Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1884-11-07
AER0STATION IN FRANCE.
EREBSASD RExARDsISgESrioN
Er,uis Reached which Lead mnnTt 'n'"H
the Problem Of AR Navigation Hss ooes


hoafs trough the water been authoihat'o-
" settled. There are enthusiasts WHO
say. Yes and skopiios who 'iill doubt and
cavil: Int. without siding absolutely with
either school. we must admit that II hM.
Rtnard and Kr.bs baye not yet positively
solved the great problem. they have made
immense proeress t0v ard its solution.
The Invention q Nh. Eeuard and Krebs
y the fIui. NJ long and patient labor and re.
search. no. one oi those things which result
from inspiration. coming into existence al
armed Ike Minerva from the brain OiZcHs.
During six consecutive years these two OF
lecrs have worked hard aud diligently;
they have examined and tested ever,
Known systCm OF acroststion; they have an
alyzed every apparatus ever submitted to
the Academy q Science, in Is, mos. minute
details: ihCy have tried IL mod,tS opcrdB-
az tb,y have modified slapes and struc-
lures. calculating with sO'upulous nicely
weights, dcIsihes, rcsistsnces, aud yclOci
ties, and by IN ingenious combination
Of apparatus already applied s. the same
end thCy have constructed machine
which certainly does what no other ma
chine has ever done bc'ore--it goes irom
NCudon, il goes TO the points agreed upon
bClorc-staTtnr and it comes back to Ecu-
don. just ~ the Minister OF War said tha,
Il must do before he would give hls
official sanction 70 The submission OF the
invention 10 the approval Of The French
Institute.
A beautiful pIcce oi mechanism is This
"drectlble balloon," which may, not in
appropriately be c.1lcd Giving fish"
for fish il resemble IN form ana in ils
manner Oi swimming, ~ one mny SAY.
through ths air. and M the Introduction OF
= bdilofd within the principal balloon.
where II seems To- serve a. sort Of naiat0-
rial bladder How the screw and the
electric motor and the ruddcr Is
di-poscd, is naturally tic inventors
secret. and presumably will only be
revealed TO the scientists who are
10 sit upon it IN judgment: but 50 far
10 outsiders can see, the acrostat consists
Of an ellipticsl 'ik bag rather bigger in
front than behind, with a isn-scrcw on
the ITow ~ the "boat the nGcCHc-
aud Iudder at lis stern, and an clcctrlc
motor with battery in the centre.
where the ac;onau!s direct the move.
msnts oi their vessel. As | have stated.
Mn. Rcnard and Krcbg were Obliged
10 combine the results ~ srorc
Of other inventors l1hOrs, 40 that
they cannot lay an- positive claim 10 ALSO
lute originality. Dir. Clifford. in 1852 and
1853, constructed an acroSlat on similar
rIinciplos, aud 50 did Nj. Dupuy de LONE
in 1872. on an appropriation of iD,O00'.
granted by lheGoyernmont Of The National
Defense, and. according to cXpcris, the
lattor'S machine would probably have
succeeded bad if been more vOluminous
and had il been provided with some
mOtiye-pOwer more powerful thm the
laud-crank which he used. Nm. Re-
nard and krebs have added this motive
pow or. and have so clcyerly MANAGED 10
combine minimum OF weight with
MAXIMUM ~ solidiiy, that their aerial
shin. measuring 30 metres in length and
\ metres in breadth lin round figures. 1gT
feet hy 314 icet), with n capacity Of 1854
cubic metres (74,3Sj iec), only weighs
IGiG kilogrlmmcs, inclusive OF its engine
f.S kilocrammC9, and Its apparatus and
piles (435 kilogrammcs)
7 he precise figures are rs follows:
Length Of N, inn,ted dlIrsod. 30 IN. ~ cent
,entrai aianefcr......... ........... M. 40 seHL
Espyl% @5,ne crcsf- -Nottie...... Ss NJ.
Weights:
Balloon and bsiiouci .HHa kilot.
six covering md net .... .l27 silos.
&c......... ................l52 kro'.
kuddCr..-......-.. ........... 40 Ell"'.
Screw propellcr-.......... : kiios.
hoicr ...-, ...........''..'''' - siios'
Whtc!work .................. - ei,os.
Slaft.................. ...... 30 kilos 500 trSrs
I,ait,t, ,comple,o...........A33 IiIos. 500 gram.
Average velocity per sccond...... ID. 30 cent
ElaWc,cr 81 the pr"pclicr....-.-. .... ~.
Hrmto ot revolutions Ter minute. .... 80 g. 40
krmlCr of elements cinuioyc .....---.-. 81
The aceumustors are calculated to fur
nish 70 The motor such a quantity oi elcc-
tr'c fluid as VIII communicate 10 the pro-
pcllcr 4 force equal to cight-horsc power
duIing four hours. The rp0r.<f tre cI-
rcriments msd, on the 9TH Of August. a
date hcneciorth and forever famou. in the
snuris a. TOstltiOl. was drawn up by NJ.
FcTN1-NangCn, delegated al hOc 10y the
ACadtmy oi Science, ana Is favorable 10
the invention. SAYS this distinguished
scientist: "Thc balloon rose to an elcya-
ton Of fifty meters above the ground, a.
which elevation it was Kept permanently
Nv CAPTAIN Renard. Captain KcrbS mt
ruuvnnc the ruddcr. As soon aS the pro-
pcllcf nss animated with 4 rotary move
mCnt the acTosiat OOk its course toward
the Hermitage II Nliibon, which, previous
TO the ascension. had been designated as its
objective. The wind al this moment
moved with a velocity OF Eve meters
ucr second. and the balloon moved
against It. SO soon 10 i. arrived II
IFS destination the officer WHO held
the tillcr waved flag. the signal oi
return, upon which we saw the aerOstat
un. describe malestically half circle OF 4
radius of about 500 meters. and sail back to
| Meudon. Upon reaching the lawn whence
| il had ,taIted. The balloon descended grad
uallv. ohliqued right and left, forward and
! backward. at the pleasure Of its pilots, and
| finally landed exactly at the point indica-
| ted" The entire distance was OF 1000 me-
| tors: the time employed twenty-threc mi
rutss. In principle there is no. an essen
! tial difference between the results OF the
| trial and those obtained 10y NJ. Du-
| puy de LONE on the "a OF February.
| 1872. But that senteman's balloon could
not move with greater velocity than 2.SI
! meter, per second. and as on the DAY o'
lis experiments fbe wind was blowing Ii
meters per second, instead OF being almost
calm, he did not even attempt TO come
back TO his starting point. Perhaps II
There had been no wind he. too. might
| have flown back. As 1t was. all the enOrt'
Of fourteen pIirs Of arms were vain. and
| a. Camille FlammarlOn, another luminary
| Of the institute remarks: "The expert
! ment of NM. Renard and krebS Is tC
that 0i NJ. Dupuy de Lone a. the illght OF
the layk to the flight OF the owl adding
| with gush OF enthusiasm" and the lars
will soon become the swallow" The max
mum velocity obtained 10 the experiment.
Of lhe 9TH Of August was OF ~ kilometer'
the hour: since then the inventors have &c
immoyed their machine that they car
count upon an average velocity OF % kilo
meters, as they proved At second expert
mopt on the 18th OF September, in the teet'
Of wind moving i've and SIX bi'
metres per second. On that occasion th'
acrostat held is own audremained stalioh
my during ten minutes over the SAM
point, when The motor ceased TO work, an'
1t was swept oil to Nelizy in quarter o
Un