58G CIRCLING EIFFEL TOWER IN AIR SHIP. 



of 650 cubic yards. The motor worked well, and he made several 

 encouraging ascensions near Eitl'el Tower. 



Last year, with his No. 4, he had tried for the Deutsch prize, but 

 was awarded only the annual interest of about $760 on the principal 

 amount for having done the most for aerostation during the year. 

 He promptly returned the money and founded a new prize with it, to 

 be awarded for the first trip around Kitfel Tower, no time limit. He 

 had the foresight to bar himself from this competition. The Saiitos- 

 Dumoid /Fhad a capacity of 54:6 cubic yards, with a 9-horsepower, 

 2-cylinder motor giving 100 revolutions a minute to the screw. The 

 engine and a bicycle saddle were perched on a bar suspended under the 

 balloon. He started the engine b}^ working the pedals under the sad- 

 dle, and by cords he controlled the electric lighting of the motor and 

 the management of the rudder, l)allast, and equilil)rium. He made 

 almost daily flights with this balloon, then later on put in a 16-horse- 

 powei' engine. This, of course, made a larger gas bag necessary, but 

 he simply cut in half the one he had and lengthened it to 36 3^ards, as 

 you would a dining-room table. Soon after this the autumn air gave 

 him pneumonia, and he had to go to the Riviera, where he began work 

 on No. 5, his latest pet. 



THE SECRET OF THE SUCCESS OF THIS LATEST AIR SHIP. 



Now that 3'ou have followed the inventor through the whole story, 

 you are beginning to demand where, after all, is the great monumental 

 and mysterious secret of aerial navigation that has been discovered. 

 You have not stumbled upon the trace of one. There has not been a 

 single new mechanical principle involved. The fact is, there has been 

 no secret to discovei'. The secret of aerial navigation was already dis- 

 covered when the first automo))ile with a gasoline motor was built. 

 When Santos-Dumont robbed his automobile of its motor and strapped 

 it into the car of his balloon, he was on the right track. But he cer- 

 tainly had achieved nothing that he coukl patent. The secret may 

 also have been discovered when the steam engine was invented, or 

 again when electricity was chained down to man's service, only up to 

 the present there is this fact, namely, no one so far has been able to 

 make a steam engine or an electric battery run an air ship. That may 

 happen later, ])ut meantime the gasoline motor does the work for Santos- 

 Dumont. And now the question is, Why does it, rather than either 

 steam or electricity? The entire answer lies in this one word — 

 "weight." 



When away back in 1783 the crinoline skirt of Madame de Mont- 

 goliier, drying before the fireplace, filled with hot air and pufled up 

 to the ceiling, this same word, "weight,'" became the keynote of bat- 

 tle and the problem in ballooning. Joseph Montgolfier had beheld 

 the antics of his wife's skirt, and the word that involves the riddle 



