Aerial Locomotion 



31 



■Count Von Zeppelin's Airship— the lyargest and Fastest Thus Far Con- 

 structed — Coming Out of Its Shed and Performing Various Evolutions 

 Above Lake Constance 



'This airship, which is 38 feet in diameter by 410 feet in length and which has a capacity of 

 367,120 cubic feet, held itself stationary against a 33'/^-mile-an-hour wind on January last, 

 by means of two 35-horsepower gasoline motors driving four propellers. The airship can 

 lift three tons additional to its own weight, which gives it a radius of 3,000 miles at 31 

 miles an hour. On October 11, 1906, Count Zeppelin maneuvered this dirigible balloon 

 above Lake Geneva, ascending to a heit;ht of 2,500 feet and steering the huge cigar-shaped 

 aerostat very nicely. The airship is mounted on floats, so that it works equally well on 

 the water. During one flight it remained in the air an hour and twenty minutes, although 

 the steering-gear was caught in the skeleton framework aud became partly unmanageable. 

 The attempts proved also that the airship was dirigible in spite of its great size, as several 

 ■complete circles were made while in the air. Illustrations from the Scientific American 



