Evening journal., 1919-07-03
TRIED TO FLY over
ATLANTIC IN 1873
Twas Americans Who First
Dreamed OF Lighter
Than-Air Craft Trip
TASK SEEMS UP TO
DlRlCIBLE OF 1919

Stephen Montgolfer, a Frenchman, In
i76s made the Grst balloon from which
have evolved alrships like the giant
R-3i with its nearly 700 feet Of length
and the powerful motors which sent
10 speeding across The Atlantic.
One story Of Monlgolfer's discovery
is that he flung a paper bag into the
fire and it filled with smoke and hung
suspended in the chimnew for a time.
Another Is that he was boiling water in
pot with a conical paper cover which
nlled with vapor and rose in the air.
The Montg0fer's first successful eX-
pertinent was with a silk balloon Of 30
cubic feet capacity, which rose to the
ceiling Of The room. Then they sent up
a balloon 30 feet in diameter 10 a
height OF 5000 feet It was made Of
pack cloth covered with paper and in
flated by burning ten pounds OF moist
wool on a small iron grate beneath it
Henry Cavendish, in 1866, had dlscov-
cred that hydrogen gas Is lighter than
air. and Tiberlus Cavallo, an italian.
had foated soap bubbles filled with
the gas.
The first hydrogen gas balloon was
sent up In Paris in the same year OF
the Montgalfer experiments. The gas
was then difficult TO manufacture and
it took four days to MI bag i3 feet in
diameter.
Montgolfer's next balloon was - feet
high and ii feet in diameter. 4 sheep.
q cock and a duck were the flrst living
things TO make a flight I'm a balloon, be
ing placed IN basket attached to one
Of Montgolfer's gas bags.
Pilatre de Rozler and the Marquis
d'Arlandes were the first men TO make
a balloon flight. They were I'm the air
% minutes and crossed the Seine and a
part Of the city OF Paris.
AT In the same year a hydrogen bal
loon as complete as any used for more
than a century after was built u was
% alternate red and yellow silk cores,
vanished with caoutchouc. 4 net sup
porting q car covered 10 and had q valve
sand ballast and a barometer.
The FIRST descent by parachute was
made by 4. J. Garnerin in 1927.
The first notable long distance bal
loon flight covered a distance OF 500
miles and was made in is hours. 70
was MIu4N NAA AoNNf ~ NAA AaAAANANtA ~
Weilburg, Germany.
Johnny Wise IN 1859, made the 500
miles from 81. Louis, Mo, 20 Hcnder-
son. y. Y. in 20 hours.
The balloon Centaure, at the Paris
exposition I'm 1900, set a record for dis
tsnce that stood for more than ten
Tesrs-distance from Paris 20 Koros-
tichev in Russia. 1898 miles, in 80
hours and ~ minutes.
The first attempt at directing and pro-
pelling a balloon instead Of depending
on the course OF the wind was made by
Robert Brothers in England who built
the first elongated balloons and at
tempted 20 paddle them through the
air with silk covered oars. This was
early I'm the 10th century. Glfrard IN
France built a spindle-shaped gas bag
ii3 feet long In 1852, and equipped u
with an ii foot propeller screw con-
nected with q 3-hOrsepOwer steam en-
gine
An electrically driven dirigible was
developed in France IN 1882. which was
9i feet long and was moved by twin
propcllors.
But it was the invention Of tho gas
engine that enabled Count Zeppelin Of
Germany TO develop the first practical I.
rigid dirlgible. His first airship. In I
i9O0. consisted OF a row Of Il balloons 1
confined in a cylindrical metal shell 4i6 |
feet Ions and with a capacity Of 399-OO0 1
cubic feet Aluminium cars forward |
aud aft carried crew and passengers /
and Daimler engines Of IS horsepower |
each turned the screw prOpellors. The 1
record this machine made on its first |
nleht was 81 mills in II minutes.
Before the war broke in 1914 there !
were 10 Zeppelins in service with over
GOO.O0O feet gas capacity and tourist
tickets were being sold for them in all |
the leading cities.
The development Of the German dir |
igibles from this point has been told in /
The stories Of the war. the most notable /
that OF the machine which travelled I
rom a point in Bulgaria into Egypt .
nd return. n distance Of about 1000 .
allies. without landing.
Before the recent unsuccessful at 4
.cmpt of the American blimp Cj, at a
transatlantic balloon flight, two other
such attempts were made by Ameri-
ans.
The first was in charge Of Professor
Walter IT. Donaldson i'm 1913. The bal
Don was thoroughly equipped. but it I
travelled only 100 miles and was In the
air but four hours. It's three occupants .
being compelled by a heavy storm TO
lump from the balloon near the \
ground They All esc9ped iniurv This