://ebookultra.com/download/software-reliability-engineering-more-
reliable-software-faster-and-cheaper-2nd-edition-john-d-musa/

Lean for Systems Engineering with Lean Enablers for

Systems Engineering Wiley Series in Systems Engineering
and Management 1st Edition B. W. Oppenheim
https://ebookultra.com/download/lean-for-systems-engineering-with-
lean-enablers-for-systems-engineering-wiley-series-in-systems-
engineering-and-management-1st-edition-b-w-oppenheim/

Requirements Engineering for Computer Integrated

Environments in Construction 1st Edition Ghassan Aouad

https://ebookultra.com/download/requirements-engineering-for-computer-
integrated-environments-in-construction-1st-edition-ghassan-aouad/

CMMI for Services Guidelines for Superior Service 2nd

Edition SEI Series in Software Engineering Eileen
Forrester
https://ebookultra.com/download/cmmi-for-services-guidelines-for-
superior-service-2nd-edition-sei-series-in-software-engineering-
eileen-forrester/
Requirements Engineering for Software and Systems 2nd
Edition Phillip A. Laplante Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Phillip A. Laplante
ISBN(s): 9780849346330, 0849346339
Edition: 2nd
File Details: PDF, 1.95 MB
Year: 2009
Language: english
 Titles in the
Auerbach Series on Applied Software Engineering
Phillip A. Laplante, Pennsylvania State University, Series Editor

Requirements Engineering for Software and Systems

Phillip A. Laplante
1-4200-6467-3

Building Software: A Practioner’s Guide

Nikhilesh Krishnamurthy and Amitabh Saran
0-8493-7303-4

Global Software Development Handbook

Raghvinder Sangwan, Matthew Bass, Neel Mullick, Daniel J. Paulish,
and Juergen Kazmeier
0-8493-9384-1

Antipatterns: Identification, Refactoring, and Management

Phillip A. Laplante and Colin J. Neill
0-8493-2994-9

Software Engineering Quality Practices

Ronald Kirk Kandt
0-8493-4633-9
 Boca Raton London New York

CRC Press is an imprint of the

Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
AN AUERBACH BOOK
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742

© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business

No claim to original U.S. Government works

Version Date: 20130905

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-4200-6468-1 (eBook - PDF)

This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts
have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume
responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers
have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to
copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has
not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint.

Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmit-
ted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without written permission from the publishers.

For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www.copyright.
com (http://www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood
Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and
registration for a variety of users. For organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by the CCC,
a separate system of payment has been arranged.

Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used
only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com

and the CRC Press Web site at

http://www.crcpress.com
For my mother
Contents

Acknowledgments.......................................................................................... xv
Introduction.................................................................................................xvii
About the Author..........................................................................................xxi
1. Introduction to Requirements Engineering............................................1
Motivation....................................................................................................1
What Is Requirements Engineering?.............................................................2
You Probably Don’t Do Enough Requirements Engineering.........................3
What Are Requirements?..............................................................................4
Requirements Versus Goals.................................................................4
Requirements Level Classification.......................................................4
Requirements Specifications Types......................................................6
Functional Requirements...........................................................6
Nonfunctional Requirements.....................................................7
Domain Requirements.............................................................10
Domain Vocabulary Understanding..................................................11
Requirements Engineering Activities..........................................................11
Requirements Elicitation/Discovery..................................................11
Requirements Analysis and Reconciliation........................................12
Requirements Representation and Modeling.....................................12
Requirements Validation...................................................................12
Requirements Management...............................................................13
The Requirements Engineer........................................................................13
Requirements Engineering Paradigms........................................................13
Requirements Engineer as Software Systems Engineer......................14
Requirements Engineer as Subject Matter Expert..............................14
Requirements Engineer as Architect..................................................14
Requirements Engineer as Business Process Expert...........................14
Ignorance as Virtue............................................................................15
Role of the Customer?.................................................................................15

vii
viii  Contents

Problems with Traditional Requirements Engineering................................16

Complexity........................................................................................17
Four Dark Corners (Zave and Jackson).......................................................18
Difficulties in Enveloping System Behavior.................................................19
The Danger of “All” in Specifications................................................21
References...................................................................................................22
2. Mission Statement, Customers, and Stakeholders.................................23
Mission Statements.....................................................................................23
Encounter with a Customer?.......................................................................24
Stakeholders................................................................................................26
Negative Stakeholders........................................................................27
Stakeholder Identification..................................................................27
Stakeholder Questions..............................................................27
Stakeholder/Customer Classes..................................................29
Customer Wants and Needs.......................................................................30
What Do Customers Want?...............................................................30
What Don’t Customers Want?...........................................................33
Why Do Customers Change Their Minds?................................................ 34
Stakeholder Prioritization...........................................................................35
Communicating with Customers and Other Stakeholders..........................36
Managing Expectations.....................................................................37
Stakeholder Negotiations............................................................................38
References.................................................................................................. 40
3. Requirements Elicitation.......................................................................41
Introduction...............................................................................................41
Elicitation Techniques Survey.................................................................... 42
Brainstorming................................................................................... 42
Card Sorting..................................................................................... 42
Designer as Apprentice..................................................................... 44
Domain Analysis...............................................................................45
Ethnographic Observation.................................................................45
Goal-Based Approaches.................................................................... 46
Group Work......................................................................................48
Interviews..........................................................................................48
Introspection.....................................................................................50
Joint Application Design (JAD).........................................................50
Laddering..........................................................................................51
Protocol Analysis...............................................................................52
Prototyping........................................................................................53
Quality Function Deployment..........................................................54
Questionnaires..................................................................................55
 Contents  ix

Repertory Grids.................................................................................56
Scenarios............................................................................................57
Task Analysis.....................................................................................57
User Stories........................................................................................58
Viewpoints.........................................................................................59
Workshops.........................................................................................60
Elicitation Summary...................................................................................60
Which Combination of Requirements Elicitation Techniques
Should Be Used?................................................................................60
Prevalence of Requirements Elicitation Techniques...........................63
Elicitation Support Technologies................................................................63
Using Wikis for Requirements Elicitation.........................................63
Mobile Technologies..........................................................................65
Content Analysis...............................................................................65
References.................................................................................................. 66
4. Writing the Requirements Document...................................................69
Requirements Representation Approaches..................................................69
IEEE Standard 830-1998............................................................................71
IEEE Standard 830 Recommendations on Representing
Non-Functional Requirements..........................................................72
IEEE Standard 830 Recommendations on Representing
Functional Requirements...................................................................73
Operating System.....................................................................74
Command Validation...............................................................75
ISO/IEC Standard 25030..................................................................76
Use Cases....................................................................................................78
Behavioral Specifications............................................................................79
The Requirements Document.....................................................................81
Users of a Requirements Document...................................................82
Requirements Document Requirements............................................82
Preferred Writing Style.............................................................83
Text Structure..........................................................................83
Best Practices and Recommendations........................................................ 84
References...................................................................................................86
5. Requirements Risk Management..........................................................87
What Is Requirements Risk Management?.................................................87
Requirements Validation and Verification...................................................89
Techniques for Requirements V&V.................................................. 90
Goal-Based Requirements Analysis......................................... 90
Requirements Understanding...................................................91
x  Contents

