Evening star., 1900-10-27
AERIAL NAVIGATI ION
Count zeppelin's Airship Seems to
Be a Success.
At ALL TIMES UNDER CONTROL
Turns in Amy Direction and Goes
Against the Wind.
COMPOSED OF BALLOONS
COMPOSED OF BALLOONS

,capyri-ht 1000 by :. $ Mcclure Coz
Written for Tn" Evening Star.
Since the tirst balloon successfully scared
into the ether the great problem of aero
naUtics has been to achieve that same
control over ship of the air that the
sailor has over the ship in the water. The
problem was tw fold; it required the
achievement of propulsion and of direc-
ton In the aggrt gate millions Of dollars
hundreds Of years ana scores of lives have
been devoted to the solution. From time
to time announcement has been triumph
sntly made Of an airshiD that could be
stecred through the eXpanSe Os the skies;
but single trial Of the cJatTivance has
ended III failure at the best. disaster at the
worst, OF late Investigators have turned
from the idea Of the balloon to that Of the
soaring apparatus: seeking to initiate the
bird rather than the steamship in the effort
t. navigate the air; but one student of aero
nduti,S steadfastly held To the line of the
gas airShip. and now, in the closing year Of
the nineteenth century, Count Zeppelin an
aOUuees 10 the world that the dIrIgible air
ship Is demonstrated fact.
Two flights successful in every particular
form the basis Of Count Zeppelin's : claim
which iS universally recognized since his
most recent experiment on october Il at
Friedrich chsnaicn, German town ON Lake
Constance In each he demonstrated be
yond cayil that this airShip could be raised
lowered and stccred in any direction at
will. while carrying five passengers. This
amounts, broadly speaking. To this: that
the nrSt StcD Forward has been made in
aerial navigation, since the flight of the
first balloon. At the beginning Of balloon
ing II was SHOWN that the great gas bulb
could be raised or lowered, to some extent
in accordance with the will of the operator
In all the years since no man has sue
cecded i'll controlling its lateral move
mentS or overcoming the pressure OF the
air currents until the German count built
the huge craft which has made his name
known the world over. W nat remains of
the pr DbIcm now is simply matter of me
chanIcsI Ingenuity: to tighten the structure
of the airShip while preserving its strength
aHd To Increase the motive power without
adding materially To the weight of the en-
giu"s.
The work of Years.
More time. thought, endeavor and money
have been put into the Zeppelin airship
than into any previous enterprise of aerial
navigation. 1t is thirty years since Count
Zeppelin. officer in the German army.
nrst turned his attention To it as an en-
Eine of war which should render the ma
1ion in possession Of it irresistible, by en-
ablinS its officers to scout without fear of
the enemy = lire. From that time up To
the present Hc has been AT work with it'll.
intermiSsiun upon his great idea. spending
his great wealth iavishiy III experiments
which were for The most part failures. but
failures OF the kind that lead to success
His constant eudeaVor was 10 find a
Structur" which should be light vet firm
and properly balanced. and to supply it.
without much added weight. with motors
Capable uf driving ii through tn. air He
long ago made up his mind that To be of
practical value his airship must be able
1" attain speed of more than fifteen
miles AN hour. since the currents in the
upper regions Of the air where he pro-
p"s'i to operate are 50 often Of that or
greater velocity. that a conJriVance unable
To- withstand Winds of that order would be
I'm inn. h..
The world into his confidence and the
many drrpuautS i'll various parts of the
world who, like IIargravc Of Australia
Chauutc OF this country and the Inflated
I.lliruthal Of Germany, Were following the
line of soaring flight by means of aero
planes. Were inclined To look him as
visionary who would only add one more
10 the already long list OF failures.
Biggest Ever Built.
II was not until TWO or three years ago
that the world heard about Count Zeppe-
Ins airship. Then what it heard was not
definite. being the general information
that the biggest balloon ever built was
nearing completion in boat house on
Lake Constance, balloon bigger than a
man-of-war. On July l Of this year such
OF the public CHANGED To be in the vicin-
ity of Lake Constance or had come thither
in expectation Of the event. had an oppor-
tunity Of verifying the various rumors
about the so-called balloon.
What they saw. the great structure
was moved out from its floating boat
house for the first time Il framework
that looked like a cigar. i2b feet long and
rs feet in diameter. except at the tapering
ends. At the sides Were prOpelers. and
at each end big, hn-like prOtuberanCes,
which were to serve rudderS. 1t was
not like any balloon that any of the spec
tators had ever before seen. and indeed.
Il was not. strictly speaking. a balloon. but
q series of balloons. seventeen of them in
all. inclosed in frame of aluminium trel
lis work. That day no flight was attempt
ed on account of the high wind.
First Successful Journey.
On the evening of the following day the
airshp made the first really successful air