Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1896-03-03
A GREAT INVENTION.


Some time in his life every man in
vents q flying machine, and it is well il
he gots safely through this mania while
he is yet q 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 a man making a fool Of him.
self, but in this case there is, and it is
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 amend
ments, nor has it been overturned by the
action of a higher court, except, per-
haps, in the case of Elijah.
Most men who 60 in for ballooning
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 met Kulparker at a health
resort. he was there, he said. for his
nerves. His nerves had gone back N
him. He read to me an article ON nerves
from Smiley's Microscopical Journal,
which article said that if you killed a
bundle Of nerves and then got them to
die You could see them through any
we'll regulated microscope. It was evil
dent that Kulparker was now as much
interested in the subject Of nerves as he
had formerly been on balloons.
my nerves went wrong few weeks
ago, +" he told me, "and by the irony Of
fate the doctor informed me that /
should 60 to Malaga in Spain, and that
place would put me all right"
"Why thu irony of fate?" / asked,
''and why didn't you go to Malaga in
stead Of coming to this placer"
he sighed and said IL was all on ac
count Of the Kulparker automatic bal
loon. When be said this, was in the
unenviable position Of the questioner
who wanted to know how the other man
lost his lex, and was informed that it
had been bitten of. naturally wanted
to hear about the balloon, and Kulpar-
ker was good enough to oblige me, the
account he gave being at once an expla-
! nation Of how he lost his nerve and why
he dared not 60 to Malaga.
Some men invent flying machines
merely because theyswant to fly; others,
however, have humanitarian objects IN
view, desiring to confer great benefits
upon their fellow beings Kulparker be-
longed to the latter class He not only
wanted to bestOw lasting benefits. but
also dynamite upon his fellow creatures.
II would be little rough ON humanity
at the beginniDg-eve Kulparker ad'
mitted this--but as it would ultimately
abolish war, he thought the experiment
worth trying as long as the dynamite
did not fall ON his own head. INVENTOR
are somewhat prone, while benehtine
the species, to take good care that theJ
do not themselves come in for any o.
the disadvantages. Such was Kulpar
ker's intention, but It missed hre.
The Kulparker automatic was yer.
much like other balloons, except that 4
had a propeller attached which wa
worked by compressed cir. The com
pressed air scheme was very ingenious
If / understand II Alright If what Knl
parker says Is true. you can, with th
proper machinery. compress something
like a continent Of air into the size Of
drop Of water. This drop you can pu
into a strong but light aluminium boil
or, II may call il so. and the drop ex
pands into q workable compressed al
chat viii run a motor. II, therefore, yo
have bottle full Of drops Of compressel
air. and an automatic arrangement tina
will allow a drop to escape into th
boiler as needed you have at your dis
posal q tremendous amount Of energ
stored 10 small compass and Of oompal
atively no weight at all, which IS yer
desirable when you are dealing with
balloon. The motor worked the "a
, which sent the balloon in any given d
, reotion
} So much for the motive power. IN
armament consisted Of a tube throng
which was dropped at satisfactory intei
vals, regulated by q olookwork mechaI
ism, dynamite cartridge which explos
cd when Il hit the earth. The balloon
/ when fully loaded, contained 90 dyn'
mite cartridges, and Kulparker's ide
I was that the balloon could be sent
any direction high above an army, drol
plug dynamite down upon the iyool
from rs elevation above rifle shot, TIN
bringing discomfort, confusion aud pe
Hoo. armfIfIotIon nnon fIn nnnluI