Barnard's Air Ship

Perhaps the most interesting flying machine at present is that made by Prof. Arthur W. Barnard, of Xashville, ■who made a successful trip from the Nashrille Centennial grounds. The ship has an air chamber shaped like a cig-ar and 46 feet by IS feet in diameter. It is made of silk and cotton and filled with hydrogen gas. This chamber is confined in a network of small ropes, which holds the metallic framework and aerophane underneath. The seat is made on the order of a bicycle frame, and from this the operator eontrols the wings or earopanes, on eitber side. The tvvo propellers, or screws, extend in front of the operator, acting on the principie of an augur. In guiding the air ship the operator moves the screw from right to left in the direction he wishes to go, and aseends or descends by raising or lowering the side wings. The aeroplanes are frames of light wood, and are covered with a cortón iabric. The other framework is of metal, and the parts vrere made in Nashvüle, New York, and Connecticut, and put together by Prof. Barnard. The greater part of the air ship he made himself, without any assistance and during his spare hours. Prof. Barnard drew the plans of the present ship about ten jears ago, and they have been changed in only a few respects, the alterations in the supports and mechanism.