Drone

“ As he listened it rose in a sudden thin crescendo that rippled along his spine like a file rasping over naked nerve-ends. For one shuddering second there seemed to be an intangible living quality in that metallic drone, as though some nameless creature sang in horrible exultance. ”

“ Without a word Guinness shoved back the lever controlling the disintegrators, at the same time whirling a small wheel full over. The thudding drone died away to a whisper, and was replaced by sharper thundering, as the stream of the propulsion rockets beneath the sphere was released. ”

“ The Solarite gave a violent lurch as it shot vertically aloft at tremendous acceleration. Arcot reached over swiftly and snapped the switch of the microphone. There burst in upon them the familiar roaring drone of a hundred huge propellers. No slightest hum of motor, only the vast whining roar of the mighty props. ”

“ In the busy hive of twentieth-century civilization scant space has been provided for drones. The drone is a minus quantity in the problem of life; instead of adding to the common weal, he is ever subtracting from it. Like an owl he sits in the gloom of indolence hooting at the caravan of events. The eye of the world is quick to observe the man who is resting on his oars. A more graphic picture of the man who is ever magnifying the world's duty to him, and minimizing his duty to the world, could not be painted than that one which James Russell Lowell has penned ”

“ Unlike the queen or the worker bees, the drone has no sting, and so you may let him crawl over your hand without fear of being hurt, even though he should become angry.
The life of the drone is a life of luxury and ease, for he does not work in the hive, neither does he gather any nectar or pollen. He is fed by the workers, and he also takes good care to help himself from the storehouses, whenever he thinks he would like a little more food. ”

“ I then justified my position on those days by pleading the desire to be a drone—a life which, as I have sketched it out, seems to me to be wholly admirable. I wish to Heaven I could be in the least like those adorable people. Misbegotten industry stands in my way, and a deep-rooted, but equally misbegotten, idea that if I am very industrious I shall one day write a good story. Also, I have not the drone temperament necessary for dronage. I am not, in fact, any longer defending myself, but extolling other people. ”

“ The drone is without a sting, and, indeed, seems never to show fight at all. Its jaws might furnish no despicable weapons, but the insect seems to lack spirit to use them, even in self-defence, and when attacked by the mandibles only of the workers, manifests no inclination to employ its own against its tormentors. Struggles to escape, and haste to flee, seem to betray its absence of courage ”

“ Below the flying-men the packed thousands are crouched still to earth. At the sound of the engine's drone, at sight of the wheeling shape, square miles of country stiffen to immobility, men scurry under cover of wall or bush, the long, moving lines in the trenches halt and sink down and hang their heads (next to movement the light dots of upturned, staring faces are the quickest and surest betrayal of the earth-men to the air-men) , the open roads are emptied of men into the ditches and under the trees. ”

“ The continuous drone of the engine in front of you and the whistling of the wind through the wires all add to this sense of loneliness, while the bracing air, and the knowledge that you have some of the finest machines and companions in the patrol, make you feel that flying is absolute perfection.
“Sometimes, however, you have a rude awakening, either in the form of a ‘wop’ from Archie, or the ‘rat-tat-tat-tat’ of a watchful enemy’s machine gun, or again a sickening check in the rhythmic beat of your engine. ”

“ You will remember that the drone is furnished with a far greater number of facets than the worker. Consequently the compound eyes of the drone are much larger, and they not only take up the [18] whole of the space at the sides of the head, but also extend right over the top, covering the position occupied by the simple eyes in the worker. ”

“ In the union pipes the drones are separate pipes having keys played by the elbow, which correspond to the sliders in the musette drone and produce the same kind of harmonic bass. The modern Egyptian arghool consists of a kind of clarinet with a drone attached to it by means of waxed thread; in this case the beating reed of the drone is set in vibration directly by the breath of the performer, who takes both mouthpieces into his mouth, without the medium of a wind reservoir. ”

