The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-25

The worlds record for high balloon
ascents belongs to DR.. A. Berson of
Berlin, who made the recent remark
able aerial voyage from London On
an ascent made in the balloon Phoenix,
from Strassfurt, near Madgeburg. on
Dec. 4. 1894, he reached the altitude of
30,037 feet, with the barometer at 909S
inches and the thermometer recording.
"a degrees below zero, Fahrenheit, or
| Sc degrees of frost.
The nearest approach to this is Cox
well and Glaisher's English record of
$4,000 feet from Wolverhampton, on
Sept 3, 1862 when Mr.. -Glashier became
insensible, and regained. consciousness
only after descending to $4,000 feet. 1t
may be remarked that figures of
heights reached by balloons are merely
deducted The calculation is based
upon the pressure of the atmosphere as
shown by the barometer, and also
| somewhat upon the temperature at the
altitude in question. Mr.. Cashiers
claim of $4,000 feet was deducted from
the barometrical reading of ten inches,
but, according to DR.. Berson, the tenn
! perature calculation was far too high,
| as discovered by late ascents, so that
the correct altitude should be 2S200
feet The supposition is that while Mr..
Glashier was insensible, the balloon
rose another s, 600 feet, and reached the
altitude of seven miles but this claim
/ is untenable. A full balloon at that
height, out of which no ballast is
thrown, cannot possibly rise more
than q few hundred feet. The theory
therefore, that human beings have ex-
listed at a height of seven miles must
be considered as illusory. ON April 10
1875, Tissamdier. Croce-Speneili and
/ Sivel made a high ascent III France
but the trip had q fatal termination.
! They reached an altitude of some ~
GOO feet, and the two latter were dead
at the descent. Such was the record
of attempts to reach high attitudes BY
balloon down to the ascent from til
Crystal Palace on Sept. IS of this year
MAKING THE PREPARATIONS.
DR.. Berson came from Berlin early in
/ September, his object being "to make
a high ascent in the oceanic climate OF
England" and from the time of his ar
rival until the 18th we were busy with
the preparations The largest balloon
available was secured-the Excelsior
with capacity of $4,000 cubic feet, and
weighing, when empty ten and a half
huEdredWeight. 1t had been used at
the earPs court exhibition as a captive
balloon, carrying parties of ladies and
gentlemen to 9 height of LOCO feet,
whence birdseye view of the district
was obtainable 1t received an extra
coat of varnish to render it imDerme-
able to gas for the coming ascent
| Calculation showed that it would be
practically impossible to reach the de-
sired altitude with the weight of two
/ persons and the Instruments in the car.
| If the balloon were inflated with the
ordinary cold gas, and it was there
! fore. decided to manufacture pure by
1 0TOOPn which &c 1icr1,fa
coal gas for the purpose.
The grounds Of the CRYSTAL Palace
| We're placed at our disposal for the pur-
| poses of the ascent, and the installa-
/ ton for the manufacture of the hydro
| gen was erected therein 1t consisted
of a series of four casks of $50 gallons
! each, in which the gas was generated by
means of iron, sulphuric acid and wa
ter. These four casks were connected
by means of iron gas pipes to a fifth
! caSk of similar size, through which a
! constant flow of water was maintained
to wash the gas as it passed over. A
| sixth cask containing unslacked lime
to dry the gas CONNECTED to the series
by a pipe) completed the apparatus.
Forty-eight carboys of acid (about four
tons), three tons of iron turnings and
six or seven thousand gallons of water
were used in the manufacture of the
gas.
BALLOON HALF FILLED.
The generation of gas started on
Wednesday, Sept. Il, at p. M, and
! continued until dark, being resumed at
6 a. m. on the following day, and at 80
p. m. about $4,000 cubic feet of hydrogen
had been supplied to the balloon, which
more than half filed it and gave it a
lifting power equivalent to a complete
imitation of coal gas, and with this adj
vantage, that as the balloon ascended
into the attenuated atmosphere of the
upper regions the natural expansion of
the gas would slowly fill the balloon
instead of overlooking through the open
mouth the safety valve-as would
have been the case with coal gas. We
should thus retain our ascending power
until the balloon was quite full, with
out the need Of discharging ballast
Strange as it may appear to the gen
eraI reader, a half empty balloon can
ascend much higher than a full one
My brothers and an efficient staff of
assistants attended to the final infla-
ton, so that DR.. Berson and I returned
from a comfortable luncheon at 1