Synopses & Reviews
PREFACE FORRIUL an Ed equations are necessary evils they represent, aa it were, the shorthand of the mathematician and the engineer, forming as khey do the simplest and most convenien t method of expressing certain relations between facts and phenomena which appear complicated when dreased in everyday garb. Nevertheless, it is to be feared that their very appearance is forbidding and strikes terror to the hearts of many readers not possessed of a mathematical turn of mind. However baseless this prejudice may be as indeed it is-the fact remains that it exjsts, and has in the past deterred many from the study of the principles of the aeroplane, which is playing a part of ever-increasing importance in the life of the community. The present work forms an attempt to cater for this clasa of reader. It has throughout been written in the simplest possible language, and contains in its whole extent not a single formula. It treats of every one of the principles of flight and of every one of the problems involved in the mechanics of the aeroplane, and this without demanding from the reader more than the most elementary knowledge of arithmetic. The chapters on stability should prove of particular intereat to the pilot and the student, containing as they do several new theories of the highest importance hero fully, set out for the first time. In conclusion, I have to thank Lieuteuant T. OB. Hubbard, my c llaborat o fo r r many years, for his kind and diligent perusal of the proofs and for many helpful suggestions. CONTENTS CHAPTER I YAOK FLIGHT IN STILL AIR-SPEED . . I CHAPTKB 11 FLlQFIT IN STILL AIR-POWER . . 16 FLIGHT IN STILL AIR-POWER C l u d e d ., 35 CHAPTER IV FLIGHT IK BTILL AIR-TIIEPOWHIR-PLAXT, 53 CHAPTER V FLIGHT IN SPILL AIR-THE POIVER-PLAXT concladed . . 70 CHAPTER V1 STABILITY IN BTILL AIR-LONGITUDINAL dTABILTTY CHAPTER V11 BTABILITY 1X STILL AIR- AOKUITU INAG STABTTJITY 0 7 - cluded . . 115 CHAPTER V111 BTABILITY IN STILT, AIR-LATERAL STABILITY, . 142 CI-IAPTER IX STABILITY IN STILL AI--LATERAL STABILITY cmluded, DIRECTIONAL STABILITY, TURNING . . 161 CHAPTKB X THE EFFECT OF 171ND ON AEROIUNES . 183 vii Flight without Formulae Simple Discussions on the Mechanics of the Aeroplane CHAPTER I FLIGHT IN STILL AIR NOWADAY ev S e ryone understands something of the main principles of s oplane flight. It may be demonstrated in the simplest possible may by plunging the hand in water and trying to move it at some speed harizontally, after first slightly inclining the palm, so as to meet or attack the fluid at a amctll angle of incidence. It will be noticed at once that, although the hand remains very nearly horizontal, and though it is moved hori. zo. n tally, the water exerts upon it a certain amount of prewure directed nearly ve ticcclly upwards and tending to lift the hand...
Synopsis
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.