Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/82

 Models for American Airplanes

��Our manufacturers are turning to Europe to get the latest airplane designs

���Although an American invention, the airplane has received its greatest development at the hands of Europeans. The avia- tor no longer has to guess. There are instruments under his eyes to tell him everything of importance

At the right is a model which our manufacturers are following closely. Every part has been the result of dangerous ex- perimentation and prac- tical usefulness. Note the position of the dum- my machine gun, on top

��Fastenings to main beam of uDper wings

��Gasoline tank

Emplacement tor Gnome en qine(nooa is missing)

cnannel 1or exhaust

Shield sep- arating moto from tuse- .'age

Axle oT running gear

��structural details and propor- tions that airplanes of to-day are superior to the old ma- chines, not to mention the question of safety. The loca- tion of the sockets for the mainbeams of each wing dis- closes, for instance, that if the lower plane is made much smaller, it should be mounted far enough behind the upper plane so that the struts can be made to converge downward and be fastened only to the frontbeam of the lower wing. This gives a very strong tri- angular construction, of small air resistance that dispenses with diago- nal wire- bracing.

���THE machine pictured, is the last word in fighting airplanes that de- rive the utmost efficiency from the extreme speed and the quick maneuvering and climbing that can be attained by a small, one-man machine. Cutting down the size of the lower plane, makes it superior to other small biplanes. This type has recently been imitated by the Germans in their latest small Albatross fighter, as we point out in another article published elsewhere in this issue. Parts of the latest Nieuport have been taken to serve as a model for the details of American-built "chasers." It is in

��Condemned Army Boots Make Serviceable Roads

WASTE boot leather has been used for making roads, in England. Combining it with slag, granite, limestone, asphalt and bitumen, a material was ob- tained which possessed the hardness and rigidity of the ordinary tar macadam road and at the same time reduced dust and was more resilient than the usual road. Although it was sufficiently hard to bear heavy traffic, it yielded without cracking on the surface. It was patented in 1910, under the name of "broughite."

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