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At length, however, the internal-combustion engine, such as is used in motor-cars, arrived, and it became at last possible to solve the great problem of constructing a really-serviceable, steerable balloon. In Berlin, on March 8, 1917, there passed away a man whose name will be remembered as long as the English language is spoken.
"That's about what it comes to, I suppose, but you must not think it was altogether vanity. You see the German Government has bought Count Zeppelin's air-ship or steerable balloon, as it ought to be called, always supposing that they can steer it in a wind, and of course their idea is to make a fighting machine of it.
The steel-and-aluminum shape of the great, steerable dish antenna, designed for modern astronomy, was silhouetted against the sky. Rick was excited. He enjoyed new sights and experiences more than most people, and here, within sight of each other, were unique objects of almost equal interest, but entirely different.
When the instruments were stripped away a single bar remained projecting backwards like a tiller handle. When a third wheel was fitted with a stub axle and slid into place in the forked lower end of the post the test stand looked remarkably like a three-wheeled, steerable, steam engine powered platform that was mounted on legs.
Indeed, the cause of the long delay in the construction of a steerable balloon was that a suitable engine could not be found. A steam-engine, with a boiler of sufficient power to propel a balloon, is so heavy that it would require a balloon of impossible size to lift it. One of the first serious attempts to steer a balloon by means of engine power was that made by M. Giffard in 1852.
"Pegasus was a winged horse," Rick commented, "And aren't those airfoils on that rocket section near the back of the shed? Is that the connection?" Dr. Gould chuckled. "Sharp-oh! Those are indeed airfoils. Wings for Pegasus. Now make with the reason, if you can." Rick pondered. He knew rockets achieved stability through fins, or steerable motors, and that wings were no help.
It must not be supposed that the invention of the steerable balloon was greatly in advance of that of the heavier-than-air machine. Indeed, developments in both the dirigible airship and the aeroplane have taken place side by side. In some cases men like Santos Dumont have given earnest attention to both forms of air-craft, and produced practical results with both.
Moreover, when the wind admits, there will be freely-moving steerable balloons wagging little flags to their friends below. And so far as the resources of the men on the ground go, the balloons will be almost invulnerable.
Great multitudes of balloons will be the Argus eyes of the entire military organism, stalked eyes with a telephonic nerve in each stalk, and at night they will sweep the country with search-lights and come soaring before the wind with hanging flares. Certainly they will be steerable.
His greatest speed against a moderate breeze was only about 5 miles an hour, and the endurance of the men did not allow of even this speed being kept up for long at a time. In the year 1883 Tissandier invented a steerable balloon which was fitted with an electric motor of 1 1/2 horse-power. This motor drove a propeller, and a speed of about 8 miles an hour was attained.
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