Chapter 15 Tom Swift and His Airline Express by Victor Appleton
A TRIAL FLIGHT
Tom Swift and Ned Newton watched the odd man curiously. Afterward Ned said he thought Mr. Damon had gone to the door to ascertain if his wife might be eavesdropping, since she did not altogether approve of many of the things he did in connection with the young inventor.
“I thought maybe he was going to get his checkbook,” Tom said later. He was always a very hopeful individual.
But when Mr. Damon returned to his seat after his tiptoeing visit to the closed door he remarked in a low voice:
“You can’t be too careful.”
“About what?” asked Tom, impressed by his friend’s manner.
“About letting your plans become known before you are ready to spring this new airline express on the public,” was the answer.
“Why, you don’t suspect any one in your own house, do you?” asked Ned.
“Not my wife, of course,” Mr. Damon answered. “But there have been several queer characters around here of late. Several men have called, trying to get me to hire them as a valet. Bless my necktie, as if I needed a valet! Of course I sent them away, but yesterday the maid let another one in while I was busy in my study, and the fellow had the impudence to walk right up to my door. My wife caught him standing there listening after the maid had gone away, and Mrs. Damon sent the fellow flying, I’ll tell you.
“I suspect, Tom, that he had something to do with the gang that is trying to get your new apparatus away from you. He must know that I am your friend and often go on trips with you, and possibly he thought he might get some information here, in a sneaking way. That’s why I wanted to make sure no one was out in the hall listening. It’s all right. I looked out through the crack and no one is there. Now go on with your explanation.”
Tom did, elaborating on his plans for a big aeroplane in two sections, the part where the passengers were to be carried being like a big autocar, able to move under its own power.
“It is this feature that will save a lot of time,” he explained. “After the first aeroplane starts from Long Island the passengers will not have to move out of their seats until they reach San Francisco. Or, if we start at night, in case it is found desirable to have overnight trips, a man can go to sleep in New York and awaken at the Golden Gate, that is, if he wants to sleep that long.”
“It’s a big undertaking!” said the odd man.
“But Tom can carry it through if any one can,” declared Ned.
“The worst of it is that it’s going to take a mint of money,” sighed the young inventor. “That’s why I’m calling on you and some of my other friends to take stock, Mr. Damon. How does it strike you?”
To the credit of Mr. Damon be it said that he did not hesitate a moment. He held out his hand to his friend and said:
“I’m with you, Tom Swift! I’ll invest all I can afford. I wish it was more, but I’ve spent a lot on that new aeroplane of mine that I nearly smashed. However, I have a few dollars left in the bank. Though you needn’t say anything to my wife about this,” he went on in a low voice as he got out his checkbook.
Tom and Ned smiled as they gave a promise of secrecy, and a little later the young inventor left with his first contribution toward financing the airline express—a check for five thousand dollars.
Tom Swift spent busy days during the next few weeks. Like all new enterprises, this one was not easy to start, though many of Tom’s friends, whom he approached with a plea that they buy stock which would pay big dividends if the plan succeeded, at once purchased blocks. Others required more persuasion, and not a few said they would buy stock if they could see the machines in operation.
“That’s what we’ve got to do, Ned,” decided the young inventor, when it was evident that the enterprise might fail through lack of capital. “We’ve got to show these Missouri birds that we can fly this combined auto and aeroplane. Gee, I’m sorry now Dad and I have all our ready money tied up in those other matters.”
“But can you build a trial machine?” asked the treasurer of the Swift concern.
“I can as soon as my patent papers come through from Washington,” Tom said. “That’s where the hitch is now. After all the machines we have made in our plant, it would be queer if we couldn’t build a speedy aeroplane of extra power and also a chassis to clamp on to carry the passengers. That’s where the patent comes in—the method of combining the two.”
“But I understood that the patents had been allowed,” said Mr. Damon, who was present. “That was the latest advice from your Washington lawyer.”
“Yes, I know. But several matters have come up since then. Some one is trying to throw a monkey wrench into the gear wheels, so to speak, and I suspect it is the same gang that tried to put me out of the way—the scoundrels headed by Schlump and Kenny. I think I shall have to make a trip to Washington myself.”
“Be careful, Tom,” warned Ned Newton. “They may get you on the way there.”
“I guess I can look out for myself,” was the answer.
But when Mary Nestor heard what Tom proposed to do, she added her warning to Ned’s. However, Tom was firm and then Mary delivered her ultimatum.
“If you go to Washington, I’m going, too,” she declared.
“Good!” cried Tom. “I’ve been wanting a little excursion with you, Mary, and we’ll make a party of it and take Ned and Helen along. That will be fun!”
