The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-11-18


Poygraph registering barometer. regis;
tern z hyGIOmeter thermometer, ana
sphyemograph.
more delicate operation on beard a ves-
sci than il Is upon solid earth. Never
thelcSS the attempt has been made ana
the difficulties vanquished enc by one, 50
that to-day the French Government Is
constructing in every ironclad in IT'S
navy, steel reservoirs calculated 10 carry
thousands OF cubic feet Of pure hydro-
gen gas, compressed 10 twenty atmoS3-
pheres, TO be used in initiating the mill
taTy, or rather. naval balloon. 1hese
balloons are mUch smaller than those
used with land forces. Their cubic con-
tents rarely exceeded 80 feet with =
lifting force Of about , 400 pounds. and
their MANAGEMENT usually requires an
a-rOnaut, an OmCer ana tnlIty -aA ilt"'
Torpedo boats have been used for carry
ing the reels upon which the restrain
ing cable is wound. Along this cable,
as i'm the case Of the land bdllons, a
telephone connection with the vessel Is
maintained and the small size OF the
torpedo boats has been found 20 be
positive advantage as they reply more
quickly to the orders telephoned by the
officer I'm the balloon. Upon one occd-
sion during some recent naval man
oeuvres lieutenant in the balloon, de-
string to demonstrate the perfect control
he had over his air-ship deliberately cut
the connecting cable while out AT sen
Allowing his balloon to rise to the height
air current, which drifted over the Tor
pcdo boat. when he opened the valve
and allowed the balloon 20 sink gently
until IT reached the water ana mere
nCated like a piece OF Cork-tor these
balloons are constructed with buCyancy
baskets-until he was picked up safe ana
sound, although his little balloon had
only about 1000 feet Of cubic contents;
= hese air currents are or gredt Ntide
I'm aerial navigation. They are to the
ordinary balloon what the wind Is 70
the sailing vessel Instead Of, however,
arranging sails to utilize the wind from
which ey,tr- direction IL may be blowing,
the balloon mounts higher and higher uh-
til q favorable current is met WIN, ana
then floats along with IL until the desired
point Is reached. y project Is now uhdeT
consideration which has for its object the
accommodation of the globe In air. Inc
ir trcpid adventures state that they are
confident Of finding at different attitudes
UlrentS blowing regularly from East 10
West. a sort of aerial Trade Winds, or
which advantage will be taken 10 achieve
the desired object. The idea is 10 equipe
the balloon for Il long voyage and at GER
tain points Of the route descend and re-
FIJI the balloon and take on 4 fresh stock
of provisions. In fact II is a realiZa'p'l
Of the memorable voyage immortalized by
jules Verne in his Five Weeks in a Bal
loon
The extreme limit Of height 10 which
the military balloon can ascend with
safety ranges between four and five
miles. This question Is an important
factor in the problem OF aerial obser-
walton. Evidently the b1llOonist must
so fix his altitude as TO keep out OF RANGE
of the enemys guns. 1t Is unlikely that
the military balloons will ever be re-
quired to ascend over a mile or two from
the carth'S surface Their greatest utll-
ity. as before explained, will be rendered
at a comparatively slight elevation when
they are kept captive by strong cables.
Stin, upon occasion they can ascend to
ls.n oh ssf q
altitude the air is so rarified as to rem
der il an impOSSbllity TO make any
active eXcTtiUn. The utmost limit OF
height that mans physical organization
will allow him 10 ascend TO appears 10
be about five and a half miles This the
eminent scientist, Paul Bert, determined
bV induCtiye reasoning and by actual
experiment upon animals with pneumatic
machines. That his reasoning and calcu-
latfOns were accurate was proved by the
oath of March, 1919. Three men of intel
Iigence and resolution took part in the
ascent one being Castor Tissandier, the
editor Of Mature" and the others eX-
perienced aerOnauts, Sivel and Croce-
Spineli The balloon was provided with
barometric indicators so arranged that
as the mercury sank in the tube with the
diminishing air pressure, il passed
through a valve which prevented its re-
turn into the tube. Thus by examining
the height Of the mercury column after
the balloon reached the earth il was pos
sible TO determine with absolute exacu-
tude the greatest height that mad been
attained. When this was done it was
found that the balloon had assembled 10 an
altitude Of $3.50 yards, height that has
never been equalled before or since. But
at what a cost As the balloon assembled
the rarefacton OF the atmosphere began
to cause intolerable anguish TO the in
trepid Investigators and when the bal
loon reached earth again Sivel and CrOc
Spinelll were corpses having suceombed