The Story of Great Inventions

by Elmer Ellsworth Burns

A larger air-ship, the Deutschland, built later by Count Zeppelin, was the first air-ship to be used for regular passenger service. The Deutschland is shown in Fig. 92. The Deutschland carried the crew and twenty passengers. It operated for a time as a regular passenger air-ship between Friedrichshafen and Düsseldorf, a distance of three hundred miles. The Deutschland was wrecked in a storm on June 28, 1910, but it was successfully operated long enough to give Germany the honor of establishing the first air-ship line for regular passenger service. This is an honor perhaps equally as great as that of establishing the first commercial electric railway, which also belongs to Germany. An American army air-ship is shown in Fig. 93.

FIG. 92–COUNT ZEPPELIN'S "DEUTSCHLAND," THE FIRST AIR-SHIP IN REGULAR PASSENGER SERVICE

FIG. 93–THE BALDWIN AIR-SHIP USED IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Copyright by Pictorial News Co.

The Aeroplane

The aeroplane is a later development than the dirigible balloon. The aeroplane is heavier than air. So is a bird and so is a kite. What supports a kite or a bird as it soars? Every boy knows that the strings of a kite must be attached so that the kite is inclined and catches the wind underneath. Then the wind lifts the kite. In still air the kite will not fly unless the boy who holds the string runs very fast and so causes an artificial breeze to blow against the kite. In much the same way a hovering bird is held aloft by the wind. In a dead calm the bird must flap its wings to keep afloat. If the kite string is cut the kite tips over and drops to the earth because it has lost its balance. The lifting power of the wind is well shown in the man-lifting kites which are used in the British army service. In a high wind a large kite is used in place of a captive balloon. It is a box-kite made of bamboo and carries a passenger in a car, the car running on the cable which attaches the kite to the ground. Now suppose a kite with a motor and propeller in place of a string and a boy to run with it, and that the kite is able to balance itself, then it will sail against a wind of its own making and you have a flying-machine heavier than air.