Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1895-11-30

vents nyng machine, ana IL - well IL
he gets safely through this mania while
he Is vet boy. If the fever takes him
later In life he Is certain to lose money
and reasonably sure Of breaking his
neck. 1t Is said that there Is no law to
prevent man making fool Of him.
self. but in this case there Is, and It Ii
the law Of gravity, which was passed
previous to the time this country took
to making statutes, and It has never
been interfered with by legislative
amendments. nor has It been overturn.
ed by the action Of higher court, ex-
cept. perhaps, In the case Of Elijah.
Most men who go in for balloOnlne
take tumble before they get through
with It, but Kulparker came to disaster
through remaining on the ground,
which was a unique experience in the
aerial business. I met Kulparkcr at O
health resort. He was there, he said,
for his nerves. His nerves had gone
back on him. He read to me an article
on nerves from Smiley's Microscopical
Journal, which article said that II you
killed bundle Of nerves and then got
them to die. you could see them through
any well.regulated microscope. It was
evident that Kulparker was now M
much Interested In the subject of nerves
as he had formerly been on balloons.
"My nerves went wrong few weeks
age" he told me. "and by the irony Of
fate the doctor informed me that I
should 60 to Malaga In Spain and that
place would put me all right"
"Why the irony Of fateT' I asked;
"and why didn't you 60 to Malaga In.
stead Of coming to this placer
He sighed and said It was all on nc.
count Of the Kulparker Automatic BAL.
loon. When he said this I was in the
unenviable position Of the questioner
who wanted to know how the other
man lost his leg. and was informed
that II had been bitten of. naturally
wanted to hear about the balloon, and
Kulparker was good enough to oblige
me, the account he gave being ut once
an explanation Of how he lost his nerve
and why he dared not go to Malaga.
Some men invent flying machines
merely because they want to fly; 9th.
era, however, have humanitarian oh.
5ects In view, desiring to confer great
benefits upon their fellow beings. Kul.
parker belonged to the latter class. He
not only wanted to bestow lasting ben.
efits, but also dynamite upon his fel.
low creatures. 1t would be q little
rough on humanity at the beginning.
even Kulparker admitted this-but az
Il would ultimately abolish war, he
thought the experiment worth trying
- long as the dynamite did not fall on
his own head. Inventors are somewhat
prone, while benenting the species, to
take good care that they do not them.
selves come In for any Of the disad.
vantages. Such was Kulparker's In.
tention, but Il missed Ore.
The Kuiparker Automatic was very
much like other balloons except that II
had q propeller attached which was
worked BY compressed air. The com.
pressed air scheme was very ingenious,
II I understand It Alright. II what Kul.
parker says II true. you can, with the
proper machinery. compress something
like continent Of air into the size Of
. drop Of water. This drop you can
put into strong but light aluminium
boiler, II I may call It 30. and the drop
expands into workable compressed
air that will run a motor. II, there.
fore, you have a bottle full Of drops
Of compressed air, and an automatic
arrangement that will allow q drop to
escape into the boiler as needed, you
nave at your disposal a tremendous
amount Of energy stored In small com.
pass and Of comparatively no weight
at all, which IL very desirable when
you are dealing with q balloon. The
motor worked the fan which sent the
balloon In any given direction.
80 much for the motive power. The
armament consisted Of q tube through
which was dropped at satisfactory In.
tervals regulated by q clock. work me.
chanism, . dynamite cartridge which
exploded when It hit the earth. The
balloon, when fully loaded. contained
nifty dynamite cartridges. and Kulpar.
ker's idea was that the balloon could
be sent In any direction high above an
army, dropping dynamite down upon
the troops from Its elevation above ride
shot, thus bringing discomfort, confu.
sion and perhaps humiliation upon the
enemy. Kulparker believed that tho
moment his balloon got Q fair innings
upon any warlike body Of men, no coun.
Try would, after the trial, open hos.
tilities against any other nation. Thus
war. and also the nrst army on which
the balloon opened out, would b blot.
ted from the face of the earth.
After much experimenting, Kulpar.
ker at last had successful trial Of his
automatic balloon In the open country
some distance west Of New York. He
used wooden plugs instead Of dyns.
mite cartridges, and they came down
all right at the proper intervals, al
though they nearly sacrificed several
industrious farmers who vainly search
ed for the mischievous boys whom the
indignant agriculturlsts thought were
throwing the blocks of wood.
Unfortunately at the time the auto.
matte balloon was completed there was
no really drst-class war going on, and
Kulparker knew Of no people. tired Of
me- who wished to have the balloon
tried upon them. The China-Japan
struggle had been brought to . close
without the aid Of the Automatic, and
Europe was In q state Of profound
peace. However, It Ia hard to discour-
age . real inventor, 80 Kulparker took
Q glance over the universe and realised
that although It was but one horse