Validating Requirements Use Cases..........................................92

Prototyping..............................................................................92
The Requirements Validation Matrix.................................................92
The Importance of Measurement in Requirements Verification
and Validation...................................................................................93
Goal/Question/Metric Analysis................................................94
Standards for Verification and Validation...................................................95
IEEE Standard 830............................................................................96
Correctness...............................................................................97
Ambiguity................................................................................97
Completeness...........................................................................98
Consistency..............................................................................99
Ranking...................................................................................99
Verifiability.............................................................................100
Modifiability..........................................................................100
Traceability.............................................................................100
NASA Requirements Testing....................................................................101
NASA ARM Tool............................................................................101
Imperatives......................................................................................103
Continuances...................................................................................103
Directives........................................................................................105
Options...........................................................................................105
Weak Phrases...................................................................................105
Incomplete..............................................................................106
Subjects..................................................................................107
Specification Depth................................................................107
Readability Statistics..............................................................108
Summary of NASA Metrics...................................................108
References................................................................................................. 111
6. Formal Methods..................................................................................113
Motivation................................................................................................113
What Are Formal Methods?..................................................................... 114
A Little History............................................................................... 115
Using Formal Methods.................................................................... 116
Formal Methods Types.................................................................... 116
Examples.................................................................................................. 117
Formalization of Train Station in B................................................. 117
Formalization of Space Shuttle Flight Software Using MurΦ...........121
Formalization of an Energy Management System Using
Category Theory..............................................................................122
Example: An Energy Management System.............................124
Requirements Validation.................................................................126
 Contents  xi

Theorem Proving.............................................................................128
Program Correctness..............................................................128
Hoare Logic............................................................................129
Model Checking..............................................................................133
Objections, Myths, and Limitations.........................................................134
Objections and Myths.....................................................................134
Limitations of Formal Methods.......................................................135
Final Advice..............................................................................................136
References.................................................................................................137
7. Requirements Specification and Agile Methodologies........................139
Introduction to Agile Methodologies........................................................139
Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto.............................................140
Extreme Programming (XP).....................................................................142
Scrum.......................................................................................................143
Requirements Engineering for Agile Methodologies.................................144
General Practices in Agile Methodologies........................................ 145
Agile Requirements Best Practices................................................... 145
Requirements Engineering in XP....................................................147
Requirements Engineering in Scrum...............................................147
Writing User Stories..................................................................................148
Agile Requirements Engineering...............................................................150
Challenges for Requirements Engineering in Agile Methodologies........... 152
Bibliography............................................................................................. 153
8. Tool Support for Requirements Engineering......................................155
Introduction............................................................................................. 155
Traceability Support.................................................................................156
Commercial Requirements Engineering Tools.......................................... 159
DOORS..........................................................................................160
Rational RequisitePro......................................................................160
Requirements and Traceability Management...................................160
CaliberRM......................................................................................160
QFD/Capture.................................................................................. 161
Open Source Requirements Engineering Tools......................................... 161
FreeMind......................................................................................... 161
Open Source Requirements Management Tool (OSRMT).......................163
FitNesse...........................................................................................166
Requirements Engineering Tool Best Practices.........................................167
References.................................................................................................168
9. Requirements Management.................................................................171
Introduction.............................................................................................171
Managing Divergent Agendas..........................................................171
xii  Contents

Expectation Revisited: Pascal’s Wager.......................................................173

Global Requirements Management........................................................... 174
Antipatterns in Requirements Management............................................. 176
Environmental Antipatterns............................................................177
Divergent Goals......................................................................177
Process Clash..........................................................................178
Management Antipatterns...............................................................178
Metric Abuse..........................................................................178
Mushroom Management........................................................179
Other Paradigms for Requirements Management.....................................180
Requirements Management and Improvisational Comedy..............180
Requirements Management as Scriptwriting................................... 181
Reference Models for Requirements Management....................................182
ISO 9000-3 (1997)..........................................................................183
Six Sigma.........................................................................................183
Capability Maturity Model (CMMI)..............................................184
IEEE 830.........................................................................................185
IEEE 12207 (2002).........................................................................185
ISO/IEC 25030...............................................................................185
A Case Study: FBI Virtual Case File.........................................................186
References.................................................................................................187
10. Value Engineering of Requirements....................................................189
What, Why, When, and How of Value Engineering?...............................189
What Is Value Engineering?.............................................................189
When Does Value Engineering Occur?...........................................190
Estimating Using COCOMO and Its Derivatives....................................190
COCOMO..................................................................................... 191
WEBMO.........................................................................................192
COSYSMO.....................................................................................193
Estimating Using Function Points............................................................194
Function Point Cost Drivers............................................................194
Feature Points..................................................................................196
Use Case Points...............................................................................196
Requirements Feature Cost Justification...................................................197
Return on Investment......................................................................197
Net Present Value............................................................................198
Internal Rate of Return...................................................................199
Profitability Index........................................................................... 200
Payback Period................................................................................201
Discounted Payback Period.............................................................201
References.................................................................................................202
 Contents  xiii

Appendix Software Requirements Specification for a Smart Home,

Version 2.0, September 20, 2008...........................................203

Glossary.......................................................................................................229

Index............................................................................................................233
Acknowledgments

Dr. George Hacken of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority con-
tributed many ideas and inspiration used in Chapter 6, on formal methods.
Professor Larry Bernstein of Stevens Institute of Technology reviewed the first
draft of the manuscript and provided many suggestions for improvement.
Dr. Colin Neill and Dr. Raghu Sangwan of Penn State read portions of the text
and provided valuable feedback in many discussions.
Over the years, many students read drafts of portions of the text and provided
ideas, exercises, critical feedback, and examples. The author would like to particu-
larly mention Brad Bonkowski for contributing the prototype software require-
ments specification found in the appendix, and Jim Kelly, George Kniaz, Michelle
Reichart, Ann Richards, Ryan Oboril, Sam Okyne, and Julie Palmer. The author
would also like to thank the staff at Taylor & Francis—in particular John Wyzalek,
Acquisitions Editor, and Amy Rodriguez, Project Editor. The author also wishes to
thank his long-suffering wife, Nancy, and children Chris and Charlotte, for their
patience and support.
Of course, any errors of commission or omission are due to the author alone.

xv
Introduction

Solid requirements engineering has increasingly been recognized as the key to

improved on-time and on-budget delivery of software and systems projects.
Nevertheless, few undergraduate engineering programs stress the importance
of this discipline. Recently, however, some software programs are introducing
requirements engineering as mandatory in the curriculum. In addition, new soft-
ware tools are emerging that are empowering practicing engineers to improve
their requirements engineering habits. However, these tools are not usually easy
to use without significant training, and many working engineers are returning
for additional courses that will help them understand the requirements engineer-
ing process.
This book is intended to provide a comprehensive treatment of the theoretical
and practical aspects of discovering, analyzing, modeling, validating, testing, and
writing requirements for systems of all kinds, with an intentional focus on software-
intensive systems. This book brings into play a variety of formal methods, social
models, and modern requirements writing techniques to be useful to the practicing
engineer.

Audience
This book is intended for professional software engineers, systems engineers, and
senior and graduate students of software or systems engineering. Much of the mate-
rial is derived from the graduate level “Requirements Engineering” course taught at
Penn State’s Great Valley School of Graduate and Professional Studies, where the
author works. The typical student in that course has five years of work experience as
a software professional and an undergraduate degree in engineering, science, or busi-
ness. Typical readers of this book will have one of the following or similar job titles:

◾◾ Software engineer
◾◾ Systems engineer
◾◾ Sales engineer

xvii
xviii  Introduction

◾◾ Systems analyst
◾◾ [XYZ] engineer (where “XYZ” is an adjective for most engineering disci-
plines, such as “electrical” or “mechanical”)
◾◾ Project manager
◾◾ Business analyst
◾◾ Technical architect
◾◾ Lead architect

