The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-08-26
His New Fashioned Balloon Almost
Com pleied.

Professor King" said the reporter in the
glad voice of recognition. Formalities over,
the professor was reminded Of his promise OF
several months ago to have oomplatsd about
this time mammoth balloon with which to
demonstrate the theory that the atmosphere
is governed by constant movement, from
the wsstward-rsnd having once established
this show conc .usively that m @ronsut may
cross the Atlantic ocean in balloon,
provided it is large enough and is made
of the right cloth to resist leakage
OF gas. 1t would take book 20
contain all the professor said about
his coming experiments and what he eApec-
ted to demonstrate. The first thing TO be
done IS TO ascertain al n fact whether the a.
mosphere, rs q whole, does not move from
the westward to the eastward. This is 10 be
done by series of voyages in the CREST
northwest, which tho professor in about
three weeks will ilaus urate II this is es
tablished The next step will be to flnd what
sort of balloon will be necessary to cross the
Atlantic in. The balloon which tue &roDaut
is now building, and which he expects TO
complete this week, is different from any
other balloon ever built 10 America.
You saw that gossamer cloth at my fac
tory" said the professor,as with his visitor no
walked along. "Well take two thicknesses
OF that cloth, either Of which is impermea
BILE to gas, and / cement them together face
to face. There have double thickness of
douhly impermeabe material ard out Of
this / am ing my balloon"
AT Park hall, second story, where tho bal
loon sailor has bis workship, busy scene
was presented. The gres! hall was Uttered
with pieces of ,gofsamer canvas; six sewing
women sat before six sewing machines
stitching the pieces together; six workmen
with pots of India rubber cement and brushes
were at work stretching out long sections of
the balloon on the floor and cementing the
seams as fast MS they were sewn together.
Goat after coat is given TO each seam, so as
to insure them against the possibility OF
leaking. The long sides of the ballon stretched
out on the floor gave one vast idea Of its
proportions when completed.
The bsllon, said the professor, will be
ninety FIVE feet long and 100 feet in circum-
ference and will have II capacity of 100 900
feet Of gas. The material out of which il
will be made is slmost the same kind
that was used in the great Paris
balloon which served for captive
ascensions during the Paris expos
sition in 1878. That was the largest balloon
ever made, having capacity for $4,000
feet of gas. There is not the least doubt on
my mind whatever that that balloon would
have enabled a person 10 safely cross the
ocean, provided this easterly tendency of
the atmosphere is fact"
The main difference between Professor
Kings balloon and the Paris balloon size
out of the qusstion--is that the formers
balloon will BIO much lighter proportion
ately than was the latter. The builder Of
the Paris balloon used four or five sides of
rubber material cemented together, while
Professor King uses but two. lie expects
great things of this air ship. II it can be
proven that this easterly movement of the
body of the atmosphere exists, then il will
be clear 10 him that with the
right sort of balloon one may
cross the Atlantic. He will likely then
organize stock company or interes! capital
ists IN the matter one way or smother, and
construct an immense balloon, replete in
every detail, for the perilous undertaking in
which he expects to figure. He does not
believe that balloons will ever be useful for
4 purposes ofconveysnce. That, no thinks, lie
not their Legitimate sphere. The future of
the balloon, he tbisks, lies in its use in solv-
ing meteorological problems which cannot be
reached by any other means. All talk Of
using them for conveyunces he believes is
foolishness.
Professor Kings inaugural voyage will be
made from Minneapolis, Mimi, duriug the
progress of a great fair there on the 7th
OF September. Already all the arrange
ments have been made, and the managers
OF the fair have advertised the thing widely
He has already sent out his car and MEETINGS.
and expects to follow in two weeks. The
voyage is bound to make sensation in the
syest, as representatives of leading newsps>
opsfs from all over the country have applied
SnyHsrmisslcn TO accompany him. Az pres
ept$&SYever, tho number is limited to u
PreeHSstive from Boston paper, one from
ssAASS9| SSSk paper, two from Chicago pa