The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900, 1897-05-02

prepared to take them into the field,
but they are not reckoned as of much
value, and in case of war the command.
ing officer would not feel very unhappy
if the balloons were left behind.
Balloons In Warfare.
Balloons were used in warfare during
the siege of Paris They were ordinary
gas balloons, and they were used for
carrying people out of the city beyond
the lines of the besieging army. These
people took carrier pigeons with them
and sent messages back to their friends.
This was in 1870. But the balloon in
warfare antedates the siege of Paris.
There are evidences that balloons were
used for the purpose of reconnaissance
in 1894, and they were SO used on the
peninsula during our own civil war.
Experiments have been made recently
in France and in the United States look
ing to the more general use of the bal
loon in warfare, and as the defensive
side of the problem is always as impor-
tant as the offensive, tests of various
arms and ammunition against balloons
have been made. Russia, Germany,
France, Austria and England have all
been conducting experiments, and re-
ports of them have been received by the
intelligence Office of the war depart
ment here. They show that balloon 2
miles away and 1000 feet above the
earth can be hit with % out of SO
shrapnel shells; that balloon miles
away and more than 800 feet high can
be pierced with 90 out of 26 shells, and
finally that a balloon 81 miles away
and half a mile high can be brought to
the ground by she'll.
Besides, it is shown in practice that
observations from the great height
reached by the balloon are defective be-
cause the angle of vision leads to error
in the estimation of bodies of men. The
flying machine would have an advan-
tage over the balloon if it could be
made responsive to the will of the oper-
ator. The balloon cannot be guided ex-
cept by the uncertain method of raising
or lowering it so as to find favoring
current of air. The aerodrome as plan
ned will go in any direction at the will
of the operator. 1t will carry machinery
to operate its huge wings, and para
chute provision may be made, SO that if
the machinery should get out of order
the machine will settle slowly instead
of falling quickly to the earth. The
great objection to the use of machinery
with devices relying on gas for eleva-
| tion was the explosive character of the
gas used, and the fact that even propul-
sion by compressed air might produce
through friction a spark which would
ignite the gas and so destroy the bal
loon and the aeronaut
The flying machine may use electrici-
ty if storage battery of light weight
is devised. Professor Langley, in his
experiments, has designed using a
steam engine in his aerodrome. An en-
CINE has been made which weighs less
than ten pounds to each horse power.
1t has been estimated that such an en-
CINE will support weight of 200
pounds in the air at horizontal velo-
city Of 45 miles an hour, and still more
at higher velocity.
The Aerodrome.
The Langley machine was exploited
first four years ago. 1t had been in con-
struction then for two years. 1t was
surrounded with an air of mystery at
first, but this was dissipated gradually,
and facts were given out from time to
time. Finally the statement was made
that the experimental machine had been
sent through the air for half a mile,
and this was verified by Professor Gar
diner Hubbard of the Smithsonian. Oh
course this aerodrome was model on
ly. The first machine was about / 5 feet
long, shaped like a mackerel. 1t was
built in great part of aluminium. In
side the shell were two small engines
capable of exerting one horse power,
boilers supplied with a volatile hypo.
carbon in place of water and small
gasoline tank.
In the ground plan of this aerodrome
there is nothing new. Many years age
a Frenchman made a toy which was
operated by the power of twisted rub
Der band. This toy flew up into the air,
and when the rubber was UNFINISHED
fell to earth again. This toy was i'm
p1ON0O Wy AOAOSSOL A1duSACy anu 1udue
to take longer flights, and then the ma
chine which has been careering around
the lower Potomac in the summer fol-
the past three years was developed. Pro
fessor Langley has been experimenting
for ten years.
The letters which have been coming
to the Smithsonian for some time have
been from people who wanted to learn
whether the authorities there knew any
thing about the western airship. The
scientists in Washington were not dis
posed to put much faith in the airshiI
stories because they have believed thai
no one was going to discover" the
method of flying. 1t was natural fol
them to think that if the flying ma
chine was made it would be the result
of hard, scientific study. The scientific
world knows who are conducting inves
LEGATIONS into the principles of the aero
drome, and none of these men had beer
flying over Chicago or St. Louis or Sa1
Francisco. So they placed little faitE
in the stories of the mysterious visitor
which were telegraphed from the west