Exemplar Systems
Before proceeding, three systems are presented that will be used for running exam-
ples throughout the book. These systems were selected because they involve appli-
cation domains with which most readers are bound to be familiar, and because
they cover a wide range of applications from embedded to organic in both indus-
trial and consumer implementations. Consider a domain, however, with which you
(and this author) are likely unfamiliar, say, mining of anthracite coal. Imagining
the obvious difficulties in trying to communicate about such a system highlights
the importance of domain understanding in requirements engineering. This topic
will be discussed at length in Chapter 1.
The first system to be introduced is an airline baggage handling system, prob-
ably similar to the system found in the bowels of every major airport and known to
“eat” your baggage. Check-in clerks and baggage handlers tag your bags at check-
in with a barcode ID tag. Then the baggage is placed on a conveyor belt where it
moves to a central exchange point, and is redirected to the appropriate auxiliary
conveyor for loading on an airplane-bound cart or a baggage carousel. Along the
way, the system may conduct some kind of image scan and processing to detect the
presence of unauthorized or dangerous contents (such as weapons or explosives). A
baggage handling system is an embedded, real-time system; that is, the software is
closely tied to the hardware, and deadline satisfaction is a key goal of the system.
The Denver International Airport tried to build a very sophisticated version of
such a system several years ago. The system used PCs, thousands of remote-controlled
carts, and a 21-mile-long track. Carts moved along the track, carrying luggage from
check-in counters to sorting areas and then straight to the flights waiting at airport
gates. After spending $230 million over 10 years, the project was cancelled.* Much
of the failure can be attributed to requirements engineering mistakes.
The second exemplar system is a point of sale system for one location of a large
pet store chain. This type of system would provide such capabilities as cashier
functions and inventory tracking, tax reporting, and end-of-year closeout. It
might handle self-checkout, coupon scanning, product returns, and more. This is

* de Neufville, R. (1994) The Baggage System at Denver: Prospects and Lessons, Journal of Air
Transport Management, 1(4) Dec., 229–236.
 Introduction  xix

a transaction-oriented business domain application, and although there are many

available off-the-shelf systems, let’s assume there is a need for a custom system. This
type of system is organic; that is, it is not tied to any specialized hardware. PCs or
PC-based cash registers, storage devices, and network support comprise the main
hardware.
The final system that we will be following is for a “Smart Home,” that is, a
home in which one or more PCs control various aspects of the home’s climate con-
trol, security, ambience, entertainment, and so forth. A Smart Home is a consumer
application and a semi-detached system—it uses some specialized but off-the-shelf
hardware and software. We will imagine that this Smart Home is being built for
someone else (not you) so that you can remain objective about its features.
For the first two systems, we’ll see many more details as we go along. For the
third system, the reader will be referred to the appendix, which includes a complete
(though imperfect, for illustrative purposes) example of a software requirements
specification for the Smart Home. I am grateful to my former student Bradley
Bonkowski for preparing this example.
For the purposes of experimentation and practices, you are encouraged to select
another appropriate system to play with. Some candidate systems are

◾◾ The passenger safety restraint system for an automobile of your choice.

◾◾ A system that is intended as a “personal assistant” to all members of a house-
hold. That is, the system will store such information as phone numbers, music
files, video files, calendar information, maps and directions, and so forth and
will provide various alerting, reporting, “data mining,” and business logic
features to each user.
◾◾ A family tree maker and genealogical database system.
◾◾ A game of your choosing (keep it simple—3-D chess or checkers or popular
board games are best).
◾◾ A simulation of some familiar enterprise (e.g., a traffic intersection, elevator
control, manufacturing environment).
◾◾ Any aspect of your work that seems suitable to automation.

You can use your imagination, consult the many resources that are available on
the Web, and have fun as you learn to “scope out” one or another of these systems.

Notes on Referencing and Errors

The author has tried to uphold the highest standards for giving credit where credit is
due. Each chapter contains a list of related readings, and they should be considered
the primary references for that chapter. Where direct quotes or non-obvious facts are
used, an appropriate note or in-line citation is provided. In particular, it is noted where
the author published portions in preliminary form in other scholarly publications.
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
‘The Hawk’—front view.

‘The Hawk’—rear view.

