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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
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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
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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
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