The Wichita daily eagle., 1904-05-29

influences of atmosphere phenomena,
they would understand that a dirigible
balloon, TO be practical, requires, first OF
all, to have the utmost extreme Of SIM
plicity in all its mechanism.
THE FORFEIT OF RASHNESS.
Some of the unhappy constructors
who have paid with their lives the for
felt of their rashness had never made
single responsible ascent as captain OF
the spherical balloon. And the majority
of their euulators, now so devotedly la
boring. are in the same inexperienced
condition. This is my explanation of
their lack of success They are in the
condition IN which the first-comer would
find himself were he to agree to build
and steer a transatlantic liner without
| having ever quilted land or set foot in
a boat?
As so few persons have had the ex
perience Of ballooning especially with
the dirigible, il IS interesting to listen
while NJ. Santos-D Dumont describes an air
| flight.
| My first impression .of aerial naviga-
tion was, L confess, surprise TO feel the
airship going straight ahead. 1t was as
tonishing to feel the wind in my face. In
and do not feel it. True in rising and
descending. the spherical baloonist feels
the friction of the atmosphere and the
| vertical oscillation makes the flag fiutter,
but in the horizontal movement the or
binary balloon seems to stand still while
| the eartn tlies past under it.
AS THE SHIP PLOWS AHEAD.
>''As my airship plowed ahead. the wind
! struck my face and fluttered my coat as
| on the deck of transatlantic liner,
| though in other respects it will be more
accurate to liken aerial to river naviga-
tion with a steamboat 1t is not like sail
navigation, and all talk about "tacking
is meaningless. If there is any wind at
all. ii is in a given direction, so that the
analogy with a river current is complete,
When there is no wind at all, we may
liken it to the navigation of smooth
/ lake or pond. 1t will be well to under
stand this matter.
Suppose that my motor and propeller
push me through the air at the rate of
twenty miles an hour. | am in the posi-
| ton of a steamboat captain, whose pro-
! peller is driving him up or down the
/ river at the rate of twenty miles an hour.
! Imagine the current to be ten miles an
hour. If he navigates against the cur
! rent, he accomplishes ten miles an hour
| with respect TO the shore. though he has
been travelling at the rate of twenty miles
| an hour through the water. If he goes
! with the current. he accomplishes thirty
miles an hour with respect to the shore.
through ne has not been going any faster
through the water. This is one of the
reasons why it is so difficult to estimate
the speed of an airship.
BIRDS DO THE SAME THING.
1T is also the reason why airship cap
tains will always prefer 10 navigate for
their own pleasure in calm weather. and
| when they lind an air current against
them. will s,eer obliquely upward or
downward to get out OF IT. Birds do the
same thing The sailing yatchman whis
ties for fair breeze, without which he
can do nothing: but the river steamboat
captain will always hub the shore to
avoid the freshet, and will time his de-
scent of the river by the outgoing rather
than the incoming tide. We airshipmen
are steamboat captains and not sailing
yachtsmen."
In his chapter, entitled Il yield to the
steerable balloon idea the author tells
of his conversion. 1t came while he was
being tossed about by the winds in a
spherical balloon, the guide-rope of which
had become wrapt around a tree. He
decided to build a cylindrical balloon,
long enough and thin enough TO cut the
air He had little tricycle. motor and
resolved TO use it. Its light weight and
simplicity. he states, are responsible for
his trials II started from the princi-
pie; to make any kind OF success. il would
be necessary to economize weight and so
comply with the pecuniary. as well as
the mechanical conditions of the problem.
Nowadays l build airships in a large
way. ] am in it as kind of life-work.
Then / was but a half-decided beginner,
unwilling to spend large sums of money
in a doubtful project.
AN ELONGATED BALLOON.
Therefore. 1 resolved to build an elon-
gated balloon. just large enough to raise.
along with my own one hundred and ten
pounds of weight. as much more as might
be necessary TOR the basket. and rigging.
motor. fuel, and absolutely indispens-
able ballast In reality, I was building an
airship to nj my little tricycle. motor,
This petroleum motor, after removing
from it whatever was not strictly neces- f.
sary. weight sixty-six pounds. and was
of 81. horse power Ills automobiling ex-
perience has. he says. stood him in good
stead. Should the time come in some
future fight Of mine when the motor of
my airship threatens danger. l am con-
WINGED that my car will bear. and / shall
heed the warming This almost instruc- |
tive faculty I owe only To experience. /
Having broken up the tricycle. for the
sake Of its motor. l purchased at about /
this time an up-to-date six horsepower
Panhard with which I went from Paris 4
10 Nice in fifty-four hours. night and day. /.
without stop; and had l not taken UP 4
dirisible baIooning ! must have become /.
4 road-racing automobile enthusiast, con- F.
tinually exchanging one type for another. 4
continually In search Of greater, speed. I
keeping pace with the progress Of the in 4
dustry. as so many others do. TO the +
glory of French mechanics and the new 4
Partisan sporting spirit
TO Go FIFTY MILES AN HOUR.
As IS We'll known. the spherical balloon 4
moves with the wind, and goes 70 faster. 4
with the dirigibie speed comes from its /
motor. In his flights over the Mediter- I
anean in his No s M Santos Dumon, 4
found his balloon could safely. stand d
speed OF tweut ty-seyen miles per horr 1
without giving the slightest hint OF strain 4
He claims that No. - his racing ma
chine. may be driven as fast say. about
fifty miles per hialdeiphis Ledger. /
CAN YOU LOVE BUT ONCE?