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THE FIRST AERIAL CIRCUIT
THE DIRIGIBLE “LA FRANCE.”
France gave the world aerial navigation with the first ascension of Pilatre de Rozier and with the first controlled flight in a dirigible balloon.

This outstanding event took place in the park of Chalais-Meudon, on August 9, 1884. The dirigible “La France,” manned by its inventors, Captains Charles Reynard and Arthur Krebs, made an ascent, flew some distance and came back to land at its starting point.

Charles Reynard, born in 1847 in Damblain, is one of the greatest scientific geniuses of the nineteenth century. In all the problems he attempted, he was a peerless theoretician and investigator of aeronautics, and he devoted the greatest part of his extraordinary intelligence. He was, incidentally, able to give proof of the breadth of his mind when he extended his researches to other fields.

Founder of the establishment of Chalais-Meudon, he there created the first dirigible balloon, which he named "La France." Studying the aerostatic and electrochemical elements, that is to say the composition of chlorochromic batteries which were quite new, he left the power installation to Captain Krebs, his collaborator who was also exceptionall gifted in mechanical achievements and a man who could put his theories into practice. The construction of the balloon was made under the supervision of Lieutenant Paul Renard, brother and faithful collaborator of Charles Renard, the Dute-Poitevin, the civil aeronaut of the establishment.

"La France" was an assymmetrical elongated balloon, made of varnished "pongee" with a covering which carried the suspension of the nacelle. It had a volume of 1,864 cubic meters, a length of 50.42 meters and a maximum diameter of 8.40 meters. The air ballonet had a volume of 438 cubic meters. The fabric-covered bamboo nacelle was 33 meters long. It carried in the front a very large propeller and at the rear a rudder and a small elevator, which played chiefly the role of a stabilizer surface.

The electric motor, made by Krebs, was a multipolar machine producing 8 h.p. with a weight of 96 kilograms and a speed of 3,600 r.p.m., transmitted by means of a reduction gear to the propeller, which ran at only 50 revolutions. This motor was actuated by chromic acid and muriatic acid batteries. Each element consisted of a cylindrical cup the size of a lamp cylinder, containing a tubular positive electrode of platinum-plated silver, and a zinc rod. 

The total battery weighed 400 kilograms and could furnish 16 h.p. for a period of 1.39 hours. The weight per h.p. was 44 kilograms. It was then the lightest electrical generator that had been made. The first ascension is described as follows by the aeronauts in their note to the Academie des Sciences:

"At 4 P.M., in almost clam weather, the aerostat was released and, having a very limited ascensional force, rose slowly to the height of the surrounding plateau. The engine was started and soon, under its power, the

Transcription Notes:
Dute-Poitevin? hypenated or not?