‘The Hawk’—in flight with Pilcher.
 VIII

AMERICAN GLIDING EXPERIMENTS

While Pilcher was carrying on Lilienthal’s work in England, the great

German had also a follower in America; one Octave Chanute, who, in
one of the statements which he has left on the subject of his
experiments acknowledges forty years’ interest in the problem of
flight, did more to develop the glider in America than—with the
possible exception of Montgomery—any other man. Chanute had all
the practicality of an American; he began his work, so far as actual
gliding was concerned, with a full-sized glider of the Lilienthal type,
just before Lilienthal was killed. In a rather rare monograph, entitled
Experiments in Flying, Chanute states that he found the Lilienthal
glider hazardous and decided to test the value of an idea of his own;
in this he followed the same general method, but reversed the
principle upon which Lilienthal had depended for maintaining his
equilibrium in the air. Lilienthal had shifted the weight of his body,
under immovable wings, as fast and as far as the sustaining
pressure varied under his surfaces; this shifting was mainly done by
moving the feet, as the actions required were small except when
alighting. Chanute’s idea was to have the operator remain seated in
the machine in the air, and to intervene only to steer or to alight;
moving mechanism was provided to adjust the wings automatically,
in order to restore balance when necessary.
Chanute realised that experiments with models were of little use;
in order to be fully instructive, these experiments should be made
with a full-sized machine which carried its operator, for models
seldom fly twice alike in the open air, and no relation can be gained
from them of the divergent air currents which they have
experienced. Chanute’s idea was that any flying machine which
might be constructed must be able to operate in a wind; hence the
necessity for an operator to report upon what occurred in flight, and
to acquire practical experience of the work of the human factor in
imitation of bird flight. From this point of view he conducted his own
experiments; it must be noted that he was over sixty years of age
when he began, and, being no longer sufficiently young and active
to perform any but short and insignificant glides, the courage of the
man becomes all the more noteworthy; he set to work to evolve the
state required by the problem of stability, and without any
expectation of advancing to the construction of a flying machine
which might be of commercial value. His main idea was the testing
of devices to secure equilibrium; for this purpose he employed
assistants to carry out the practical work, where he himself was
unable to supply the necessary physical energy.
Together with his assistants he found a suitable place for
experiments among the sandhills on the shore of Lake Michigan,
about thirty miles eastward from Chicago. Here a hill about ninety-
five feet high was selected as a point from which Chanute’s gliders
could set off; in practice, it was found that the best observation was
to be obtained from short glides at low speed, and, consequently, a
hill which was only sixty-one feet above the shore of the lake was
employed for the experimental work done by the party.
In the years 1896 and 1897, with parties of from four to six
persons, five full-sized gliders were tried out, and from these two
distinct types were evolved: of these one was a machine consisting
of five tiers of wings and a steering tail, and the other was of the
biplane type; Chanute believed these to be safer than any other
machine previously evolved, solving, as he states in his monograph,
the problem of inherent equilibrium as fully as this could be done.
Unfortunately, very few photographs were taken of the work in the
first year, but one view of a multiple wing-glider survives, showing
the machine in flight. In 1897 a series of photographs was taken
exhibiting the consecutive phases of a single flight; this series of
photographs represents the experience gained in a total of about
one thousand glides, but the point of view was varied so as to
exhibit the consecutive phases of one single flight.
The experience gained is best told in Chanute’s own words. ‘The
first thing,’ he says, ‘which we discovered practically was that the
wind flowing up a hill-side is not a steadily-flowing current like that
of a river. It comes as a rolling mass, full of tumultuous whirls and
eddies, like those issuing from a chimney; and they strike the
apparatus with constantly varying force and direction, sometimes
withdrawing support when most needed. It has long been known,
through instrumental observations, that the wind is constantly
changing in force and direction; but it needed the experience of an
operator afloat on a gliding machine to realise that this all proceeded
from cyclonic action; so that more was learned in this respect in a
week than had previously been acquired by several years of
experiments with models. There was a pair of eagles, living in the
top of a dead tree about two miles from our tent, that came almost
daily to show us how such wind effects are overcome and utilised.
The birds swept in circles overhead on pulseless wings, and rose
high up in the air. Occasionally there was a side-rocking motion, as
of a ship rolling at sea, and then the birds rocked back to an even
keel; but although we thought the action was clearly automatic, and
were willing to learn, our teachers were too far off to show us just
how it was done, and we had to experiment for ourselves.’
Chanute provided his multiple glider with a seat, but, since each
glide only occupied between eight and twelve seconds, there was
little possibility of the operator seating himself. With the multiple
glider a pair of horizontal bars provided rest for the arms, and
beyond these was a pair of vertical bars which the operator grasped
with his hands; beyond this, the operator was in no way attached to
the machine. He took, at the most, four running steps into the wind,
which launched him in the air, and thereupon he sailed into the wind
on a generally descending course. In the matter of descent Chanute
observed the sparrow and decided to imitate it. ‘When the latter,’ he
says, ‘approaches the street, he throws his body back, tilts his
outspread wings nearly square to the course, and on the cushion of
air thus encountered he stops his speed and drops lightly to the
ground. So do all birds. We tried it with misgivings, but found it
perfectly effective. The soft sand was a great advantage, and even
when the experts were racing there was not a single sprained ankle.’
With the multiple winged glider some two to three hundred
glides were made without any accident either to the man or to the
machine, and the action was found so effective, the principle so
sound, that full plans were published for the benefit of any
experimenters who might wish to improve on this apparatus. The
American Aeronautical Annual for 1897 contains these plans;
Chanute confessed that some movement on the part of the operator
was still required to control the machine, but it was only a seventh
or a sixth part of the movement required for control of the Lilienthal
type.
Chanute waxed enthusiastic over the possibilities of gliding,
concerning which he remarks that ‘There is no more delightful
sensation than that of gliding through the air. All the faculties are on
the alert, and the motion is astonishingly smooth and elastic. The
machine responds instantly to the slightest movement of the
operator; the air rushes by one’s ears; the trees and bushes flit away
underneath, and the landing comes all too quickly. Skating, sliding,
and bicycling are not to be compared for a moment to aerial
conveyance, in which, perhaps, zest is added by the spice of danger.
For it must be distinctly understood that there is constant danger in
such preliminary experiments. When this hazard has been eliminated
by further evolution, gliding will become a most popular sport.’
Later experiments proved that the biplane type of glider gave
better results than the rather cumbrous model consisting of five tiers
of planes. Longer and more numerous glides, to the number of
seven to eight hundred, were obtained, the rate of descent being
about one in six. The longest distance traversed was about 120
yards, but Chanute had dreams of starting from a hill about 200 feet
high, which would have given him gliding flights of 1,200 feet. He
remarked that ‘In consequence of the speed gained by running, the
initial stage of the flight is nearly horizontal, and it is thrilling to see
the operator pass from thirty to forty feet overhead, steering his
machine, undulating his course, and struggling with the wind-gusts
which whistle through the guy wires. The automatic mechanism
restores the angle of advance when compromised by variations of
the breeze; but when these come from one side and tilt the
apparatus, the weight has to be shifted to right the machine ...
these gusts sometimes raise the machine from ten to twenty feet
vertically, and sometimes they strike the apparatus from above,
causing it to descend suddenly. When sailing near the ground, these
vicissitudes can be counteracted by movements of the body from
three to four inches; but this has to be done instantly, for neither
wings nor gravity will wait on meditation. At a height of three
hundred or four hundred feet the regulating mechanism would
probably take care of these wind-gusts, as it does, in fact, for their
minor variations. The speed of the machine is generally about
seventeen miles an hour over the ground, and from twenty-two to
thirty miles an hour relative to the air. Constant effort was directed
to keep down the velocity, which was at times fifty-two miles an
hour. This is the purpose of the starting and gliding against the wind,
which thus furnishes an initial velocity without there being undue
speed at the landing. The highest wind we dared to experiment in
blew at thirty-one miles an hour; when the wind was stronger, we
waited and watched the birds.’
Chanute details an amusing little incident which occurred in the
course of experiment with the biplane glider. He says that ‘We had
taken one of the machines to the top of the hill, and loaded its lower
wings with sand to hold it while we went to lunch. A gull came
strolling inland, and flapped full-winged to inspect. He swept several
circles above the machine, stretched his neck, gave a squawk and
went off. Presently he returned with eleven other gulls, and they
seemed to hold a conclave about one hundred feet above the big
new white bird which they had discovered on the sand. They circled
round after round, and once in a while there was a series of loud
peeps, like those of a rusty gate, as if in conference, with sudden
flutterings, as if a terrifying suggestion had been made. The bolder
birds occasionally swooped downwards to inspect the monster more
closely; they twisted their heads around to bring first one eye and
then the other to bear, and then they rose again. After some seven
or eight minutes of this performance, they evidently concluded
either that the stranger was too formidable to tackle, if alive, or that
he was not good to eat, if dead, and they flew off to resume fishing,
for the weak point about a bird is his stomach.’
The gliders were found so stable, more especially the biplane
form, that in the end Chanute permitted amateurs to make trials
under guidance, and throughout the whole series of experiments not
a single accident occurred. Chanute came to the conclusion that any
young, quick, and handy man could master a gliding machine almost
as soon as he could get the hang of a bicycle, although the penalty
for any mistake would be much more severe.
At the conclusion of his experiments he decided that neither the
multiple plane nor the biplane type of glider was sufficiently
perfected for the application of motive power. In spite of the amount
of automatic stability that he had obtained he considered that there
was yet more to be done, and he therefore advised that every
possible method of securing stability and safety should be tested,
first with models, and then with full-sized machines; designers, he
said, should make a point of practice in order to make sure of the
action, to proportion and adjust the parts of their machine, and to
eliminate hidden defects. Experimental flight, he suggested, should
be tried over water, in order to break any accidental fall; when a
series of experiments had proved the stability of a glider, it would
then be time to apply motive power. He admitted that such a
process would be both costly and slow, but, he said, that ‘it greatly
diminished the chance of those accidents which bring a whole line of
investigation into contempt.’ He saw the flying machine as what it
has, in fact, been; a child of evolution, carried on step by step by
one investigator after another, through the stages of doubt and
perplexity which lie behind the realm of possibility, beyond which is
the present day stage of actual performance and promise of ultimate
success and triumph over the earlier, more cumbrous, and slower
forms of the transport that we know.

Chanute biplane glider.

