Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/536

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��Popular Science Monthly

���whole as fast as racing aeroplanes. Next in importance to speed, come great carrying capacity and great radius of action, both dependent on bulk.

Speed makes the Zeppelin practically independent of adverse winds. But speed is essential not to drive a Zeppelin obstin- ately against the wind in a straight line all the time, but rather to overcome an interfering gust in order to reach a region where favorable winds prevail. So, Zeppelin may describe rather a devious course instead of that straight line which the geometries tell us is the shortest distance be- tween two given points.

��� ��In this picture a Zeppelin is placed above the United States superdreadnought Texas. The comparative sizes have been carefully maintained. The Texas has an over all length of 573 feet, the latest Zeppelin is 670 feet long. But the battleship is more powerful

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