inner balloon, to alter
the height of the airship, in order to travel with the most favourable
air currents. The motive power was 20 oar propellers worked by men.

This airship proved to be too heavy on completion to lift its own
weight, and was destroyed by the onlookers.

The next airship, the Dupuy de Lome, is of interest because the
experiments were carried out at the cost of the State by the French
Government. This ship consisted of a spindle-shaped balloon with a
length of 112 feet, diameter of 48 1/2 feet and a volume of 121,800
cubic feet. An inner air balloon of 6,000 cubic feet volume was
contained in the envelope. The method of suspension was by means of
diagonal ropes with a net covering. A rudder in the form of a
triangular sail was fitted beneath the envelope and at the after part
of the ship. The motive power was double-winged screws 29 feet 6
inches diameter, to be worked by four to eight men.

On her trials the ship became practically a free balloon, an
independent velocity of about six miles per hour being achieved and
deviation from the direction of the wind of ten degrees.

At the close of the nineteenth century Santos-Dumont turned his
attention to airships. The experiments which he carried out marked a
new epoch and there arose the nucleus of the airship as we know it
to-day. Between the years 1898 and 1905 he had in all built fourteen
airships, and they were continually improved as each succeeding one
made its appearance. In the last one he made a circular flight;
starting from the aerodrome of the aero club, he flew round the Eiffel
Tower and back to the starting point in thirty-one minutes on October
19th, 1902. For this feat the Deutsch prize was awarded to him.

The envelopes he used were in design much nearer approach to a
streamline form than those previously adopted, but tapered to an
extremely fine point both at the both and stem. For rigging he
employed a long nacelle, in the centre of which was supported the car,
and unusually long suspensions distributed the weight throughout
practically the entire length of the envelope. To the name of
Santos-Dumont much credit is due. He may be regarded as the originator
of the airship for pleasure purposes, and by his success did much to
popularize them. He also was responsible to a large extent for the
development and expansion of the airship industry in Paris.

At a little later date, in 1902 to be precise, the Lebaudy brothers