The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-07
AIR SHIP DREAMS
DARING PLANS AND IDEAS FORMU-
LATED BY Nj. SANTOS
DUMONT
TO NEW. YORK IN TWO DAYS
Inventor of Air Ship Believes That
Transatlantic Trip Will Soon
BE an Ordinary
Affair.

London Chronicle.
nj. Santos-Dumont the young Brazil
ian aeronaut, whose name has been upon
the worlds lips so frequently of late, is
a strange mixture of energy and lassi-
tude.
When he makes up his mind to do a
thing there is no rest for him or those
around him until it is done; after he has
attained his end there is none who APP.
preciate more keenly the luxury of d
dolce far niente'' existence have.
known him to be back In his shed at
ST. Cloud at O'Clock in the morning
after hard day S work on his airship;
/ have called at his bachelor quarters i'll
the Champs Elysees and found him. in
bed at. II O'Clock in the forenoon.
.T Come Rack Again"
1t was during one of these bedside chats
two or three days ago that I asked M.
Santos-Dumont how he would describe
his achievements as compared with those
of other aeronauts.ss His answer is worth
remembering:
Before my time,s' he said when men
went UP in baioons they left the earth
with very vague idea of where they
would land again. They went where the
wind took them. and when there was no
sport of every current they encountered.
But I have shown the world steerable
balloon 1 not only start on an aerial
trip; come back again. I have said to
my friends I shall meet you at the Long
champs race course, and / have done so.
1 have given rendezvous at other places
and steered my balloon to the point
agreed upon. have left the Aerostation
park at ST. Cloud have sailed round the
Eiffel tower, and returned to the starting
point in half an hour. That is what I
have done. .
He might have added that he has re-
placed the electric motor used in 1SS4-S5
by a petroleum one-an advance of the
greatest Importance that while his
machine is ten times less heavy than
that of the Renard balloon, it is able to
run ten times longer. And while those
who are paid. by the French government
for. carrying out experiments in aerial
navigation pursue their operations in Sc
clusion, shielding themselves behind the
convenient pledge: which ferbids the di-
vulging of military6seerets, M. Santos
Dumcnt allows whoever SO desire to come
, into his shed and inspect the details of
his machinery.
the day that the daring young inventor
practically won. the Dedtseh prize will
ever forget that moving scene. Aero
nauts and laymen men who did not
know him from Adam women who had
never seen steerable balloon, joined In
the triumph Of the hero who had laugh
ed at death and scorned failure till finally
he won the reward he so richly merited.
But NJ Santos-Dumont has no inten-
ton of resting on his hardly won: laureis..
Brilliant as are his achievements, he is
impatient to accomplish still greater
things.
To my question as to what he meant
to do next, he replied:
81 am leaving for the Riviera shortly,
and on the shores OF the Mediterranean
mean to build another shed and continue
my experiments. II shall take all my ap-
paratus, my machinery tor making by
drogen, and my workmen, and with the
Santos Dumont VI, will make trial trips
over the water. 49,
Suppose you should fall into the sea?'.
81 have provided against that. The
framework of the balloon will be eneased
in an lmpermeabie silk covering, so that
if I come down in the Mediterranean
snail iiodl.5 lOO, W III NC
made of what sailors call 'bastin, so that
it will float on the surface of the sea
and serve as equilibrium in the same way
as / employ it when ,maneuvering over
Longchamps race course. L shall be fol-
| lowed by a steam launch in case of acct
dents, and shall extend the radius of my
excursions every day. Then, on a nice,
bright day, provided with message
which / shall ask the postal authorities
to entrust to me for delivery at a given
spot in Corsica, I shall try to cross from
France to that island. 1 believe I shall
beat the mailbeats, for they are slow
| craft, and my air ship can cover nearly
twenty-five miles an hour. BY carrying
out this plan hope to prove that my air.
ship is not mere plaything, but prac>
teal invention, capable Of being applied
in thoroughly useful fashion,
SHOULD these experiences be attended
with success, I shall attempt later on to
cross the Mediterranean from the French
coast to Tunis. "
DO you think it will ever be possipie