Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1881-09-01
A NEW AERIAL ENTERPRISE.
Prof. Kings Coming VoYage.--His
New-Fashioned Balloon Almost
Completed.

New-Fashoned Balloon Almost
| Completed.
| Philadelphia Times.
"Prof. King" said the reporter in
the glad voice of recognition. Formal
tiles over, the professor was reminded
of his promise of several months ago
to have completed about this time a
mammoth balloon with which to dem
onstrate the theory that the atmOs-
phere is governed by a constant move
ment from the westward, and having
once established this, show conclusive
ly that an aeronaut may cross the At
lantic ocean in balloon, provided it is
large enough ana is made Of the right
cloth to resist leakage of gas. 1t would
take Il book to contain all the profes-
sOr said about his coming experiments
and what he expected to demonstrate.
The first thing to be done is to asCer-
tain as Il fact whether the atmosphere,
as whole, does not move from the
westward to the eastward. This is to
be done by series of voyages in the
Great Northwest, which the professor,
in about three weeks, will inaugurate
If this is established, the next step will
be to find what sort Of a balloon will
be necessary to cross the Atlantic in
The balloon which the acrOnaut is now
building and which he expects to com
plete this week is different from any
other balloon ever built in America
"YOu saw that gossamcr cloth at
my factory said the professor, as
with his visitor he walked aiung
"WeIl, take two thicknesSes OF ,hitI
cloth, either Of which is impcrmc ,.'.
to gas, and cement them togetl
face to face. There | have doub.
thickness Of doub!y impermeable ina
tcrial, and out Of This am making
my balloon"
At Park hall, second story, where
the balloon sailor has his workshop, Il
busy scene was presented The great
long hall was Uttered with pieces of
gossamer canvas; six scwing-women
sat before six sCwing-machines stitch
ing the pieces together; six wOrlmcn
with pots Of indiarubbcr cement and
brushes were at wOrl; stretching out
long sections Of the balloon on the floor
and ccmenting the seems as fast as
they Were sewn together. Coat after
cost is given 10 each seam, SO as to i'll
sure them against the possibility Of
leaking. The long sides Of the balloon,
stretched out on the floor, gave one a
vast ilc; Of its proportions when com
plcted.
"1'hc blIloon.' said the professor,
"will be - feet long and 100 feet in
circumference. and will have Il capaci-
ty Of 100000 feet of cas-. The mate
rial out Of which it will be made is al
most the same kind that was used in
the great Paris balloon, which served
for captive ascenSions during the Paris
exposition in 1873. That was the
largest balloon ever made, having a ca
pacity Of $4,000 feet Of gas. There is
not the least doubt on my mind what
ever that that balloon would have ena-
blcd a person to safely cross the ocean,
provided this castcrIy tendency of the
atmosphere is fact
The main difference between Prof.
Kings balloon and the Paris balloon
size out of the questiOn--is that the
formers balloon will he much lighter
proportOnately than was the latter
The builder of the Paris balloon used
four or five sides of rubber material
cemcnted together, while Prof. King
uses but two. lie expects great things
Of this ar-ship. If it can be proven
that this eaSterly movement of the body
of the atmosphere exists, then it will
be clear to him that with the right sort
of balloon one may cross the Allan
tic. lie will likely then organize a
stock company or interest capitalists in
the matter one way or another and
construct an. immense balloon, replete
in every detail, for the perilous under
taking in which he expects to figure.
lie does not believe that balloons will
ever be useful for purposes of convey
mce. That he thinks, is not their
legitimate sphere. The future of the
balloon, he thinks, lies in its use in
solving meteorological problems which
can not be reached by any other means.
All talk of using them for conveyances
he believes is foolishness.
Prof Kings inaugural voyage will
be made from Minneapolis, Mimi, dur
ing the progress of great fair there
on the 9TH of September. Already all
the arrangements have been made, and
the managers of the fair have adver-
tised the thing widely. He has already
sent on his car and MEETINGS, and eX-
pects to follow in two weeks. The
voyage is bound TO make a sensation
in the west, rs representatives of lead.
ing newspapers from all over the coun-
try have applied for permission to ac-
company him. At present, however,
the number is limited to a representa-
tive from Bostm paper, one from n
New York paper, two from Chicago
papers, and one from a Minneapolis,
and on from a st. Paul paper.