Hydroplane

“ As Larry banked and came around on a new slant across the hydroplane’s path, which seemed not so true to the straight line as it had been, Dick secured a parachute-equipped landing flare, sent it over safely past the wings, and watched the white glare light up the surface of the water. ”

“ This explained the fact that the train had not pulled up. Even if the men could alight in time, the trees must completely spoil their chance of pouring in an effective volley. The hydroplane was skimming along at such an enormous speed that they could no more have taken good aim at it through the trees than if they had been park palings. ”

“ Meantime, as best we can, we chase the sheering hydroplane ahead that seems endowed with every chameleon gift of the classic gods. It vanishes, invisible, in a drift of fog, and though we con a course as steady as a cat on eggs, a clearing comes to show us its white feather broad on the bows and edging off at an angle to dip under the thick of the mist! ”

“ Your man will pick up much higher, and to the south-east."
And presently the latest type of Fleet hydroplane, a two-seater Batboat carrying two bareheaded young gentlemen, moaned into view, chasing its own wave-skipping, flying shadow at full stretch for the shore, came down in a long mallard-like glide, skidding over the water as the wild-duck does, and in a ruffle of glittering spray, continued the home-journey in the character of a motor-boat. ”

“ Followers of the sport of motor boating, which has made thousands of converts during the past few years, are already turning to the hydroplane, which skims over the water at much greater speed and less power. ”

“ Will first made a clay crucible in which he collected the liquid obtained from the trees; then, connecting this by means of a metal pipe from the engine with a water-bottle he was accustomed to take with him on the hydroplane, he lit a small fire, borrowing a box of matches from Machado, and distilled over the vapour from the crucible to the bottle. ”

“ Even now I doubt not the engine is getting up steam. The hydroplane cannot go fast in the dark. The train will be first at the junction. We shall be rescued."
"That will be Captain Espejo's service, not yours."
"But we shall be taken on board the hydroplane, Excellency. The painter is broken; they cannot tow us, or if they can, they will not wish so to check their speed. Suppose I am able to damage the engine, Excellency?" he whispered, so that Azito could not hear him. "Then their chance of outstripping the train is gone." ”

“ Although the hydroplane can at times penetrate into inland regions, it is not a very practical means of locomotion when away from the sea. In our case we would have to travel forty miles to arrive at the determined spot. ”

“ They had no doubt of the power of the motor to generate sufficient speed to lift the hydroplane from the surface; their only concern was the stability of it when flying. Opening out the planes, which lay folded close to the vessel, like the wings of a dragonfly, when not required for aerial use, they fixed the collapsible stays and switched their motor on to the air tractor at the bows. The vessel was already planing under the stern propeller ”

“ The petrol tank having been repaired, he could make use of the last gallon of spirit contained in the almost empty can. It would suffice to carry the hydroplane at a low speed perhaps a dozen miles up-stream; then they must trust to their poles. Will made sure that the sparking apparatus was in good order; the whole party went aboard, with two prisoners now instead of one; and while the morning was still young the hydroplane started for the upper river. At first Will hesitated to set the engine going, in case it was heard by the enemy ”

“ Now and then one or the other would run aground, which caused delay, but no danger, the speed being so low. None of the party knew what hour of the night it was when they came into the tributary, the scene of Will's first meeting with Azito. It was, in fact, nearly two o'clock--time to transfer the prisoner to the hydroplane and increase the speed. Ruggles threw out the little anchor, to allow the yacht to draw alongside.
"There are six of us. We can never all squeeze into the hydroplane," he said, when Will was only a foot or two away. "General Carabaño will take room for two." ”

“ The hawser having been made fast, Will started the motor and set the hydroplane going at a speed of about ten miles an hour. To go faster while it was still dark was unwise: he hoped also unnecessary. Azito stood forward with his pole: José was at the engine with his oil-can; Machado, to his disappointment, was given a seat beside Will at the steering-wheel. ”

“ Five minutes afterwards he sprang on board the hydroplane, cast off, and set her going at full speed. The current was with him, and the vessel whizzed along at forty knots, Azito standing with his pole a few feet from the wind screen, holding in his left hand a hunch of bread from which he took a bite occasionally. Will employed his left hand in the same way, steering with the right. ”

“ And with variable speed must probably come variable sail area—in preference to tilting—so that the fabric must be reefed on its frame. Certainly two men, it would seem, will be needed!
Better methods for starting are required. The hydroplane idea promises much in this respect. With a better understanding and control of the conditions associated with successful and safe descent—perhaps with improved appliances therefor—the problem of ascent will also be partly solved. If such result can be achieved, these measures of control must be made automatic. ”

“ Knowing this to be impossible in the water in which the boat then was, I came up to 20 feet to investigate, and observed a large mine preceding the periscope at a distance of about 20 feet, which was apparently hung up by its moorings to the port hydroplane." Hydroplanes are the fins at bow and stern which regulate a submarine's diving. A mine weighs anything from hundredweights to half-tons. ”

“ The locomotive was kept constantly under steam, so that, immediately the discovery of the fugitives was signalled, the train might start for the junction. It could surely outstrip an overladen hydroplane, and then the Englishman might think himself lucky if he escaped a bullet through the head. It would give the Captain great pleasure to accompany the Liberator-General to his hacienda of Las Piedras, and witness the shooting of that impertinent engineer who had dared to flout him. ”

“ The two hurried out, and boarded the hydroplane, which José and the Indian had turned round within the narrow limits of the canal so that its head pointed towards the Orinoco. Will felt that his little vessel was much overloaded, especially as the forepart could not be used, or planing would be impossible. He set off down the canal, and was half-way to the river before the train arrived. The engine-driver had slackened speed; evidently the General intended to stop and seize the station, and probably also to question the station-master. ”

