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Horatio Phillips' March 13, 1908 To the Editor of Engineering Sir - ... my frames of sustainer-blades are placed one behind another. In all my previous machines of the gliding type I have used only one frame of sustainers: but in my last I sacrificed a certain amount of efficiency in order to obtain longitudinal stability. But if I closed up the four frames frames of sustainers until they touched, the total width of the blades would be only 6 in. It simply amounts to this: take a frame of sustainer blades 6 in. wide, the under surface of blades from to a parabolic curve. Cut it into four and place them 4 ft. apart. During a passage of a particle of air through the four frames of sustainer -blades, it is acted upon the sustainer-blades for a distance of only 6 in. The efficiency of this method is at least twice as great as that obtained by any other known system ... With regard to my accidents, only one was due to violent concussion with the earth, and that was through turning the horizontal rudder, in the excitement of the moment, in the wrong direction. The other accidents have been caused by not stopping the machine soon enough, and running into hedges or trees. With a gliding-machine there is no difficulty in coming down safely: all that is necessary is to keep way on against the wind, and manipulate the horizontal rudder so that the rear of the machine is the first to touch the ground ... Yours faithfully, Horatio
Phillips
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