The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-22

1 there have been only
 1 10 aoronauts since the
 balloon in 17S9 the da
 less than in many othe
 motion. Many leading n, l their clubs or organizau
 this sport. The Aero club
 headquarters in Paris, h,
 members, and last year h;
 sions to its credit. The
 ganzation is only two years
 nearly three hundred memt of the eight clubs that are oh
 bers of the Federation Aeron5
 ternationale, and has secured tl ternational race for the Jame
 Bennett cup the race to be he
 Louis in October
 Santos Dumont. with the eager iasm of youth and the mechal faith in the creations of his own declares that navigation of the air go hand in hand with submarine ni
 tlon. By means of airships, he dec
 the slightest movements of submi
 craft may be followed. The idea of
 ing balloons or alrships in war is
 new It is said that one of the earl
 victories of the French revolution
 won by means of observations taken fire q balloon and this wonderful invention
 Was then only eleven years old. Napoleo
 III used war balloons at Solferino, the. appeared in the civil and Spanish-Amer- ican wars of this country, England used them in South Africa, and Japan had them as early her war with China. Napoleon gave a series of balloon ascen- slons In Egypt in order to play on the credulty of the natives. and Gambetta escaped by this means during the siege of Paris. Various national governments are now trying to correct such defects IS weakness in structure and the inability to carry heavy weights
 Ever since the day when MontgolfeT
 saw his wifes petticoat fall off the clothes line and fly up the chimney pro-
 pelled by hot air, so suggesting the idea
 of balloon scientists have been tryln.
 to solve the problem of a dirgible ma chine for navigating the air. The plan of burning damp hay decayed meat and old boots' on a platform under an open
 bag was soon superseded l-y the use of hydrogen. Practically little change has
 been made in the structure of balloons In the past century, but in the matter of harnessing them to cars, and making them subservient to mans uses much has been done. One inventor tried to steer gas bag by cars. Oliver of Malms-
 
 flying machine of his own invention
 using cloth and feathers. He claimed he
 failed because he forgot the broad tail feathers" Bells tetrahedral kite Lilieu-
 thals aerodrome, made after a summer s life In colony of storks to study their wings. Langleys aeroplane. driven by a motor: Maxims 5000 pound bird of steel
 and canvas; Jennings compressed air
 machine. and the Wright brothers flying machine have all marked the processes of evolution and variation through which the idea has passed.
 It was Brazilian monk who invented the first flying machine | that made successful voyage
 Bartholomeo Lourenco de Gusmao was l his name. He experimented with 1t early | in the eighteenth century, and was l promptly put to death as a sorcerer His l model was destroyed and 1t was not until l 1852 that the upper air was again navigat- | ed in a ship This time it was by M. 1 Clifford of Paris, who ascended in a cum | bersome machine composed of a spindle l shaped balloon and a three-horse power
 steam. engine rotating large screw pro | peller. Thirty-one years later the Tissan- l dier brothers used electricity and balloons | In the construction of a successful ship. l In 1896 Dr. Wolfert attached 2 petrol
 cum motor to a big balloon and sailed HNHN IrOH ldT1S amid the protests or 1 friends who believed that the proximity l of this motor to infammable gas could
 mean nothing short of speedy and violent l annihilation. Then came Alberto Santos l Dumont, the daredevil son of a Brazilian | coffee king, who made trips over the 1 Paris house tops, excursions to the parks ] and calls on his friends in tiny balloon l affair which he closed up in a suit case | when he was through with it. He. had an hat 10 al u-itb l the same ease thet other people travelled 1 along the thoroughfares The sight of an l AmerIcan-made gasoline runabout decided 1 him on his motive power and with plenty | of money and unlimited pluck to aid him i he set about making-and incidentally de-
 stroying- -airships until he was able to | make seven and a half mile trip around 1 the Eiffel tower in half an hour For 1 this he received the Deutsch price of l $10000. half of which he gave to the 1 poor of Paris. and half to his faithful | workmen. Last month four army officers 1 of France maneuvered a steerable bal | loon 1000 feet above Paris, and 14-year- l old boy of Columbus O., conquered the upper air on a bicycle airship, fitting 1 the handle bars and pedals of his wheel to
 a frame work and propeller under large | gas bag
 American inventors have kept close pace l with the French. When Charles was per
 feetng his balloon filled with hydrogen 1 the first of it's kind two Americans Hop l klns and Rittenhouse of Philadelphia
 were making like experiments. The first
 American to make an aerial flight was 1 James Wilcox. a Philadelphia carpenter 1 employed for this purpose by the inveu- l tors. He narrowly escaped death. Ar l American named Jefries was one of the | first two men to cross the English Chan l nel in d balloon. This was in l7S5, and | he was allowed to go with Blanchard un- 1 der condition that should the weight seem l too heavy for the car he was to jVmr i overheard. Once it seemed that the time | to jump had come. but the wind suddenly
 veered and lifted the balloon into a stron- | ger upper current and Jeffries was saved l The record for the stay of an airship ir 1 upper air is eight hours. a period which i Walter Wellman In his proposed air trir l to the North Pole. means to extend tc 1 twenty or twenty-five days. Wellmar 1 Intends that his ship shall transcend all 1 former ones in many details. The lifting ! power will be l6,000 pounds. Since the | ship will weigh 7.50o pounds. this leaves | $500 to be distributed between the weight