Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-06-29
UP IN 4 BALLOON.
Odd Experience TO Be Enjoyed
at the Exposition.
LITTLE DANGER OF ACCIDENT.

The EriaI Ship Is Captive and AsceDds
! by Means of Hydrogen Gas, but Is
| Brought to Terra Iirma Again by
Means of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. OF
| the Balloon.
WORLDS FATE, June 2i- Especially
Among the odd experiences to be en-
| Dyed at the fair none is more novel or in
;erestng than that of going up in bal
| Don. This balloon which has been
| placed here for the amusement of visitors
md for the enrichment of its prOpriotors
Is not free-nyie; balloon. That is to say,
+ does rot sail through space as fast rs
he winds of the earth may drive it.
This is a captive balloon and good, large
cope it is that is used to hold the monster
% earth Accents in it are comparatively
| rec from danger.
| The balloon park is a little ways beyond
| hat other monster of the overhead regions,
he vertical wheel. You pay a small ad-
mission fee to this park and when inside
may do as You please about going up in
the balloon. There are restaurants here,
and pleasant pavilons and one may sit
and rest and sip his beer or his glass of
lemonade while watching the Rronaut and
his assistants manage their aerial craft
and get the passengers properly fixed in
the car before starting on a journey to the
clouds. There is something about a bal
loon which catches the popular fancy. l
never saw a balloon that did not want to
get near it and study it, and finally to
make an ascent in il. Probably a majority
of the human race are similarly affected.
1t must be that the balloon is fascinating
because it is mysterious, and because it
scars to regions which man can visit in no
other way. because it is a sort of connect
ing link between terra frma and the
heavens. At any rate, whatever the cause,
large numbers of people do come to this
park to see the captive air-.hip, and many
of them pay g each for the privilege of
making the ascent.
The balloon is larger than you thought
it was y very cumbersome and I'M
wieldy thing it appears to be Us il towers
above your head. Juggling AZ its ropes, and
looking slick and impatient in the air
This balloon is about sixty feet in diameter,
and being nearly spherical has a capacity
Of 100000 cubic feet Of gas. 1t is made Of
silk, OF two thicknessCS placed together.
The silk for balloons is several times light
~ vanished. the advantage of a number
of coats being that where one may fail to
stop a pore in the fabric another will be
pretty sure TO do so. The advantage OF
the double envelope is apparent, for the
same reason. 1t is not an easy matter to
make balloon that will hold hydro gen
gas, but 1t can be done. and il done. This
air-ship loses no more than one-half of one
per cent IF its contents during day. and
t. it Were made Of three thicknesscs Of silk
each seven or light times lightly vanished
it would not lose even this much Hydro
gen, YOU know. is the l!ghtest of all known
substances. 1t has only one-fourteenth the
weight OF common air and air is not very
heavy, since more than thirteen cubic feet
of it are required to make one pound
weight.
This is why the balloon must be so large.
The bUGyant power = obtained by tha df-
ference between the weight of hydrogen
and the weight of the air displaced. If
the hydrogen were perfectly pure this dif-
ference would be one and one-siXth ounces
per cubic loot, but rs il is difficult to pro-
duce hydrogen altogether pure lifting
power Of one ounce per cubic foot is all that
can be reckoncd on with safety That is
about what is obtained in this balloon,
and its lifting power, therefore, including
its own weight, is about $3.50 pounds, or
more than three tons. The balloon itself
and its net. car and lines weigh about 2,0O0
pounds, so that there IS left net power of
two tons for passengers. Under favorable
cOndit$ons the ail-ship is able to carry up
twenty-five or thirty passengers but it
rarely takes more than fifteen at one loal.