Chanute’s monograph, from which the foregoing notes have

been comprised, was written soon after the conclusion of his series
of experiments. He does not appear to have gone in for further
practical work, but to have studied the subject from a theoretical
view-point and with great attention to the work done by others. In a
paper contributed in 1900 to the American Independent, he remarks
that ‘Flying machines promise better results as to speed, but yet will
be of limited commercial application. They may carry mails and
reach other inaccessible places, but they cannot compete with
railroads as carriers of passengers or freight. They will not fill the
heavens with commerce, abolish custom houses, or revolutionise the
world, for they will be expensive for the loads which they can carry,
and subject to too many weather contingencies. Success is, however,
probable. Each experimenter has added something to previous
knowledge which his successors can avail of. It now seems likely
that two forms of flying machines, a sporting type and an
exploration type, will be gradually evolved within one or two
generations, but the evolution will be costly and slow, and must be
carried on by well-equipped and thoroughly informed scientific men;
for the casual inventor, who relies upon one or two happy
inspirations, will have no chance of success whatever.’
Follows Professor John J. Montgomery, who, in the true
American spirit, describes his own experiments so well that nobody
can possibly do it better. His account of his work was given first of all
in the American Journal, Aeronautics, in January, 1909, and thence
transcribed in the English paper of the same name in May, 1910, and
that account is here copied word for word. It may, however, be
noted first that as far back as 1860, when Montgomery was only a
boy, he was attracted to the study of aeronautical problems, and in
1883 he built his first machine, which was of the flapping-wing
ornithopter type, and which showed its designer, with only one
experiment, that he must design some other form of machine if he
wished to attain to a successful flight. Chanute details how, in 1884
and 1885, Montgomery built three gliders, demonstrating the value
of curved surfaces. With the first of these gliders Montgomery
copied the wing of a seagull; with the second he proved that a flat
surface was virtually useless, and with the third he pivoted his wings
as in the Antoinette type of power-propelled aeroplane, proving to
his own satisfaction that success lay in this direction. His own
account of the gliding flights carried out under his direction is here
set forth, being the best description of his work that can be
obtained:—
‘When I commenced practical demonstration in my work with
aeroplanes I had before me three points; first, equilibrium; second,
complete control; and third, long continued or soaring flight. In
starting I constructed and tested three sets of models, each in
advance of the other in regard to the continuance of their soaring
powers, but all equally perfect as to equilibrium and control. These
models were tested by dropping them from a cable stretched
between two mountain tops, with various loads, adjustments and
positions. And it made no difference whether the models were
dropped upside down or any other conceivable position, they always
found their equilibrium immediately and glided safely to earth.
‘Then I constructed a large machine patterned after the first
model, and with the assistance of three cowboy friends personally
made a number of flights in the steep mountains near San Juan (a
hundred miles distant). In making these flights I simply took the
aeroplane and made a running jump. These tests were discontinued
after I put my foot into a squirrel hole in landing and hurt my leg.
The following year I commenced the work on a larger scale, by
engaging aeronauts to ride my aeroplane dropped from balloons.
During this work I used five hot-air balloons and one gas balloon,
five or six aeroplanes, three riders—Maloney, Wilkie, and Defolco—
and had sixteen applicants on my list, and had a training station to
prepare any when I needed them.
‘Exhibitions were given in Santa Cruz, San Jose, Santa Clara,
Oakland, and Sacramento. The flights that were made, instead of
being haphazard affairs, were in the order of safety and
development. In the first flight of an aeronaut the aeroplane was so
arranged that the rider had little liberty of action, consequently he
could make only a limited flight. In some of the first flights, the
aeroplane did little more than settle in the air. But as the rider
gained experience in each successive flight I changed the
adjustments, giving him more liberty of action, so he could obtain
longer flights and more varied movements in the flights. But in none
of the flights did I have the adjustments so that the riders had full
liberty, as I did not consider that they had the requisite knowledge
and experience necessary for their safety; and hence, none of my
aeroplanes were launched so arranged that the rider could make
adjustments necessary for a full flight.
‘This line of action caused a good deal of trouble with aeronauts
or riders, who had unbounded confidence and wanted to make long
flights after the first few trials; but I found it necessary, as they
seemed slow in comprehending the important elements and were
willing to take risks. To give them the full knowledge in these
matters I was formulating plans for a large starting station on the
Mount Hamilton Range from which I could launch an aeroplane
capable of carrying two, one of my aeronauts and myself, so I could
teach him by demonstration. But the disasters consequent on the
great earthquake completely stopped all my work on these lines. The
flights that were given were only the first of the series with
aeroplanes patterned after the first model. There were no
aeroplanes constructed according to the two other models, as I had
not given the full demonstration of the workings of the first, though
some remarkable and startling work was done. On one occasion
Maloney, in trying to make a very short turn in rapid flight, pressed
very hard on the stirrup which gives a screw-shape to the wings,
and made a side somersault. The course of the machine was very
much like one turn of a corkscrew. After this movement the machine
continued on its regular course. And afterwards Wilkie, not to be
outdone by Maloney, told his friends he would do the same, and in a
subsequent flight made two side somersaults, one in one direction
and the other in an opposite, then made a deep dive and a long
glide, and, when about three hundred feet in the air, brought the
aeroplane to a sudden stop and settled to the earth. After these
antics, I decreased the extent of the possible change in the form of
wing-surface, so as to allow only straight sailing or only long curves
in turning.
 ‘During my work I had a few carping critics that I silenced by
this standing offer: If they would deposit a thousand dollars I would
cover it on this proposition. I would fasten a 150 pound sack of sand
in the rider’s seat, make the necessary adjustments, and send up an
aeroplane upside down with a balloon, the aeroplane to be liberated
by a time fuse. If the aeroplane did not immediately right itself,
make a flight, and come safely to the ground, the money was theirs.
‘Now a word in regard to the fatal accident. The circumstances
are these: The ascension was given to entertain a military company
in which were many of Maloney’s friends, and he had told them he
would give the most sensational flight they ever heard of. As the
balloon was rising with the aeroplane, a guy rope dropping switched
around the right wing and broke the tower that braced the two rear
wings and which also gave control over the tail. We shouted Maloney
that the machine was broken, but he probably did not hear us, as he
was at the same time saying, “Hurrah for Montgomery’s airship,” and
as the break was behind him, he may not have detected it. Now did
he know of the breakage or not, and if he knew of it did he take a
risk so as not to disappoint his friends? At all events, when the
machine started on its flight the rear wings commenced to flap (thus
indicating they were loose), the machine turned on its back, and
settled a little faster than a parachute. When we reached Maloney he
was unconscious and lived only thirty minutes. The only mark of any
kind on him was a scratch from a wire on the side of his neck. The
six attending physicians were puzzled at the cause of his death. This
is remarkable for a vertical descent of over 2,000 feet.’
The flights were brought to an end by the San Francisco
earthquake in April, 1906, which, Montgomery states, ‘Wrought such
a disaster that I had to turn my attention to other subjects and let
the aeroplane rest for a time.’ Montgomery resumed experiments in
1911 in California, and in October of that year an accident brought
his work to an end. The report in the American Aeronautics says that
‘a little whirlwind caught the machine and dashed it head on to the
ground; Professor Montgomery landed on his head and right hip. He
did not believe himself seriously hurt, and talked with his year-old
bride in the tent. He complained of pains in his back, and continued
to grow worse until he died.’
 IX

