6 



AERIAL NAVIGATION. 



scribed as follows in a current number of the 

 Illustrated London News: "The main point of 

 difference lies in the wooden screw, constructed 

 en the Hiram Maxim system, which is fixed in 

 front of the body of the machine and pulls or 

 MM k> it forward through the air, instead of pro- 

 pelling it from the rear, as in the Brazilian's air- 

 ship. The framework is entirely of bamboos, 

 lai-lud and bolted to one another, and, with the 



i'tinn, of course, of the motor and steering- 

 l.oanl. tin-re is practically no metal on the whole 

 machine. The iv-iilt of this is shown by the 

 scales. The total weight, with everything fixed, 

 i- under 300 pounds, the frame accounting for 

 \-2.~i pounds ot this. The car is novel, inasmuch 

 as the place of the usual basketwork is taken by 

 haiiihou i TII-- bars and netting. The framework 

 -which is 45 feet long is in 3 parts, for con- 

 \enicnee in transit. The driving-power is fur- 

 nished by a Simms petroleum motor of 35 horse- 

 power. The gas-bag is 75 feet in length, and is 

 not covered with netting, it being found difficult 

 to enclose properly a balloon of elongated shape. 

 When the aeronauts the vessel will carry two 

 light -weights desire to descend, air is pumped 

 into the envelope from a hand machine in the car 

 as the gas is allowed to escape, in order that the 

 balloon may always remain taut. Automatic 

 valves release gas should the pressure become too 

 great. The envelope has received three coats of 

 special varnish, one outside and two in. By this 

 means it is believed that the fabric itself will be 

 undamaged by either the gas within or the air 

 without. On Oct. 20 Mr. Spencer made an- 

 other successful trip of 26 miles, ascending at 

 Blackpool, Lancashire, and descending near Pres- 

 ton. A strong breeze was blowing when he as- 

 cended. When he reached a height of about 1,000 

 feet he made several evolutions against the wind, 

 and finally sailed away in the direction the wind 

 was blowing. 



Severo and De Bradsky. Aside from many 

 minor accidents to balloonists and some deaths 

 in various parts of the world, two shocking acci- 

 dent* mark the year's experiments in Paris. 

 Seflor Augusto Severo, a member of the Brazil- 

 ian Congress and an enthusiastic aeronaut, made 

 an ascension May 12, 1902, from the aerodrome 

 at Vaugirard in his huge ship La Paix, in the 



nee of his family and a large party of 

 ti iends. All seemed to go well, the air-ship turned 

 1 1. ward Issy, whence the party were to follow 

 in automobiles to witness the descent. Fifteen 

 minutes later, at an altitude of 1,500 feet above 

 the Avenue du Maine, opposite the Rue de la 

 <;aitc. the balloon suddenly turned, was envel- 

 oped in a Hash of flame, followed by a terrific 

 explosion, and Severo and his machinist Sachet, 

 who had ascended with him, were dashed with 

 the car to the earth and instantly killed. The 

 \plosion was probably caused by the ignition 

 of escaping hydrogen gas from the balloon at 

 one of the motors, but the exact cause never 

 \\ill IM- known. In general appearance La Paix 



'.ibled the ships of Santos-Dumont. The gas- 

 l.a-. !isi. f,.,. t long and 40 feet in diameter, had a 

 ity of 70.IHM) cubic feet. The frame of the 

 .'- -.f ,!<<] tubing and bamboo and carried 

 two petroleum motors, one of 10 horse-power at 

 the bow and one of 24 horse-power at the stern, 

 of the Buchet type. '1 here were fl screw propel- 

 ler^, one ut the stern of the balloon, another at 

 tin- stem, and a third at the stern of the car, 

 1\vo others working laterally at the right and 

 left and steering the ship, the latter having no 

 helm in the ordinary sense of the word, and a 

 -i\t!i -, rew designed to aid in ascent or descent, 



as might be required. The mechanical parts were 

 carried very little below the lower surface of the 

 gas-holder, and the motor at the stern was very 

 near tne automatic valve designed to let off the 

 excess of hydrogen as the envelope expanded 

 through the rarefaction. 



On Oct. 13 Baron de Bradsky Laboun and his 

 assistant, M. Morin, were killed at St. Cloud 

 throiigh the breaking of the wires that held the 

 suspended car and motors to the gas-holder. The 

 de Bradsky ship was cylindrical with conical 

 terminations, 100 feet long and 20 feet in diam- 

 eter at the thickest part. A light wooden frame- 

 work running around the balloon supported on 

 steel wires a frame 70 feet long of steel tubes. 

 It carried a car 16 feet long, suspended 10 feet 

 below the envelope of the balloon, which guard- 

 ed it against risk of fire from the 16-horse-power 

 petroleum motor. The frame weighed 300 

 pounds. The air-ship was propelled by a screw 

 12 feet in diameter, and had a vertical screw 

 placed beneath the car to aid in ascending and 

 to keep the ship afloat, as it was built to dis- 

 place exactly with the aeronauts its own weight 

 of air. The rudder had a surface of 5 square 

 yards. A notable feature was a sail apparatus 

 consisting of wings made of light canvas, 36 feet 

 long and 5 feet wide, fixed to the right and left 

 of the envelope, giving it the appearance of an 

 enormous aeroplane and intended to enable the 

 air-ship to sail about or descend slowly in case the 

 motor stopped. M. Emmanuel Aime, the expert, in 

 describing the ascent and the cause of the accident, 

 of which M. de Bradsky had been forewarned, 

 writes as follows: "As the air-ship advanced slow- 

 ly, at an altitude of 200 meters, turning round 

 and round as it went, sometimes advancing, 

 sometimes moving backward, swinging to port 

 and to starboard, in spite of the rudder, of which 

 M. Morin held the tiller, and, in spite of its pro- 

 pelling screw, which was under the direction of 

 M. de Bradsky, it was only too easy for the spec- 

 tators to perceive that it was drifting at the 

 mercy of the wind. In reality, though the air- 

 ship obeyed neither rudder nor propelling screw, 

 it obeyed only too well the disastrous action of 

 the ascensional screw, the perturbing influence 

 of which would have sufficed to paralyze the 

 effect of both the propelling screw and the rud- 

 der, even if the motor had been strong enough to 

 resist the light breeze from the southwest. The 

 ascensional screw turned vertically under the car 

 at a rate of 500 revolutions per minute and made 

 the air-ship swing round at a rate of about one 

 turn per minute. Under these c-ircumstances the 

 propelling screw and rudder were powerless. 

 What was necessary was a second vertical 

 screw, turning in a contrary direction to the first. 

 to neutralize the tendency to rotation. M. 

 Bradsky. however, had to give up the idea of 

 making these changes on account of the extra 

 weight it would have entailed. In spite of the 

 recent augmentation of volume of the balloon, its 

 lifting power was still too feeble to allow of any 

 addition to the motor. The ascensional screw 

 provided another, and still more disastrous effect, 

 which did not escape the attention of those versed 

 in aeronautics. From the Place de l'Op6ra it 

 \\iis plainly visible that under the influence of 

 this screw the axis of the balloon, obliged to 

 turn by the resistance of the air, ceased to be 

 parallel to the axis of the car. and that, in conse- 

 (|iienee. the steel wires which fastened the car to 

 the balloon underwent a tension which tested 

 their solidity." It was this strain that finally 

 tore the wires from their fastenings and caused 

 the fatal termination of the ascensioa 



