Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-01-25

the man who will go Into the icy
north in search of the lost explorer.
Bruces balloon is n bag OF gold beat
crs skin. seven feet in diameter. 1t
can be inflated In few minutes either
by pure hydrogen or by gas. at the OPP
ton OF the one who uses 1t. When
ready for its journey upward, the ball
loon Is attached to cable of electric
wire and released, 10 soar aloft as high
as the wire allows 1t. The inventor
calculates that 1000 feet VIII be the
maximum hight to which IL VIII be
necessary to send up the fiery signal
This electric wire, besides providing n
means of communication between the
ship and the balloon, will hold the big
bag captive. The electric cable joins
the balloon, at the base of the gas bag
where 1t Is attached to a wire that
communicates with number of in
candescent electric lamps that form 1t
ring around the balloon. When the big
gas filled messenger has mounted to
the clouds, between the ship and the
world outside the blanket of darkness
there is way of talking by flashing
fire that will penetrate to an immense
distance and, with the aid of an inter
national code of signals that Mr.. Bruce.
is working out, will make IL possible
for ships hundreds Of miles apart to
communicate.
In the presence of many of the lead
ing scientific celebrities of this couh =
try. and with the prince of Wales as
an interested spectator. Mr.. Bruce d,
few days ago demonstrated the utility
of his invention. and proved all his
claims for 1t to be well founded. In a
dark and lonely part of the forest
grown suburb known as Hadley woods.
Mr.. Bruce sent up his balloon. and
when 1t had reached hight at which
Its light commanded the entire country
surrounding, the inventor proceeded to
Hash message after message by means
OF key board on which a touch
meant the flashing or darkening of the
glowing lights in the balloon. with
me AID of the code book that NJ. Bruce
had provided for the occasion the sci
entists who had gathered at various
points about twenty miles distant We're
able to spell out the messages as thew
were rapidly delivered.
ship drifting west" came from the
merry messenger in the clouds. 1--WE
visions. Send us food and water" was
then read. Following in rapid success
sion came the messages: 'Icebound and
helpless, but so far safe" I'VE can
hold out but two days longer" When
VIII help reach us? To the quick touch
of Mr.. Bruce's practioed fingers the
ready lights five hundred feet above
answered instantly. 1t was all done as
quickly as electric telegraphing, and
could be read as easily. Ten different
| parties were gathered at ten different
| points far removed from each other.
but none had any difficulty in reading
the messages. The balloon could be
| seen with telescope at distance of
fifty miles, and it's meksages read just
| as easily as twenty feet away. Its SUI
| periority over the rocket system of sig
mailing was as plain as the difference
between daylight and darkness. In
stead OF n fiery stick rising to a height
| remaining poised for fraction OF a
second and then descending. or throw
ing out fiery ball that died in the
darkness n few moments later. here
was n stationary fashlight. floating
higher than the highest rocket ever
shot, obeying the will of human hand
on the earth beneath. able to STAY nm
as long as the gas held out, and cana.
bic If necessity required OF flashing a
call for help that would continue to
Hash FOR ten days and nights: n sun
TO shine during the long darkness of
the Arctic months when daylight is UNI
known, anything caught in the
perforce stay there until daylight he
gins again and brings with it possible
succor.
A touch of the keyboard did II all.
The system was simple. The lights
ilashed up quickly and died away as
the heypoaru operator desired. Dots
were made with touch. dasbes with
a long pressure. Dots and dashes com
prised the simple language of the cleo
trio balloon. The number of words
that can be used is therefore almost
without limit and it requires no expert
knowledge of the art of talking nv the
dot and dash system to he able to read
the messages readily. The code bool,
makes all that easy.
The balloon takes up scarcely any
space in ships store and is IS in
valuable an accessory OF Arcti- explor-
alton that no expedition will hereafter
start without an abundant supply OF
the electric messengers. Their inyen-
ton means the dawn of a new era in
the search for the pole. The one great
problem of how to keep, in touch with
the outside world when plunging into
the perilous unknown region around the
pole seems in fair way to be solved
with the invention of the electric bal
cio