Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1897-06-03
LONG TRIP IN THE AIR.
The Airship Touring Club was Afloa

The Airship Touring Club Was Afloat
Longer Than ANY Previous Balloon.
The amount of attention devoted to navi-
CATION of the air is constantly on the in
crease both in America and Europe. The
remarkable experiments in which kites
have been an important factor, which were
carried on in the vicinity of this city dur
ing last summer and fall, are still fresh in
the minds of most persons. They demon
strated the feasibility of lifting heavy
weights by the force of the wind exercised
on kites, and will no doubt prove of i'm
mense advantage to future aeronauts in
the way of enabling them to direct their
balloons.
Those who are interested in following up
such matters await with extreme hopeful
ness the result of the proposed voyage to
the polar regions by Swedish scientists,
which was postponed last summer at the
critical moment owing to unfavorable
winds and weather, but that the subject is
receiving close attention is shown by the
remarkable voyage recently made by bal
loon named Touring Club which accom-
plished the journey Of COS kilometers 1876
miles) from Paris to Agcn.
This record has never been surpassed in
length, except by two ascents during tho
siege of Paris by the balloon Vile
d'Orleans, which landed in Norway, and
the General Chanzy, which landed at Aus
bach, in Bavaria.
Both of those distances exceed the record
of the Touring Club by few kilometers
only
Only one of the a ascents made under
the auspices of the Society For Aerial Nav
igation of Berlin and only the two men
toned of the Ga balloons sent up during
the siege of Paris have equaled the dis
tance record of the Touring Club.
Incidentally the record for length Of So
journ above the earth was also exceeded,
and many new instruments were tested
and will have wide bearing on the pro-
posed international study of atmospheric
conditions by means of stationary bal
looms.
The balloon itself was made Of china
silk and had q cubic content of 1,70G
meters Five hundred Kilograms of ballast
were taken, making total weight, in
Guiding instruments and balloonists, of 735
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS something over q
ton. The two aeronauts were Messrs.
George Besacon and Maurice Earman. Tho
anchor carried was of an original design,
a grapnel with two stocks
The valve was studied with particular
care, permitting the gas to escape rapidly
when the balloon was to make o landing
without requiring continued strain on
the cord to bring into play special mechan-
ism. The latitude reached was never very
high, and it required an hour to attain
1900 feet, the theory of Mr.. Besacon be-
ing that when one undertakes an extend.
ed voyage in point of time it is necessary
to remain in a low altitude, SO as to hus-
band the supply of gas. The greater por-
tion of the voyage was made at a height of
about 700 feet
The balloon assembled at Paris early in
the morning and followed the direction of
the railroad line to Orleans. The descent
was made at quarter past on the after
noon Of the next day, in the neighborhood
of Agen, after having been in the air more
than 30 hours The rate of travel Of the
balloon varied from 16 to 80 miles an hour.
One of the features of this voyage was
the distribution Of printed blanks, asking
certain questions, which were to be filled
M and returned hp whnavar fn,rnd than,-