Airships past and present, together with chapters on the use of balloons in connection with meteorology, photography and the carrier pigeon . Fig. 34.—Santos Dumont. DIRIGIBLE BALLOONS FROM 1898 TO 1906. 67 propellers, drove him against the trees before he had time to riseabove them. He then took the precaution of starting alwayswith the front of the balloon towards the wind. The damagewas repaired in two days, and after performing some evolutionsat a low level, he gained such confidence that he sailed fromParis to Longchamps at a height of 1,300 ft. At first all wentwell. As soon as the ballo
Airships past and present, together with chapters on the use of balloons in connection with meteorology, photography and the carrier pigeon . Fig. 34.—Santos Dumont. DIRIGIBLE BALLOONS FROM 1898 TO 1906. 67 propellers, drove him against the trees before he had time to riseabove them. He then took the precaution of starting alwayswith the front of the balloon towards the wind. The damagewas repaired in two days, and after performing some evolutionsat a low level, he gained such confidence that he sailed fromParis to Longchamps at a height of 1,300 ft. At first all wentwell. As soon as the balloon fell, the gas contracted and theair-bag was seen to be too small. The balloon was no longerproperly inflated, and it proceeded to fold up in the middle, likea pocket knife. It then plunged downwards towards the ground,. Fig. 35.—Santos Dumonts second balloon breaks its back,May 11th, 1899. but Santos Dumont did not lose his presence of mind. Heshouted to some small boys who were playing in a field, and toldthem to catch his guide-rope, and run with it as fast as possibleagainst the wind. They did as they were told, and the air-resistance was so great that the balloon came gently to the groundwithout causing any injury to the driver. A new balloon was ready in the spring of 1899. The air-bagwas now to be filled by a small rotating fan, whereas in the earliermodel a pneumatic pump, similar to those in use on motor cars,had been employed. The whole thing snapped again in themiddle, because the air-bag could not be filled quickly enough tocounteract the decrease of volume caused by the cold. It fell atonce at a great rate, and the shock was luckily somewhat broken f 2 68 AIRSHIPS PAST AND PRESENT. by rebounding from the trees in the Jardin dAcclimatation. Heproceeded to build a new machine, which was o
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