NOT PROVEN

The early history of flying, like that of most sciences, is replete with
tragedies; in addition to these it contains one mystery concerning
Clement Ader, who was well known among European pioneers in the
development of the telephone, and first turned his attention to the
problems of mechanical flight in 1872. At the outset he favoured the
ornithopter principle, constructing a machine in the form of a bird
with a wing-spread of twenty-six feet; this, according to Ader’s
conception, was to fly through the efforts of the operator. The result
of such an attempt was past question and naturally the machine
never left the ground.
A pause of nineteen years ensued, and then in 1886 Ader turned
his mind to the development of the aeroplane, constructing a
machine of bat-like form with a wing-spread of about forty-six feet, a
weight of eleven hundred pounds, and a steam-power plant of
between twenty and thirty horse-power driving a four-bladed tractor
screw. On October 9th, 1890, the first trials of this machine were
made, and it was alleged to have flown a distance of one hundred
and sixty-four feet. Whatever truth there may be in the allegation,
the machine was wrecked through deficient equilibrium at the end of
the trial. Ader repeated the construction, and on October 14th, 1897,
tried out his third machine at the military establishment at Satory in
the presence of the French military authorities, on a circular track
specially prepared for the experiment. Ader and his friends alleged
that a flight of nearly a thousand feet was made; again the machine
was wrecked at the end of the trial, and there Ader’s practical work
may be said to have ended, since no more funds were forthcoming
for the subsidy of experiments.
There is the bald narrative, but it is worthy of some
amplification. If Ader actually did what he claimed, then the position
which the Wright Brothers hold as first to navigate the air in a
power-driven plane is nullified. Although at this time of writing it is
not a quarter of a century since Ader’s experiment in the presence of
witnesses competent to judge on his accomplishment, there is no
proof either way, and whether he was or was not the first man to fly
remains a mystery in the story of the conquest of the air.
The full story of Ader’s work reveals a persistence and
determination to solve the problem that faced him which was equal
to that of Lilienthal. He began by penetrating into the interior of
Algeria after having disguised himself as an Arab, and there he spent
some months in studying flight as practised by the vultures of the
district. Returning to France in 1886 he began to construct the ‘Eole,’
modelling it, not on the vulture, but in the shape of a bat. Like the
Lilienthal and Pilcher gliders this machine was fitted with wings
which could be folded; the first flight made, as already noted, on
October 9th, 1890, took place in the grounds of the chateau
d’Amainvilliers, near Bretz; two fellow-enthusiasts named Espinosa
and Vallier stated that a flight was actually made; no statement in
the history of aeronautics has been subject of so much question,
and the claim remains unproved.
It was in September of 1891 that Ader, by permission of the
Minister of War, moved the ‘Eole’ to the military establishment at
Satory for the purpose of further trial. By this time, whether he had
flown or not, his nineteen years of work in connection with the
problems attendant on mechanical flight had attracted so much
attention that henceforth his work was subject to the approval of the
military authorities, for already it was recognised that an efficient
flying machine would confer an inestimable advantage on the power
that possessed it in the event of war. At Satory the ‘Eole’ was alleged
to have made a flight of 109 yards, or, according to another account,
164 feet, as stated above, in the trial in which the machine wrecked
itself through colliding with some carts which had been placed near
the track—the root cause of this accident, however, was given as
deficient equilibrium.
Whatever the sceptics may say, there is reason for belief in the
accomplishment of actual flight by Ader with his first machine in the
fact that, after the inevitable official delay of some months, the
French War Ministry granted funds for further experiment. Ader
named his second machine, which he began to build in May, 1892,
the ‘Avion,’ and—an honour which he well deserves—that name
remains in French aeronautics as descriptive of the power-driven
aeroplane up to this day.
This second machine, however, was not a success, and it was
not until 1897 that the second ‘Avion,’ which was the third power-
driven aeroplane of Ader’s construction, was ready for trial. This was
fitted with two steam motors of twenty horse-power each, driving
two four-bladed propellers; the wings warped automatically: that is
to say, if it were necessary to raise the trailing edge of one wing on
the turn, the trailing edge of the opposite wing was also lowered by
the same movement; an undercarriage was also fitted, the machine
running on three small wheels, and levers controlled by the feet of
the aviator actuated the movement of the tail planes.
On October the 12th, 1897, the first trials of this ‘Avion’ were
made in the presence of General Mensier, who admitted that the
machine made several hops above the ground, but did not consider
the performance as one of actual flight. The result was so
encouraging, in spite of the partial failure, that, two days later,
General Mensier, accompanied by General Grillon, a certain
Lieutenant Binet, and two civilians named respectively Sarrau and
Leaute, attended for the purpose of giving the machine an official
trial, over which the great controversy regarding Ader’s success or
otherwise may be said to have arisen.
 Course of the Avion’s Flight, October 14, 1897.

We will take first Ader’s own statement as set out in a very

competent account of his work published in Paris in 1910. Here are
Ader’s own words: ‘After some turns of the propellers, and after
travelling a few metres, we started off at a lively pace; the pressure-
gauge registered about seven atmospheres; almost immediately the
vibrations of the rear wheel ceased; a little later we only experienced
those of the front wheels at intervals. Unhappily, the wind became
suddenly strong, and we had some difficulty in keeping the “Avion”
on the white line. We increased the pressure to between eight and
nine atmospheres, and immediately the speed increased
considerably, and the vibrations of the wheels were no longer
sensible; we were at that moment at the point marked G in the
sketch; the “Avion” then found itself freely supported by its wings;
under the impulse of the wind it continually tended to go outside the
(prepared) area to the right, in spite of the action of the rudder. On
reaching the point V it found itself in a very critical position; the wind
blew strongly and across the direction of the white line which it
ought to follow; the machine then, although still going forward,
drifted quickly out of the area; we immediately put over the rudder
to the left as far as it would go; at the same time increasing the
pressure still more, in order to try to regain the course. The “Avion”
obeyed, recovered a little, and remained for some seconds headed
towards its intended course, but it could not struggle against the
wind; instead of going back, on the contrary it drifted farther and
farther away. And ill-luck had it that the drift took the direction
towards part of the School of Musketry, which was guarded by posts
and barriers. Frightened at the prospect of breaking ourselves
against these obstacles, surprised at seeing the earth getting farther
away from under the “Avion,” and very much impressed by seeing it
rushing sideways at a sickening speed, instinctively we stopped
everything. What passed through our thoughts at this moment which
threatened a tragic turn would be difficult to set down. All at once
came a great shock, splintering, a heavy concussion: we had landed.’
Thus speaks the inventor; the cold official mind gives out a
different account, crediting the ‘Avion’ with merely a few hops, and
to-day, among those who consider the problem at all, there is a little
group which persists in asserting that to Ader belongs the credit of
the first power-driven flight, while a larger group is equally
persistent in stating that, save for a few ineffectual hops, all three
wheels of the machine never left the ground. It is past question that
the ‘Avion’ was capable of power-driven flight; whether it achieved it
or no remains an unsettled problem.
 Clement Ader’s ‘Avion,’ with wings partly folded.

