This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
ve equilibrium. Prof. Lang machine failed for the same ttempts at flight by "heavier achines, such as those built t ird, and the aeroplane and ae [[image]] DR. THOMAS GETTING READY FOR THE ASCENT rome construction have failed up to date ecause of this defect. The balloon prop- r as a means of sustaining a man dates ack to 1783. The first successful dirigi- le was American, in 1833. This, how- ver, was but a model. A dirigible was begun in Paris during the siege of that city and later completed. It proved fair- ly successful. Prior to that, a dirigible was constructed, but it could not be sailed directly against the wind. The more recent accomplishment of Santos Dumont and that of Kanbenshue, who sailed around the dome of the capitol at Washington show that the dirigible has reached a stage of considerable advance ment. That the dirigible is likely to play an important part in modern warfare seems to be attested by the trip made a few years ago by a German dirigible over the frontier into Russia when it hovered over a large town long enough to photograph hs fortifications, and through fired on, re- turned unhurt the way it came. Man's attempt to ape the birds is almost as early as history, and indeed legendary. Ovid tells of Daedalus and Icarus who imprisoned in Crete, unable to escape by sea, made for themselves wings of feath- ers attached to frames by wax, and tied them to their arms. All went well till icarus soared towards the sun which melted the wax. Icarus fell into the sea. A Persian legend tells of a King who required his wise men to prepare a device whereby he might ascend into the sky. he wit of the wise men evolved a plat- orm to which were attached four eagles, suspended above which were pieces of goat's flesh. As the eagles flew up to reach the meat the king had his desires satisfied, but he was compelled to stay in the etherial regions until it pleased the birds to descend. Plying toys are mentioned in Greek literature. One Archytas, 400 B. C., made a mechanical pigeon. It is described as "suspended by balancing and animated made several successful trips, going some fifteen miles an hour and returning to its starting point. Prof. Carl Meyer made a dirigible in 1890 which he pro- pelled, bicycled fashion, making about ten miles an hour. One of the earliest victims of ballooning was Count Zambeccari. He had sent up unaccompanied balloon in London Nov. 25, 1783, March 23, 1785, with Sir Ed- ward Vernon, he made a trip of twenty- five miles from London in less than an hour. Sept. 21, 1812, he fell from a burn- ing Montolfier fire balloon, at Bologna, and was killed. The largest hot-air balloon was made in Lyons, France. It was 105 feet in diameter and 130 feet high. The present day Nirvana is but 47 1/2 feet high and wide. The Lyon balloon took up seven persons in January, 1784, to a height of 3,500 feet in 17 minutes. Its lifting pow- er was 18 tons. The Nirvana's lifting capacity with Norfolk gas is 41 pounds to the 1,000 cubic feet of gas, or about one and a quarter tons including its own weight of a little more than half a ton. The old timer came to grief, however, on its memorable ascent. It was too frail for its size and a rent of some fifty feet dropped it to the earth with more than comfortable celerity, but not with fatal results to the occupants. In 1875, Blanchard, a Frenchman, and Dr. Jeffries, an American, crossed the English channel and Arban, French, was the first to cross the Alps in 1845. He covered a distance of 400 miles from Paris in eight hours. Charles Green, English, who adopted the expedient of a guide rope, made 1,400 ascensions between 1812 and 1857. He was also the first to use coal gas. He died in 1870, eighty-five years old. The longest aerial voyage, up to 1870, was made by Americans, John Wise, John La Mountane, O. A. Gager and a reporter, Mr. Hyde. They made the trip from St. engineer were killed by an explosion of their hydrogen dirigible, set on fire by the gasoline motor. Perhaps the first balloon ascension in America was that of the Frenchman, Blanchard, Jan. 30, 1793, in Philadelphia, when Gen. Washington was a spectator. A philosophical voyage was made from Hamburg, Germany, in July, 1903, when Messrs. Robertson