Letters, James Means to Otto Lilienthal

                                                                York Harbor, Maine, U.S.A. August, 1895

Dear Sir:

I thank you for your kind letter of the 5th inst.



I am very glad that you are willing to contribute an article to the Aeronautical Annual N° 2.

I hope that you will make the article as long as possible and that you will give me as many new photographs or drawings as you can. The illustrations will add to the interest.

I take a very great interest in what you say concerning the introduction of the
sport in America. It seems to me is the very best way to gain the cooperation
of hundreds of men. In the Annual N° 2 I shall make as strong a plea for the
new sport as I am able to, and I hope that you will make an argument in its
favor.

In regard to the sale of your American patents I would say if you will write an advertisement giving the necessary information and saying just what you have to sell I will publish the advertisement in the last pages of the Annual N° 2 without any cost to yourself.

I shall also be very glad to do what I can personally to find a sale for your patents because I am very desirous of seeing your machines come into common use in America. Will you be kind enough to write to me again as soon as you can find the leisure and let me know if I can have your manuscript and illustrations by November 1st. About how many hundred words will there be in the article and about how many hundred words will there be in the advertisement?

My address until October 1st will be York Harbor, Maine, U.S. A.

After that 196 Beacon St., Boston, Mass., U. S. A.

I was born in 1853 in Boston. For fifteen years - from 1878 to 1893 - I was in the manufacturing business. In that time I gained as much money as I needed and I retired from business so that I might follow out my own tastes for books and for research.

Yours very truly

James Means

                                                                                           Boston, Dec. 11,1895

Dear Sir:

I received your cable despatch Nov. 27th as follows "Artikel unterwegs" but I regret to say that the article has not yet reached me. I am afraid that it must have been lost in the mails. How did you address it? Now, I do not want  to go to press with the Aeronautical Annual for 1896 without your article and I shall therefore delay the publication until you have time to have a duplicate copy made by a copyist and also a new set of illustrations. I will gladly pay the expenses of the copyist. Please let me know what it costs you and I will remit the money. Also I owe you for the cable message which you sent me, please let me know how much that is.

This letter should reach you about Dec. 20-23 and if your original copy of the article arrives before that time I will immediately cable to you Artikel erhalten.

I have received from Mr. H. S. Maxim the very best article he has ever written. It will appear in the coming Annual.

When you have occasion to cable to me again it will not be necessary to give the street and number if you use my registered cable address the despatches will always come to my house.

My cable address is Jasmeans, Boston. I very much hope that you can get duplicates of the article and illustrations into the Berlin post office within a week after you received this.

I thank you very much for your willingness to contribute to the Annual and I hope that the advertisement of your patent will accomplish what you wish.

I add to this letter a short cable code and would ask you to cable me a message as soon as this letter reaches you. It will be at my expense.

Very truly yours

James Means

Cable Code:  from 0. Lilienthal to James Means
Cable word:  Fluegel

Message:     The duplicate copies of article, illustrations, and advertisement are being
                   made and within one week they will he mailed to James Means, 196 
                   Beacon St., Boston, Mass. U. S. A. Schwimmen



                                                                                              Boston, Jan.30, 1896

Dear Sir:

Your article was received on Christmas Evening. I was told that it missed a steamer
at Hamburg and then, after waiting, happened to go on the steamer Moravia which
was twenty days at sea. So it took six weeks for it to come from you to me. On
December 26th I telegraphed to you Prachtvoll Artikel erhalten.

The article is everything that I expected and I am sure that it will encourage many to
participate in the new sport.

The Annual is almost ready. I think it will be ready for distribution on Febr. 5th. On that day I hope to send copies to you by mail.

You will be interested to see the bill which I have drafted and which has, at my request, been introduced in the Senate of the United States of America. I am not very sure that the bill can be passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives. But I have a strong hope that it can, and in a few weeks I shall go to Washington and have personal interviews with the leaders in Congress and I shall work for the success of the bill to the best of my ability.

