Dick Hamilton's Airship; Or, A Young Millionaire in the Clouds
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CHAPTER XIV
THE TRIAL FLIGHT
"All ready now; take her out!"
"Yes, and look out for the side wings! That doorway isn't any toowide."
"No. We'll have to cut some off, I guess!"
"Say, it's big; isn't it?"
These were the comments of Dick Hamilton and his chums as the fine, newairship, the Abaris, was wheeled out of the shed where it had beenconstructed. And certainly the young millionaire might be proud of hisnewest possession. Mr. Vardon and his men had labored well on theaeroplane.
It was rather a tight squeeze to get the big craft out of the barndoors, wide as they were, but it was successfully accomplished, and thecraft now stood on a level stretch of grass, ready for her first trialflight.
Save for a few small details, and the stocking and provisioning of thecraft in preparation for the trip across the continent, everything hadbeen finished. The big motor had been successfully tested, and haddeveloped even more power than had been expected. The propellersdelivered a greater thrust on the air than was actually required tosend the Abaris along.
"We'll have that for emergencies," said Dick. "Such as getting aboutin a hurricane, and the like."
"I hope we don't get into anything like that," remarked Mr. Vardon,"but if we do, I think we can weather it."
"How does the gyroscope stabilizer work?" asked Paul, who with Innis,had made Dick's house his home while the airship was being built.
"It does better than I expected," replied the inventor. "I was a bitdoubtful, on account of having to make it so much larger than my firstmodel, whether or not it would operate. But it does, perfectly,--atleast it has in the preliminary tests. It remains to be seen whetheror not it will do so when we're in the air, but I trust it will."
"At any rate, Larson hasn't had a chance to tamper with it," said JackButt, grimly.
"No, he hasn't been around," agreed Dick. "I wonder what has become ofhim?"
As yet the young millionaire knew nothing of the plans of his UncleEzra, for he had been too busy to visit his relatives in Dankville.
"Well, let's wheel her over to the starting ground," proposed Dick, asthey stood around the airship. A level stretch had been prepared backof the barn, leading over a broad meadow, and above this the testflight would be made, as it offered many good landing places.
The airship was so large and heavy, as compared with the ordinarybiplane, that a team of horses was used to pull it to the startingplace. But heavy as it necessarily had to be, to allow the enclosedcabin to be carried, the young millionaire and his aviator hoped thatthe power of the motor would carry them aloft and keep them there.
"Go ahead!" cried Dick, as the team was hitched to the long rope madefast to the craft. "Take it easy now, we don't want an accident beforewe get started. Grit, come back here! This is nothing to get excitedover," for the bulldog was wildly racing here and there, barkingloudly. He did not understand the use of the big, queer-lookingmachine.
"Well, I'm just in time, I see!" exclaimed a voice from the directionof the house. Dick turned and cried:
"Hello, Larry, old man. I'm glad you got here. I was afraid youwouldn't," and he vigorously shook hands with the young reporter, whoalso greeted the other cadets. Grit leaped joyfully upon him, for heand Larry were great friends.
"Going to take her up, Dick?" asked Larry Dexter.
"Going to try," was the cautious answer.
"Want to take a chance?"
"I sure do! It won't be the first chance I've taken. And I may get agood story out of this. Got orders from the editor not to let anythingget away from me."
"Well, I hope you have a success to report, and not a failure,"remarked Paul.
"Same here," echoed Beeby.
When the airship had been hauled to the edge of the starting ground, asmooth, hard-packed, level space, inclining slightly down grade, so asto give every advantage, a careful inspection was made of every part ofthe craft.
As I have explained, all the vital parts of the Abaris were in theenclosed cabin, a unique feature of the airship. In that, located"amid-ships," was the big motor, the various controls, the living,sleeping and dining-rooms and storage compartments for oil, gasoleneand supplies. Naturally there was no excess room, and quarters werealmost as cramped as on a submarine, where every inch counts.
But there was room enough to move about, and have some comfort. On anenclosed platform back of the cabin there was more space. That waslike an open deck, and those on it would be protected from the fiercerushing of the air, by means of the cabin. This cabin, I might add,was built wedge-shaped, with the small part pointing ahead, to cut downthe air resistance as much as possible.
The big propellers were of course outside the cabin, and in the rear,where was located the horizontal rudder, for guiding the craft to rightor left. At the rear was also an auxiliary vertical rudder, forelevating or lowering the craft. The main elevation rudder was infront, and this was of a new shape, never before used, as far as Mr.Vardon knew.
There was another feature of the Abaris that was new and one whichadded much to the comfort and safety of those aboard her. This had todo with the starting of the motor and the operation of the big woodenpropellers.
