174 AERIAL NAViaATION. 



less speed than Giffard. The accidents to Wolfert and to De Bradsky 

 have since shown the soundness of his fears. 



Next came Tissandier, in 1884, Avho employed an electric motor of 

 1^ horsepower, weighing some (>16 pounds, Avith which he attained 

 7.82 miles per hour. 



Meanwhile the French war department toolc up the pro])lem. It 

 availed itself of the labors of the previous experimenters and made 

 careful and costly investigations of the best modes of consti'uction, 

 of the best shapes to cleave the air, and of the weight and efficiency of 

 motors. This cuhuinated in 188.5, when Messrs. Renard and Krebs, of 

 the aeronautical section, brought out tlie war balloon "La France," 

 which attained about 14 miles an hour (or half the speed of a trotting 

 horse) and returned to its shed live times out of the seven occasions 

 on which it was publicly taken out. 



This air ship was 165 feet long, 27i feet in diameter, and was pro- 

 vided with an electric motor of 9 horsepower, weighing Avitli its appur- 

 tenances some 1,174 pounds. The longitudinal section was parabolic, 

 somewhat like a cigar rolled to a sharp point at ])oth ends, the largest 

 cross section being one-fourth of the distance from the front, and it 

 wasdriven, l)lunt end foremost, bj^ a screw attached at the front of 

 the car. No better shape and arrangement have yet l)een devised, and 

 subsequent experimenters who have wandered away tlierefrom have 

 achieved inferior results, so far as the coefficient of resistance is 

 concerned. 



In 1893 the French war department l)uilt the "General Meusnier," 

 named after an aeronautical officer of extraordinary merit of the tirst 

 French Eepa])lic. This war balloon is said to be 230 feet long, 80 

 feet in diameter. 120.000 cu})ic feet in capacit}', and to have l)een orig- 

 inally provided with a gasoline motor of 45 horsepower. It is said 

 by all the writers on the subject that it was never taken out. Possibly 

 the French were waiting for a war which fortunately never came; but, 

 be this as it may, it is prol)a]de that with the reduction which has since 

 taken place in gasoline motors this l)alloon could carry an engine of 

 some 70 horsepower, and attain a speed of about 30 miles an hour, 

 which is greater than that of trans-Atlantic steamers. 



Some imsuccessful experiments were carried on in Germany in 

 1897, first b}' Doctor Wolfert, whose balloon was set on fire b}" his 

 gasoline motor and exploded in the air, killing ))oth himself and his 

 engineer, and later by Schwarz, whose aluminum ])alloon proved 

 unmanagea]>le and was smashed in landing. The most aml^itious 

 attempt, how^ever, was that of Count Zeppelin, who built in 1900, a 

 monster air-ship 420 feet long and 39 feet in diameter. It was a 

 cylinder with paral)oloid ends, but the shape was inferior and almost 

 all the lifting power was frittered away on an internal frame of alumi- 

 num, so that the gasoline motor could be of only 32 horsepower, and 



