The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-10-05

| which fully supplies the needed quality
| of strength and hghtness. We have in
| petroleum a concentrated fuel which may
| be used to generate large amount Of
power with the minimum of weight and
waste. It is also possible that In a
! short time more we shall have light bat
| teries in which darge quantities of cleo
! tricity can be stored, to be drawn upon
whenever force is needed.
These are possibilities of the near fu-
| ture, and they one and all hold out the
promise of enabling some one. even in
! this generation, TO solve problem that
has defied the utmost skill of men in
| past ages. When one considers that the
discovery and utilization of safss and
economical means of air navigation would
imply the more or less speedy abandon
ment of almost all our present means
of land and water transportation, the
tremendous economic and social revolu-
ton that would result from the discovery
| we have referred to can be perhaps faint
~ imagined. The successful trip OF an
air ship would in twenty-four hours
time cut down by half the value Of all
railroads and steamships in the world,
| because 1t would afford an opportunity
the cost of transporting both persons and
merchandise. 1t may be that this genera
ton will have passed away before this
discovery is made; but, on the other
hand, it is not impossible that this grea-
invention will be brought into public use
before the close of the present century.
Present indications all. point the same
way.
NJ. de Santos Dumont Brazilian by
birth, a Frenchman by adoption, conf
IDENTIFY believes that he has solved the
problem of a navigable balloon. Nor is
he without reasons for the faith that is
in him. He has constructed a machine
which he claims possesses all the neces-
cary requirements. Those claims have
been tested with some measure of sue
cess.
On November %, 1899, NJ Dumont
mounted his machine within the walls of
Paris, made for the Eiffel tower, circled
that structure high in the air, then
turned off west, though the wind was
southwest, and came down safely at the
Moulin, in the Bots de Boulogne. There
was breakdown of the steering gear,
however, so that the best results were
not obtained
NJ Dumont's balloon is cigar-shaped
There is no netting about the silk It's
sue, but there is a strong belt sewn in
the lower part of the balloon; and short
pieces of wood are attached. From these
is Suspended the basket, which hangs
about ten feet from the balloon In this
basket is four and half horse power
petroleum engine, working a propeller
= 49, g.
about twenty-five hundred revolutions
to the minute. This continuance propels
the balloon through the air at a speed of
about twenty miles an hour.
A rudder placed in the stern guides the
air ship. This is made ON bamboos, COW
cred with silk, the whole having a sur
face Of about twenty-five square feet
Ballast is used in order to make the air
ship rise or fall At each end of the
balloon are ropes to which are fastened
fifty pounds of ballast. Guys, or smaller
ropp ppeylod wafwyoyow fwyawoyaW-w
ropes, control them. Thus, when the
aeronaut wishes to rise he lets out the
stern guy, and fifty pounds of ballast
falls astern, throwing the bow end Of the
balloon upward at an angle of from
twenty-five to thirty degrees. When he
descends he has only to let out the bow
weight and draw in the stern weight
NJ. Dumont initiates his balloon with
ordinary Illuminating gas, as saving
both of time and expense. To fill five
hundred cubic metres with hydrogen
takes all day. whereas it takes only an
hour with the ordinary burning gas. 1t
is true that hdrogen has double the lift
inc of
of emergency ii may be substituted
M. Dumont has rival in Switzerland
Early in July, 1900, Count Won Zeppelin
madA a successful trial trip of his air
ship on the Bake of Geneva The Count
is an indefatigable aeronaut, who has de-
voted thirty years of his life to the
study of aerial navigation. He has been
al work on his present machine for five
years. 1t has cost over quarter million
of dollars, a portion of which sum IS
understood to have been contributed by
the German government
he balloon is cigar shaped, like that Of
M. de Santos Dumont. 1t contains 1000
cylinders, filled with $1,000 cubic feet Of
hydrogen. and weighs some nine tons.
with lifting capacity of between three
and four tons. Two benzine engines
supply the motive power.
On the appointed day the air ship, con-
tanned in a large floating shed, moored
off Friedrichshafen, was made fast 10 a
large pontoon, and lowed out into the
lake. When Count Won Zeppelin and his
four companions, Baron Conrad Bassus,
Herr Eugene Wolf and two engineers,
had taken their places in the cars the
nrda civ - 1Fr
machine rose slowly into the air to
height Of twelve hundred feet, and guided
by the steersman sailed over the lake
to the opposite shore. In seventeen
minutes distance of three and a half
miles was covered. Then the voyage
was cut short by an accident to the
steering gear which had so far answered
perfectly, and the balloon had to be
towed back to the starting point. Since
then the balloon has remained on the
stocks at the side OF Geneva Lake, under
going the necessary repairs.
The balloon had not been discovered
very long before II received a military
status. Soon after the comm OF
the French Revolution an aeronautic
school was founded at Madden by the
French Department Of War -Four bal
looms were constructed just before che
battle OF FleurUs. in June. 1874 One -
these balloons was set up to reconno.tre
the hostile army. and Il Is generally
stated that the resulting information won
the victory for the French The balloon
corps was in constant reQuisiti3u during
the campaign. but without any other
notable results. and the school was dis
solved in T7eS BY Napoleon
For the next two generations only
sporadic attempts were made 10 realize
the idea Of the balloon in war. IN the
French campaign against ITALY. IN I5s.
The Eran-h ra-,lrre5 70 he usa cs h.