In most aeroplanes, whether of the single or double type, thepropeller, or propellers, are directly connected to the motor. In somemonoplanes the motor, especially the Gnome, itself rotates, carryingthe blades with it. In biplanes, such as the Burgess, Wright orCurtiss, it is the custom to operate the propellers directly from themotor, either by means of a shaft, or by sprocket chains.
But, in any case, the starting of the engine means the whirling of thepropellers, for they are directly connected. This is why, when oncethe engine stops in mid-air, it can not be started again. Or at leastif it is started it is mostly a matter of chance in getting it to gounder compression or by the spark. There is no chance for the aviatorto get out and whirl the propellers which are, in a measure, what aflywheel is to an automobile.
Also that is why the aviator has to be in his seat at the controls, andhave some other person start his machine for him, by turning over thepropeller, or propellers until the motor fires.
Lately however, especially since the talk of the flight across theAtlantic, a means has been found to allow the aviator, or some helperwith him, to start the engine once it has stalled in midair. This isaccomplished by means of a sprocket chain gear and a crank connected tothe engine shaft. The turning handle is within reach of the aviator.
But Mr. Vardon, and Dick, working together, had evolved somethingbetter than this. Of course in their craft, with space to move aboutin the cabin, they had an advantage over the ordinary aviator, who, incase of engine trouble, has no place to step to to make an examination.
But Dick's engine was not directly connected to the propellers. Therewas a clutch arrangement, so that the motor could be started, with thepropellers out of gear, and they could be "thrown in," just as anautomobile is started. This gave greater flexibility, and also allowedfor the reversing of the propellers to make a quick stop.
And it was not necessary for Dick to "crank" his motor. An electricself-starter did this for him, though in case of emergency the enginecould be started by hand.
In fact everything aboard the Abaris was most up-to-date, and it was onthis that Dick counted in winning the big prize.
"Well, I guess everything is as ready as it ever will be," remarked theyoung millionaire, as he and the aviator made a final inspection of thecraft. "Get aboard, fellows!"
"He's as cheerful about it as though he were inviting us to a hanging,"laughed Paul.
"Oh, I'm not worrying about any accident," said Dick quickly. "I'monly afraid we've made her too big and won't get any speed out of her.And speed is what's going to count in this trans-continental flight."
"She'll be speedy enough," predicted Mr. Vardon, with a confident air.
Paul, Innis, Larry and Mr. Vardon entered the cabin. Then Di
ck wentin, followed by Jack Butt, who remained to tighten a guy wire that wasnot just to his satisfaction.
"Well, are we all here?" asked Dick, looking around.
"Yes," answered Paul, and there was a note of quiet apprehension in hisvoice. Indeed it was rather a risk they were all taking, but they hadconfidence in Mr. Vardon.
"Let her go," said Dick to the aviator.
"No, you have the honor of starting her, Mr. Hamilton," insisted Mr.Vardon, motioning to the electrical apparatus.
"All right! Here goes," announced the wealthy youth, as he pressed thestarting handle. Everyone was on the alert, but nothing happened. Themotor remained "dead."
"What's the trouble?" asked Dick.
"You've always got to turn that switch first, before you turn thestarting handle," explained Jack.
"Oh, sure! How stupid of me!" cried Dick. "And I've started it inpractice a score of times. Well, now, once more."
This time, when the switch had been thrown, the motor started at oncewith a throbbing roar. Faster and faster it rotated until the wholecraft trembled. There was considerable noise, for the muffler was notfully closed. Dick wanted to warm-up the machinery first.
"That'll do!" shouted Mr. Vardon, who was watching the gage that toldthe number of revolutions per minute. "Throw in your clutch!"
"Now to see if she'll rise or not," murmured Dick. He pulled the leverthat closed the muffler, thus cutting down, in a great measure, thethrob of the motor. Then, with a look at his chums, he threw in theclutch. The great propellers began to revolve, and soon were flyingaround on their axles with the swiftness of light.
Slowly the Abaris moved forward along the ground.
"We're off!" cried Paul, excitedly.
"Not quite yet," answered Dick. "I want more power than we've got now."
He had it, almost in a moment, for the airship increased her speedacross the slightly downward slope. Faster and faster she rolled alongon the rubber-tired wheels.
"Now!", cried Dick, with his hand on the lever of the elevating rudder."Look out for yourselves, fellows!"
He gave a backward pull. A thrill seemed to go through the wholecraft. Her nose rose in the air. The forward wheels left the ground.Then the back ones tilted up.
Up shot the Abaris at an easy angle. Up and up! Higher and higher!
"We're doing it!" cried Dick, as he looked from the pilot house windowto the earth fast falling below him. "Fellows, she's a success! We'regoing up toward the clouds!"