The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-02-03

10 Paris. bnt was forced 70 1nferTupL
my Journey miles away from the capa-
tHl. What must be the essential u q
motor or SUFFICIENT power TO turn q
screw. 30 as TO generate force OF pro
puis5on superior TO the force OF the
wind. or course. nobody expects that
there will ever Be discovered motor
powerful enough 10 generate force SUI
perior 10 that OF the strongest winds
which may be met IN the air. but GER
tainiy one should be practicable or sum-
cient force to compete with the ordinary
air curriers'. such as IN nine cases out
or ten would be met by the aeronaut.
TeuEests are not of such frequent oc-
currence as to discourage the expert
menter. A great step was taken by
Henri Giffard, and. 1 believe, that IL
that great man had ived-he died by
his own hand. discouraged when failing
health interrupted his wonderful ca
reer just at a time when he was pre-
pairing an experiment Of the highest in
terestII believe. / cay. that the prob
lem woa1ld already have been solved.
His first experiments were with ball
looms propelled by a steam motor.
He was only Is. it was in 1851, when he
took out a patent for a system OF bal
loon navigation by the use OF steam
power and on the cath OF September,
1852, he made his first ascent at the
hippoiroTrle. His balloon was eiong
ated IN shape. measuring A meters
. from poins TO point. and IL In diameter.
1t was Giffard who established the fact
that the balloon must be OF an elong-
ated model SO as to present the least
surface TO the friction of the air. In
1856 he constructed another balloon of
elongated form containing $500 cubic
meters Of gas Though the winds were
unfayorable. and the force of propul-
sion generated by the steam motor In
ferior to that OF the winds against
which it had to do battle. the balloon
made very good fight of it. and at the
same time the usefulness OF the rudder
was established Giffard was able to
tack In the directions he wished, NOV
ing from right to left and from left to
right in his efforts to escape the full
force Of the opposing currents. He
may be said to have definitely proved
the fact that the balloon to be steered
must be fitted with rudder. and that
this may be made effectual by motor
OF sufficient power Tt is TO Giffard,
whom / shall always consider as roy
master and my Mecenas, that we owe
1T, that the problem OF aerial naviga-
ton can no longer be treated as the
Utopia OF science. Dupuy de Lone
confirmed this by the remarkable as
cent which he effected in 1872 De
Lome's motor was again OF insufficient
strength. yet certain results were OBJ
tanned in the way of deviation from
the current and it was finally made
clear that results could be expected
from the elongated balloon fitted with
steering gear and propelled by screw.
But the motor had and has yet TO be
found. IL the steam motor. in spite of
the results obtained by Gfffard and De
Lone, has been abandoned 1t Is for a
number OF practical reasons. In the
first place, it is very dangerous. Con-
slider the peril of a furnace placed
under mass of infiammable matter
such as an immense body of hydrogen
gas One shudders 10 think OF the ac-
cflents which might ensue in the air.
For this reason alone the use of the
steam motor must be considered inn
practicable. Another objection. and a
very serious one, is that the BALLOON
worked by a steam motor would al
ways be diminishing in weight as the
fuel and water was consumed, the
former dissipating in gas and smoke
and the latter in steam. The balloon.
accordingly would be constantly rising
in the air and the only way of lowering
1t would be by sacrificing its contents.
that is TO say, by diminishing its
volume of gas, the result OF which
would be that its duration would be
singularly shortened. Giffard knew of
all these objections and had planned
measures for overcoming them. which.
unfortunately. he was never able to ex-
ecute Thus by the use of condensa-
tor he hoped to collect the steam as 1t
left the boiler. to reduce 1T to water
and using 1t again and again to avoid
the loss OF weight which was such a
fatal objection to the employ of the
steam boiler. He also proposed to use
hydrogen gas as fuel, using for this
purpose the gas, wfsch. as the balloon
ascends and the pressure OF the at
mosphere diminishes. is forced from it.
The balloon would thus have been self
feeding and no fuel would have had to
be carried, thus srill further reducing
. the Inconvenience caused by a con-
slant loss of weight.
''Other experiments have been tried
with compressed air motors, gas motors
and others. The objection to all these
is their enormous weight.
'ssIy opinion is that the only motor