-
Bells back at Bras d'Or Lake (Baddeck) as promised
-rented a 4 bedroom cottage…Mabel called it a shanty
-and made improvements to the furnishings
-fulfilled the fantasy Alec and Mabel shared for a "simple life" -
Alec's mother (87) dies quietly in her DC home
-Alec and Mabel see a lot more of Melville who is now dependent on Alec -
Alec's first home on the headland, Beinn Bhreagh "The Lodge"
-named the property Beinn Bhreagh (Gaelic for Beautiful Mountain)
-intended as a "temporary" residence to fill in until a bigger, grander house was built -
Sheepville was constructed for Alec's genetic project(s)
bred sheep -
Period: to
The building of the mansion Alec and Mabel had dreamed
Called "The Point" -
Mabel organized monthly discussion club
-huge success…both educational and social
-by the end of the year more than 40 members
-and did what no one else could do…Catholics and Protestants sitting together in same room -
Finally bought a home in Washington DC
would be theirs for the rest of their lives -
Flying machines taking over Alec's life
-
Alec joins his family in France
-Mabel imposed some regularity to his life, cut his hair, trimmed his beard -
Alec saw Langley's experiment "fly"
-wrote about it in Science Magazine and said
-"no doubt the practicability of mechanical flight had been demonstrated" -
Elsie's coming-out-ball with 550 invitees/450 attend
After a summer in Beinn Bhreagh, Mabel and Elsie returned to DC -launch social offense
-debutante and tea and receptions -
Alec strikes up friendship with Dr Edwin Grosvenor
-acquaintance of Hubbard from National Geographic Society -
Hubbard (75) died suffering from diabetes
-Mabel did not go back to The Point in the spring
-she helped her mother with Hubbard's papers -
Alec becomes 2nd Pres of National Geographic after Hubbard dies
-Alec had very interest in this dull DC club, but Mabel and mother determined that it should survive
-Alec relaunches magazine with lots of good illustrations and photography
-pictures of life and action…pictures that tell a story -
Alec abandons sheep and flying to accept invitation from emperor of Japan
-perhaps due to Mabel's profound grief
-Bell family plus Charlie Thompson go to Japan -
Langley and Newsome visiting the Point at The same time
-arguing the whole time, Alec hugely amused -
Elsie accepted marriage proposal from Bert Grosvenor
-
Elsie and Bert got married in London
-Alec there, but made it clear going back immediately following
-Mabel stayed in London with Daisy and watched Queen Victoria's funeral -
Elsie and Bert gave Alec his first grandchild
-a son Melville (namesake dies 4 years later)
-Alec records this birth in between notes for a speech on heredity and studies for the tetrahedral
Elsie and Bert eventually have 7 children (5 girls 2 boys) Alec- the other son dies 1909 of appendicitis -
Alec writes article for National Geographic on tetrahedral strength
-
Langley's failure with 2 manned biplanes powered by gasoline engines
-1 plunged into the Potomac like a handful of mortar
-the other collapsed in midair
Langley never recovered from these failed attempts, Alec thought the ridicule broke his heart -
Alec and Mabel in Genoa to collect remains of James Smithsonian
-English mineralogist who bequeathed 1/2 million to US to fund an institution
-no end to the red tape (and bribes) to extract the remains from Italy -
Bones arrived in DC and a funeral procession organized
-
Langley, Alec and 2 other regents off to Detroit to look over paintings
collector Charles Freer (Asian and American art) offered to leave collection to the Smithsonian
-Alec brought Daisy (who knew something about art) and went wild over the collection
-Daisy convinced the regents the art was NOT trivial and unimportant
-regents accepted the offer and took the entire collection -
Patent issued to Alec for aerial vehicle or other structure
-first patent since 1886 on the graphophone (early phonograph) -
Daisy is introduced to David Fairchild
David recently joined National Geographic Society
-brother in law Bert makes the introduction -
Daisy marries David
-
Melville Bell dies, Mabel there, Alec not
-Alec in his lab with newest project…construction of huge kite -
Alec flies his kite in a gale-force wind successfully
-Mabel quickly organized a group when Alec's own assists didn't show up -
Daisy and David have first child
-a son Alexander Graham Bell -
Construction of the huge tower
-working with the young recruits Mabel organized -
Tower opening w/ article in National Geographic
-tetrahedral construction had obvious advantages
-but no one wanted to make the 3-day journey to see it (in 1907) so no attention was paid in science world -
Alec and his 4 proteges travel to Halilfax and sign the Aerial Experiment Association agreement
-sponsored by Mabel (she paid the necessary salaries…not all received a salary from her)