Ader’s work is negative proof of the value of such experiments

as Lilienthal, Pilcher, Chanute, and Montgomery conducted; these
four set to work to master the eccentricities of the air before
attempting to use it as a supporting medium for continuous flight
under power; Ader attacked the problem from the other end; like
many other experimenters he regarded the air as a stable fluid
capable of giving such support to his machine as still water might
give to a fish, and he reckoned that he had only to produce the
machine in order to achieve flight. The wrecked ‘Avion’ and the
refusal of the French War Ministry to grant any more funds for
further experiment are sufficient evidence of the need for working
along the lines taken by the pioneers of gliding rather than on those
which Ader himself adopted.
 Let it not be thought that in this comment there is any desire to
derogate from the position which Ader should occupy in any study of
the pioneers of aeronautical enterprise. If he failed, he failed
magnificently, and if he succeeded, then the student of aeronautics
does him an injustice and confers on the Brothers Wright an honour
which, in spite of the value of their work, they do not deserve. There
was one earlier than Ader, Alphonse Penaud, who, in the face of a
lesser disappointment than that which Ader must have felt in gazing
on the wreckage of his machine, committed suicide; Ader himself,
rendered unable to do more, remained content with his
achievement, and with the knowledge that he had played a good
part in the long search which must eventually end in triumph.
Whatever the world might say, he himself was certain that he had
achieved flight. This, for him, was perforce enough.
Before turning to consideration of the work accomplished by the
Brothers Wright, and their proved conquest of the air, it is necessary
first to sketch as briefly as may be the experimental work of Sir
(then Mr) Hiram Maxim, who, in his book, Artificial and Natural
Flight, has given a fairly complete account of his various
experiments. He began by experimenting with models, with screw-
propelled planes so attached to a horizontal movable arm that when
the screw was set in motion the plane described a circle round a
central point, and, eventually, he built a giant aeroplane having a
total supporting area of 1,500 square feet, and a wing-span of fifty
feet. It has been thought advisable to give a fairly full description of
the power plant used to the propulsion of this machine in the section
devoted to engine development. The aeroplane, as Maxim describes
it, had five long and narrow planes projecting from each side, and a
main or central plane of pterygoid aspect. A fore and aft rudder was
provided, and had all the auxiliary planes been put in position for
experimental work a total lifting surface of 6,000 square feet could
have been obtained. Maxim, however, did not use more than 4,000
square feet of lifting surface even in his later experiments; with this
he judged the machine capable of lifting slightly under 8,000 lbs.
weight, made up of 600 lbs. water in the boiler and tank, a crew of
three men, a supply of naphtha fuel, and the weight of the machine
itself.
Maxim’s intention was, before attempting free flight, to get as
much data as possible regarding the conditions under which flight
must be obtained, by what is known in these days as ‘taxi-ing’—that
is, running the propellers at sufficient speed to drive the machine
along the ground without actually mounting into the air. He knew
that he had an immense lifting surface and a tremendous amount of
power in his engine even when the total weight of the experimental
plant was taken into consideration, and thus he set about to devise
some means of keeping the machine on the nine foot gauge rail
track which had been constructed for the trials. At the outset he had
a set of very heavy cast-iron wheels made on which to mount the
machine, the total weight of wheels, axles, and connections being
about one and a half tons. These were so constructed that the light
flanged wheels which supported the machine on the steel rails could
be lifted six inches above the track, still leaving the heavy wheels on
the rails for guidance of the machine. ‘This arrangement,’ Maxim
states, ‘was tried on several occasions, the machine being run fast
enough to lift the forward end off the track. However, I found
considerable difficulty in starting and stopping quickly on account of
the great weight, and the amount of energy necessary to set such
heavy wheels spinning at a high velocity. The last experiment with
these wheels was made when a head wind was blowing at the rate
of about ten miles an hour. It was rather unsteady, and when the
machine was running at its greatest velocity, a sudden gust lifted not
only the front end, but also the heavy front wheels completely off
the track, and the machine falling on soft ground was soon blown
over by the wind.’
Consequently, a safety track was provided, consisting of squared
pine logs, three inches by nine inches, placed about two feet above
the steel way and having a thirty-foot gauge. Four extra wheels were
fitted to the machine on outriggers and so adjusted that, if the
machine should lift one inch clear of the steel rails, the wheels at the
ends of the outriggers would engage the under side of the pine
trackway.
The first fully loaded run was made in a dead calm with 150 lbs.
steam pressure to the square inch, and there was no sign of the
wheels leaving the steel track. On a second run, with 230 lbs. steam
pressure the machine seemed to alternate between adherence to
the lower and upper tracks, as many as three of the outrigger
wheels engaging at the same time, and the weight on the steel rails
being reduced practically to nothing. In preparation for a third run,
in which it was intended to use full power, a dynamometer was
attached to the machine and the engines were started at 200 lbs.
pressure, which was gradually increased to 310 lbs per square inch.
The incline of the track, added to the reading of the dynamometer,
showed a total screw thrust of 2,164 lbs. After the dynamometer
test had been completed, and everything had been made ready for
trial in motion, careful observers were stationed on each side of the
track, and the order was given to release the machine. What follows
is best told in Maxim’s own words:—
‘The enormous screw-thrust started the engine so quickly that it
nearly threw the engineers off their feet, and the machine bounded
over the track at a great rate. Upon noticing a slight diminution in
the steam pressure, I turned on more gas, when almost instantly the
steam commenced to blow a steady blast from the small safety
valve, showing that the pressure was at least 320 lbs. in the pipes
supplying the engines with steam. Before starting on this run, the
wheels that were to engage the upper track were painted, and it
was the duty of one of my assistants to observe these wheels during
the run, while another assistant watched the pressure gauges and
dynagraphs. The first part of the track was up a slight incline, but
the machine was lifted clear of the lower rails and all of the top
wheels were fully engaged on the upper track when about 600 feet
had been covered. The speed rapidly increased, and when 900 feet
had been covered, one of the rear axle trees, which were of two-
inch steel tubing, doubled up and set the rear end of the machine
completely free. The pencils ran completely across the cylinders of
the dynagraphs and caught on the underneath end. The rear end of
the machine being set free, raised considerably above the track and
swayed. At about 1,000 feet, the left forward wheel also got clear of
the upper track, and shortly afterwards the right forward wheel tore
up about 100 feet of the upper track. Steam was at once shut off
and the machine sank directly to the earth, embedding the wheels in
the soft turf without leaving any other marks, showing most
conclusively that the machine was completely suspended in the air
before it settled to the earth. In this accident, one of the pine
timbers forming the upper track went completely through the lower
framework of the machine and broke a number of the tubes, but no
damage was done to the machinery except a slight injury to one of
the screws.’
It is a pity that the multifarious directions in which Maxim turned
his energies did not include further development of the aeroplane,
for it seems fairly certain that he was as near solution of the
problem as Ader himself, and, but for the holding-down outer track,
which was really the cause of his accident, his machine would
certainly have achieved free flight, though whether it would have
risen, flown and alighted, without accident, is matter for conjecture.
The difference between experiments with models and with full-
sized machines is emphasised by Maxim’s statement to the effect
that with a small apparatus for ascertaining the power required for
artificial flight, an angle of incidence of one in fourteen was most
advantageous, while with a large machine he found it best to
increase his angle to one in eight in order to get the maximum lifting
effect on a short run at a moderate speed. He computed the total
lifting effect in the experiments which led to the accident as not less
than 10,000 lbs., in which is proof that only his rail system prevented
free flight.
 X

SAMUEL PIERPOINT LANGLEY

Langley was an old man when he began the study of aeronautics, or,
as he himself might have expressed it, the study of aerodromics,
since he persisted in calling the series of machines he built
‘Aerodromes,’ a word now used only to denote areas devoted to use
as landing spaces for flying machines; the Wright Brothers, on the
other hand, had the great gift of youth to aid them in their work.
Even so it was a great race between Langley, aided by Charles
Manly, and Wilbur and Orville Wright, and only the persistent ill-luck
which dogged Langley from the start to the finish of his experiments
gave victory to his rivals. It has been proved conclusively in these
later years of accomplished flight that the machine which Langley
launched on the Potomac River in October of 1903 was fully capable
of sustained flight, and only the accidents incurred in launching
prevented its pilot from being the first man to navigate the air
successfully in a power-driven machine.
The best account of Langley’s work is that diffused throughout a
weighty tome issued by the Smithsonian Institution, entitled the
Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, of which about one-third was
written by Langley himself, the remainder being compiled by Charles
M. Manly, the engineer responsible for the construction of the first
radial aero engine, and chief assistant to Langley in his experiments.
To give a twentieth of the contents of this volume in the present
short account of the development of mechanical flight would far
exceed the amount of space that can be devoted even to so eminent
a man in aeronautics as S. P. Langley, who, apart from his
achievement in the construction of a power-driven aeroplane really
capable of flight, was a scientist of no mean order, and who brought
to the study of aeronautics the skill of the trained investigator allied
to the inventive resource of the genius.
That genius exemplified the antique saw regarding the infinite
capacity for taking pains, for the Langley Memoir shows that as early
as 1891 Langley had completed a set of experiments, lasting
through years, which proved it possible to construct machines giving
such a velocity to inclined surfaces that bodies indefinitely heavier
than air could be sustained upon it and propelled through it at high
speed. For full account (very full) of these experiments, and of a
later series leading up to the construction of a series of ‘model
aerodromes’ capable of flight under power, it is necessary to turn to
the bulky memoir of Smithsonian origin.
Quarter-size model, Langley Aerodrome, in flight, 8th August, 1903.
Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, Smithsonian Institution, Washington.

