The LANGLEY/AERODROME
LOTS OF PIX, (& a 3vu) I'M AFRAID

Professor Langley was a respected astronomer. He invented the bolometer, an  instrument that measures small amounts of microwave or infared radiation by detecting changes in electrical resistance on a thin heat sensitive metal conductor. (This will be on the test)  His name lives on in a unit of energy flux. At the end of the 19th Century he was head of the Smithsonian Institute, which in those days was a serious scientific organization.  He started to experiment with model airplanes. These experiments culminated in a couple of Steam Models that earned him a permanent place in pre Wright Brothers aviation.

These successes lead to his being asked by the Department of War to construct a man carrying air craft. It didn't fly. Twice the Aerodrome, as he called it, was catapulted off the roof of a house boat and twice it fell into the Potomac river "Like a handful of wet mortar." Soon after he died, some say broken by the ridicule with which the press treated the event. And the airplane languished in the Smithsonian.

In the meantime the Wright Brothers flew, and patented, their airplane. They were quite aggressive about pursuing what they considered violations of this patent, and set  American aviation back by years. Glen Curtiss was one of the individuals who wanted to avoid paying the Wright's considerable royalties and he embarked on a series of lawsuits that was to drag on for years.

In about 1914, in an effort to show that the Wright Brothers didn't make the first airplane capable of flight he approached the Smithsonian with an offer to see if he could make the remains of the Aerodrome fly. The Smithsonian who stood to recover from  shame and ridicule agreed to this. But the Aerodrome was fundamentally unsound, so Curtiss took it upon himself to make many modifications. He eventually achieved limited flight.  Among the changes were, replacing the motor and the two primitive propellers mounted behind the forward wing with a tractor prop powered by a more modern engine. He also gave up on catapulting it off a houseboat and fitted it with floats. Orville Wright was particularly insistant that Langley had the center of pressure in the wrong places and that Curtiss applied the Wright Bros discoveries to rerig the wing bracing.

I was unable to find a 3 vu of the Curtiss. So I applied what I learned from the pictures and Orville Wright's published outrage to a 3vu of the Langley version. I have his list of these changes but am unable to OCR it and have no intention of transcribing it all. Anyone that wants a copy should contact me at ...
dannysoar@worldnet.att.net

I was hoping to build a quickie, but soon enough it got away from me and now I have a model I am a little afraid to fly. What ever happens, it is an interesting and still ongoing research project. And the pictures are fun.

I like this pic because it makes the model look good, but note the loose landing wires in the upper right. When I get it trimmed I hope to fix this. But in the mean time I claim they are scale loose wires. The propeller in all these pictures is for show. I have a big old rubber prop that I hope to fly the model with.

