Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1869-02-24
A DARING AERONAUT.
Chevaller and his Proposed Air yo!
age Over the Atlantic.

age over the ANinuthcs
From the Nav York Tribunol
The fascinating problem of the naviga-
ton of the atmosphere is about to be again
brought before the attention Of the public,
by an attempt to cross the Atlantic from
New York in balloon, which enterprise is
to be undertaken by Monsieur A. Cheya-
lier, an aerOnaut of extended European
reputation. M. Cheyalier arrived in this
country about fortnight ago, and has al
ready succeeded in obtaining theconfdence
and support of our first scientific men, He
is by birth Swiss, about 80 years of age,
of modest yet self-possessed demeanor,
short in stature, with black hair, eyes and
moustache, and q pleasing andopen express
sion of countenance. For dozen years
past, Chevalier has been an enthusiast in
aerostatics, He spent his inherited for
tune ON flying machines, and has ever
since experienced on account Of his pen
chant succession Of ups and down in life
extraordinary indeed for an aeronaut, Nj.
Chevaliers latest invention is O steam fly
ing machine, which may be briefly des-
cribed as being constructed after the mod
els of the bird-long, wing-like sails pro-
ject from either side Of the iron body Of
the ship, and fan-hke arrangement" at
the stern stands in the place ofthe tail of
the bird, and serves its purpose in rails
ing or depressing the machine in its
course through the air, Looking at the
fine picture representing it soaring in
mid-air over plains and mountains,
as it appears "a French periodical the
only really astonishing thing about the air
monster is that it would not soar when
Chevalier tried it, but broke down and LETT
its sanguine inventor dead broke" too
These and similar accidents have not in the
least succeeded in disheartening him in
his life-search for the solution Of the great
problem; they only throw stronger light
on the obstacles in the way After such
mishaps, Chevalier bounds aloft elastically
in his balloon for the delight of the mil
lion on some fete day in Paris, or Mar
seiles, or Nyons, or London, or Dublin,
and thus repairs the losses ofhis exchequer
for fresh overhauling of his flying
steamship. In this way he has
made hundreds of ascents, in every coun-
try in Europe, and in Australia.
Once he sailed in his balloon from Paris
beyond the boundaries OF Russia. On an
other occasion he crossed the st. George s
Channel from Dublin into England. In
one of his trips he made the extraordinary
fight of 700 miles in four hours. In an
other ascent made for the Marquis of Butte,
Just before coming to this country, he was
driven as miles in an hour. One can read
lily believe in looking Mt the Chevalier s
clear, pleasant eyes, and firm, quiet mouth,
that he is stranger to physical fear. But
about his transatlantic trip from New
York-he undertakes it partly for the
great effect it will have if successful, on
his business" on the other side of the
water, and not less to determine the exist
ence of q continuous "belt" of westerly
currents, which the philosophers say must
exist at the height Of 5000 or 10000 feet
above the surface of the earth. M. Chevalier
has brought with him, in complete readi-
ness, the balloon in which he proposes to
make his long and perilotfS journey, 1t is
of peculiar shape, and OF these dimen-
sions: SO feet in height, $50 feet in diane
ter; capacity for gas, 1875, 900 cubic feet. The
car being made Of fbamboo, and in the shape
of a house, resembles a long bamboo hut,
and will probably accommodate as many
passengers as will desire to 60 upon the
voyage NJ. Chevalier is de6irous Of max
ing the start at as early date as possible,
and at all events, before the return of warm
weather His reason for this is that the
balloon would suffer dangerous loss of
gas by expansion in the heat of warm suns
As stated above, Chevalier has shown
some of the scientific men of this city that
he is not mere Snowman; has interested
them in his undertaking, and will proceed
to perfect the preparations for his inter-
ested and unprecedented voyage under
propitious circumstances.