ade in sections so that it can easily be taken
to pieces and transported, and the length over all is 56 feet. Two
propellers 7 feet 6 inches diameter, made of satin-wood, are employed to
drive the craft, which is equipped with a Green engine of from 35 to 40
horse-power.

Spencer's air-ship B is a much larger vessel, being 150 feet long and
35 feet in diameter, with a capacity for hydrogen of 100,000 cubic feet.
The framework is of steel and aluminium, made in sections, with cars
for ten persons, including aeronauts, mechanics, and passengers. It is
driven with two petrol aerial engines of from 50 to 60 horse-power.

About the time that Mr. Spencer was experimenting with his large
air-ship, Dr. Barton, of Beckenham, was forming plans for an even larger
craft. This he laid down in the spacious grounds of the Alexandra Park,
to the north of London. An enormous shed was erected on the northern
slopes of the park, but visitors to the Alexandra Palace, intent on
a peep at the monster air-ship under construction, were sorely
disappointed, as the utmost secrecy in the building of the craft was
maintained.

The huge balloon was 43 feet in diameter and 176 feet long, with a gas
capacity of 235,000 cubic feet. To maintain the external form of the
envelope a smaller balloon, or compensator, was placed inside the larger
one. The framework was of bamboo, and the car was attached by about
eighty wire-cables. The wooden deck was about 123 feet in length. Two
50-horse-power engines drove four propellers, two of which were at
either end.

The inventor employed a most ingenious contrivance to preserve the
horizontal balance of the air-ship. Fitted, one at each end of the
carriage, were two 50-gallon tanks. These tanks were connected with a
long pipe, in the centre of which was a hand-pump. When the bow of the
air-ship dipped, the man at the pump could transfer some of the water
from the fore-tank to the after-tank, and the ship would right itself.
The water could similarly be transferred from the after-tank to the
fore-tank when the stern of the craft pointed downwards.

There were many reports, in the early months of 1905, that the air-ship
was going to be brought out from the shed for its trial flights, and the
writer, in common with many other residents in the vicinity of the park,
made dozens of journeys to the shed in the expectation of seeing
the mighty dirigible sail away. But for months we were doomed to
disappointment; som