LANGLEY-1903	CURTISS-1914
1 SIZE: 11'6" x 22'6" (L.M.p. 206)	SIZE:  10' 11-3/4" X 22" 6"
2 AREA:1040 Sq.ft. (L.M, p. 206)	AREA: 988sq. ft.
3 ASPECT RATIO  1.96	ASPECT RATIO: 2.05
4 CAMBER: 1/12 (L.M. p. 205)	CAMBER: 1/18
5 LEADING EDGE: Wire 1/16" di- ameter (L.M. P1.66)	LEADING EDGE: Cylindrical spar 1-1/2" dia. at inner end, tapering to 1" dia. at outer end.
6 COVERING: Cotton fabric, not  varnished.	COVERING: Cotton fabric, varnished.
7 CENTER SPAR: Cylindrical wood- en spar, measuring 1-1/2" dia. for half its length and tapering to 1" at its tip. (L.M. p. 204·) Located on upper side of wing.	CENTER SPAR: Cylindrical spar about I-1/2" dia. at inner end, tapering to about 1" dia. at outer end. Located on upper side of wing. This center spar was reinforced (I) by an extra wooden member on the under side of the wing, which measured I"x 13" and extended to the 7th rib from the center of the machine; and (2) by another wooden reinforcement on the under side ex- tending out about one-fourth of the length of the wing.
8 RIBS: Hollow box construction. (L.M. Plates 64, 67.)	RIBS: Most of the original Langley box ribs were replaced with others made at Hammondsport. (Manly let- ter,  I9I4)·  The Hammondsport ribs were of solid construction and made of laminated wood. That part of the rib in front of the forward spar was entirely omitted.
9 LOWER GUY-POSTS: A Single round wooden post for each pair of wings (see Fig. 3), I-1/4" in dia. 6-1/2' long. (L.M. Plate 62,-p. 184·)	LOWER GUY-POSTS: Four for each pair of wings (see Fig. 4), two of which were of streamline form mea- suring 1-1/4" x 3-1/2 x 54" long; and 2 measuring 2"X2" With rounded cor- ners, 3'9" long.
10 The front wing guy-post was located 28-1/2" in front of the main center spar. (L.M. Plate 53·)	The front wing guy-posts were lo- cated directly underneath the main center spar, 28-1/2" further rearward than in 1903·
11 The rear wing guy-post was located 31-1/2" in front of the main center spar. (L.M. Plate 53·)	The rear wing guy-posts were located directly under the main center spar, 31-1/2" further rearward than in 1903
12 UPPER GUY-POSTS: For each pair of wings a single steel tube 1/4" dia., 43"  long. (L.M. p. 1.84, pl. 62.)	UPPER GUY-POSTS: For each pair of wings, two streamline wooden posts each I-1/4" x 3-1/2:" x 76" long,  forming an inverted V.  (See Pig. 4).
13 Front wing upper guy-post lo- cated 28-1/2" in front of the main center spar. (L.M pl. 53)	Front wing upper guy posts located directly over main spar 28-1/2" further rearward than in 1903
14 The rear wing upper guy-post was located 31-1/2" in front of the main center spar.  (L.M. pl. 53·)	The rear wing guy-posts were located directly over the main center spar, 31-1/2" further rearward than in I903
15 TRUSSING: The wing trussing wires were attached to the spars at the 5th, 7th and 9th ribs out from the center (L.M. pl 54)  The angles between these wires and the spars to which they were attached are shown in Fig, 3.	TRUSSING: A different system of wing trussing was used, and the wing trus- sing wires were attached to the spars at the 3rd, 6th and 9th ribs from the center. The angles between these wires and the spars to which they were at- tached were all different from those in the original Langley machine.  (See Fig. 4)·
16 VANE RUDDER: A Split vane composed  of  two  surfaces united at their leading edges and separated 15" at their trail- ing  edges,  thus  forming  a wedge. Each surface measured 2'3" x 4'6", with aspect ratio.5 (L.M. p. 214, pls. 53, 54·)	VERTICAL RUDDER: The Langley vane rudder was replaced by a single plane vertical rudder which measured 3'6"x 5', with aspect ratio of .7.
17 Operated by means of a wheel located slightly in front of the flier at his right side and at the  height  of  his  shoulder (L.M. p 216, pls. 53, 54·)	Operated at Hammondsport through the Curtiss steering wheel in some tests,   (Zahm   affidavit  pp. 5,  6) through the Curtiss shoulder yoke in some others (Manly letter, 1914), and fixed so as not to be operable at all in still others,  (Zahm affidavit p. 7).
18 Used for steering only. (L.M. p214.)	Used "as a vertical aileron to control the lateral poise of the machine", (Zahm affidavit p. 6) as well as for steering, (Zahm affidavit p. 7).
19 PENAUD TAIL: This was a dart- shaped tail having a vertical and   horizontal surface (Pe- naud tail), each measuring 95 sq. ft. It was located in the rear of the main frame.	TAIL RUDDER:  Same size and con- struction as in 1903.
20 Attached to a bracket extend- ing below the main frame.	Attached to same bracket at a point about 8" higher than in 1903·
21 "Normally inactive," (L.M. p. 216) but adjustable about a transverse horizontal axis by means of a self-locking wheel located at the right side of the pilot, even with his back, and at the height of his shoulder. (L.M. pls. 51, 53.)	Operable about a transverse horizontal axis and connected to a regular Curtiss elevator control post directly in front of the pilot (Zahm affidavit p. 5).
