Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-08-21

'V1uU NVN1 VIII VOHOU
|NTY, MINNESOTA, Z
BALLOON PROBABILITIES.
Mr.. Don"sa~on. ono "i the " urn npllic -
AerOnasats, Forecasts the VOVnuc-
How jolly They will Feel When 1t
Is Over.
From tho DAILY Graphic, Aug. 2.
! MIR. Washington H. Donaldson. who.
with Professor Wise, will have charge
of the Transatlantic air-ship, the Daily
Graphic, was in our Office to-day and
VIC asked him to give us forecast of
the incidents of the voyage, as he ex-
pected them to arise. He said that he
thought that if they started from New
York at six o'clock in the evening. they
would see land the second morning out.
"What time do you expect to start p
asked the writer.
ave now think that We shall start
about the 25th OF August, at six
o'clock in the evening. We chose that
hour for two reasons-6rst, the gas at
that time will be rapidly conden.ing; :;
and the second reason is, that the Ia.
boring people will then have left off
work, and will be able to witness the
ascension"
How high do you expect to rise first
of.alls"
eff the surface current is blowing
eastward, there will not be the least
necessity to 60 above 200 or 900 feet
feet from the surface of the water. But
if tho surface current is not easterly,
We shall rise up to tue great, ever
flowing eastward current, which is
from 1900 to 1000 feet above. If we
riso to 8, 600 feet, We shall have to dis.
charge about twenty five pounds of
ballast per hour up to nine O'Clock ;
after that the condemnation of gas will
be stopped, and we shall have to dis
charge perhaps not more than six
pounds per hour.
"What sort of observations do you
expect to make by the instrument7'
''We shall probably divide the time
up by watches, according to the num-
Der of persons who make the ascension.
Probably We will have three-hour or
four-hour watches. Whoever is on
duty during the watches of the night,
will have to make and record all the
observations. I intend to keep q book
myself all the time, except when I'm
asleep. Of course the most important
instrument is barometer. This must
be watched incessantly. Then we must
pay good deal of attention to the
thermometer. But, 7 think, an obser-
vation every quarter of an hour would
be enough. The same may be said of
other instruments-the hygrometer,
the wet and dry bulb thermometers,
the spectroscope, and 80 on"
II don't see that you can use the
spectroscope except for the water lines
in the atmosphere. You could not,
under the circumstances, observe the
solar or stellar spectra."
"No, I suppose not"
1t seems to me that if you take OBJ
servations every quarter of an hour,
you have SO many instruments, before
you have finished one observation you
will have to begin the next"
Perhaps so. We shall be ablo to
see better about that when We have got
into the upper air..
"You expect to be able to throw out
signals during 8, the night to ascertain
eyes, We shall have illuminating ex-
plosive bombs, which, when dropped
into the water burn four or five
minutes. Az we drift away from the
burning light we can tell by our COM
pass what point we are making for"
"You read your instruments by
Grissler's tubes, don't you.2"
Yes, We shall have them along with
us. But then, it il quite safe for us to
take Davy lamp"
cat what rate do you expect to
travel Z"
"About eighty miles an hour.''
"Where do you expect to be at sun
rise the first morning cut q"
"Just over the coast of Newfound-
land. We shall be then 1900 miles
from the nearest point in Europe. As
soon as the sun rises the gas will begin
to expand again, ana we shall rise very
rapidly. and be saved from discharging
ballast for some hours. By IL O'Clock
the second day we shall be in mid
ocean, spinning along, very likely, at
the rate of eighty miles an hour.
"You will not be able to speak with
ships # you are SO very high above the
ocean7"
"No; but as I have already stated,
I believe We shall not be obliged to
remain SO high. I believe that we
shall be able to 60 near the ocean, very
low; indeed, quite low enough to speak
with ships. You know we have drag
rope 1900 feet long; we shall let that
out. ..all the time"
"You will be occupied in making
observations most of the second day."
eyes; we shall take observations
very carefully. We shall also expert
ment with the smaller balloon. Al
though We would prefer to keep the
lower current, yet If the higher current
moves faster, we shall certainly take
advantage OF that. In order to ascer-
tain whether it is swifter or not, we
shall send up the lesser balloon 1--WE
have about 1000 feet of cord for the
purpose), and if it seems to move more
rapidly, up We 60. Then, there may
be some disarrangement of the valves
or the upper part of the rigging, in
which case I shall fasten myself to the
little balloon, and go mp around "The
Daily Graphic" and set right whatever
may be amiss."
"How about the discharge of ballast
after noon2
''It will be greater than in the morn
ing. You would be surprised ut the
change after noon in the upper air.
The air Immediately begins to get
colder SO, as this causes condensation,
we are compelled to discharge more
ballast"
"What are the effects of rain2"
"a series of effects are produced
which result in IN exact balance, so
that the total effect is ,sjl. In the first
place the moisture makes the balloon
heavier; it also condences the gas,
which thereby loses power; but, on the
other hand, it closes all the pores of
the balloon, and thus puts = stop to all
escape of gas"
"At six O'Clock IN the evening of the
second day, when you will have been
out twenty.four hours, what will be the
total discharge of ballast 2"
"I estimate 800 pounds. But Pro-
fessor Wise, who likes to be on the safe
side, estimates 1000 pounds 4 day."
"How much ballast will you have
left2 What is the total weight of bal
loon and all appurtenauces Z"
"Tho balloon weighs 5000 pounds
netting, 700 pounds; Cur, $50 pounds
boat, 700 pounds; instruments and
drag rope, 1000 pounds; total $3.50