The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-12-08

away. No rain, no clOuu, no euect
but flash noise and little smoke.
On meeting Mr.. King afterwards l
said: awe had a balloon explosion
this afternoons; very successful as an
explosion, but no rain was produced"
1--WE do not expect result till after
twelve hours operations"
"But if one balloon explosion pro
duces no effect, how can a succession
of them at long intervals produce an
effect?"
"a storm center is formed"
"Anyone who has studied physical
science knows that conclusion is an
oscillating motion of the air which
dies away in very few seconds, leav'
ing as it's effect the atmosphere slight
ly heated"
1--WE DO NOT CARE FOR PHYSICAL
SCIENCE"
When the oxygen and hydrogen
gases unite they form small drop OF
water, consequently the air must rush
in to fill the empty space. What takes
place is an impression rather than an
explosion; but this is distinction too
nice for the rainmakers. The explo
sion of ten foot balloon does not dis
turb the air at distance OF mile
more than the one hundred thous-
andth part of foot.
Friday morning had been given out
as the day when the experiments
would begin, hit or miss. At 8 a. m.
the thermometer was Y, the dew
point 60, the wind from the southeast
with velocity of nine miles an hour.
A slight rain fell between and $40,
and throughout the forenoon the sky
was completely overcast. General
Dyrenforth did not consider the con-
ditions favorable; if it rained, he
would get no credit, if it did not rain
under such conditions it would be dis
aster to the conclusion theory. The
capitalists, however, insisted that the
trial proceed, promising them credit
for whatever rain fell. Orders were
given to be ready to begin operations
at 4 o'clock.
At $3.50 the crowd of spectators at
Camp Farwell numbered about 100.
The experimenting party consisted OF
seven; the detail of soldiers twenty, OF
which thirteen were at the roselllte
battery, two at the mortar, and the
rest at the balloons. The sky was
almost completely overcast with rain
clouds, the sun shining through oc-
casionally. The wind was from the
southeast, and the clouds were all
moving in the same direction. At 4
O'Clock the first shell was fired. 1t
did not reach the cloud above
but exploded at a he,ghth OF
about 1000 feet, producing what the
crowd called 'good report" At 4:2O
q slight rain came on so that the pa
per balloon, which had been filled
with oxygen sine Z O'Clock was now
covered with can z ~ 4:3O the OK
ygen was filled ine I tn, big tank Of
hydrogen connected. - lew drops Of
rain tell from nimbus clouds over
head.
At 1850 the explosion of the charges
of roselite % or 10 pounds each) COM
menceo Oh the ridge and continued
thereafter at the rate of two eXplos-
ions per minute. A group of men
were conversing; the first explosion
merely elected the remark, "What is
that?' The time elapsing between
the flash and the report was six Sec
onds, so that the distance was about
e600 feet.
At 5:5S shell was exploded in mid
air under rain cloud, but no rain et-
feet. Thereafter the shells were fired
off at the rate of one each two minutes,
few of them exploding at the NOR
tar, but most exploded at a height of
about 1000 feet. A beautiful vortex
ring of smoke was produced by the
smoke of the gun powder above the
mortar, the only effect was fireworks
with less than the ordinary amount of
color, and more than the ordinary
amount of noise.
At 5:2O the balloon men started to
fill canvass balloon, as the paper
one had been "devilish slow" to fill.
The paper balloon went up at 5:29.
The time between the flash and the
report was three seconds, given at a
distance of $500 feet. The wind had
carried it to the northwest about
1000 feet. The sky was not quite
clear over the place where it explod.
ed, but no effect was produced. The
time which elapsed from lighting the
fuse to the time of the explosion was
one minute. At 5:32 the sun set, and
almost all the spectators left. / re-
manned to watch the experiment to
the end.
assembled 10 the top of the water
reservoir to observe more accurately
the rosselite battery. 1 observed
smoke issuing from five positions on
the ridge, drawn out about a quarter
of mile. Six seconds elapsed be-
tween the flash and the report, hence
the distance was about 5000 feet. At
5:45 the general retired alone to the
hotel and took his station on the roof.
At that time the sky was clearer than
when the operations began; the moon
was surrounded with a halo. The
general called to me (he was on the
roof, on the reservoir): Professor,
note that the wind has now changed
to the east" 1t had changed slightly
in that direction, but L failed to see
any connection between that phenom-
enon and the explosion of one balloon,
thirty shells and 100 charges of rose
lite. There was rain guage on the
top of the reservoir. So far it con-
tanned
NO TRACE OF WATER.
AT $40 all operations ceased until
supper could be obtained. Col. King