Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1893-09-05
4 DARING AERONAUT.
ooNs RIGHTLY USED AID SCI
eNcE AND KNOWLEDGE

Frcnchman Who Has Dono
Much with His Airship to Make IN"
All Navicabic- Passengers Guaranfseu
Apn,ust Personal Injuries.
Probably acronauts, like poets, are porn,
:, =, ,,,,le As no man who has not peep
,u;ctened by the divine afflatus can ever
!; ecome n poet, though be may become
,,nat,stsr SO no man who has not been pofa
Viii n genius for aerial navigation can ever
h.come an aeronaur, though he may pc
con,o nm everyday balloonist. Any TOOL
hardv fellow can 20 up in balloon, Dn'
o,iv n trained aeronaut knows how 10 ae-
i've nrofit from such ascents into tne
c,ouds The balloonist gains the applause
~ n gaming multitude, the trained aeronaut
r,.;ps only the sympathy and the gooo
,S;sbes Of those who, like himself, are
snondinn their lives in an attempt TO unveu
the secrets Of science.
IL over there was born aeronaut, Gap
,o;n Emile Carton Is one. All his lie ne
has srudied balloons, and ii he were oy
chonco to be bereft of the curious balloon
which ia his constant companion, life Tor
linn indeed would not be worth living. a
child of Paris he played with palloohs M
his boyhood, and oil his years since 'nen
have been devoted to the study OF aerial
navigation. His labors, he claims, nave hot
been in vain.
That he is no dilettante can easily DC
shown. He made his first ascent IN Faris
IN Aug. 80. 1885, being then only ~ years
old and since then he has not only made
numerous other ascents, but has also ln-
anced 100 persons to accompany him. lie
has MAYER met with I'm accident, and such
a. the construction of his balloon that he
claims m accident is we'll nigh impossible.
Nav. SO confident is he that he is prepared
to guarantee the personal safety OF all SCI
entists and other persons who may desire
to accompany him on his ascents.
The French Academy of Aerostation rec
ognized Captain Cartons merits In 1883
and unanimously elected him member oil
that body. In the same year he took part
in n balloon race at Paris and came in Win
ner. there being four other balloons III the
field or rather in the air. In the follow
ing wear he took part in four races and won
three Of them. For this exploit three gold
medals were awarded to him by the jury,
which was composed of eminent men OF
science. The secret of his success lay in the
simple fact that he knew how to guide his
balloon through the opposing currents OF
the upper air, and thus reached the goal,
whereas his competitors were not only left
| far behind, but were also forced to descend
at points far distant from the goal. In
other words, his thorough knowledge OF
meteorological laws enabled him to use the
aerial currents to his own advantage.
In October, 1889, he made another ascent
at Paris, during which he had an oppor-
tunity to study the formation of rain and
barometric depression, and furthermore
was enabled to make certain observations
resulting in someimportant meteorological
forecasts Of threatened storms. Tie sum
mer of 1890 he spent in a study of the winds
at Calais, the result of which was that,
starting out to sea in his balloon in July,
! he was enabled, when out of sight of land
to return to the very spot from which he
had started. He could not have accom-
plished this feat had not his patient study
Of the winds rendered it easy for him tc
guide his balloon through the upper ali
currents. His next ascent was equally use
full from scientific point of view 1t was
made during fog which was SO dense that
daylight was almost entirely obscured, and
Captain Cartons object was to ascertain
the exact density. Heascended to heigb,
of $500 meters, and little calculation
showed him that the density of the fog was
more than 1900 meters.
His next experiment was undertaken will
the object of finding out what effect baro
metric depression at great height would
T.. Al
which he was accompanied by DR.. Citard
well known physician, and several ami
mails, be made many useful observations
which were subsequently embodied in re
port and published by the French Academy
Of Aerostation. He was also eminently
successful in his next ascent, which was
made in company with an electrician who
desired to determine the presence of electric
fluid or ozone in the atmosphere.
The aeronaut now came forward as 4
photographer. The idea struck him that
very novel views of terrestrial objects could
be obtained from his balloon, and he soor
took photographs of Paris and its suburbs
This work was done at height varyina
from 500 to 400 meters, and the peculiar
feature OF these photographs is that They
contain details which are not visible to tn,
naked eye. For this work Captain Cartor
received q gold medal from the committe,
OF the exposition de Photographic.
The aeronaut's first ascent from Amer
ican soil was made at Venezuela, being tn,
lirst feat of the kind ever performed in thai
country. From Venezuela Captain Cartor
came to this city, his object being to inter
est scientific men in his method of aeria
navigation and to satisfy them that bal
looms, if properly constructed and man
aged, are perfectly safe vehicles and nre III,
means by which some abstruse scientifi,
problems can be solved. His car will bol(
Two passengers besides himself. and eacl
Vrlp iasts, as n rule, about five or six hours
what an easel is to q painter or a Strad
uarlus to violinist, this balloon is to him
ana no wonder he guards it jealousy
since all his life has been spent in studyinl
ana perfectinS it. Other balloons are ga
PRECIOUS wing bags, ever at the mercy o.
WINDS ana waves and liable to collaps.
aiter the least injury. His balloon. h,
claims, Is faithful servant, ever obedieni
20 It's masters will and comparatively In
uestructible. Its construction is certain,
unique. The covering is of very strons
emma SILK which has been oiled four time,
ana Is entirely impervious to gas. EocI
separate piece of silk has been tested Inv ,
aynamometer and has been found capabl,
OF maintaining resistance at the rate 81
l'oVo kilograms to every square meter
onlike all other balloons, it is not con
sOructed OF silk Joined vertically, but 81
smaii square pieces of silk, the largest d
WHICH Is not even yard in length. Ir
in nis way .ne balloon is rendered practically
tnu'e II an ordinary balloon i:
T surn py accident, the entire apparatus i,
lheiy 10 collapse simply because the ioin
t .iss are lar apart, whereas in this balloon
lucy are close together, and a damaged
n sluare OF SILK can easily be replaced by :
new th sqqare. There are / ,32O pieces of sin