The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1899-12-07
BALLOONS AND WAR,
IN CONJUNCTION WITH WIRE
LESS TELEGRAPHY
In the Campaign Now on in the Trans
vaal-World Is Indebted to Germany
for the Latest Development in Aero
nautics.
Especial Letter.)

lopCSIdl LcllSI.J
To Germany the world is indebted
for the latest and most marked adj
vance in the science OF aeronautlcs.
A new balloon has just been tested
there with signal success, and those
who are competent to speak with au-
thority predict that it will become no
small factor in future wars, and that
1t will prove of great aid to science,
and especially to meteorology, since it
Will enable observers to study at their
ease the upper currents of the air.
Gen. A. w. Greedy, chief signal Off
Ger of the United States army, studied
the balloon carefully short time ago,
and he became so impressed with its
usefulness that he has just given an
order for one.
Germany took no interest in bal
looming until 1884, whereas France be-
gan to make experiments in this di-
rect1on almost Immediately after the
war OF 1870. In 1884 the German min
lister OF war at the request of the
School OF Artillery, formed a corps,
consisting of four officers, four lieu
tenants, twenty mine privates, and che
Skilled balloonist, and assigned to it
the special duty OF making expert
ments in aeronautics. Since then the
corps has worked steadily, with the re-
suit that Germany today claims to be
as well equipped as France is in the
matter of balloons. Nay, German
scientists claim that France has never
done as much with any balloon as
Germany is now doing with the Won
derful dragon balloon, which is the
object of this article.
OF this new air ship, Capt. Won Pars-
val. Bavarian, and First Lieut.. Won
Sigsfeld, Prussian, are the inventors
By carefully studying older types they
discovered the difficulties which they
would have to avoid, and they did not
rest until they had learned how to
avoid them. Hitherto the wind was
the browning obstacle in a balloonist's
path. 1t was possible to ascend, but
II was not always possible to go in the
desired direction or to make the de-
sired observations from the necessary
altitude. Even moderate wind suf-
feed to depress the familiar bullet
shaped balloon, the result being that
it could not mount high, and was con-
sequently practically useless for MILL
tary purposes, a sine qua non in such
cases being an air ship from which an
observer could command a view of
wide extent Of territory.
Inventors came to the conclusion
that round balloon could not do good
service, and it is not surprising that
the most noticeable feature about their
new air ship is the great length. 1t
is obvious that long construction OF
this kind can make better Roadway
against the wind, and the tests which
have been made prove that this holds
true even when there is a storm.
Again, it is imperative that balloon
should keep as far as possible on
regular course, and should not Be at
the mercy of the wind. and this object
has been attained in the dragon ball
loon by means of a so-called steering
sack, which is placed under the rear
portion of the air ship.
In the front of this sack there is an
opening through which the wind
blows. At the rear there is another,
but much smaller opening, through
which the wind issues after it has
passed through the sack. When there
is a change of wind, there is neces-
sarily greater pressure on one side
of the sack. and this in turn acts upon
the body of the balloon and impels it
to go in the right direction. 1t can
readily be seen, however. that in
spite of this precaution, there would