The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-04-29
LONG "TRIP IN TUE AIR.
Some Facts About balloon Voyaocs-
Interesting Experiments.

The amount OF attention devoted tt
navigation Of the air is constantly OF
the increase hOth in ALlerica ant
Europe, Says the the New York Herald
The remarkable experiments in whict
kites have been an important factor
| which were carried on in the vlcinit,
Of this city during last summer ant
fail are stilt fresh in the minds Of NOS
persons. This demonstrated the feast
bility Of lifting heavy weights by tn,
force Of the wind exercised on kites
and will, no doubt, prove OF immens,
advantage to future acronauts in The
way Of enabling them to direct thci
balloons.
Those who arc interested iE follow
Ing up such matters await with OK
trcme hopcfulness the result Of til,
| proposed voyage to the polar regions
| by Swedish scientists, which was post
| poncd last summer at the critical
moment owing to unfuvOrablc winds
and weather; but that the subject is
receiving the closest attention is shown
by tho remarkable voyage recently
made by balloon named Touring
Club, which accomplished the journey
OF Cos kilomctcrs go miles, from Paris
to Agcn.
This record has mover been surpassed
IN lcngth, except byitwo ascents during
the siege Of the hallon Nlllo d'Orlcnns
which landed in Norway, and the Gen
oral OhanHy, which landed at Ausbach,
in Bavaria Both of these distances
exceed the record Of tho Touring Club
by few kilomctcrs only.
Only one OF the f0rtyfour ascCnts
made under the auspices Of the Society
for Aorial Navigation OF Berlin, and
only the two mentioned OF the sixty
four balloons sent up during the siege
OF Paris have cIuallcd the distance
record OF the Touring Club.
Incidentally the record for length OF
sojourn above the earth was also cx-
cccdcd, and many new Instruments
"""n tested and will have wide bear.
ing on the proposed international study
OF ATMOSPHERIC conditions by means OF
stationary balloons.
ilk and had Il cubic content OF l,7OJ
meters. Five hundred Kilograms of
ballast were taken, making the total
weight including Instruments and bal
loonlst, 30 Kilograms altogether
something over ton. The two aero
nauts wore Mcssrs. GcOgc BcsacOn and
Maurice Earman. Tho anchor carried
was OF an original design. Il ErapnCl
with two stocks.
Tho valve was studied with particular
caro-, permitting the gas to escape
rapily when the balloon was to make
u landing, without recurring q con
tlnucd stra In on the cord to bring into
play special mechanism. The altitude
reached was never very high, and it
required an hour to attain 1000 feet,
tho theory OF Mr.. Bcsacon being that
when one undertakes an extended voy.
age IN point OF time it is necessary to
remain in Il low altitude, so as to Lus.
band the supply Of gas. The greater
portion OF the voyage was made ~ n
n light Of about 700 feet
The balloon asccndcd at Paris carly
IN tho morning and followed the dircc.
ton OF the railroa limo to Olrans.
Tho descent was made at 315 in the
ait rnoon OF the nevt day in neigh
horhood of Agcn, after having bepn in
the air more than thirtv hours. The
rate OF travel OF the ba loon varied
from fifteen to My miles an hour.
One OF the features OF this VOYAGE
was the distribution OF printed blanks,