584 CIRCLING EIFFEL TOWER IN AIR SHIP. 



lieams with cross-pieces. When examined as it lies stalled the long 

 length of the balloon house, this car appears altogether too delicate 

 for carrying a man and an engine several hundred 3'ards over the 

 house tops. Though over 59 feet long, it weighs only 110 pounds, 

 and earl}' in the spring of 1900 the inventor was able to pack it in his 

 trunk by sections, bringing it from Nice, where it had been made during 

 the winter, to Paris. The carefully chosen strips, bent to form the 

 long curves of the triangular frame complete, are never thicker than 

 two of 3^our fingers put together. During this spring he remounted 

 them in his workshop at the Aero Club park, the workshop being also 

 the great barn of a balloon house. He made the joints of aluminum 

 and fastened the cross-pieces with thin steel wire. About 8 j^ards 

 from the stern he suspended the gasoline automobile motor from the 

 upper beam of the triangle by piano wires. Here the compact little 

 engine of 4 cylinders and 16 horsepower hangs like a spider in the 

 center of her web. Over each cylinder spins a ventilating fan to 

 prevent overheating. The motor turns a shaft, and attached to the 

 shaft is a propeller, exactly like the screw of a ship. The two wings 

 of the screw are of silk stretched over their frames like the head of 

 a drum. They measure 4^ yards. Ordinarily the industrious little 

 motor spins the shaft around at the rate of 200 revolutions to the 

 minute; but since putting things into shape after his descent of July 

 L3 the inventor has l)een able to increase the speed to 210 revolutiot.s 

 a minute. The whirling pinions then have a striking force of 175 

 pounds. Above the propeller and under the tail of the balloon is the 

 rudder, a curved triangular l)lade made in the same wa}^ as the wings. 

 As both propeller and rudder are thus placed at the stern, the forward 

 end is left free for the guide rope, by which the air ship may be 

 inclined upward or downward. By this device the aeronaut may 

 ascend or descend. In his former l)alioons he used sliding Imllast 

 bags at either end to maintain his equilil)rium, ])ut in this last balloon 

 he has been able to discard these. 



To readjust the balance against the motor, as well as to equalize the 

 strain on the wires suspending the framework, the basket is placed 

 forward of the center l)y nearly 8 yards. This basket is a deep, nar- 

 row affair of open willow work. A larger man than the vf'ny aeronaut 

 would have to squeeze to climb into it. On either side a narrow 

 wooden bar stretches oat 3 or 4 yards, which is designed to prevent 

 undue tipping to one side or the other. As the pilot stands there in 

 his basket he resembles a performer on a tight rope with his balancing 

 pole. Since the head of the concern is in the basket, all the many 

 wires that operate one thing or another communicate with this central 

 administrative bureau like the nerves with the brain. On the front 

 edge of the basket is a wheel, realh' the pilot's wheel, but placed hori- 

 zontally as on an automobile. This operates the rudder. To switch 



