The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-04-16 00:00:00

SATUiIDAY, AltIL 16, 1881.

NAVIGATING BALLOONS.

Upon this subject The Times publishes the following
lettec
Sin —ln your capital article in The Tines of
Marth 30 you bring forward this important ques-
tion.
There can be no doubt that the invention of a
Tballoon which could be navigated would take rank
:among the greatest of human achievements—the re-
sulting advantages wourd be almost incalculable.
More has been already accomplithed in this line
than is, perhaps, generally known.
There are two principal methods by which balloons
might be made to travel in any required direction.
The first method takes advantage of the various
currents of the atmosphere. Practice and experience
'ill alone enable us to jndge of the practical value of
this method. All that is required is the power to
rise and fall at will. We have this power already, but
the piesent method involves loss of gas and ballast,
,which are the very life of the balloon. Many other
ways of attaining this object have been ,uggested, but.
few tried. It is probable that a successful mode of
accomplishing this object Would long ago have been
,discovered if only we 'could be more certain of its
;practical utility,
The second. method is the application of motive
power to drive the machine in the manner of a
steamer, or, rather, of a fish torpedo. It will be seen
at once that to accomplish this the balloon must be of
re very different shape to the present globe—as, for
izastance, that of a fish. It is probably on account of
the expense and trouble of designing and constructing
.a large balloon of peculiar shape that more experi-
ments have not been made in this direction.
'However, it is not generally known that two sue-
rcessful experiments have already been made of this
Imethod,—the first so long ago as 1852, when H. Henry
'Giffp,rd asoendeci from Paris in an elongated balloon
'(lsoft. lie by 401 t. greatest diameter). It carried a
steam er-i4ine of 3-horse power, a three-bladed screw
of 10ft. ameter, and a rudder. Unfortunately, the
experiment was made in a strong wind, but still a
deviation from the direction of the wind was effected,
ahewing an independent velocity of five to seven miles
an hour through the air. The rudder was found to
zat well.
The second experiment was made by M. Dupuy de
-LOme in 1872, for which purpose he obtained a grant
.of £1,600 from the French Government. His balloon
was very similar in design to that of M. Giffard, but he
only his worked screw (30ft. diameter) by manual power,
employing four men in relays. A deviation from the
wind cousse of 10deg. or lldeg. was made, the wind
again blowing strong. A speed was realised of five to
eight miles an hour through the air.
Several improvements on the above experiments are
:at once apparent. M. Giffard used coal gas to fill his
'balloon. Had he filled it with hydrogen, he could
;have used an engine of six times the weight of the one
be did use. In M. de Lome's balloon 14 persons in all
..ascended. If only one man had gone up there would
have been an available buoyancy for some 1,7001 b.
weight of engine.
I may add that several calculations have been made
on these data by Dr. Poole and others Whioh justify
the expectation that, with sundry improvements, it
would be possible to attain the rate of at least thirty
miles an hour in such a balloon.
With regard to 'flying machines, although a great
deal of ingenuity and skill has been devoted to their
construction' yeiG no man has ever yet been able to
raise himself ea the ground by their agency.—Yours,
&c.,• B. BADEN-BOWELL.
8, 81. dleo:rge's-place, S.W.