was the first man to ascend in a balloon, "the most esthetic means 

 of aerial navigation. A comparison between the balloon and the 

 airplane would be like matching a sail-boat with a motor-boat. 

 The former depends entirely upon the winds and the latter, while 

 accelerated or retarded by air-currents, has a speed so great as to 

 be practically independent of them. The sail-boat and the bal- 

 loon are free from vibration and both require their pilots to be 

 well versed in weather-lore. The airplane and the motor-boat 

 are heavily powered and they are always trembling with the 

 vibration of their motors. Aside from storm winds, both air- 

 plane and motor-boat may, and ofttimes do, dispense with all 

 but rudimentary knowledge of meteorology as a science. The 

 comparison must not be carried too far, or else it would be nec- 

 essary to make another similie not so palatable to the navigators 

 of the heavier-than-air craft and admit that unlike the motor- 

 boat, the airplane will sink if the engine stops. Safety appli- 

 ances, such as parachutes never form part of the equipment of a 

 free-flying balloon for the reason that the balloon itself acts like 

 a parachute in case of an accident in mid-air. 



Construction of a Balloon — Although the balloon is the old- 

 est means of aerial navigation, antedating the airplane by more 

 than a century, very little is popularl}^ known of the equipment 

 and management of the modern spherical free-flying balloon. It 

 may be well, therefore, to briefly describe the balloon. First and 

 most important of all, is the gas-bag which may have a capacity 

 of from 9,000 cubic feet up to 100,000 cubic feet. It is inflated 

 with hydrogen gas or coal-gas. The former is used exclusively 

 by the military establishments owing to its greater lifting power 

 and the consequent quickness of response of the balloon. The 

 9,000 cu. ft. balloon is a one-man afl^air while the 100,000 cu. ft. 

 bag will carry half a dozen persons and half a ton of ballast and 

 transport them for long distances. The 12,000 cu. ft. balloon is 

 the one most commonly used for solo work as it permits of sev- 

 eral hundred pounds of ballast being carried in addition to the 

 pilot, his instruments, supplies, etc. For general use, however, 

 the 35,000 cu. ft. balloon is the most popular size because the 

 ample carrying capacity allows a complete equipment with gen- 

 erous ballast in addition to the pilot and three passengers. The 

 material of which the gas-bag is made is of rubberized fabric 

 which is very light but of strong construction, the smaller bal- 

 loons weighing but a few hundred pounds. The pilot always has 

 to remember that the bag is a mass of light gas which is being 

 continually pushed upward by the heavier surrounding gases of 

 the atmosphere. The envelope is simply a thin partition which 

 separates the gases and does not expand and contract like the 

 small pure gum balloons. The gas-bag terminates in a long fun- 

 nel-like tube which is aptly called the "appendix". This is left 