and Lhoest reached an altitude of 23,526 feet and made various experiments-electric and magnetic-by explosions, in temperature reading, deter- mining boiling points of fluids, and in the liberation of birds. At the Jamestown Exposition the whole world will be in competition, making her- culean efforts to travel through space in machines that will be under as perfect control as any that now travel on land or water. Capt. Homer W. Hedge, founder of the Aero club, says: "No man can prophesy what the next few years will see accomplished. Men are spending their lives trying to solve the problem. Some day they will stumble upon the right principle. Then the world will say: 'How simple.'" It seems probable, therefore, as Arthur Shadwell Martin, a writer on the subject from whose researches the foregoing ma- terial is largely obtained, says, that be- fore the seven months of the duration the Jamestown Exposition shall have ex- pired, many new and remarkable records will have been made in aerial navigation, both for pleasure and for profit, as aero- nautics will be discussed in all its phases, and experiments made, and practical demonstrations given of the present state of the science. It is wonderful how the American people take up everything new and follow it to perfection. Take automobiles, for instance; they are now as well made and extensively used in this country as they are in Europe. In a short time balloons and airships EX BIT PALACE-JAMESTOWN EXPOSITION sphere floating in the skies over Paris almost any day during the summer months. the visit of Count De La Vaulx country last spring, an ascent was from Pittsfield, Massachusetts. ntaur, an immense balloon of 55,- c feet capacity, was sent by ex- the Pittsfield Gas Works. Ar- early in the morning, large tar- were spread on the ground, upon the envelope was carried by six e sand bags were filled and placed it in a circle, to be attached to tting, to hold the balloon while with coal gas. Centaur is the famous balloon in he world's long distance record of iles in thirty-five hours from Paris f, Russia, was made during the race held by the Paris exposition in the following trips: Miles. Hrs. to Warsaw (Russian Po- ...............................900 22 Lubeck (Baltic Sea)......550 17 Bresiau (Silesia)..........850 10 Westervek (Sweden)......950 23 Emden (Hanover)........400 16 alve and neck are separate from in part of the envelope, and are d before inflating. The valve rope fast, and the ripping cord which e fastened to a portion of the ma- s arranged to tear out, leaving a pening through which the gas escapes when the descent is made ter the gas bag is on the ground; revents dragging the basket with cupants along the ground, if the s blowing very hard. It is a very ng sight to see the balloon swell up grow larger and larger, finally as- ning the shape of a larger and larger, finally as- ning the shape of a large sphere, while ny men keep continually lowering the d bags around it. After it is entirely ed with gas the collecting ring is at- hed to the ropes leading from the net- g and the car is then fastened to this ng by four or six stout ropes; the aero- nauts then take their places, bags of bal- ast are taken on board, when all is ready the men around the basket allow he balloon to rise from the ground a lit- le way. This is to balance it properly. it does not rise some ballast is put if it has too much ascensional force ballast is taken on. Finally when right and the wind is still, the word Let go all" is given, and, strange to say, the earth, the crowds, the trees, all seem to shrink away; there is a slight murmur of voices that seem to grow weaker, a waving of handkerchiefs, until finally all is still. While floating in a cur- rent of air, and moving as fast as it does, no breeze is felt at all and if it were not for the rising and falling of the recording parometer which shows just how many metres your altitude is, it would be im- possible to tell that there was any mo- on all: there is nothing to judge by, e you relative change of posi- ion r over the hills and lakes, the lottom of which are as clearly visible us the banks around them, a fact that makes airships the natural enemies of submarine vessels, we sail, the houses oking like toy farms that you buy in