The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-05-22

you've seen o halfsheet of paper tall; you've
seen it thousand times; It ialls in slanting
direction; 1t does not drop perpendiculary TO
the ground, but follows the line OF least re-
sistance Tor body Of that shape. THIS air
ship is so shaped that when it's started at an
angle of 80 many degrees with the plane
OF the horizon TO rise into the air, and
the ballast is SO placed as to keep her bow
at the proper angle, she must necessarily rise
not vertically but In santing direction. She
keeps on rising, gong forward, you see. by vlr-
tue OF the slant and goes up perhaps two miles.
In going that high, she has gained so many miles
orizontally-perhaps more perhaps less, ac-
Cordlng to the wind. The wind will be some
times with the ship, sometimes against II, and
in the average there is neither gain nor loss by
It, Having reached height of two miles, say,
the balloons bow is pointed downwards. That
is very easily done by sliding certain portion
of ballast to oC certain distance from the centre
Of the car, so as to give the axis Of the balloon
the proper inclination. Then gas is allowed to
escape, and the descent begins. 1t will be just
like the ascent, the line OF least resistance Will
be followed, and in going down SO many miles
two, for instance so many miles OF forward
movement will be made. Having approached
near enough to the ground, another ascent will
be made. and then another descent and 80 on,
TILL bg q succession OF tacks, as the sailors say
only in aerial navigation the tacks,wll be up and
down instead of being from side TO side-the end
OF the Journey will be reached.
Let the wind blow as hard as 1t likes; Imagine,
if you please, that il blows hard enough 70 carry
n globular balloon backward, or sideways, or
anyway at the rate of fifty miles an hour in the
ease OF ship balloon nothing would be easier
than to guide ii by the rudder, and give it an as
Cending motion which would carry 1t forward in
an hour sixty miles OF horizontal distance, and
thus you beat the wind ten miles.
We we're assured that almost any conceivable
speed OF upward or downward motion could be
impaired to the ship, and that the utmost effect
OF storm of wind would be to retard her motion
and not to prevent 1t wholly. tornado could
hardly do that; and in general the action of
wind would be so little troublesome or danger
Gus that ii might be disregarded. 1t would only
be necessary in bosterous voyages to expend
more ballast and more gas in tacklng more fire.
quently and keeping up greater rate OF speed.
Sneering? There would be no trouble about
that. A drifting balloon could not be steered,
but once get momentum and steering follows as
a matter of course. What did Professor Henry
say in his report TO Stanton about the flying
ship that was offered to the Government in 1854?
He said:-"Dr. Andrews has also fully illus
trated the fact TO the commission that his aerial
vessel while passing through the air can be
steered. This fact, however, might have been
inferred as COrollary from the fact of the trans
mission, since the direction of body relative
to the medium through which 1t is moving
must evidently be changed If the resistance on
one side is made greater or less than that on the
other"
There would be no difficulty, either, in making
the passengers comfortable. 1t would be but
very little while before the passenger by aereon
would have q sleeping berth or q state-ToOm
more luxurious, better opportunity for getting
his meals, and be in all respects better cared
for, than the passenger by rall or by steamboat
No mode of travelling would be able to compare
with aerial navigation in point OF speed, and by
and by 1t must be incomparably cheaper than
any other method of transportation. There
would be no roads TO builu, no tracks to lay no
lands to buy, nothing to pay for but the balloon
Itself and the gas to fill it. In the presence of
this ardent benetactor of the race, we none of
us suggested what nevertheless of course
rVnA RI r1s hat in nf s1AY,N H.
Aerial Navigation Company will have no bills to
pay-no hush money Tor trl1ing injuries to arms
and legs. All accidents will be fatal. 1t IS true
that passengers by aereon may have human
relatives and ties to bind them TO earth. But
even in that case what surviving friends can
hope success in suing these gigantic corpora
tions? The speaker went on the cost of the
necessary gas was much greater at present
edly balloon could be made of cop
per "copper" can be made nearly as thin
as gold leaf y and then the greater part of the
original charge of gas would last for an indefinite
period, as there would be no leakage whatever,
and no gas would be lost except the quantity
that might be allowed to escape in the deseents.
OF course it would not be possible to keep going
any longer than gas and ballast hold out; but
no more could q locomotive keep going any
longer than fuel and water hold out. The ship
would be able to stop regularly and lay in
supply of gas and sand. The cheapness of the
motive power would be an immense advantage.
NOAuluB COulu p6 tubu
When the model was on exhibition in Washing
ton an army officer walked into the room and
inquired What's the motor, sir? Gravitation,
sir. He turned round and walked out without
saying one word. But simple and plain as the
invention seemed, no invention that had ever
been made would appear greater in the results
OF its practical application than this OF the flying
ship. 1t would revolutioniZe all travel and all
transportation; its effects would be felt in every
field of activity; indeed, it was the greatest
invention OF the century, if not the greatest that
had ever been made in the whole history of the
race.
This account OF the new conveyance is pretty
nearly the same that the inventor will doubtless
give gladly to any visitor of small knowledge in
aerostation. For our own part, beng in that
category, we may confess that we almost half
believed and we fully hoped, that the coming
trial-trip may be successful, and that this mar
vel may speedily go into that class of scientific
miracles which daily repetition makes common
place. The list is a long one of those romantic
wonders to which, after science has killed them,
science gives again a sort of ganvanized life;
and what finer revival of the princes carpet
could be asked than that piece of poagee silk
should carry us TO Europe through the upper
air THE Nation.