The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-07-07
Ballooning to the Fo.e.

aRltatinB the minds OF some OF the bal
loon1sts in this country and Europe.
One is the possibility of reacllng the
North Pole in balloon, and tho other
the practicabillty Of getting into the
eastern current two miles above the
earth and crossing the Atlantic. Com
mander Cheyne has aroused 80 much
interest in the first question that a COM
pany has been formed in London, On
tario, for the purpose Of organizing q
balloon expedition to the North Pole.
A reporter had conversation few days
ago with MIR. Grlmley, q well-known
eoronaut on the subject IN question.
"lf Commander Cheyne had any ex-
perience i'll ballooning under adverse
circumstances" said Mr.. Grlmley, 81
think he would see the impracticability
of his views. 1 havs no doubt that le
may be honest enough III his intentions,
but he Is working at thing he does not
understand
"Have you ever mot him?" inquired
the reporter,
"No. but I know good deal about
him. l have been following the course
OF hm lectures, and wrote to him some
time ago asking hlm to give me an ex-
planatlon OF his proposed plan of over
coming the difficulties IN the way Of
reaching the Pole i'll a balloon, aud he
has lot yet answered me. l know he
has very persuasive manner, and is a
great enthusiast in the possibilities of
ballooniug; but he has not been in the
habit OF reducing his theory to practice.
1t he did, think he would talk differ
entity"
"What, in your estimation, appears
to be the lmprscticable part 0! Cneyne's
theory"
"he seems to disregard every essen
tlal connected with baloonlng. l am
qulte familiar with the whole history oil
oallooAlng, besides having made over
one Auhured assents myself, many of
them being quite successful, and from
Ill by hnowleuge and experience have
come 10 the CONCLUSION that Polar cx-
pedltlon III balloon Is lmpracncable."
Mr. G1imey then entered infinitely
mo the arguments, showing the alleged
"np1achcaOlhty OF PoIar balloon
voyage, regrc,,mg at the same time that
,ne Proofs were not all OIL Commander
ChtHhes side. Il assure you,' said
Tue 'etoh"ut, III could see any practl-
cablhty Ill 1t, should have mauo the
experiment LONG ago, and would he only
'oo haPPy 10 corporate with Commun-
Ger Chey ne, II lie would give me til,
cAance, ana convince me by scientific
Allah"llon that the thing Is possible.
~ 90 mo particulars, then, about the
PoesAplllty VI the enterprise, the Intel. sc
coio Id The hrst great barrier. The only
gooo sclenthc point about Cueync S
.heory Is That the nperuturc would he
favorable 1or cooling uown the gas, but
ILLS Is only small advantage when you
conie 10 lhnke nu offset u1 the Ulsuuvan-
'"ees. lie place where he proposes to
thI"te the balloon Is 700 miles from the
Aole, "ht the thermometer is forty de-
Brecs below zero."
"How would this cold Interfere with
the onterprise?"
In the first place, the balloonist
would have TO use oll-sllk, because the
oDJectlOns to rubber are SO numerous
tn"t L need not say anything about 1t.
Well, every body knows that AL oiled
surface III temperature like that be-
comes brittle ana almost impossible to
handle. 1t would be easy to mako the
gas, IT they could get IL balloon to hold
together un"' it was filled"
holding togot.. er?'
"Why, 1t Would become stilf rs a
BOARD and break all up, 30 thut tho gas
would escape"
Suppose lie could ovcl como this ob-
Jectlon and furnish material for the bal
loon that would be impervlous to the
frost?"
"WeIl, suppose he could. The pext
difficulty would be in tho gas. AS 1
said, it could DO easily made; but thon
the only gas--namely, hydrogcn--that
would be sufficient ior iniutinE pur-
poses would Ill that temperature con.
dense almost rs fust as it could be made.
and consequently lose portion of It's
elcvating powor very rapidly. 1t would
become deterlorated i'll tho ratio of tho
increase Of cold.''
Suppose the balloon WAS filled in a
higher temperatures"
"Then all these objections would
apply with eqhal force as soon rs it
reached tho frigld regions, with the ad.
dltlonal objection that III making that
distance II portion of the gas would De
spent under circumstances in which
economy i'll gas would bo of tho first i'm
portance."
Suppose Cheyne should overcome
all the objections thus far, initiate tho
balloon, and soar heavcnward Mt forty
degrees below zero and within 700 miles
OF the Pole, what would DO tho new diff
tioulties then?'
'The difficulties then, compared with
tho launch in al ordinary voyage are all
seriously aggravated. So much so that
without something unknown to the
scientific world they appear to be insu-
perable. 10 begin with, TOO miles is an
enormous trip tor balloon, undcr the
most favorable circumstances. There
is nothing on record, ! boliove, to OK
ceed that If we except tho instance of
the one that was caught III galo during
the siege OF Paris alid was blown dis.
tance OF 900 miles to Norway, the two
occupants having q marvellous escape.
Then, as understand him, Cheyne pro-
poses to go to the Pole by easy stages,
lie intends to stop, poised in mid air
occasionally, awaiting favorable breezcs,
just as captain would lay to at sca.
10 my mind, however, there is no such
certainty about prlal navigation as
this.
'But suppose all these difficulties
We're overcome and that he did reach the
Pole" said the nronaut, this time put
ting his own lnterrogatory,." ,."what would
hn ri f1,r,, ~ 4 l.