The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-09-20
PACING IN The AIR.

For the first time in the history of
modern aerOnautics an international
balloon race is to be held in this coun-
try. st. Louis, on Oct. q, will be the
scene, and representatives of five. and
possibly six, nations will contest. The
chief race is for the James Gordon Ben
nett cup, which was won last year nv
Lieutenant Frank P Lahm of the Unit
ed States army, who Travelled from
Paris to the north of England, total
distance in a straight line of 4O2 miles.
That victory gave the winning nation
the right to hold the contest this year
within it's own boundaries, and ST
Louis was chosen as the place for the
start because of it's inland location and
the interest some of its citizens have
shown in the sport
France. Germany, the United King
dom and Spain have entered three con-
testants each, and Italy has also en-
tered three, but the admission of the
entrants will depend upon a waiver Of
protest which was filed because the
Italians were late coming in. The chief
trophy, the Bennett cup, is valued at
$500. and must be won for five sue
cessiVe years to be held by the winner.
In addition the first man this year will
receive a cash prize of 81, 500, the second
$1,000, the third $3.50, fourth $500 and
fifth $3.50. The conditions of the race
are very simple, since the main test is
the distance Travelled, although, at the
discretion of the Judges, the length of
time the aeronaut remains in the air
may determine the result if speed and
distance are not attainable.
Almost as interesting as the principal
race will be the tests of aeroplanes and
other heavier-than-ai machines. In
these competitive tests the machine
making the longest continuous flight
viii win, the other determining factors
will be the average height attained, the
distance, time and general behavior of
the vehicle, together with its merits for
general use.
On the scientific side the value of
these competitions is the stimulus they
hope they offer OF an ultimate solution
of the problem of navigation of the air.
The dirigible balloon depending upon
gas for its lifting power has already
been developed to a point where it is
of considerable use in military opera
tons; and the improvement in motive
power which has made it possible to Sc
cure great power with very little weight
of machinery, has indicated even larger
uses for the gas-propelled ship of the
air
The most interesting problem, how
ever, is the study of aeroplanes, ma
chimes which can be lifted without the
use of balloon attachments, and which
can be propelled by machinery and di-
rected at will by the operator. The
Wright Brothers Of Ohio claim to have
invented a machine of this type, which
they have operated successfully, but so
far they have not offered to give pub
lie demonstrations, and so much Sc
crecy has surrounded their experiments
that their claims have not been estab-
iished fully. Other experiments in the
same line have been made by Professor
Alexander Graham Bell of telephone
fame, Sir Hiram Maxim. inventor of
the gun which bears his name, and by
various governments; but so far the re-
suits have only furnished data bearing
on aerial navigation without offering
any conclusive results.
The st. Louis contests ought to be
most interesting in the comparison they