The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1876-11-09
A MONSTER BALLOON.
The Monarch OF Air.ships-A .Monu-
mental Dome 100 Feet High.
from tho Landau Timaa

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The Monarch Of Air:ships-A .Monu-
mental Dome le0 Feet High.
tFrom the London Times.]
Visitors to the Exhibition of 1867 may
remember on the Champs dc Mars a
captive balloon Of large size. This was
the first captive balloon that had been
Unanswered by lean Of a steam en-
CINE, the balloon itself having been
l76.660 cubic feet in capacity, and capa-
BILE Of rising upward of eight hundred
feet above the ground. This was at
the time considered an srostatic tri-
umph, and was due to M. Henry Gift
fard, the inventor of the well known
"injector," from which invention for
many years past he has been in the en-
joyment of a handsome fortune. The
organizers Of the Philadelphia Exhibi-
ton asked M. Giffard, we believe, to
construct q similar balloon forthe grand
Centenary display, but the wealthy
Frenchman would not listen to the pro-
posal, as he wished to reserve an eros
tatic surprise to the visitors to the next
International Exhibition of Paris. M.
Giffard has devised the construction of
a balloon for 1873, which will far sur
pass any effort hitherto made in this
direction, and which will, no doubt,
be M Of the most popular attractions
at the forthcoming exhibit
ton. The plans were submitted to
tho commissioners nf tho xb;hitio by
NJ. G. Tissandier, who has just pub
lished some Of the details of construc-
ton. This new balloon will be formed
of a resisting material, absolutely I'M
permeable to hydrogen gas, manufac-
tured of alternate sheets of linen and
caoutchouc, protected externally by
several layers of varnish, and coated
with white paint to diminish the effects
Of the suns rays. The balloon will
have a capacity of nearly seven hundred
and ten thousand cubic feet, and will
form an immense sphere, the greatest
ever constructed, the diameter of which
will not be less than 1l2 feet. BY means
of u system of valves it will be managed
with the greatest ease. When moored
to the ground the balloon will form a
monumental dome 1876 feet high, ex-
cseding by Is feet the highest of the
Arc de Triomphe. The balloon itself
will weigh $500 pounds, and to
join the pieces together of which
it is composed will take nearly -four
miles Of sewing, with twenty-five
miles of thread. The car of the bal.
loon will form a gallery fifty feet in cir
conference. A circular space in the
center of ten feet in diameter will be
reserved; in the center of this space
the cable, a powerful rope of ten inches
in circumference, will be joined to the
upper circle by means of an apparatus
which will constantly indicate the as
cending power of the balloon. This
erial machine will be held TO the eartl
by eight cables, attached to iron ring
fixed securely in masonry, and will b'
suspended above a vast conical basin
The car will be reached by two nova
BILE gangways, and from forty to iift.
persons will be taken on board at cacl
ascent. The cable will descend to thu
bottom of the conical basin, and b,
means of a secure system of wheels vii
; be carried along a tunnel to be WORKED
by an engine of 2O0-horse power. Thi
cable will be 1880 feet in length. Thu
captive balloon will be placed in tn
center of n circular Enclosure 333 feet il
diameter. 1t will tower above the beau
tiful gardens and will form the mos
elevated dome in the Champs d.
Mars. The greatest precaution
will be taken to have ever,
: part of the great machine stron!
enough to resist all possible contingen
cies; the cable that fixes the balloon t.
!, earth will be so strong that a hurrican'
could not snap it. An elaborate bu
ea~sily-worked apparatus will fill it witt
hydrogen gas. With this balloon, then
it will be possible to raise more THAI
100000 visitors 1850 feet above tn
earth during the continuance of the ex
, hibition. They may contemplate from
!, that height, surprising that of clever
Arcs de Triomphe, the fine tableaux o
the city of Paris and its surroundings
J and they will be able to see that tn,
scenes described by tile nronants ar,
not exaggerated pictures. The steam
captive balloon will be located in thu
center of the exhibitions great park
4 between the Palaceand the Jena Bridge
NJ. Giffard proposes to construct thi
r enormous machine entirely at his owl
o expense. 1t will cost several hundre,
: thousand FRANCISCAN insignificant sum
= however, compared to the fortune 0
+ the inventor of the ''injector."