The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-07
THB STORY OF TIE GIRSHIP.
A PROPOSED EXHIBIT OF MANS
EFFORTS TO FLY.
neglnnlnE Already Made I'm h National
Museum in Washington achievements
Of the Earlier AerOOauIs Compared
Win those Recorded IN Recent Years.

NJ the Earlier AerOnauts Compared
With Those Recorded IN Recent Years.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 8.-An exhibit illus
rating the story OF the airship Is under
contemplation at the United States National
Museum. There are already installed the
models OF the late Prof. Langley's devices
for aerial navigation, and DIR. James
Sweeney, a member Of the museums stan
and an expert in aerodynamics. will oon-
s,rnct the other models from data which he
has obtained. It Is believed that the ex-
bihit will be the only permanent one OF is
kind in the world.
First in the series will be the initial con-
ception Of a balloon. This was the inven-
ZION Of a Jesuit monk, Francis Lana, in 1870.
No proposed to use four copper cylinders
zach % feet in diameter, from which the air
had been exhausted, supporting a boat with
sails.
The first flying machine constructed on
the principle Of the aeroplane will be illus
,ratpd in the collection, and many will be
surprised to learn that 1t was invented az
oarlv an 1878. The inventor, Besnier, made
several successful fights from high towers
and hills. His imitators OF later date,
Langley, Chanute and the Wright brothers,
have only carried out his e in more
detail.
II would appear from DR.. Sweeney's in
vestipations that even in those early tines
nsvigators Of the air were divided, as they
arc at present, into two separate classes,
balloonists and those who advocated the
supporting surface Of the plane.
After Lana" said DR.. Sw eeney, various
eyperimenters worked on aerial problems
before the making Of the first balloon by the
brothers Montgolier, in 1888. Prior to that
time, Galien, BARTHOLOMEW, Laurent di
Guzman Leonardo da -inCi, the Able De-
FORCES. the Marquis de B~acqueville and
others made some progress.
The last named in 1742 made quite a re-
markable flight. Here is an account Of the
occurrence, which l have extracted from an
old French record:
.'He rose in the sight OF the assembled
multitudes Of Paris from his OWL residence
on the Quai des Theatres, and directed his
course across the Seine toward the garden
Of the Tuileries. At first he appeared to adj
vance with tolerable steadiness and facility;
when about half way over, however, some
thing occurred which has never been thor
ourhlv comprehended. His wings ceasing To
act in the manner necessary for his support
he sank, and was precipitated against
one Of the floating machines belonging to
the Partisan laundresses, which line the
Point Royal on the side Of the river opposite
that from which he had taken his departure;
whereby his leg was broken and other seri-
GUS injuries inflicted On his person.
1T would SEEM" continued DIR. Sweeney,
shat Besnier, in 1873, and De Baoqueville,
l. $50 .zao-.-lsahnA oIrn1zk aa uas,ah m
Lnienthal, Chanute and others In these
days, despite the great advancement in
theoretical knowledge since that time.
1T will be shown, through the models
exhibited, that after the invention OF the
first balloon by the M~ontgolfiers, syste-
matte attempts we're made to direct these
gas bags-for they were nothing else
against the wind. The first person to makea
voyage in a balloon was Pilatre de Rozier,
who went up in a Montgolfer balloon in the
autumn Of 1888.
This balloon was OF oval shape, 4S feet
in diameter and "a feet high. Its exterior
was deliberately decorated with signs OF
the Zodiac, the initials OF the kings name,
f~eurs-de-lys, and other markings.
The aeronaut stood in a small gallery
at the bottom Of the balloon and fed a
FIRE with straw and wool. heated air causing
the balloon to rise. De Rozier turned his
attention to directing balloons, but accom-
plished little, losing his life through the
burning Of one Of his balloons a few Years
later.
Jean Pierre Blanchard in 1854 made a
dirigible balloon which was propelled by
wings and had a rudder. Blanchard, ac-
companied by an American physician
named Jefferiee, made the first balloon trip
across the English Channel, on January 7,
lTS5. They started from Dover cliffs and
landed in the forest Of Guinnes, near Calais,
after a voyage Of three hours.
The exhibit will show a variety Of guild
Ing devices, though It can scarcely be
hoped to illustrate everything In this line
that has been attempted. T~estu-Brissy
attempted, in June, 1850, to guide a balloon
with oars, and from that time onward every
conceivable plan was tried for the purpose
Of directing balloons. There were in
clined planes, sails, grooved surfaces, pro-
rellcrs, reversed p~arachutes, oars. wing
like wheels, blasts Of wind, towing machines
and even trained birds to pull. the balloon
through the air.
The Chinese are credited with having
dirigible balloons long before their use
was known in Europe. DelavilIe Dedreux,
in his Navigation Arienne en- Chine states
that there existed an aerial route between
Canton, China, and other points as early
a. 1879.
He even gives an elaborate drawing OF
the type of airship used by the Celestials,
complete in every detail. The book Of
DedreuX was published in 1893. Strange
b say, the Chinese airship greatly resembles
III" recent attempts Of Santos-D umont,
Ginard and others. %
T this country IL due the credit OF the
first practical suggestion for directing
balloons, Francis Hopkinson, on May
p, 1894, proposed that a balloon should
be built oblong in shape instead of spherical,
and should he supplied with = wheel at one
end. This wheel, he said, should be in
the form Of a fan, and should be rotated
like a propeller.
'Hopkinson's wheel was TO be used for
the purpose Of sculling through the air.
This shows that he knew the principle OF
the screw propeller long before it was
applied TO water navigation.
Seventy years later, In 1852, IN attempt
was made for the first time 10 put in effect
The Hopkinson suggestion. NJ. Giffard, a
french engineer, built an elongated balloon