The great defect of the globular bal loon that was recognized almost from the date of its invention was its inability to be propelled or steered. The huge machine was wholly at the mercy of the winds. It could rise by lightening its load; it could descend by releasing its gas; but it could not choose its direction of flight. No goal except that of altitude could be achieved. The devices that were originally employed to supply this need were such as to almost provoke a smile. Blanchard, the English aeronaut, tried to use oars and a rudder, but failed. Another device was the making of a large hole in the side of the balloon, through which the gas escaping was by reaction to force the balloon forward. What doomed all these contrivances to failure in advance was the spherical shape of the balloon. The surface offered to the wind was too great to be over come. It was only when the shape of the balloon was changed that propulsion and direction became possible.
The first dirigible balloon that could be called a success was the invention of Giffard, a Frenchman. He constructed a spindle-shaped bag that was 143 feet long, 39 feet in diameter, and had a capacity of 75,000 cubic feet. From be neath the bag hung a car that carried a 3-horse-power engine that drove a three-blade propeller at the rate of 110 dent of Paris, though of Brazilian birth, made notable advances in the development of the dirigible and created a sensation turns a minute. A triangular sail at the end sc•r-ved as a rudder. The first trip bad only a relative success, as the strong wind was inimical to the experiment, but Giffard demonstrated that he could steer his craft readily and attain a speed of from six to ten feet a second. He had solved the problem of directed and pro pelled aeronautical voyaging. His work a little later by the ease and accuracy with which he circled the Eiffel Tower in Paris. In Germany, the famous air craft that took its name from its inde fatigable inventor, Count was pushed to completion in 1900, was greatly improved on by a compatriot, Renard. In 1884 he built the airship "La France," which was a pronounced success. His motive power was elec tricity, furnished by a motor that weighed 220 pounds and had 9 horse power. In 1898 Santos-Dumont, a resi but it was not until 1910 that the first great passenger Zeppelin made its initial trip over Lake Constance and made aerial traveling a matter of ease and luxury and measurably of safety. Scien tific study of temperatures at high alti tudes has been facilitated.
While the invention and perfecting of the balloon was a triumph of human in genuity, it offered few of the difficulties that faced those who dreamed of navi gating the air in a heavier-than-air machine. The very name seemed to defy the immutable law of gravitation. But
the audacity of the idea acted as a stimu lant rather than a deterrent. For centuries, men have tried to achieve the seemingly impossible. In the time of the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci, who did so many things and did them ex resented marked advances on anything before achieved, they fell short of real success. Both Maxim's and Adler's ma chines were wrecked at their first trial. Langley did somewhat better. Congress had appropriated $50,000 to further his invention. He had constructed a tandem monoplane with 48 feet of wing spread and 52 feet in length. A 50-horse-power engine was employed. His experiments were carried on over the Potomac river, but at each of its two trials the machine was wrecked and thrown into the river.
cellently, sketched out several devices, which were however ineffective, because of the lack of the motor power that suc ceeding centuries have supplied. In the 19th century a great deal of attention was devoted to the subject in England. Gayley, Henson, Wenham and String fellow supplied illuminating ideas that were afterward utilized., and contribu tions were made by Penaud and Mouillard in France. Only, however, with the ap proach of the 20th century did these theories and experiments begin to give a real promise of success. Otto Lilien thal, a German inventor, demonstrated the principles of passive flight, the value of the arched wings and the pressure of air upon the wings at various angles. Had he not met with a fatal accident in 1896, he might have anticipated the Wrights. Pileher, Chanute, and Mont gomery elaborated and improved on Lilienthal's work. In the period between 1890 and 1903, aeroplanes were built by Langley in America, Ader in France, and Maxim in England, but though they rep While the defective launching apparatus was chiefly responsible for the failure, there was a reaction in public interest, no more money was furnished by Con gress, and the project was generally ridi culed.
It remained for the Wright brothers, two remarkable young men of Ohio, to achieve the actual mastery of the air in a heavier-than-air machine. During their boyhood days, they had been obsessed by the idea of flying, but their thoughts did not take a practical turn in that direction until 1896. Then they gave themselves up to experiment and study, and in 1900 began to try to fly at Kitty Hawk, N. C., where the sand dunes and wide spaces gave them ample room for tests. Nearly three years passed, however, years of tremendous labor and concentrated thought and indomitable resolution. Then, on Dec. 17, 1903, they actually flew in a light glider fitted with a small motor. Their first flights lasted only for from 12 to 59 seconds. But they had flown— ,and the aeroplane was born.