NAVIGATING THE AIR 



any balloon, was that of the mammoth aerostat con- 

 structed by the noted Parisian photographer, Nadar, in 

 1863. Nadar belonged to the school of aviators who 

 opposed the principle of the balloon as against that of 

 the aeroplane, and his idea in constructing this leviathan 

 balloon was simply for the purpose of raising money so 

 that he might build a practical flying-machine, con- 

 structed on the aeroplane principle, and which, he de- 

 clared, would revolutionize air navigation. The Gianty 

 he said, would be the last balloon ever constructed, as 

 thereafter air-ships, made on the principle of the one he 

 was about to construct, would supplant balloons entirely. 

 His plan was to make the ascent in the Giant from some 

 large enclosed field near Paris, and the admission price 

 of one franc to be charged for entering the field was 

 to supply funds for defraying the expense of building 

 the Gianty the surplus to be used in constructing his 

 flying- machine. 



In making the Giant twenty-one thousand yards of 

 silk were used, the balloon being over two hundred feet 

 in height, with a lifting capacity of nine thousand pounds. 

 It was built as a double balloon, one within the other, 

 this being the idea of the aeronaut, Louis Godard, as a 

 means of preserving the excess of gas produced by dila- 

 tion at different altitudes, instead of losing this excess 

 as was usual with balloons constructed in the ordinary 

 manner. But perhaps the most interesting thing about 

 this balloon was the structure of the car and its contents. 

 Like the ordinary car it was constructed of wicker work, 

 but was of the proportions of a small house, being built 

 two stories high, with an upper platform like the deck 



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