The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-04
SECRET OF THE AIRSHIP
WHAT is BEING DONE IN FRANCE TO
SOLVE THE PROBLEM. .
4 Number of Inventors Are Working
at 1t with Reasonable
Prospect Of Success.
J. E. woolacott. in London Mail.


Twenty-seven balloons ascended from
Vincennes in the course of a single day
during the present summer The occasion
| was one of the fourteen contests arranged
I'm connection with the exhibition; and the
fact that so many airships could be got
together in the vicinity of Paris suggests
that aeronauts are far more numerous in
France tnan they are in England
Great progress has of late been made by
| our neighbors in the art of aerial navlga-
ton. Ballooning is not pursuit WITHIN
the reach of the less opulent. 1t requires
money to construct balloon, just as 1t
requires pluck and skill to pilot the airship
through the heavens and to bring 1t back
| safely to the earth. And money, pluck, ana
skill have been plentifully forthcoming 10
! further the interests of ballooning in
! France
| The Aero Club, which numbers between
four and five hundred members, has among
| it's adherents both sportsmen ana sclen-
| lists. The Comte de Dion, head OF the
| famous automobile house. is its president
| The idea of the club occurred to the Comte
| Henry de la Vallette as he and several
| friends were passing over Champagne in
| balloon at an altitude of 5000 feet. 1t was
! enthusiastically received, and to-day me
| names of some fifty owners of balloons are
| Inscribed on the books
/ Though ballooning Is necessarily attended
| with risk not a single aeronaut has peen
| injured in the aseents made by the mem
| bers of the club And during the present
| year alone the number of ascentS has
| reached the respectable figure OF $50 on
1 the other hand, magnificent results nave
| been obtained. The best record for long
| distance is that of the Comte de Castillon
| and M. Mallet, who made a voyage OF SD
| miles NJ Mallet is also the holder of the
| record for the duration of a voyage, having
succeeded in remaining thirty-six hours In
1 the air For altitude NJ Balsan stands
| first. During recent competition, 1t Will
| be remembered, he attained height OF
| over 5000 feet.
| The French government recognized the
| progress made in ballooning by voting
| $4,000 for the exhibition contests. That
| greater results have not been attained dur
| ing these contests is attributed by ex-
! perienced aeronauts TO the method OF ham
| dicapping adopted Under this system the
| larger balloons were compelled TO carry
certain weights of ballast, and the aero
| nauts were required TO brng this ballast
| back at the end of the competition to show
| that ii had not been thrown out. One OF the
| best-known aeronauts in France declared
| that this was equivalent to handicapping
| yacht by cutting down her sails. and the
| same gentleman assured me that the re-
| suit had been to deter wealthy amateurs
| from constructing balloons for the pur-
pose of taking part In the contests. and also
| to keep away foreign competitors from
4 what was intended TO be an international
| tournament
| AN 500 MILES JOURNEY.
In the last two three competitions
| there was certainly no handicapping, and
| here excellent results were secured. But
| for the aggregate prizes the points made
| in every contest counted, and no one was
| likely to build an expensive balloon for
| a single competition. These are the argu-
ments I have heard advanced, and it IS
| a fact that the sensational ascension of Nj.
! RaIsan. which I have already mentioned.
| and the voyage of the Comte de la Vaulx
from Paris to point in Russia. some 500
| miles distant, We're effected in trials of
| skill from which handcapping was alb
sent. These results, too were secured
with balloons that We're decidedly the
worse for wear. as they had taken part IN
| a number of the earlier contests.
1t Is worthy of note that the Comte de
| Ia Vaulx could have prolonged his vow
/ age still further, as he had considerable
| quantity of ballast in hand when he de-
| scended Being anxious, however. to re-
turn for the next competition, and fear
| ing that he might be stranded in a desert,
| he decided to land where he could readily
| obtain facilities for recrossing the frontier.
| The problem of constructing balloon
| which can be steered and driven by the
| aeronaut has excited deep interest in
France. The prize of $4,000 offered by Nj.
| Henry Deutsch, of petroleum fame. has
naturally produced hundreds OF madly
| grotesque schemes from enthusiastic and
|
| means of inducing skilled aeronauts to pro-
coed with projects which certainly have in
/ them the elements Of success. 1t Will be
no trumpery airship that will secure the
| Deutsch prize The conditions are that the
aeronaut, either in balloon or in a flying
machine, shall start from the grounds of
| the Aero Club. nea- ST Cloud, or from
point equally distant from the Eiffel Tower.
| and within half hour sail round the
tower and return TO the place OF departure.
| This would mean an aerial voyage of at
least seven miles. Several airShipS have
! been prepared or are in course OF prepare
ton for the purpose of attempting this
| feat. NJ. Santos-Dumont, who for years
has been working at his hobby on which.
| by the way, he must have spent small
| fortune, succeeded in showing with his air
| ship mo A. that he had mastered the
| secret of advancing against the wind The
motor balloon mo. 4, which cost in all
about e2,0o0, has given place to fifth and
larger ship, and in this NJ. Santos-Dumont
has fixed new motors giving sixteen horse
power in place Of six and quarter.
TWO STEERING BALLOONS.
The Santos-Dumont airship is cigar
shaped structure pointed at both ends. 1t
has a propeller of silk on wooden frame
| i'm front, and a rudder of silk and bamboo
| behind, the aeronaut taking his seat in a
bicycle saddle in the middle of a spar which
| is attached along the whole length of the
| balloon.
Another gentleman determined to COM
| pete for the Deutsch prize-M Firrnin
| Bousson-has designed a balloon of cylin-
1 drical shape, hundred and thirty feet in
! height and fifteen feet in diameter The
| sketches which the inventor has made of
! his airship represent an apparatus like an
| inverted ciaret bottle sailing among the
| clouds From the neck of the bottle project
| two sets of wings, which are to be driven
| by six horsepower gasoline motor. NJ.
| Bousson expects, given favorable circum
| stances to be able to attain q speed of
| nearly twenty miles an hour. The inventor
/ has INDUCED in a curious bit OF realism,
| by tipping the wings of his balloon with
| crows feathers, a proceeding that IS evok-
/ ing a great deal of good-humored banter.
NJ Emanuel Anne, the secretary OF the
Aero Club. who is at once a scientist and
an experience aeronaut, has, after years of
| work, perfected an airship with which he
/ will compete for the Deutsch prize NJ.
Aime's ''Thermosphere, for such is the
name he has given TO his invention, con-
| sists of balloon partially inflated with
hydrogen. and SO ballasteC that 1t cannot
rise of its own accord. When an ascent is
to be made the aeronaut injects steam into
| the body OF the balloon by means OF a tube
emanating from a generator attached to
| the car. This raises the temperature OF the
| hydrogen and initiates the balloon. BY regu-
lating the output of~steam the aeronaut
can ascend and descend at Will, and thus
/ cast about until he has discovered an
1 oI civ,xr s,, no he