“ The drones provide a background or additional volume of sound, which gives body to the music. The big drone is fitted with two, and the others with one tuning slide each. The drones are interchangeable, so that the big drone can be placed in the right or left stock to suit a right or left-handed player. When the bag is filled with wind the pressure of the player’s arm must be so regulated that there is always just sufficient force of air to bring out the notes clearly without interfering with the steady action of the 72drones. ”

“ So far as I could ever see, the drone seems to live and thrive admirably until he is either killed off by the workers, starved to death, or gallantly yields up his life in performing his sole function, which he invariably does in the performance of this function in the act of copulation. ”

“ The drone is larger than either queen or worker, and has enormous eyes, which meet one another over the top of the head; he has no wax-secreting organs, no pollen-basket, no sting. His antennæ are longer, his hum is deeper, his sole function is to fertilize a queen, and this done, he promptly dies. Failing in his first flight, he may make yet other ventures, but the chances are that he will die without attaining the only purpose for which he exists. ”

“ He looked very fierce as he spoke, buzzing and twitching his feelers at every step.
"Exactly!" cried another Drone. "If I had a sting, I would lead the attack. As it is, I may be useful in guarding the comb. It is a great pity that Drones have no stings." You would have thought, to hear him speak, that if he had been given a sting like those of the Workers, [Pg 69] not all the Bees in the tree could keep him from fighting.
While the Drones were talking about war, some of the Workers sent to their Queen for advice. "Tell us," they said, "how to drive away the Kingbird. ”

“ The soldier and sailor may not, perhaps, enjoy life, but they are useful in other ways. The drone is only useful in this one. He must never remit his efforts, and must never want to; he must ‘rush,’ as the Old Humbug said, all the time, for if he ceases to rush he ceases to justify his existence at all. And—a heavenly destiny, one, too, beyond all desert of his—he does, if he is at all a conscientious drone, make other people a shade more cheerfully disposed than they would otherwise have been. ”

“ General Merchandise, could you put him on your Police Force?"
"Certainly," said the General.
"Good," said Billy. "That settles a life job on Bumbus. And now for Drone."
"I don't have to go to work, do I?" whined Drone.
"Indeed you do, and I'm going to get you a position as a truckman among the Bee workers."
"Then I wouldn't be a Drone," whimpered he.
[278]
"Exactly," said Billy. "There is no room in this world for Drones. General, let some of your soldiers give him a shave, a bath, a square meal, some respectable clothes, and put him to work." ”

“ There was never any apparent reason to believe that the airplanes caused the enemy even passing uneasiness, but we were always agitated as their menacing drone approached, always grateful when they trailed off to distant skies. ”

“ III.—TUNING THE PIPES. When the pipes are first struck in, the big and outer drones should be stopped by placing a finger over the hole of the bell of each. In doing this or at any time when only one hand holds the chanter, the E note should be sounded. The centre drone being nearest to the ear should, as a rule, be tuned first. Should this drone not be in tune with the chanter reed, a discord between them will ensue, and to get a chord the point of the drone must be moved up or down, as the case may require. ”

“ The most characteristic feature of the bag-pipe is not the obvious bag or air-reservoir from which the instrument derives its name in most languages, but the fixed harmony of the buzzing drones. The principle of the drone, i.e. the beating-reed sunk some three inches down the pipe, was known to the ancient Egyptians. In a pipe discovered in a mummy-case and now in the museum at Turin, was found a straw beating-reed in position. The arghoul (q.v.) , a modern Egyptian instrument, possesses the characteristic feature of drone and chaunter without the bag. ”

“ The Man of Mystery The high pitched drone of a wasp engine sounded over the municipal field at Atkinson and Tim Murphy, famous flying reporter of the Atkinson News, poked a grease-smudged face out from behind the cowling of a trim biplane and squinted skyward. ”

