Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-08-20
New York Herald, Aug. 49,


The strong interest which has gradu-
ally settled around the idea of balloon
voyage across the Atlantic ocean as a
means of definitely determining whether
the atmosphere moves in an easterly di-
rection around the earth or not will be
heightened by the announcement that
Professor Samuel A. King has nearly
completed the enormous rubber cloth
balloon in which he intends to make
voyage across the American continent,
from Minneapolis to the oceon shore,
early next month. The journey is the
one object which the professor has for
years sought to attain, in the hope that
its results would justify him in making
an attempt to cross the ocean by the same
means. The finality aimed at is the
foundation of permanent law upon
which the modern school of meteOrolOgy
can build, and Professor King expects to
make such thoroughly material dem
onstration of the eastern cur
rent theory that the existence
cannot be doubted The balloon, which
is building in Philadelphia, is second
only in size to the mammoth vessel in
which Donaldson was to have crossed
the Atlantic few years ago. 1t is spher-
ical in shape, and is made of rubber
cloth, which is so prepared that it is not
only 1mpervious to heat or cold, but can
not be penetrated by gas or moisture
One of the principal draw backs to aeros-
tation has been the diminutiOn of the
| ascensive powers of balloons through the
| constant loss of gas, which rapidly leaks
through elinen, cotton, silk, or any of the
| ordinary balloon materials. The use of
varnish has nearly always resulted in rot
| ting the texture and rendering it unsafe.
The energy of pure hydrogen gas has
| been tested so well that the professor ex-
| poets to exceed all other attempts if he
can successfully check percolation. If
the balloon floats within degree, or
even few degrees, of due east in ira
verslng the air between Minneapolis ard
the coast, it will satisfy him that an ocean
voyage is practicable. In letter written
a few days ago he says:
! VIEWS oF-PRoFEssoR KING.
"You doubtless understand the theory of
| the Herald governing its predictions of the
| eastward movement of storms across the
Atlantic, and it will be needless, therefore, for
me 10 6HlaTSe Oh Gudt lIldIl6r mere, SuIQco III 10
| say that the said theory is the KEYNOTE to nv
| action. believe in it, and, further than that,
| l believe it possible to demonstrate the truth
of the theory by aid of the balloon, placing an
object, observable at all times in the atmo-
sphere, which cannot possibly move out of
the course given it by the medium in which it
floats"
In other words, the balloon, if it floats
directly eastward, is a certain indicator
of the direction and velocity of the air
currents, being for the time part of the
atmosphere itself. He continues:
You will understand, therefore, that nv
present endeavOr is undertaken with view to
the final transatlantic voyage. It is not that
| set any particular value on a voyage from
the Mississippi river to the sea coast for
may be thwarted in the attempt to do this
from the multiplicity of distractions in the
way to clear sailing, in an overland voyage,
compared with one over the ocean, which al
ways allows of uniform height, governed by
the appendage known as the drag rope. But
propose to make an experience for myself,
much needed, and preparatory to making the
eocean voyage. You will be likely to recog-
nze the value of experience in the latter I'M
dertaking, yet it may seem to others that suf-
ficient has been gained through former efforts.
To me it appears that much practical knowl-
edge can be gained by voyage specially made
and looking to the requirements of an ocean
voyage, for the difficulties of such an under
| taking are great and must be met with all the
skill possible to be acquired by previous eX-
pertinent. The first thing to be determined in
a proposition to cross the ocean (aftef admit
ting the eastward movement of the atmo-
sphere) is the size of the air vessel required to
float a 6 iven length of time and how it shall
be made. Giffard has given us the hint to
work upon in the construction of his famous
| Paris balloon, which, when filled with hydro
gen gas, remained inflated, with but little loss
or deterioration during the time the French
| Exposition lasted
1t might also be mentioned that the
Pioneer balloon, which Professor King
managed SO long at Coney Island, when
inflated with $4,000 feet of hydrogen,
f1oated for ten days without great loss
of energy. The professor seems to have
remembered this, for in the succeeding
sentence he remarks
The next thing to be gained is the handling
of large balloons filled with hydrogen, for
coal gas can never be depended upon for the
ocean voyage. Ordinary practice does not
furnish the opportunity for this experience on
| account of the expense attending the imitation.
You will the better understand this point when
tell you that the ordinary balloon weighs
about one half of all it will lift with coal gas,
while in the experiment now proposed the
| SiOuO ouC uyulOSCu RdS Will WCiSu
but one-siXth of what its contents will float
| in the air.
| "Air voyages are usually short, for several
reasOns-want of surplus ballast to compen-
safe for the alternate ascents and descents of
the balloon from alternate sunshine and cloud
shadow, causing the gas to expand or contract,
| in the first instance forcing an overflow or
rising, and in the latter causing an undue loss
| of weight in sand ballast to prevent too
rapid descent, for you will observe Mat buoy
ancy is gained in the one case and lost in the
| other. Another reason for comparatively
| short voyages is-or has been, in my expert
ence-the lack of sailing room. From Buffalo
| to tha eastern shore of the Delaware bay was
| pretty voyage to make, but it had to stop
| there, for the ocean was just beyoud. From
| New Hampshire over the Maine and Canada
/ wilderness to the Gulf of St Lawrence par
I took somewhat of the majestic, but we tasted
| salt water, and we were glad to stop, seeing we
were not then prepared for the trip to Europe,
various dips in the brine, in fact, remind me
how very limited my efforts have been to
| make what might be justly entitled voyage
Therefore, 1 propose making balloon a la
Giffard; proceed to reasonably distant point
| in the West, expand the globe with the purest
hydrogen, regardless of cost, and set my sails
| for the East. Any experience may make
must count for the object have in view,
| reaching the sea coast being with me but
secondary matter, as I remarked before; new
ertheless, it need be no matter of surprise to
some inhabitants of New York, New Jersey,
| Maine or Canada, if they should wake up some
| fine morning in September and discover that
the Great Northwest had come to anchor in
the night, having made the most remarkable
air voyage on record"
THE FORTHCOMING VOYAGE.
The impending overland voyage will
take place about the 9TH of September,
from the grounds of the Minnesota State
Agricultural and Mechanical association
in Minneapolis. OF course no accurate
estimate of the course of the balloon can
be made at present, as it's path will de-