The account of these experiments as given by Langley himself

reveals the humility of the true investigator. Concerning them,
Langley remarks that, ‘Everything here has been done with a view to
putting a trial aerodrome successfully in flight within a few years,
and thus giving an early demonstration of the only kind which is
conclusive in the eyes of the scientific man, as well as of the general
public—a demonstration that mechanical flight is possible—by
actually flying. All that has been done has been with an eye
principally to this immediate result, and all the experiments given in
this book are to be considered only as approximations to exact truth.
All were made with a view, not to some remote future, but to an
arrival within the compass of a few years at some result in actual
flight that could not be gainsaid or mistaken.’
 With a series of over thirty rubber-driven models Langley
demonstrated the practicability of opposing curved surfaces to the
resistance of the air in such a way as to achieve flight, in the early
nineties of last century; he then set about finding the motive power
which should permit of the construction of larger machines, up to
man-carrying size. The internal combustion engine was then an
unknown quantity, and he had to turn to steam, finally, as the
propulsive energy for his power plant. The chief problem which
faced him was that of the relative weight and power of his engine;
he harked back to the Stringfellow engine of 1868, which in 1889
came into the possession of the Smithsonian Institution as a
historical curiosity. Rightly or wrongly Langley concluded on
examination that this engine never had developed and never could
develop more than a tenth of the power attributed to it;
consequently he abandoned the idea of copying the Stringfellow
design and set about making his own engine.
How he overcame the various difficulties that faced him and
constructed a steam-engine capable of the task allotted to it forms a
story in itself, too long for recital here. His first power-driven
aerodrome of model size was begun in November of 1891, the scale
of construction being decided with the idea that it should be large
enough to carry an automatic steering apparatus which would
render the machine capable of maintaining a long and steady flight.
The actual weight of the first model far exceeded the theoretical
estimate, and Langley found that a constant increase of weight
under the exigencies of construction was a feature which could
never be altogether eliminated. The machine was made principally of
steel, the sustaining surfaces being composed of silk stretched from
a steel tube with wooden attachments. The first engines were the
oscillating type, but were found deficient in power. This led to the
construction of single-acting inverted oscillating engines with high
and low pressure cylinders, and with admission and exhaust ports to
avoid the complication and weight of eccentric and valves. Boiler and
furnace had to be specially designed; an analysis of sustaining
surfaces and the settlement of equilibrium while in flight had to be
overcome, and then it was possible to set about the construction of
the series of model aerodromes and make test of their ‘lift.’
By the time Langley had advanced sufficiently far to consider it
possible to conduct experiments in the open air, even with these
models, he had got to his fifth aerodrome, and to the year 1894.
Certain tests resulted in failure, which in turn resulted in further
modifications of design, mainly of the engines. By February of 1895
Langley reported that under favourable conditions a lift of nearly
sixty per cent of the flying weight was secured, but although this
was much more than was required for flight, it was decided to
postpone trials until two machines were ready for the test. May,
1896, came before actual trials were made, when one machine
proved successful and another, a later design, failed. The difficulty
with these models was that of securing a correct angle for
launching; Langley records how, on launching one machine, it rose
so rapidly that it attained an angle of sixty degrees and then did a
tail slide into the water with its engines working at full speed, after
advancing nearly forty feet and remaining in the air for about three
seconds. Here, Langley found that he had to obtain greater rigidity
in his wings, owing to the distortion of the form of wing under
pressure, and how he overcame this difficulty constitutes yet another
story too long for the telling here.
Field trials were first attempted in 1893, and Langley blamed his
launching apparatus for their total failure. There was a brief, but at
the same time practical, success in model flight in 1894, extending
to between six and seven seconds, but this only proved the need for
strengthening of the wing. In 1895 there was practically no advance
toward the solution of the problem, but the flights of May 6th and
November 28th, 1896, were notably successful. A diagram given in
Langley’s memoir shows the track covered by the aerodrome on
these two flights; in the first of them the machine made three
complete circles, covering a distance of 3,200 feet; in the second,
that of November 28th, the distance covered was 4,200 feet, or
about three-quarters of a mile, at a speed of about thirty miles an
hour.
 These achievements meant a good deal; they proved
mechanically propelled flight possible. The difference between them
and such experiments as were conducted by Clement Ader, Maxim,
and others, lay principally in the fact that these latter either did or
did not succeed in rising into the air once, and then, either willingly
or by compulsion, gave up the quest, while Langley repeated his
experiments and thus attained to actual proof of the possibilities of
flight. Like these others, however, he decided in 1896 that he would
not undertake the construction of a large man-carrying machine. In
addition to a multitude of actual duties, which left him practically no
time available for original research, he had as an adverse factor fully
ten years of disheartening difficulties in connection with his model
machines. It was President McKinley who, by requesting Langley to
undertake the construction and test of a machine which might finally
lead to the development of a flying machine capable of being used
in warfare, egged him on to his final experiment. Langley’s
acceptance of the offer to construct such a machine is contained in a
letter addressed from the Smithsonian Institution on December 12th,
1898, to the Board of Ordnance and Fortification of the United
States War Department; this letter is of such interest as to render it
worthy of reproduction:—
‘Gentlemen,—In response to your invitation I repeat what I had
the honour to say to the Board—that I am willing, with the consent
of the Regents of this Institution, to undertake for the Government
the further investigation of the subject of the construction of a flying
machine on a scale capable of carrying a man, the investigation to
include the construction, development and test of such a machine
under conditions left as far as practicable in my discretion, it being
understood that my services are given to the Government in such
time as may not be occupied by the business of the Institution, and
without charge.
‘I have reason to believe that the cost of the construction will
come within the sum of $50,000·00, and that not more than one-
half of that will be called for in the coming year.
 ‘I entirely agree with what I understand to be the wish of the
Board that privacy be observed with regard to the work, and only
when it reaches a successful completion shall I wish to make public
the fact of its success.
‘I attach to this a memorandum of my understanding of some
points of detail in order to be sure that it is also the understanding
of the Board, and I am, gentlemen, with much respect, your
obedient servant, S. P. Langley.’
One of the chief problems in connection with the construction of
a full-sized apparatus was that of the construction of an engine, for
it was realised from the first that a steam power plant for a full-sized
machine could only be constructed in such a way as to make it a
constant menace to the machine which it was to propel. By this time
(1898) the internal combustion engine had so far advanced as to
convince Langley that it formed the best power plant available. A
contract was made for the delivery of a twelve horse-power engine
to weigh not more than a hundred pounds, but this contract was
never completed, and it fell to Charles M. Manly to design the five-
cylinder radial engine, of which a brief account is included in the
section of this work devoted to aero engines, as the power plant for
the Langley machine.
The history of the years 1899 to 1903 in the Langley series of
experiments contains a multitude of detail far beyond the scope of
this present study, and of interest mainly to the designer. There were
frames, engines, and propellers, to be considered, worked out, and
constructed. We are concerned here mainly with the completed
machine and its trials. Of these latter it must be remarked that the
only two actual field trials which took place resulted in accidents due
to the failure of the launching apparatus, and not due to any
inherent defect in the machine. It was intended that these two trials
should be the first of a series, but the unfortunate accidents, and the
fact that no further funds were forthcoming for continuance of
experiments, prevented Langley’s success, which, had he been free
to go through as he intended with his work, would have been
certain.
The best brief description of the Langley aerodrome in its final
form, and of the two attempted trials, is contained in the official
report of Major M. M. Macomb of the United States Artillery Corps,
which report is here given in full:—

Report
Experiments with working models which were concluded
August 8 last having proved the principles and calculations on
which the design of the Langley aerodrome was based to be
correct, the next step was to apply these principles to the
construction of a machine of sufficient size and power to
permit the carrying of a man, who could control the motive
power and guide its flight, thus pointing the way to attaining
the final goal of producing a machine capable of such
extensive and precise aerial flight, under normal atmospheric
conditions, as to prove of military or commercial utility.
Mr C. M. Manly, working under Professor Langley, had, by
the summer of 1903, succeeded in completing an engine-
driven machine which under favourable atmospheric
conditions was expected to carry a man for any time up to
half an hour, and to be capable of having its flight directed
and controlled by him.
The supporting surface of the wings was ample, and
experiment showed the engine capable of supplying more
than the necessary motive power.
Owing to the necessity of lightness, the weight of the
various elements had to be kept at a minimum, and the factor
of safety in construction was therefore exceedingly small, so
that the machine as a whole was delicate and frail and
incapable of sustaining any unusual strain. This defect was to
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

ebookultra.com