“ There is no beauty at all in "The Drone." There is little beauty possible to such a subject realistically treated as that of the exposure of the utter sham that is the pretended inventor of a bellows, a man who has for years fattened on a brother's tolerance and family pride. ”

“ In the presence of the drones, there were no more natural enmities. For the drones were the Enemy. Their coming meant that all life was kindred; deep in the heritage of every people was the almost instinctive knowledge that, if the drones were not checked as tradition decreed, their blind automatic propagation would end by sweeping every living thing from the face of the Earth. ”

“ The drone makes no resistance, except to pull back and try to get away; but (putting yourself in his place) with one bee a-hold of your collar or the hair of your head, and another a-hold of each arm or leg, and still another feeling for your waistbands with his sting, the odds are greatly against you. ”

“ Dworn knew that if his machine failed him in battle he would die. For men fought each other viciously, with no bond of brotherhood, in this—
World Of The Drone by Robert Abernathy
The beetle woke from a dreamless sleep, yawned, stretched cramped limbs and smiled to himself. In the west the sunset's last glow faded. Stars sprang out in the clear desert sky, dimmed only by the white moon that rose full and brilliant above the eastern horizon. ”

“ The drone, as Dr. Dzeirzon established, comes from an unimpregnated egg—the virgin queen, and sometimes even workers, being able to lay eggs which will produce drones. As a rule, drones are found in colonies whenever they are needed, or likely to be needed to impregnate the young queens, which is usually during the swarming season and honey harvest. ”

“ The drones of the musette and of the union pipes of Ireland are also constructed on an altogether different plan. Instead of having long cumbersome pipes, pointing over the shoulder, the musette drones consist of a short barrel containing lengths of tubing necessary for four or five drones, reduced to the most compact form and resembling the rackett (q.v.) ”

“ The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering o’er to executors pale
The lazy, yawning drone.
Henry V., Act I., S. 2. THE DRONE.
FROM “THE FEMININE MONARCHY, OR THE HISTORY OF BEES.” The drone is a gross, stingless bee, that spendeth his time in gluttony and idleness; for howsoever he brave it with his round, velvet cap, his side gown, his full paunch, and his loud voice, yet is he but an idle companion, living by the sweat of others’ brows. He worketh not at all, either at home or abroad, and yet spendeth as much as two laborers ”

“ The drone-bee may be known by his broad body, long wings and large eyes, which almost meet on the top of his head. The drone is stingless. The queen, on the contrary, possesses a sting, but she cannot pierce the skin with it, so we may handle her, when necessary, without fear. ”

“ It mounted rapidly through a tempest of tingling crystalline notes into a shrill piping and was gone... then back it rushed from piping to the drone... then up and out and down... again and again. And all over North America the hordes of robots stopped in whatever they were doing. ”

“ Drone is not one person but about eight or ten. To make him I clapped the gaiters of one ecclesiastic round the legs of another, added the sermons of a third and the character of a fourth, and so let him start on his way in the book to pick up such individual attributes as he might find for himself. ”

“ The whole body of a drone is in a state of vibration when it hums. Though deprived of its wings, it is capable of producing a sound exactly similar, and probably the same with its former hum: even when the legs are cut off, the trunk retains its tremulous motion, and utters an audible noise. ”

“ As for Frank, he contented himself with sending the Golden Eagle engine up and down the speed scale from 100 to 1500 revolutions a minute. All her cylinders worked perfectly and the steady drone, rising in intensity as her young owner speeded the mechanism up, showed that the motor of the big craft meant to get down to work without a skip or a break. ”

“ Both sides paid much attention to bombing, and our Airmen freely besprinkled enemy territory with their bombs by day, whereas the foe rarely attempted raids over our lines during daylight. However, after dusk, the air was filled with the planes, as the weather was particularly favourable, and the hum of the machines coming and going was incessant throughout the whole night. At times one could scarcely get any sleep for the continual drone they made, like the hum of gigantic bees around their hives. ”