The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-04-28
MASTERY OF THE AIR.
PROGRESS IN DlRIG!5Ls BAL
Looms AND FLYING MACHINES.

Lessons Of the Aero Club Exhibition
"A Flying Machine Which Stayed
Up Thirty-ei5ht Mjnutes-lHvention
in America and Appreo atom in
Francs-A Speed Of TWO Hundred
Miles Per Hour Predicted.
1t is characteristic Of the American
people, with our practical turn Il
nind, that we refuse TO take any SEN
sational invention seriously Until it
is set down perfected a or feet We
are not interested in the preliminary
progress. and take an attitude oil siep
tclsm. until We wake UP some day 10
ind it realized fact.
1t was SO with the automobile. which
received no encouragement on this
side or the water until about five years
after the French had proved to their
satisfaction that it was the coming
vehicle, and it was so with the wire
less telegraph, which many persons
had never heard of until it was in
operation
The exhibition of the Aero ClGb OF
! 4hiAiNi ~ IL III CDIItClIDu W ILI Lllt dlIlO-
mobile show, has been, for this reason.
a revelation to many who have paid
no attention to the progress OF aerial
navigation during the past ten years.
! regarding the subject with about the
same amusement as the search for per-
petuii motion and believing its Sue
cessful solution about as distant as
{ 10 IrIp
this exhibition, it seems Necessary to
admit not only that aerial navigation
IS possible, but that it is on the road
70 becoming practicable. OF course,
much remains 10 be done, but balloons
Siderable in light wind are now ac-
ceptel facts, aEd-far more remark
able scienttically-a machine ha- heen
constructed OF materials heavier than
air with which a man has made d
flight OF thirty-ei2ht minutes duration
travelling safely a distance OF twenty
five miles.
1t is necessary il considering aerial
navigation to draw a line between the
two methods mployed-betWeei. the
dirigible balloon or airship on one
AAs1A4N anu iIto MAJ .ti!tt, az "
plane, or aerodrome on the other The
balloon principle is the oldest ana
most firmly intrenched in popular
fancy, but it seems to be inferior in
possibilities now TO the flying ma
chine. The balloon depends for sup
port on the use of a gas lighter than |
air, and when equipped with a motor
n l.,
was an absence Of wind, but the bulk I
Is such that it offers too much resis-
lance to be capable of high speed, the /
body Is too fragile to be driven with I
great force, and the cost of Colstruc- /
ton and maintenance is considerable. /
The flying machine is far holder in
conception. 1t is built of materials
heavier than the air, but is supported F
In and propelled through it by attached
motor power
1t is thought that the speed Of bal
loon cannot much exceed twenty miles
an hour The aeroplane has done
about twice that. and it Is only Z ques-
ton Of combining powe- with light
ness in the motor to improve upon This
SO that rate Of 100, or even goo miles
az hour is declared possible. The cost
Of an aerOplane IS slight. as is that
Of operating il, and as there is no ex-
pense for right Of way or road5ed. il
has been fanCifully estimated that pas
sengers might be carried from New
York to Chicago for dollar apiece
with profit So far flying machines
have been built only large enough to
carry one man, but this, of course,
need not be the case once the type of
is somewhat settled up
%. Balloons have already been up
with several passengers. and there are
10 necessary limits to the size Of
them or their engines. The Court
Zeppelin No. 2, now under trial at
Constance, is a mamoth affair, carry
1 le0-horsepOwer engine. In flying ma
chimes Herring has a model now on
exhibition with the Aero Club in
which one-tenth horsepower electric
motor is enough for nine pounds
weight of the aeroplane. but no fixed
ratio has been determined yet be-
,ween weight and necessary horse
1ower
Although all the real development of
he flying machine has been done by
Americans, and mostly in America, it's
sponsors today like the Wrights,
langley and Herring, have less repu-
alton in this country than has Santos
0umont, whose achievements in the
way of dirigible balloon have been
.otably not less revolutionary. San
os Dumont chose Paris for his ex-
,eriments, where the imaginative
french mind made much OF them,
md his reputation was imported to
his country, like many other things
French, at its face value. If he had