Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1901-07-25

navigation was solved in Parts-an
epoch making achievement. Santos
Dumont, the Brazilian aeronaut, com
peted for the prize of $4,000 offered
by Henry Deutsch OF Paris for the
ballonlst who should succeed in pro-
pelling a balloon from the Aero club
grounds at st. Cloud, on the west bank
of the Seine, to the Eiffel tower, distant
five kilometers, and go around the
tower and return to the starting point
within half an hour He accomplished
the coruse in spite of stitf northwest
wind, but failed to win the prize be-
cause the time occupied was just nine
minutes beyond the half hour limit
Dumont mounted, alighted, and re-
assembled time after time without ac-
cesories and as easily and gracefully
as a great bird would take wing and
come to the earth. He flew high,
low, in straight lines, and in curves
with the wind against him, precisely
as he willed. He was master of the
air as truly as navigator of steam
ship is master of the waves. True,
his craft was by no means perfected
any more than the early steamboat
compares with the modern liners.
The problem of aerial navigation,
how ever. is solved. OF that no
possible doubt remains in the minds OF
those who were awakened at early
dawn by strange sounds in the
heavens, and who saw the wonderful
evolutions of the strange thing which
scared above their roofs.
One or two minor defects which
were easily remedied in few hours
prevented the complete carrying out
of the tests, but it is safe to prophesy
that within a month Dumont's inVen-
ton will hold as complete dominion
over the air, except during storms as
a ship does over the sea.
Some experts who watched the great
aerostat hold the opinion that the
ultimate development of aerial naVl-
CATION will be by airships, which ny
by self generated power, without the
aid of a gas balloon. This is as it may
be but for the present there Is no
doubt that flying machines will include
balloon of sufficient buoyancy to
practically balance the weight of the
apparatus and passengers. Such IS
the case with Dumont's airship
His immediate object has been to
win a prize of $4,000 offered year
ago by Deutsch, the Rouen petroleum
refiner. The conditions required that
A start be made in the neighborhood OF
St Cloud, that the Eiffel tower be
circled three times, and that the air
shin then return to its starting point
at an average speed of not less than
thirteen miles an hour.
A committee of the Aero club wit
messed the trial. Dumont reached the
Eiffel tower at o'clock. His balloon
was being propelled through the
atmosphere apparently with equal ease
and greater grace than steam yacht
ploughs the sea The writer wit
messed the test from the tower. He
saw the cigar-shaped balloon come
into view through the distant trees,
the wind blowing from the north
end a beam of the balloon as the
latter's course was from east to west.
The balloon is constructed of some
light colored material, and is ap-
narently $50 feet long and 40 feet wide
at its greatest width. Below it hangs a
kind of openwork platform containing
a small petroleum motor. Behind this
and about midway between the plat
form and the balloon proper is two
flangeu screw with a small sail to
serve as a rudder. M. Santos Dumont
sat in the forward part of the car
handling the lines which control the
engine and the rudder.
The balloon glided along toward the
Eiffel tower it's coat rejecting the
beams of the early sun apparently
obeying the will of the steerer as will
ingly as a yacht answers its helm in
the open sea. Nearing the tower on
the south side the balloon maintained
its course until it was less than tft}
Yards away then it gracefully turned
northward 1t seemed to take an up
ward course as it came into the eye OF
the wind. Dumont continued to turn
his machine until it pointed directly
westward. It seemed to be absolutely
unhampered by the wind, and soon dis
appeared over the Bots de Boulogne.
The balloon passed the Eiffel tower at
an altitude of about 100 meters be-
tween the first and second stages.
Dumont unfortunately failed to full
fill the condition that he return to the
Pare de Aerostation, St Cloud, IN
thirty minutes, making total dis
lance to the Eiffel tower and back Of
eleven klometers. His time was
thirty-nine minutes.
A friend of the aeronaut, gave the
following details of the construction
Of the airship: Its volume is 81
cubic metres, length "a metres, and
height 6 metres. Beneath the balloon,
suspended by thin steel wires, hangs
era Is eighteen metres long. COMP
OF three slightly curved convei gins