While the car of the Patrie was about 16 feet long, this new airship had a car measuring 115 feet, and the propeller was at the front, so that as it revolved it drew rather than pushed the car through the air. A propeller of this sort is termed a “tractor,” and figures to-day in many models of aircraft.
During these years of experiment in France, England and America had looked on in comparative idleness. In 1902 England did indeed possess one small airship, designed by Colonel Templer of the Army Balloon Department, and christened the Nulli Secundus (Second to None). She was “sausage shaped:” rounded at the front and pointed at the stern with a peculiar rudder design. Her car was boat-shaped and her propellers were aluminum, both revolving in the same direction, which gave her a curious tendency to “somersault.” In spite of their “baby” dirigible's rather pretentious title, the military authorities, and the English public in general, evidently took slight store in the infant prodigy, for from 1902 to 1908, she only came out of her shed for a few short trips. In 1908 she was completely remodelled, and emerged for a trial trip. But neither the government nor the public seemed interested in Colonel Templer's schemes. The valiant little pioneer ship of England's airfleet went back to her sheds, resigning herself to obscurity.
Our own country, which in many other lines has led the world in its mechanical skill and enterprise, did not have a single army dirigible till as late as 1908, when it gave out a contract for an airship which was built by Captain Thomas S. Baldwin. The motor was designed and built by a young mechanic in Hammondsport, N. Y., who for several years had been manufacturing motors for automobiles. His name was Glenn Curtiss and he afterward became one of the world's most famous aviators.
United States Army Dirigible No. 1 was long and cylindrical, pointed at both ends, and covered with Japanese silk, vulcanized with rubber. The water-cooled Curtiss motor was a 20 horse power, and the wooden propeller was of the “tractor” type, placed in the front of the car.
Germany, while America and England stood idle, had been rapidly forging ahead. By 1908 Count von Zeppelin had constructed his third and fourth models, and his public demonstrations had aroused the whole German people to unbounded enthusiasm. The Crown Prince made a trip in Zeppelin No. 3 and its originator was decorated with the Order of the Black Eagle. The German Association for an Aerial Fleet was formed, and within a short time over a million dollars had been contributed by the people for the purpose of building dirigibles.
Zeppelin No. 4 was destroyed by an accident, but Zeppelin No. 3 was recalled into the national service and in 1909 given the official title of S.M.S. Zeppelin I. From this time on dirigible construction in Germany went forward with the greatest speed. Two other names became prominent in the enterprise: those of Major von Parseval and Major von Gross. The “Parseval” design resembled more the French, for it was covered with “Continental fabric,” was long and cylindrical, rounded at the front and pointed at the stern, with a large internal air ballonet. The car was suspended from two steel cables or trolleys, which it could slide along, altering its position and the “balance” of the whole airship.
The “Gross” type of airship resembled the Lebaudy and the Patrie, with its boat-shaped car hung from a steel platform attached to the bottom of the envelope.
Out of this brief story of the development of the early airship models of all the nations, we can, if we look carefully, see certain definite types of dirigibles emerging. The experimenters had to solve this problem: What shall we do when owing to loss of gas the balloon envelope begins to get flabby? For of course a flabby, partially filled envelope would flop from side to side, destroying the balance of the airship and checking its speed.
