Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1873-08-02

whose trained skill the shuttles of thu
machines fly around with wonderful
celebrity. An uuceasing =" click, P" melt
| ing into a stIbdued murnler, fills the
spacious, airy saloon in which they
work. All the sewing is under the .di.
rections of Mrs. Ihlang, a niece of Prof
Wise. She has had more experience in
the building OF balloons than any other
woman in the worlI. She has been
making balloons for me for twenty
years." said the Professor. She must
have begun the work very early, for she
is yet a bright, attractive young woman.
Has she ever been up in a balloon 2"
| asked the writer, thinking that lady
| who had done so much for seronautics
ought to have, at least, one taste of sky
ward travel. ..s r...
"No,' said the Professor, sit has so
happened that she never went up. My
wife, however, has accompanied me
once or twice on balloon excursions.
In 1852, my wife and my whole family
went up.' s.I
'' When did the idea of transatlantic
ballooning first occur TO you ?" -H
II started the thing as early as 1874.
L petitioned Congress for aid to bnild a
balloon for the purpose of going over to
Europe. The petition was drawn up by
.
Foltz, of the United States Navy. The
petitions were presented in the Senate
by the late Stephen A. Douglas, and in
the House by Mr.. Maciane. Congress
did not grant the money, but Senator
Douglas made an excellent speech in fa-
vOE of the scheme.' .a.... :
What is the total length of sewing
to be done now, i'll uniting all these
gores?"
"One hundred and two seams, multi
piled by l72 feet length of seams, and
about one-third more for transverse
scanning Al ,062 feet. Oh, about eight
miles, +. .. -.,.f
From here we went upstairs to the
next floor, where Mr.. Joe Sutclife is
netting the immense net which is to COW
Ell and strengthen the balloon, and be
fastened to the rings which hold the car.
MIR. Sutclitfe is a merry Yorksherenan,
who has but lately come to this country,
and who was most luckily found just at
the very moment when his peculiar
craft was in requisition for this great
work. He has been engaged since boy
hood in netting those immense nets
which are used in penning sheep upon
the Yorkshire wolds, SO that he possess
ses peculiar qualifications for the work.
His needle is, of course, of precisely the
same make as those dainty little ivory
netting-needles with which our grand
mothers used to net those pretty caps
which, with their meshes threaded with
pretty blue and rose ribbons, were SO
fashionable quarter of century ago.
But what difference in size! A fright
full, iron, double-clawed needle, eigh-
teen inches long, threaded with three
strand ''marlin" rope, and for a mesh a
piece Of board six inches wide! The
rope is drawn over the mesh, and the
knot made precisely as in making caps,
cabbage-nets and seines. The meshes
at the top of the net are three inches
deep; lower down they are four inches
and from about the middle downward
the mesh is six inches deep. Sutcliffe
works standing; the net being hung to
one of the pillars. In making the knot,
he draws it tight by peculiar jerk OF
the right arm thrown behind the body.
:" suppose the smaller meshes at the
top are forthe purpose of Strengthening
the balloon" said the writer.
Yes" answered Prof. Wise, "we are
obliged to be very particular about that.
You see the upward pressure of the
gas is very great. 1t is fully two
pounds to the square incll-a force
which would tear everything to pieces,
If care was not taken to strengthen that
part"
*TwO pounds per square inch cannot be possi-1
bic. Two hundred and eighty eight pounds per
square foot, oyer horizontal cross-section of
thirty feet in diameter, would give more than
one hundred tons upward pressure.-Ed.