The Washington times., 1901-08-04
BALLooNING IN FRANCE,
Many New Steering Devices Invented
by Army Officers.

By Army Officers.
| The France Miltaire'' gives an inter-
esting account of some experiments in
military aerostation which are about to
be carried out by the French military au-
| thorities. In the school of military aeros-
tation at Chalais no great belief is enter
tanned of the possibility of driving an
aerial machine of any kind or of direct
| ing its course under adverse circurn-
| stances. by means of a motor 1t Is be-
| lieyed, however, that by the aid of prop
er apparatus the wind may, in very many
| cases. be utilized to take balloon in any
required direction, and ii is to test the
| appliances which have been designed for
this purpose that experiments are about
| to be undertaken.
| The first series of trials will be carried
| out over the Mediterranean. The balloon
| used will be spherical in shape, with a
| capacity Of 5000 cubic metres. II will be
| filled with hydrogen, and arrangements
will be made by means of a contrivance
| carried In the car to keep the balloon
constantly fully inflated. The balloon
will ascend from the isthmus of Sab
| lette, from strip of beach sheltered by
Cape Sicie, in front of the great harbor
of Toulon, and the object will be to reach
the shores of Algeria As the wind VIII
probably be favorable in June and July,
the ascent is announced for the last feTt-
night in June, the car being occupied by
Count Henry de la Vaulx, who last year
won the prize offered for long distance
baIlooning
The apparatus carried for the purpose
of keeping the balloon in the right direc-
tion will consist of two distinct contriv-
I;.. IL ad will ri,4pn n
keeping the balloon for any desired period
uniformly at any desired altitude, in or
der that a layer of atmosphere moving in
the desired direction may be utilized The
invention eau only be utilized when sail
ing over water, and it is for this reason
that it has been decided to make the first
experiment over the sea- OF course, the
altitude of a balloon can always be va
ried by throwing out ballast, or allowing
gas 70 escape, butas neither gas nor bal
last can be replaced. the number of times
the height of the balloon be varied
by these means is very limited; whereas,
by the contrivance now designed, it is
claimed that the altitude may be altered
whenever and as often may be desired
without Debating the balloon. or chang
ing, except temporarily. the weight car
ried The ''deviateurs," which it is not
pretended will make the balloon travel
against the wind, but which it is believed
will cause it to move at an angle to the
direction of this latter. are of somewhat
complicated construction
AS a general description it may be said
that they consist of concave plates so ar
ranged that they can be folded together
or expanded at will by simply pulling a
light cord. These are suspended below
the car by two such cores. When these
latter are of equal length the deviator
does not act at all, and the balloon sim
ply drifts with the wind, but by pulling
on and shortening one other of the
cords the plates made to assume a po-
sition more or less oblique to the wind as
may be desired. and thus. much as the
direction of a boat is moved by a rudder,
the balloon is made to deviate more or less
from the direction of the wind.-United
Service Gazette.