In regard to your advertisement I would say that your own article is the best possible advertisement of your patent rights, and, as you did not write any other advertisement I did the best that I could to write one for you. It seemed to me that the best form of advertisement is the one which I have used, namely, the drawings and specifications of your patent in full, together with a simple statement that your American Patent rights are for sale.

When you see the Annual you will notice that this takes two or three pages. I hope that the advertisement accomplishes all that you wish.

I think that the Annual for 1897 will go to press about Oct. 1st 1896. Can I arrange with you for a full report of your 1896 experiments to be published in that number? I thank you very much for the interest which you take in the Annual.

Yours very truly

James Means

                                                                                          Boston, March 10, 1896

Dear Sir:

Your article which you kindly contributed to the Annual for 1896 has attracted very much attention in this country. In order to give it as wide a circulation as possible and so to help the cause of aeronautics I sent notices to all the important daily papers of the United States informing the editors that I would waive my copyright. Consequently these papers have availed themselves of the opportunity to publish extended extracts from your article.

Of course, what now needs to be done is to encourage as many experimentors as possible to learn the art of using your most improved machine.

By this time there ought to be a great many men practising with your machines here in this country. But unfortunately there are none that I know of at present. I want to clearly state what seems to me to be one obstacle in the way of introducing your machine in the United States. It is an obstacle which you have the power to overcome. I find that many men who are interested in the subject seem to have the idea that however excellent your machine may be, nevertheless it is your exceptional skill as an athlete which gives you great success. Now we all know that your machine is the product of many years of thought and experiment, we also know that your long practice in the air gives you an advantage which no one can get without much practice, but what is needed now is that you should come over here to America for two or three months and let people see you in the air and hear from your own lips the statement that other athletes can learn the art which you have acquired. I think that would awaken an immense amount of interest here and hasten the finale solution of the problem.

I have been talking lately with some of my aeronautical friends in regard to this matter and we think it is best to ask you whether you would consider the matter of coming over here to the United States in the autumn of this year, say, about the 15th of September.

If so, what sum of money would it be necessary for us to pay you if you were absent from Berlin about two months?

I hope that we may have a favorable answer from you.

Yours very truly

James Means

If you should wish to cable your answer please address Jasmeans, Boston,
If you use any numbers I shall understand them as meaning pounds sterling.





                                                                                          Boston, March 20, 1896

Dear Sir:

I wrote to you on the 12th of this month, but I think now it is better to write you more definitely. I enclose herewith a letter of reference to parties well-known in Berlin that you may know about my financial responsibility. I want to make with you a definite contract. My friend Mr. J. B. Millet of this city (the author of two of the articles in the 1896 Annual) will act with me.

We want to make a binding contract with you which shall cover an absence from Berlin of not more than three months and not less than two months.

We want to know how much money it will take to do this. We want you to visit this country and bring some of your machines with you. The number of machines to be decided later.

1.

Object of your Visit

The object of your visit is to introduce to the people of the United States the use of the air-sailing machine as a SPORT.

2. 

Expenses

If the contract is made all of your travelling expenses and living expenses from the time of your leaving Berlin to the time of reaching it again, are to be paid by ourselves. The expenses connected with your flying equipment, that is to say, its construction, repairs and transportation arc to be paid by yourself. The expenses of a starting hill or a revolving slope, (as described in the 1896 Annual, p. 102) are to be paid by us.

3.

Premium

Besides paying the expenses just mentioned in Section 2, we are to pay you for each month of your absence from Berlin a certain number of pounds sterling as a premium.

If we make a contract with you, Mr. Millet and I should ask you during the term of that contract, to agree not to exhibit any part of your apparatus or furnish any information to anyone without our consent.

Inasmuch as we wish to raise a fund to be devoted in the future to the cause of aeronautical science, we must be free to make such business arrangements as may be necessary.

In regard to the time of your coming I would ask which would suit you best, if you come , to start from Berlin July 1st or Sept. 1st?

