Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-10-19
CAPTIVE BALLOONS.
Jacob Reese, of Pittsburg, Got an Idea
from Some French Military Men.
cN,,rsr


from Some French Military Men.
Pittsturs Dispatch.
Jacob Reese has novel idea. He got
ii from some correspondence he has had
recently with French military meo. DIR.
Reese said to Dispateh reporter yester-
da7:
Captive balloons will soon cone into
general uss in this country. The captive
balloon is made Of 81 K. 1t is water and gas
proof and is attached to telephone wire,
the lower end Of which is wound around 3
large drum, tie drum being connected to
an elect ic motor or steam engine. No
ballast is carried on the balloon. TIE
French government has adopted the cap
tive balloons fer army use. They have
given orders to have the captive balloon
attached to every army corps. In sddi-
ton to the balloon and windiog mschiu-
cry, there will also be portable gss man
ufacturing apparatus, in which hydrogen
gas may be produ' e1 By the decomEo,i-
ton OF water by the use CT iron and sui
phuric acid.
''Th,sa balloons will have n telephone
and Photographic apparatus. When the
apparatus is ready 70. use the balloon is
Il led with hydrogen gas, the operators get
in the car, tie gas is allowed to elevate the
balloon and unwind the wire, one end OF
which is attached ID tbs bottom Of the car
and the her end being wound around the
drum. When the balloon has assembled to
the desired height the drum is stopI e ! and
the balloon is thus held in any position de-
sired.
Observations may be made and phot1-
graphic b;Td's-eye views taken at any
height, while lephone communications
may b had from the car to the ground
or from the ground to the car at all times
when the balloon is going up or coming
down. When it is desired to return the
engineer in the balloon cen t. lephone do sn,
and the engine is started and winds up the
wire on the drum, and thus pulls the
balloon DOM TO the place it started from.
Il will thus be seen that the cspdvt
balloon is destined to teco mean important
f4ciO- in all army tactics, for by its use
important observations may be made.
There is, however, another mere profit
able and more delightful trip to which the
captive balloon may be applied, and thai
| is for plessurab,e recie stiol. We ought
10 have enc in or rear the ALLEY hsny Park
where q party of five or ten persons coula
he taken Up from l, 600 to 5000 feet. uE
in a balloon, the plsssuIsble sensation
would be wonderfully fascinating anC
heaithiul. The cost OF such "a innovation
would rot lie very much.
Mr.. Reese has also been hunting up SOM
very interts Jog facts about that big irol
ore bank that was uncovered by the wine
in England. This he is using to show tn
difference in cost of raw material IN Pitts
burg and in Englsnd. He said:
"At Fradinghsm, in Lincolnshire, Eng
land, there are about 80 square miles
barren mast, covered by drift and sand
which is const lntly being shifted by IN
high winds. For ages this was looked up
on IS n useless mass, but few years eg
the winds moved the sand with such fore
and in such volume thst q great iron OF
bed was uncovered, and after careful IN
sec ion it was found that the iIoa ore wa
from Is 10 IS feet thick and covered
least seven square miles. The ere COR
tains f;om % 10 80 per cent. Of mstalli
iron, and is being used almost excluslvtl
10 surply the blast furnaces Of LIMO q
shire. 1t also contains Suffitient lime TO
fluxing.
"Ihe blast furnaces Of Lipcolnshir
that smslt this ore are provided WITH
horp,r at the top sn open pipe attaene
to the lower end Of the hopper. There
70 bell suih rs we use. The charge
flied in so as to steep the pipe and 10
hopper full to the top sll the time. IN
gas is drawn off in the usual msnnei
The pipe aud the hopper bsipg full AL To
tiue, there is scarcely any gas seen I
sscare e; indeed, from one OF the furnace
the gas is drawn OFF and carried urds
ground for more than quarter OF mh
for use In raising steam for cindsr crusher'
''There are 81 blast furnaces in the d.
drict, bat only IA are in blast. The ave
age output of metal is only so tons u
dsy TO each furnace, while the average on
mt of the blast furnaces of afghan
county was 200 tons per day for the la
six n onths in 1887, which shows that OF
furnaces are giants compared with the 10
naces of Lincolnshire, Although they g
tbs ore at cost of so cents per ton, the
coke costs pretty high, owing to the gre
depth of the miues, the coal mines at As
ton berg 5000 feet dep, while &
c-al pit at Abrams Is 2 $50 feet dee
Thsre are ether cfal mines In Engisl
4,OCG fest deep. These deep mines ca
Seare TO holst the coal and much n ore
- pump tie water ont than mines Of oroius
nj depth, such 81 we have in this country.