-1 year agreement with the goal of "getting into the air"
-the 4 boys lived at The Point
-for Alec "happiest period of his life" -
Period: to
AEA timespan
-
Lt Selfridge sat in center of Cygnet (huge tetrahedral kite)
-it rose and hovered for 7 minutes
-wind died and kite descent was slow, but Lt ended up in the water and swam free of the kite
-Cygnet dragged to pieces -
Alec's assistants hard at work on rigid biplane design
-similar to Wright model
-Alec in DC -
Red Wing biplane was first... built by Lt
-Casey flew it
-first demonstration of a powered manned test flight (Wright brother's didn't publish theirs)
-on its second flight it crashed to the ground (wind gust from wrong direction) -
White Wing built by Casey
-all 4 men successfully flew it between May 18 - 23 1908
-Douglas crashed it -
June Bug built by Curtiss and won the Scientific America trophy
-flown by Curtiss
-took off on it's own (vs tethered) and lift happened almost effortlessly
-30 ft above ground and flew 5090 ft, short of a mile and 1810 beyond the 1 kilometer required for the trophy -
Lt offers to be a passenger in Orville Wrights plane
-after 4 minutes of flying, loud crack propeller flew off
-plane nosedives Orville injured, Lt died -
Silver Dart built by Douglass ready
-engine revved and tore down the lake and took to the air
-flew a circle more than 1/2 mile
-incorporated all the knowledge then available
-the boys had developed technology to fly the plane in a circle
The next day flew 4 miles -
Silver Dart would make 30 more flights the next month
headlines…flies for 11 minutes, covers 12 miles in circular course -
AEA contract expired and it was over
Summary: achieved much in 18 months,
-put 5 aircraft aloft,
-4 were self-powered
-no patents from the association work, but edged science forward
-steerable tricycle and wing doping were genuine world firsts and were copied
-contributed to the fizz and thrill of the flying machine craze -
Mabel's mother dies in a car accident with a streetcar
-Alec and Mabel immediately return to DC
-after funeral Mable stays and Alec returns to The Point -
Casey and Douglas take their latest biplane prototypes to Ottawa
-for military trials
-both planes crashed -
Time for a world tour
-did wonders for Alec's morale…inventor of the telephone was acclaimed everywhere
-and his mind raced with new ideas and new approaches to old ideas
-everywhere they went visited institutions for the deaf and ruminate about flying machines -
Period: to
Hyrofoil experiments (HD1, HD2, HD3)
-trials stopped when Great Britain declared war on Germany
-because US was neutral Alec thought they might have a use in the war, so he stopped the development -
Period: to
Alec's Wed get togethers most prestigious private events in DC
-discussion from wireless telephone, temperature of volcanos, hookworm and Expedition to Antarctica -
Mabel president of Montessori Education Association in DC
-Mabel purchased large old house and garden for the school -
Alec gets a secretary on Beinn Bhreagh
-Catherine MacKenzie -
Alec diagnosed with diabetes (incurabel and untreatable at this time)
-focused energy on hydrofoils, got rid of the sheep -
New telephone technology made transcontinental calls possible
-Alec agreed to officiate (to make) the inaugural call
-Tom Watson at the other end heard him loud and clear
"Hoy Hoy Mr Watson are you there? Do you hear me?"
-the men chatted for a few minutes
"and then Mr Watson come here, I want you"
-then Pres Wilson came on with "notable consummation of your long labors"
triggered burst of pride and patriotic hyperbole -
Order from British gvt for 14 lifeboats was filled with boats built in Beinn Bhreagh
-boats built at the laboratory in Beinn Bhreagh
-the Bells felt they had to do something to aid the war effort
-44 people worked on the boats and Casey delivered them -
HD-4 takes maiden voyage
-close to 5.5 tons lifts out of the water
-noise deafening
(hydrofoil work started up once the US entered the war) -
press event to watch HD-4
-demonstrate potential as submarine chaser
-both DC and London express interest, but interest soon fizzled (due to timing) -
Mabel goes for a spin in HD4
Alec never would -
Alec makes a final visit to Edinburgh (land of his birth)
-no one greeted him…old friends were dead or gone
-told a reporter "felt like a stranger in Scotland"
But things turned around when city fathers offered Alec the freedom of Edinburgh -
Mabel returns to DC
-diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer -
Alec and Mabel return to Beinn Bhreagh for the summer
-
Alec dies in Beinn Bhreagh
funeral Aug 4
-buried at Beinn Bhreagh
-British and American flags flown 1/2 mast
-switchboard silent for 1 minute -
Mabel returns to DC
-
Mabel dies (just 5 months after Alec)
-funeral at Twin Oaks (once her parents home, now her sisters)
-one year later ashes placed beside Alec in Beinn Bhreagh