588 CIRCLING EIFFEL TOWER IN AIR SHIP. 



weigh 2,695 pounds, and yet would last only twenty-live minutes. If 

 we consider the weight and volume of fuel in the air which the gaso- 

 line motor docs not have to carry up, we will see, on accepting chemis- 

 try's word, that a liter of gasoline (3£ pints) consumes during com- 

 bust ion 5.45 pounds of oxygen in the air, which means 27i pounds of 

 air. Imagine, therefore, a balloon carrying a reservoir of air for its 

 motor. One liter of gasoline wovdd require an air magazine a yard 

 square and as high as a four-story house. For Santos-Dumont's oil 

 can this magazine would have to he 1,000 feet high, or about big 

 enough to hold the Statue of Liberty. 



As to what this last air ship really means for aerostation, French 

 opinion differs to the overheating point. Again "weight" is the 

 battle cry raised in the two opposing camps of balloonrv. One camp 

 maintains that the balloon lighter than air is the beginning and end 

 of the question, and consequently they hold that Santos-Dumont has 

 found the ultimate solution, because he can steer his inflated chariot. 

 Their opponents give tin' Brazilian big credit for making a dirigible 

 flying machine of any kind, but they contend that the problem rests 

 unsolved so long as the air ship is not heavier than air. The discus- 

 sion has grown quite ardent. There are liable to be some duels most 

 an} T time if cold weather does not set in. 



The lighter-than-air people argue that on an aeronef or aeroplane 

 (heavier-than-air machine) the operator would be at the mercy of his 

 motor. If the motor stopped, the air ship would come down like a 

 clod, having, of course, no gas bug to hold it up. The heavier-than- 

 air contingent admit that this is a paint to be considered, and that, 

 therefore, the motor will have to be a very reliable motor indeed. 

 And then they proceed to point out that the aerostat (lighter-than-air 

 machine) can never be of any practical use anyhow, even if you can 

 steei- it. For war purposes it oilers too large a target for the enemy. 

 The risk of a motor stopping on a small aeroplane would be much 

 healthier. For private promenading it would be too costly. And as 

 for general transportation — not to be considered at all. The Santos- 

 Dumont F requires 550 cubic meters of gas for one little man of 120 

 pounds, and even then the little man can not take on more luggage 

 than his life and his nerve, with a fair chance of losing both before he 

 gets back. Therefore a balloon with the passenger list of a small 

 trans-Atlantic steamer would have to be some twenty times larger than 

 Barnum's biggest tent, and the balloon house would cover a fair-sized 

 city. Only tin 1 traveler with a million to spare could book a passage 

 thereon, and all the other millionaires would go bankrupt financiering 

 such an enterprise. The gentlest breeze would prove a tempest for 

 the fabulously stupendous gas bag, and the pressure under ordinary 

 conditions would make a metal covering absolutely necessary. On the 

 other hand, the aeroplane — when found — ma}' be of a size more in 



