Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/854

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��Popular Science Monthly

��Biplane Which Crashed Through a Tile Roof, Injuring Only Its Wings

���It was a lucky chance that the machine struck a comparatively fragile roof, in tearing through which it could expend its energy. The broad wings cut through a corresponding expanse of roofing

��ONE of the pioneers of modern flight was Otto Lilienthal. He used to run down a hill with a glider (two outstretched wings connected by a handle-bar which he grasped), lift up his legs when he had gained sufficient momentum, and float down for several hundred feet. To main- tain his balance, he would throw his weight around. Sometimes he was not quick enough and he would come crashing down to the ground. He used to say that his crude, motorless monoplane was not dangerous because if he could only manage to slide down edgewise, the wing would act as a buffer. To be sure, the wing's ribs would be broken; but then his own would be saved. He wrote of one instance in particular when he lost control be- cause he was too tired to throw his weight to the front. A tail-slide and a dive resulted. His life was saved by an elastic-curved bar of willow wood which he had added in front of the wings.

The American apprentice who flew the machine, the tail of which is seen in the photograph above, will probably endorse Lilienthal's ob- servations. At an altitude of five hundred feet the American lost control and plowed through the roof of a barrack building as if

��his machine were a battering-ram. That he escaped without a scratch once more illus- trates the old mechanical truth that when two bodies collide the weaker collapses and acts as a buffer for the stronger. The accident also demonstrates the protection afforded by a modern tractor biplane, pro- vided, as it is, with a deep cock-pit in a very substantial body and constructed so that the weight of the machinery is all in front of the aviator.

���A Toe Spring for Enlarged Joints and Bunions

ONE effective method of dealing with crooked toes, enlarged joints and bunions is to bring the toes into the proper position with a toe spring. This removes the cause of the enlarged joints and bunions, which will naturally disappear as a result. The toe spring is worn at night, and if necessary may be worn also during the day with a special shoe; it is attached to the foot in such a manner as to cause no discomfort or inconvenience. In cases of severe soreness or inflammation, an ointment applied to the sore part pre- vents irritation from the spring.

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