by means of a universal joint, the instrument will be pre
vented from revolving on its vertical axis" (Figure 22).
What Maul was describing was none other than a camera with a
stabilizing gyroscope--the granddaddy of the gyro-stabilized torquer
mount used extensively today for aerial photographic equipment.
In putting his idea into practice, Maul started with a small
camera, about the size of a Rolliflex, and by 1912, he had worked
up to a 90-pound system including an 8 x 10 view camera and gyro,
which he succeeded in boosting to what was then the phenominal height
29, 30, 31
of 2,600 feet (Figures 23, 24 25).
PHOTOGRAPHY t FOR THE BIRDS
The first man to recognize the value of a "bird's eye in the sky"
was the alert, intelligent pilot of a unique cargo ship his name
was Noah, and his ship was the Ark (Figure 26)i
"And he stayed yet another seven days; and again he sent
forth the dove out of the ark and the dove came in to him
in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf
plucked off (Figure 27); so Noah knew that the waters were
32
abated from off the earth."