“ Instead of cutting through the water modern speed boats are designed to ride over it. The boats have flat bottoms which are arranged as a series of flat planes known as hydroplanes. These planes form steps and are set at such an angle as to make the boat rise up on the water in the same way that a kite rises in the air. The higher the speed the higher the boat rises so that at full speed it skims on the surface. Hence there is comparatively little power wasted in displacing the water. Some of these boats are driven by air propellers so that water resistance to the propeller gear is avoided. ”

“ The flying boat Is a logical development of the hydroplane. At a sufficiently high speed, the hydroplane leaves the water and becomes a hydro-aeroplane. The possession of such a machine gives the hero of the story (the scene of which is laid in China) opportunities of highly exciting adventures, and Incidentally the chance of rescuing an old chum who has fallen into the hands of Chinese revolutionaries.
"The book is alive with vigorous action from cover to cover, 'The Flying Boat' is a rattling good story."--Bookman.
The Motor Scout
A Story of Adventure in South America. ”

“ Will ran a few yards up the street, one or two bullets whizzing perilously close, then darted into an alley on his right and made at full speed towards the river.
The city seemed to be deserted. All the civilians had barricaded themselves in their houses. When Will reached the quay, he saw the smoke of the steamer about a mile away. Springing into the hydroplane, he started it down-stream, and on meeting the vessel, swung round and explained in a few hurried sentences to the officer in command what was happening. The officer, who appeared to be a capable soldier, was alive to the situation. ”

“ I think they'll not attempt to pursue us again; but the boat will probably run down to the gunboat, and they'll be on the watch for us. If we start the engine the sound will give them notice: the best thing we can do is to tow the hydroplane into the pool, then set her running, get up enough speed to fly, and cut off to the river at an angle, so that we reach it some way lower down. Of course we shall be heard, and it would be a thousand times better if we could fly overland the whole way; but we are at least sixty miles from Sui-Fu, and we simply daren't use up our petrol. ”

“ They ain't even contented to just fly like a red-tailed hawk, or an eagle that kin look the sun direct in the eye; but now they got to have a contraption that's at home in the air or on the water; a hydroplane you called, it didn't you, Andy? And them ere twin pontoons underneath, that look kinder like gondolas, as you say, are made of aluminum, and kin hold up the whole affair when you light on water. But tell me, how in all creation kin you ever mount up agin, once you settle there? ”

“ The vessel being "under way" in the course of the arrow, the water contacting against the upper surface of the hydroplanes, as in the upper view, its course is thus diverted and adds weight to the upper surface of the planes. There is also a tendency to form a vacuum under the plane. Both these forces tend to overcome the positive buoyancy of the boat and force her under water and on a level keel if these forces are properly distributed fore and aft of the centre of buoyancy and gravity of the vessel. ”

“ Since the car was useless outside Caracas--and indeed inside the city, for the matter of that, the paving of the streets being remarkably primitive--Will removed the engine, conveyed it to the head-quarters of the branch railway, and with the assistance of a handy man on the staff, by name Joe Ruggles, adapted it to a hydroplane which he built himself. The basin of the Orinoco is so much intersected by rivers and streams of all sizes that the new railway was at no point very far from a watercourse deep enough to float the vessel. ”

“ The modern submersible usually forces itself under water, while still in a slightly buoyant condition, by its propellers and by the action of two sets of rudders, or hydroplanes, which are arranged along its superstructure and which tend to force it below the surface when they are given a certain inclination; but should the engines stop, the diving rudders, or hydroplanes, would become ineffective, and, because of the reserve buoyancy in the hull, the vessel would come to the surface. ”

“ The conning-tower is filling. In theory the boat can still remain afloat, but no one has yet survived to tell us how. The increasing weight causes the boat to sink to 40 metres (131 feet) in spite of her being down by the stern and with the engines at utmost speed. Water spurts through the leaky places, and, owing to short circuits, half the lights and important machinery break down successively—gyro compass, main rudder, forward hydroplane (which, to make matters worse, jams at ‘hard down’) , trimming pumps, and all control apparatus. ”

“ It shows a fellow in an aeroplane getting his start on the water instead of on land, and rising up in the air. The article says that by means of the hydroplanes it is possible for an aeroplane to also land on the water and float. Now what I want to do is to attach hydroplanes to our Comet. ”

“ But the hydroplanes pull it up and down, two pairs of them set fore and aft of the centre of gravity. They lift or lower the boat bodily on an even keel, not by plunging and diving. I will now set the hydroplanes at ten degrees down and the horizontal rudder two degrees up, and the boat will submerge to a depth of thirty feet and run constant at that depth."
He had shut off the gasoline motor and started the storage-battery electric motor, which was used when running submerged. The great motors gave out a strange, humming sound. ”

“ They had extended the semi-cylindrical formation till they had formed a full cylinder of light but strong metal. Roughly, the Flying Road Racer now resembled a huge, gleaming white cigar on wheels. Along her sides stretched hollow aluminum planes, or wings.
In the air these took the place of the former planes used in ascending or descending. On the water it was hoped that they would act as hydroplanes, buoying up the craft. But for buoyancy they did not depend on these hydroplanes, or pontoons, alone. ”

“ No sooner had the engine-room received the order to submerge than the captain followed his helmsman down the conning-tower hatch, and he lost not a second in getting to the periscope—the eye of his vessel. Soon my attention was arrested by the sight of two men sitting side by side turning two large wheels. One kept his eye on a bubble and turned his wheel to control the hydroplanes to keep the craft level, and the other man's eyes also watched a bubble in a level. His share of the work was to keep the vessel at the depth ordered by the commander. ”