stores, the cows looking like so many sones in the fields, and people hardly ecognizable; now and then they wave omething white and the welcome is truly ppreciated; far from reach of anything with no communication except mall parachutes with postal dressed, which we perfect Waldorf-Astoria, New York; Dave Mooris, 68 Broadway, New York; Barton Myers, auditor Jamestown Exposition company, Norfolk, Va.; John F. O'Rouke, 8 West Fiftieth street, New York; W. H. Pickering, Harvard uni- versity, Cambridge, Mass.; Augustus present on this As Gunga pa perfect bedlam ed folk rush wi corners of thei each other in fe ping out as the [[image]] KNABENSHUE MAKING A SAFE LANDING the ground. We each held on to the ropes supporting the car, raising our feet from the bottom of the basket, and did not feel the shock when it struck the earth. The great ball rebounded in the air from 50 to 75 feet, dragged the an- chor, and cleared a stone wall and a clump of trees, then settled again on the ground. The anchor held firm, the rip- cord was pulled, and a grea rent made in the top of the envelope through which the gas at once escaped, leaving the de- flated harmless thing spread out on the ground looking more like an innocent piece of material laid out on the grass to bleach than a marvelous air ship, that had brought a party of four large men more than forty miles with their baggage and luncheon and all the conveniences of air travelling. The farmers of the surrounding neigh- borhood came crowding around us asking where we came from and if we were not afraid, and desiring to help us pack up our things. The barometer registered 1,700 meters for the maximum height and we had traveled over forty miles in two hours field, into the state of Connec- ticut, and landed near the town of Win- sted. We loaded up our balloon on a farm and drove to the nearest railway station where we saw the first account of the San Francisco disaster. Many ascents have been made and many contemplated. The Aero club has balloons that are ready for use. Another year will see even greater progress; we will have speed races and contests to see who may re- the longest period of time in the Wellman has started for the naut Beachey sailed Post,753 Fifth avenue, New York; Maj. Samuel Peber, signal corps war depart- ment, Washington, D. C.; Richard Rath- bun, Smithsonian institute, Washington, D. C.; Hon. C. S. Rolls, Hotel Belmont, New York (the Hendre, South Lodge, Rutland Gate, S. W.); A. Lawrence Rotch, Blue Hill observatory, Hyde Park, Mass.; C. S. Sherwood, vice chairman board of governors Jamestown exposition, Norfolk, Va.; R. H. Sexton, chief depart- ment congresses and special events Jamestown exposition Norfolk, Va.; Al- bery Santos Dumont, Chapps Elysees, Paris, France; T. S. Southgate, governor of exhibits Jamestown Exposition com- pany, Norfolk, Va.; Leo Stevens, P. O. Box 181, Madison Square, P. O., New York; Prof. David T. Todd, Amherst col- lege, Amherst, Mass.; Harry St. George Tucker, president Jamestown Exposition company, Norfolk, Va.; Count Henri de la Vauix, 120 Champs Elysees, Paris, Framce; Charles D. Walcott, geological survey, Washington, D. C.; Orville Wright, Dayton, Ohio; Albert Francis Zahn, Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. Executive Committee chairman; Ernest La Rue Jones, secre- tary; Augustus Post, William J. Hammer, Orville Wright, Carl Dienstbach, Robert H. Sexton, T. S. Southgate, Lee Stevens, C. Brooks Johnson, Oliver L. Fasig, A. M. Chandler, Capt. Chas. Def. Chandler, Wilber R. Kimball, J. C. McCoy, Chas. M. Manley, E. S. Bronson, Albert F. Zahn, Maj. Samuel Rober, Admiral C. M. Ches- ter, Cortlandt Field Bishop, Wilber Wright, Allen R. Hawley, Homer W. Hedge, A. M. Herring, A. Lawrence Rotch, Charles J. Edwards, Hon. C. S. Rolls. Technical Committee-Charles M. Manly, chairman; A. M. Herring, mechanical en- T. Brooks, civil engineer; Wil- engineer Program the elephant at him in fu By this ti voice at the distant sou to the mo thought fo The grea in the g spring su when far the scre majesty snort o every focuses form. trail seem tures with Slo their forw the dow cle the hur ben brok mon air. ence mem mem year; streng thus fe the ravi on befor Whatev in his dig ing out trunk, an the occup ence seems more, and is interestin