176 AERIAL NAVIGATION. 



weight sei'viceab]3\ Mr. Severo built in ]'H)2 a navigable balloon 

 which was so injudiciously constructed that the car l)roke away in the 

 air, and the inventor was killed as well as his engineer. Later in the 

 same year De Bradsky built a navigable balloon equipped with a gaso- 

 line motor located so near the vent for the gas that the latter took 

 tire, exploded the balloon, and the inventor and his engineer were 

 killed, thus for the second time verifying the fears of the experts who 

 discountenanced this combination. 



Some meritorious projects have been published, but not yet carried 

 out. Among these may be mentioned that of Mr. Yon, now deceased, 

 and that of Mr. Louis (xodard. The latter project was for a ])alloou 

 180 feet long and 30 feet in diameter, with two steam motors of 50 

 horsepower each. It was expected to attain a speed of Hi) miles per 

 hour. 



One naviga])le balloon which was built this year, that of the Lebaudy 

 brothers, has achieved a great success. It is 185 feet long, 32 feet in 

 diameter, and is equipped with a gasoline motor of 40 horsepower. 

 It has beaten the speed of Santos Dumont, having on many occasions, 

 it is said, attained 21 miles an hour. 



There is also a navigable balloon being built in Paris ))y Mr. Tatin 

 for Mr. Deutsch, the donor of the famous prize. This is 183 feet 

 long, 27 feet in diameter, and is ecjuipped with a gasoline motor of 60 

 horsepower. 



Besides these there are said to be a number of navigable balloons 

 either being built or proposed in France. The}' are those of the 

 Marquis de Dion, of Fillet & Ilobert, of Girardot, of Boisset, and of 

 Bourgoin, l)ut there is no telling how many of them will materialize. 



These are all French balloons, while there are in England the balloon 

 of Mr. Spencer, 93 feet by 21 feet, with nominally 21 horsepower; of 

 Mr. Beedle, 93 feet by 21 feet, with 12 horsepower, and that of Doctor 

 Barton, now in construction, with dimensions of 170 feet in length, 

 40 feet in diameter, and equipped with a number of aeroplanes and 

 three gasoline motors of 50 horsepower each. It is a question 

 whether the weight of the aeroplanes will leave sufficient margin to 

 lift 150 horsepower. 



The ultimate practicable size for balloons is not yet known, but the 

 mathematics of the subject are now tolerably well understood. The 

 larger the balloon the more speed it can attain, and it is possible to 

 design it so that the results shall not be disappointing. Those inventors 

 who expect to attain 70 to 100 miles an hour ])y some happ}^ combina- 

 tion do not know what they are talking about. 



It is interesting to speculate which of the above-mentioned navi- 

 gable balloons would, if competing, stand a chance of winning the 

 $100,000 prize which has been offered by the St. Louis exposition of 

 1901. So far as can now be discerned, the only vessels which are 



