Re: Newcomb's paper

[William Beaty <billb@ESKIMO.COM>]

On Sun, 22 Aug 1999, Inge H. A. Pettersen wrote:

> Do you (or anyone else on the list) have a reference to this paper of
> Newcomb ?

I'll poke around.  I searched www but didn't find a ref.   I recall seeing
an article which analyzed Newcomb's paper and found that the main problem
was that he didn't predict the low weight/power ratio of gasoline engines.
They also found a couple of other mistakes, and if these were corrected,
Newcomb's math showed that even an efficient steam engine could have been
used.


  "We are probably nearing the limit of all we can know about astronomy."
      - Simon Newcomb, astronomer, 1888


  "The demonstration that no possible combination of known substances,
   known forms of machinery, and known forms of force can be united in a
   practicable machine by which men shall fly for long distances through
   the air, seems to the writer as complete as it is possible for the
   demonstration of any physical fact to be."  - astronomer S. Newcomb,
   1906

     _________________________________________________________________

     "... The limit which the rarity of the air places upon its power of
     supporting wings, taken in connection with the combined weight of a
     man and a machine, make a drawback which we should not too hastily
     assume our ability to overcome. The example of the bird does not
     prove that man can fly. The hundred and fifty pounds of dead weight
     which the manager of the machine must add to it over and above that
     necessary in the bird may well prove an insurmountable obstacle to
     success."
     "The practical difficulties in the way of realizing the movement of
     such an object are obvious. The aeroplane must have its propellers.
     These must be driven by an engine with a source of power. Weight is
     an essential quality of every engine. The propellers must be made
     of metal, which has its weakness, and which is liable to give way
     when its speed attains a certain limit. And, granting complete
     success, imagine the proud possessor of the aeroplane darting
     through the air at a speed of several hundred feet per second! It
     is the speed alone that sustains him. Once he slackens his speed,
     down he begins to fall. He may, indeed, increase the inclination of
     his aeroplane. Then he increases the resistance necessary to move
     it. Once he stops he falls a dead mass. How shall he reach the
     ground without destroying his delicate machinery?"

   Source: Newcomb, Simon. Outlook for the Flying Machine. The
   Independent, October 22, 1903. pp. 2508, 2510-2511.
     _________________________________________________________________

   Simon Newcomb also wrote:

     "...The demonstration that no possible combination of known
     substances, known forms of machinery and known forms of force, can
     be united in a practical machine by which man shall fly long
     distances through the air, seems to the writer as complete as it is
     possible for the demonstration of any physical fact to be."

   Source: Clarke, Arthur C. Profiles of the Future. New York, Harper and
   Row, 1962. pp. 2-3.
     _________________________________________________________________



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