THE STEERABLE BALLOON.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 8 October 1901, Page 4

THE STEERABLE BALLOON.

M. Santos-Dumot will not Patent his invention.

M. Santos-Dumont, whose recent aerial trips made him the hero of the hour in Paris, promises to arouse more attention than ever.

A reporter of the “ Yelo ” says that the aeronaut told him he meant to pay a visit to the city shortly, and that Parisians might look out for him above the Opera or the Bastile at a height of between 100 and 200 yards. It has been suggested by one paper that the young Brazilian should be decorated by the Government for his services to the science of aerial navigation. But M. San-tos-Dumont is singularly modest and unambitious.

In conversation with a representative of the “Daily Mail” he was asked if he did not contemplate selling his invention to some European Government, as his secret must have a very considerable value from a military point of view.

“No,” he replied, “Any one who wants my secret can have it. Besides there are no secrets to-day. If I were to take out a patent for my airship any one could come along and copy the document, and then it would no longer bo a secret.” Asked as to future of the airship, M Santos-Dumant said that the difficulty would not be to make airships, but to find those who could navigate them.

The successful ateerer of a balloon like mine, he said, mnst be something more than an aeronaut. He must be an automobilist as well, and understand a motor. The one without the other is useless —you must have men with the double experience.

A Valenciennes telegram at the end of last month reported that a navigable balloon, invented by M. Delagarde, made a most successful ascent from that place. The aeronaut appeared to have the airship under complete control, and after describing a series af curves at a considerable altitude descended without difficulty.