The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-26
AIRsHIPs OF THE FUTURE.
interview With NJ. SantOs-Dumont
A Daring New scheme-Liquid Air
as a Motor.

as "a Motor.
From the London Chronicle.
so satisfied is NJ. Santos-Dumont
with the possibilities of the airship
that, having steered easily round the
Eiffel Tower, and thus won the Deutsch
prize of $4,000, he is now preparing
for an aerial journey of 100 miles
across the Mediterranean. The distin.
gulshed aeronaut is now in London the
guest of the newly formed Zero Club
OF the United Kingdom, which has ar
ranged to give a banquet in his honor
at the Hotel Metropoie.
M. Santos-Dumont has told a party
Oh newspaper men all about his new
project. He proposes to cross from Mon
| te Carlo to Corsica, and hopes to alight
at the little seaport of Calvi on the
northwest coast. He thinks. he can
accomplish the journey of 120 miles
| IN three hours, as against the eight OF
nine hours occupied by steamships 1t
| Is MS intention to travel alone, and
| even to refuse the offer OF a fast tor
| pedo craft which he understands could
be secured for the asking. He be-
lieves that not the fastest cruiser nor
torpedo catcher could keep pace with
him. He is anxious to carry a packet
| or government mails so as to show that
they can be delivered some five or six
| hours earlier than usual. A special air
| ship is being built for the voyage at
/ the expense of the Prince of Monaco.
| 1t is to be no larger than the one in
which M. Dumont navigated the
Eiffel Tower. but is being made much
stronger, with five times the amount
| of motor power.
Questioned by a Daily Chronicle rep
resentative as to whether he thought
| it possible to cross from France to Afri-
| ca, the enthusiastic aeronaut declared
he was certain it could be done. 81
calculate" he said, that l could cross
| to Algiers in twenty-four hours. OF
| course l should have to build a special
airship FOR the voyage, for the one
now being made is only capable Of
/ twelve hours propulsion. l may un-
| dertake such journey some day, but
/ must get the Corsican trip over first
l like to proceed cautiously. 1 have
| already demonstrated that an airship
| can be propelled and steered in any di-
|, rection. l now hope by my projected
Fvoyage across the Mediterranean TO
| Corsica to prove that this holds good
| for long distances. Once that is es-
tablshed, 1 am ready to undertake
| longer and longer distances across the
| sea-" A,
Even across the Atlantic?"
"Ahso well'Y-with a shrug of the
| shoulders" you ask me great deal.
l believe some day it will become pos
| sible, but with no more appliances
than we have to-day 1 should myself
| hesitate before attempting to cross 5,
| 900 miles of sea. Remember aerial nav
| igation is still in it's infancy, and its
| possibilities, which / believe to be vast,
cannot very we'll be defined. If you
had asked George Stephenson whether
| the locomotive would do what it is
doing to-day 1 fear that not even his
| enthusiasm could have prompted him
| to prophesy what has really happened.
1 will say this, however, believe we
are on the eve OF great discoveries IN
regard to travelling through the air. 1
am sure that airships will soon become
as popular as motor cars. These lat
ter, like the airships of to-day, were
at first looked upon as expensive toys,
but now they are becoming popular
both for pleasure and business. You
will find the airship following the same
line of development and that before
very long"
do you think electricity will give
us the future mastery over the air?"
| NJ. Dumont was doubtful on the
| point. 'tAt present, certainly not" he
said. THE petroleum motor is the only
| one that serves for to-day. You may
find the new power in liquid air, but
l doubt whether you will find it in cleo
| tricity. The weight of an electric bait
| terry puts that source of power out of
the question altogether. To obtain one
horse power in an airship by means
of electricity you have to carry bat
| terry weighing between sixty and sew
| entity pounds, but / can get the same
! power from a petroleum motor with a
weight of seven pounds only. My Eiffel
Tower airship had sixteen horse pow
er. and the one now being built in Mo-
naco is to have ninety horse power,
| supplied from two motors of equal ca
pacity. The fuel, of course, is partly
supplied from the air itself, and with
this free supply of oxygen it is not
! necessary to carry as much petroleum
as one would think. The new ma,
| chine is calculated to go for ten hours
| without being replenished."
rs there no danger from petroleum
| motors ?"se.
Nothing beyond the ordinary dan
gers sof any kind of air travel The
motors are sometimes liable to stop
working for a moment or two when
the balloon pitches; but l have never
| had an accident to speak of All my
! accidents have been useful accidents.
| Seeing that my new machine will be
the seventh, think I have done fairly
well, having come off with nothing
worse than broken head"
'What particular feelings have you
when you steer through the air at
| will?"
| The aeronaut smiled. "The driving
of a spirited horse is nothing to 1T,
| nor can the steering of a fine yacht
in a stiff breeze be compared to 1t.
| 1t is an entirely new sensation to have
a monster machine high in the air an
| swering the every touch of tn ruddder
instantly. l believe have almost per-
fected the Steering apparatus In the
old balloons the wind was our mas
ter, but now we are master of the
wind. The faster we travel, the bet
ter can we steer. 1t is curious that
by regulating the course in the air the
balloon pitches exactly like a vessel at
sea under similar control by rudder,
and when we are going against the
wind it pitches worse than ever again
| Just as a ship al sea does"
"Then / suppose, Mr.. Dumont, we
may expect airsickness as we'll as sea-
| sickness in future?"
, IT think not" he answered with a
laugh. "At least, / haven't been sick
yet"
| Chinese Iaundryman Murdered.