The Savannah morning news., 1900-10-28
STEAMBoATINe IN MID-AIR.
COUNT ZEPPELIN SOLVES THE
PROBLEM OF AERIAL NAvIGA-
TToN.


n Observation-Disclosures Balloons
Enclosed I'm a TrsiIIs of Aluminium
Compose the Body of the ship--It
o. Driven by Powerful PropeIiers
and Directed by Sets Of Rudders
NJ Either End-und@r the Control
of the Inventor and His Crew, who
Are Carried I'm Aluminium Cars
Suspended Beneath the balloons.
the Craft Rises and Fails. Turns in
Any Direction and P1ovys Through
the Air Against a Heaavy1nd.
Copyright 1900. q g Mcclure Coz
I sinoe the hrst balloon successfully soar
81 into the ether. the great problem OF
aeronautics has been 90 achieve that same
control over a ship OF the air that the
sailor has over che ship IN the water
The problem was two-fold: q required
the achievement OF propulsion and OF d.
rection. In the aggregate millions OF dol
lars htlndreds OF years and scores OF
sves have been devoted 20 the solution
From time 60 time announcement has
been triumphantly made OF an airship
that could BE- steered through the ex-
panse OF the skies; but . single trial
of the contrvanee has ended in failure
az the best. disaster at che worst. or
late investigators have turned from the
ldea Of the balloon TO that OF the soaring
apparatus. seeking TO initiate the bird
rather than tho steamship In their efforts
20 navigate the air: bun one student OF
aeronauucs stcsdfassly held 20 the Inc
OF tho gas airship and now. in the closing
year OF tho nineteenth century. Count
Zeppelin annosDoes TO the world that the
drigible si~ship - demonstrated fact.
Two flights s1oOsssful In every partic-
ular form the basis of Count Zeppelin's
claim. which 10 universally recognized
since his most recent experiment on Oct
II. at Frieefrichshafen, a German town on
Lake Constance In each he demonstrated
beyond cavil that hts air ship could De
uised. lowered. and steered m any direc-
ton At win, while carrying five passen-
gers. This amounts, broadly speaking
70 this. that tho hrst step forward has
been made in aerial Navigation. since the
flight Of the first balloon Al che begin
ming OF halloouinS. Il was shown that
the great gas bulb could be raised or low
cred TO some extent in accordance with
the viii Of the operator. In all the years
since no man has succeeded In controlling
hs iateral movements or overcoming the
pressure OF the air currents. until the
German count bull, the huge craft which
has made his name known The world over.
What remains OF the problem now " sim
ply matter OF mechanical ingenuity: 20
tighten the structure OF the airship while
preserving It's strength. and 10 increase
the motive power without adding mate
rally to the weight OF the engines.
The Greatest Airshsp tn the World.
More time, thought. endeavor. and
money have been put into the Zeppelin
air ship than into any prcvious enterprise
OF aerial navigation. II - thirty years
since Count Zeppelin. an officer IN tho
Germaf army, FIRST turned his attention
10 Il as an engine OF war which should
render the nation in possession OF II ir-
resistible. by enabling its officers to scout
without fear OF che enomy's IRE. From
that time up to che present, he has been
az work with little interrnassion upon his
great idea, spending his great wealth Law
ishly IN experiments which were for che
most part failures: but failures OF the
kind that leads to success. HIS constant
endeavor was 10 ind a structure which
SHOULD b. hght. vet Arm. and properly
added weight with motors capable Of driv-
Ing IL through the air. He long ago made
up his mind that 20 Do OF practical value
his airShip must be- able 20 attain a
speed OF more than fifteen miles an hour.
since the currents In the upper regions OF
the DIR where he proposed to operate are
50 often OF that OF greatr velocity. that a
contrivanoe unable TO withstand winds OF
that order would b. useless In the mean
10 ltf no "a "a Ia to-
confidence. and the many aeronauts IN
various rarts OF the world VINO like
Hargrave OF Australia, Chanule OF this
country and tho Inflated Lilienthal OF Ger
many were following the line of soaring
night by means OF seroplanes we're in
clined to look on him a. a visionary who
would only add one more TO the already
long list OF failures.
IL was not until two or three years ago
that the world beard about Count Yep
pelin's airship Then what II heard was
not dehnite; being the general informa-
ton that the biggest balloon ever built
was nearing completion 81 "a boat house
on Lake Constance. balloon bigger than
man OF war. on July !. OF this year.
sulh Of the public as CHANGED 20 be in the
vicinity OF Lake Constance or had come
thither IN expectation OF tho event. had
opportunity OF verifying the various Tu-
mors about the so-cailed balloon. what
they saw as Tho great structure vas
moved out from It's floating boathouse
for the first time. was a framework that
looked like a cigar. 40 feet long and 3s
feet In diameter. except at the taperinc
ends. Al the sides were propeiLers. aud
at each end big. fin-like protuberances
which were 20 serve as rudders. II was
not like any balloon that any OF the
spectators had ever before seen. and in
deed. u was not strictly speaking. a bal
loon, but a series OF balloons, seventeen
Of them IN all. enclosed In a frame OF
| aluminium trellis work. That day no
flight was attempted on account OF che
nigh wind.
The First Successful journey.
on the evening OF the following day the
airsnip made the first really successful
air trip on record. Released from the ca
oies that anchored Il TO the barges. n
rose quietly and steadily that the swift
ness Of It's flight WAS hardly apnreciable
20 the thousands who watched H. When
Il had reached an altitude Of between
twelve and thirteen hundred feet It's up-
ward progress was checked for that 4
the air stratum in which Il is expected
that most OF the travelling will be done
/ Then the maneuvering began Beneath
the body OF the balloon hung two alum
mum cars, one about 100 feet from the
PROV OF the craft, holding the inventor
aud two companions, the other about a.