“That’s the idea!” Ned declared. “It will be a bold gang that dares to start anything with the two girls along.”
It may be mentioned here that Tom’s patents were really of a three-fold nature. One consisted of the peculiar construction of the passenger car to be used in the ocean-to-ocean flight, the second was a patent on the method of clamping this car to the aeroplane, and the third covered the method of manufacturing the duralumin alloy of which the car and a part of the aeroplane were to be constructed. Ordinary duralumin is composed of ninety-four per cent. aluminum and the rest copper and magnesium; but Tom had a secret formula of his own, not only for mixing these ingredients, but also in the melting and forging processes. His duralumin he considered stronger than any ever used in an aeroplane and it was at least three per cent. lighter in weight than any which had ever been offered to him.
There is nothing like going yourself when you want a thing done, as Tom found, and he had not been many days in Washington, whither his three friends accompanied him, before he had matters connected with his patents straightened out and he was assured by a high government authority that his claim was original, valid, and would eventually be allowed, thus giving him the sole right to make airline express machines for a limited period.
Perhaps this action of the patent authorities was hastened when an old army officer, a friend of Tom’s father, heard about the matter and declared such a machine would be of great value to the United States in case of another war.
This officer impressed his views on certain friends of his in the patent office, and the result was that the usual leaden wheels in that institution began to move more rapidly.
“If you can wait long enough,” said General Malcolm, who had been of such service to Tom, “I believe I can even get you a government subsidy.”
“How long would it take to get the government to invest money in this new undertaking of mine?” Tom wanted to know.
“Oh, probably two or three years. A bill would have to be introduced in Congress—it might take four years.”
“I expect to make the first flight inside of a month,” Tom laughed.
Tom and his friends returned to Shopton, and then followed many strenuous days and nights of work for the young inventor. Those who had faith in Tom and those who knew and understood Ned Newton’s unusual knowledge and judgment in financial matters so talked to their friends that eventually outsiders put one hundred thousand dollars into the scheme and this, together with the money Mr. Damon and other acquaintances subscribed and with what Tom and his father had, gave them enough cash to build three planes and two cars.
Essentially there was nothing new or startling in the construction of either of these machines. My readers are all familiar with the general outline of an aeroplane. Beneath the fuselage which held the engine and a cockpit for the pilot and his helper was built a heavy frame to which could be clamped the passenger car.
This car was like a Pullman parlor car combined with a sleeper. It had some folding berths and also some easy chairs. There was a small dining room and a buffet kitchen, and many conveniences were installed. Tom limited the number of passengers to be carried on any one trip to ten, saying he could enlarge the cars if he found the machine was going to be a success.
In due time the two cars and the three planes received their last coats of varnish, the powerful engines were installed after a rigid block test, and one day Tom announced to Ned that all was in readiness for a trial flight.
“Want to come along?” asked the young inventor.
“Sure!” was the quick answer. “Anybody else going?”
“Yes. Mr. Damon is game and Father insists on accompanying us. I think I’ll take Koku along—he might come in handy in case anything should happen.”
It was decided to make the start from the big field outside of the Swift plant, and one morning one of the planes and its accompanying passenger car was rolled out on the level stretch. To make the test under the same conditions that would prevail when the airline express was in service, Tom and his friends entered the passenger car at one end of the field.
“We will imagine,” explained Tom, “that we have just landed here from the plane that brought us from Long Island to Chicago on the first lap of the transcontinental flight. Now we will run over and attach ourselves to the other plane.”
As has been said, the passenger car could move under its own power, as can an automobile. Tom started the motor and skillfully guided the car under the waiting aeroplane. In a moment workmen had fastened the clamps.
“Let her go!” Tom called to the pilot in the aeroplane, and the big propellers began to revolve with a thundering sound. The engine seemed working perfectly and a moment later the whole machine—the airline express—began to roll forward across the field. There was a moment of doubt as to whether or not the aeroplane would raise itself and the heavy weight it had to carry, but Tom had made his calculations well, and, to his delight and that of his friends, the machine began to soar upward.
“Hurray!” cried Ned. “She’s doing it!”
“Yes, we’re off on the first real flight, anyhow,” agreed Tom.
“It works better than I expected,” Mr. Swift said. All along he had been a bit skeptical about this new scheme.
A little later they were sailing over Lake Carlopa and Mr. Damon, looking down from one of the observations of the car, said:
“Aren’t we flying a bit low, Tom?”
“Yes, I think we are,” agreed the young inventor. “Put her up a bit!” he signaled to the pilot through the speaking tube.
Back came the answer:
“I can’t! Something has gone wrong! I’m losing power! I’m afraid we’re in for a fall!”