Now I assure you that I have great hopes that this plan can be carried out. It will do more than anything else I know of to encourage aeronautical science.

Therefore I would ask you to make the amount of the monthly premium as moderate as you can, so that nothing may stand in the way of our accomplishing what we wish.

We can provide the necessary starting facilities. Please write me fully in regard to the matter. Please, let me know what you think of the revolving slope described on page 102 of the 1896 Annual. If you approve of that plan, how high shall we have it built? What angle of descent? And how wide should the pathway be? Shall we make it soft with padding of some kind?

If you do not wish to use the revolving slope, please write me fully in regard to the kind of hill which you will need. What was the exact height and cost of your conical hill and was the price of a day's labor? What were the methods of its construction?

I have received your letter of March 4th and I am very glad to know that you are pleased with the Annual No.2. I note what you say concerning the sale of your American patent. I am sorry that I have not yet been able to find you a customer for it, but I am sure that if you come over here and show us the value of it as an instrument of sport, your chances of selling the patent will be much better than if you stay in Berlin.

Please cable to me according to the enclosed code, as soon as you can conveniently.

Yours very truly

James Means

Cable code. Address Jasmeans, Boston: Stone

I will come to the United States if you will pay my travelling and living expenses and besides that, a premium each month of as many pounds sterling as stated in the next word: Flying

I can come either July 1st or Sept. 1st and can be absent from Berlin either two months or three months. It does not make any difference which: Swimming

I would rather leave Berlin September 1st: Walking

I would rather leave Berlin Juli 1st: Riding

I cannot be absent from Berlin more than two months: Fire

I can be absent from Berlin three months if necessary: Water

I can be absent from Berlin more than three months if necessary: Window

I cannot come to the United States under any circumstances:  ..........

P.S. Ich ersehe soeben, daß ich den für Berlin bestimmten Ausweisbrief nicht zeitig genug für den heutigen Dampfer erhalten kann. Ich gebe Ihnen darum als Referenz einstweilen die Herren C. J. Hovey & Cie., 7 Rue Scribe, Paris an. Im Zusagefall sende ich Ihnen dann ausreichende Berliner Referenzen.



Translation mailed per May 30/96

196 Bacon St.

Boston, Mass. U.S.A.

April 30th 1896.

Otto Lilienthal, Ing.

113, Köpenicker Strasse.

Berlin, SO., Germany

Dear Sir:

I received your telegram April 7th and now your letter fo the
17thjust has come. I thank you for the kind words you say about the
Aeronautical Annual.

I am very sorry that you cannot come to
America this year but I hope that we can make you such a liberal offer of money
later on that you will find it for your intent to come to this country in 1897.

will you please send to me promptly everything that
is printed concerning your 1896 experiments?

Can I be sure of having another article from you by October 1th so that I can print it for the leading article in the Aeronautical Annual for 1897. I think that No. 3 of the

Lilienthal-2  (2 Annual will be a great improvement over No. 2. If you will contribute such an article describing your 1896 experiments, it will be a very great help to the cause of science here in America. Please send me all the photographs you can. If you send them unmounted they will come more quickly by letter post and I can have them mounted here. Now I will tell you how you can make some money, without leaving Berlin at all.

Supposing we send over to you at Berlin at our own expense, four or five American athletes, will you name a price for furnishing each of them with a machine of your best make and also for giving to them sufficient instruction in the use of the machines, that is in flying from your conical hill.

Out of the four or five probably some would do better than others, but do you not think that one or two out of (3 them from or five would be able to reflect credit upon you when they return to exhibit in America?

If these men are successful in getting instruction they might be able to teach the art to others here in America and that, of course, would create a demand for your machines.

Please let me know if you can undertake this in July or August.

Please mane a price for four or five machines. Please also name price for the necessary instructions.

Of course we should send over only carefully selected men.

Will you oblige me with an answer by an early mail?

Yours very truly

James