22 Immovable about a vertical axis. (L.M. p. 214, pl. 56, Fig. I.)  No means were provided for adjusting this rudder about a vertical axis in flight. "Al- though it was necessary that the large aerodrome should be capable of being steered in a horizontal direction, it was felt to  be  unwise  to  give  the Penaud tail and rudder motion in the horizontal plane in order to attain this end."  (L.M. p. 214).	Immovable about a vertical axis on May 28, 1914, only. Thereafter it was made movable about a vertical axis and was connected through cables to a Curtiss steering wheel mounted on a Curtiss control post directly in front of the pilot.
23  KEEL:  A fixed vertical surface underneath the main frame mea- suring 3'2" in height by 6' aver- age length. Area 19 sq. ft. (L.M.. pl. 53)	KEEL: Entirely omitted
24  LATERAL STABILITY: The dihedral only was used for maintaining lateral balance.  (L.M. p. 45)	LATERAL  STABILITY:  Three means were used for securing lateral balance at  Hammondsport:  The  dihedral angle as used by Langley, A rudder which "serves as a vertical aileron" (Zahm affidavit p. 6) and the Penaud tail rudder.  The last two constituted a system "identical in principle with that of Complainant's [Wright] com- bined warping of the wings and the use of the vertical rudder".  (Zahm affidavit p. 6).
25 LONGITUDINAL STABILITY: Lang- ley relied upon the Penaud system of inherent stability for maintain- ing the longitudinal equilibrium. "For the preservation of the equi- librium [longitudinal] of the aero- drome, though the aviator might assist by  such slight movements as he was able to make in the limited space of the aviator's car, the main reliance was upon the Penaud tail."  (L.M. p. 215).	LONGITUDINAL STABILITY: At Ham- mondsport the Penaud inherent longi- tudinal  stability  was  supplemented with an elevator system of control.
26 STEERING: Steering in the-hori- zontal plane was done entirely by the split-vane steering rudder lo- cated underneath the main frame. (L.M. p. 214)	STEERING: On one day, May 28, I9I4 steering in the horizontal plane was done with the vertical rudder which had been substituted for the original Langrley  split-vane  steering rudder. After May 28th the steering was done by the vertical surface of the tail rud- der (Zahm affidavit p. 7), which in 1903 was immovable about a vertical axis, (L.M. p. 214)
27  MOTOR:  Langley 5 cylinder radial.	MOTOR:   Langley motor modified.
28 IGNITION: Jump spark with dry cell batteries.  (L.M. p. 262).	IGNITION:  Jump spark with magneto.
29 CARBURETOR:  Balzer carburetor consisting of a chamber filled with lumps of porous cellular wood saturated with gasoline.  The air was drawn through this wood. There was no float feed.  (L.M. P 225).	CARBURETOR:   Automobile  type  with a  float feed.
30  RADIATOR:  Tubes with radiating fins.	RADIATOR:  Automobile radiator of honeycomb type.
31  PROPELLERS:   Langley  propellers (L.M. p1.53~ PP· 178-182).	PROPELLERS: Langley propellers modi- fied "after fashion of early Wright blades".
32  LAUNCHING:   Catapult  mounted on a houseboat.	LAUNCIIING: Hydroplanes, developed 1909-1914, attached to the machine.
33  FLOATS:    Five   cylindrical   tin floats, with conical ends, attached to underside of main frame at ap- propriate points,  and  about six feet above lowest part of machine.	FLOATS:  Two wooden hydroplane floats, mounted beneath and about 6 feet to either side of the center of the machine at the lateral extremities of the Pratt system of trussing used for bracing the wing spars of the forward wings; and one (part of the time two) tin cylindrical floats with conical ends, similar to but larger than the Lang- ley floats, mounted at the center of the Pratt system of trussing used for bracing the rear wings.  All of the floats  were  mounted  from  four  to five feet lower than the floats of the original Langley, thus keeping the en- tire machine above the water.
34 TOTAL WEIGHT: With pilot 850 pounds (L.M. p. 256).	TOTAL WEIGHT:  With pilot, 1170 pounds.
35 CENTER GRAVITY: 3/8" above line of thrust.	CENTER GRAVITY: About one foot be- low line of thrust.

HOME (Click)
LANGLEY'S EARLY RUBBER MODELS (Click)
LANGLEY'S LATER RUBBER MODELS (Click)

Please feel free to write me at dannysoar@worldnet.att.net

The 2nd Picture- As the caption says it is from the SmithsonianI got this fromThe World in the Air by Francis Trevelyan Miller. More about this book can be found in the fantasy Zepplelin page.

The 3rd Picture- Another Smithsonain pic. I found this copy in a reprint of an ancient Janes

The 4th Picture- The picture of the Bridges &c. is by Thomas de Thomon an 18th century Frenchman