The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1884-10-10

THE STEERING OF BALLOONS.
Excitement Caused ~ the Recent Experi-
ment ~ Meudon-An Alleged success
The History 81 AeronautIc. ny Dlstin-
guished Services Of Gambett2.
No little excitement has been caused
In France BY the news that 4 successful
experiment in balloon-steerino has been
performed at Meudon. near Paris. We
are unable 70 judge the importance Of
the alleged invention. for iis authors
are the two military officers in com
mand Of the Government acrostatjc
works. which We're instituted under Nj.
Gambetta's auspices. and the technical
secrets Of their cOntrvance have. OF
course, been disclosed to the War Office
only. As already reported. the expert
ment was tried in calm weather and
with a balloon Of elliptical form. which
carried an electric motor, screw and
a rnddcr. The motor il said to be COM
pissed Of accumnlators which can snp-
ply during four hours the powor Of ten
horses, and they are moved by the
screw which serves a. propeller 10 the
apparatus. The balloon was made Of
Light. strong silk, and was covered rs
usual with netting. q which the car
was suspended. All the rropellinr
mechanism was contained within the
car. the rud,ler alone projecting outside.
like that Of boat. The car was
mounted by Captain Renard. director
OF the balloon-works. and by his assist
ance. Captain krcbs. both engineer OH
Gers. On being released from the earth
the balloon al once rose 10 4 height of
about 80 feet. and. urged by 4 swift
rotary movement 10 the screw.
made q straight course for the
Hermitage Of Nlllebon, about seven
miles distant As the crow flies. A
wind was moving against il AZ a speed
81 about eighteen feet d second. CAPTAIN
kcnard worked the propeller, Captain
krees steered. Villebon had been fixed
upon rs the goal Of the journey. and
when this place was reached Captain
krebs waved flag rs signal fhat nc
was going 10 turn. The spectators.
who We're a party ~ officers with some
passers-by, attracted by the sight Of the
balloon. was then amazed and de-
lighted 70 see the balloon gracefully de-
scribe curve u three hundred meters
radius and sail back 10 Mcudon." On
approaching the lawn from which the
ascent had been made. the balloon
assembled ii oblique direction and with
a steady motion. showing that the en-
gine was completely under Captain Rem
ards control. When within twenty
feet Of the ground the machine was
cased, reversed. stopped, and rope
being thrown ont from the ear. the
balloon was hauled gcnil, down and
touched earth without the slightest
shock The whole journey had occu-
ped about forty minutes.
such j. the description Of an expert
ment on which the Academy ol Sciences
has . far been called upon 10 oilcr only
congratulations. but no criticism With
out expressing an opinion since we
have no datafor doing 20 Ion the value
Of an invention which has not been sub
mitted 10 public scrutiny. we may
briefly recall what has been the progress
of acronautic~ since the first balloon
rose into the air little more than a
century ago. At tins time last year the
town Of Annonay was celebrating the
centenary Of pallooning bv the inau-
guration Of monument 10 the
brothers Etiernc and Joseph Mont
COLLIER; but the first practical idea as to X
aerial navigation may be credited TO m
eccentric character who lived in the
seventeenth century. Cyrano dc Bcr-
gcrac Cyrano wrote number OF \
fantastic books which were consulted Y
by Swift for his ''Gulliver." BY voltaire
for his ''AIicromegas. and by Fonten-
ellie for his "Mondcs. In the most
popular Of these, "Trip Through the
Moon" the hero IS made to ascend from
the earth by means Of bladders filled X
with hot air. The Alontgolficrs i'm
proved upon this notion by substituting
one globe OF silk for several bladdcrs;
in other respects their balloon was an
adaptation q Bergcrac's idea, for it had
IN aperture At It's base into which hot
air rose from charcoal stove in the
rar. Tho first hot-air balloon was sent
up on the 18th Of June, 1888. without .
car. In August Of the same year an
engineer named Charles started bal
loon inflated with hydrogen gas. In
september the Montgoliicrs launched
new iire-baloon with car in which
were placed q sheep, a cock and duck.
who all returned safe 10 land; and in
October the first human acronaut, nj.
Francois Pilatre dcs Rozicrs. who was
sfterward killed in crossing from
France 20 England. assembled in .
.aptiye balloon tcfhrred 10 the earth BY
ropes. In November this adventurous