A Brazilian by birth, Santos-Dumont began in Paris in the year 1898 to
make history, which he subsequently wrote. His book, My Airships, is a
record of his eight years of work on lighter-than-air machines, a
period in which he constructed no less than fourteen dirigible balloons,
beginning with a cubic capacity of 6,350 feet, and an engine of 3
horse-power, and rising to a cubic capacity of 71,000 feet on the tenth
dirigible he constructed, and an engine of 60 horse-power, which was
fitted to the seventh machine in order of construction, the one which he
built after winning the Deutsch Prize.

The student of dirigible construction is recommended to Santos-Dumont's
own book not only as a full record of his work, but also as one of the
best stories of aerial navigation that has ever been written. Throughout
all his experiments, he adhered to the non-rigid type; his first
dirigible made its first flight on September 18th, 1898, starting from
the Jardin d'Acclimatation to the west of Paris; he calculated that his
3 horse-power engine would yield sufficient power to enable him to steer
clear of the trees with which the starting-point was surrounded, but,
yielding to the advice of professional aeronauts who were present,
with regard to the placing of the dirigible for his start, he tore the
envelope against the trees. Two days later, having repaired the balloon,
he made an ascent of 1,300 feet. In descending, the hydrogen left in
the balloon contracted, and Santos-Dumont narrowly escaped a serious
accident in coming to the ground.

His second machine, built in the early spring of 1899, held over 7,000
cubic feet of gas and gave a further 44 lbs. of ascensional force. The
balloon envelope was very long and very narrow; the first attempt at
flight was made in wind and rain, and the weather caused sufficient
contraction of the hydrogen for a wind gust to double the machine up and
toss it into the trees near its starting-point. The inventor immediately
set about the construction of 'Santos-Dumont No. 3,' on which he made a
number of successful flights, beginning on November 13th, 1899. On
the last of his flights, he lost the rudder of the machine and made a
fortunate landing at Ivry. He did not repair the balloon, considering
it too clumsy in form and its motor too small. Consequently No. 4 was
constructed, being finished on the 1st, August, 1900. It had a cubic
capacity of 14,800 feet, a length of 129 feet and greatest diame