The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-04-29
THE brass BALLOON or IS43.
Mr. zubcrbuhicr Tells of Another Man who
Didnt Navigate the Air.

To THE EptToR or THE SuN-Sir. A few
years ago. when Maxim's and Langiey's inter-
esting experiments had brought about a short
lived renaissance Of interest In the tantalizing
problem Of practical man fight, THE sUS took
occasion TO show that Maxim's monster and
Iangley's toy have their prototype in Han
sons flying machine proposed as far back
a. 1913. 1t may, therefore. not appear sur
prising that Count Won Zeppein's $3.50 600
balloon, expected to astonish the world this
spring. Ia built substantially on principles
enunciated over half n century ago.
"Dio NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS." a book pub
lshed. in lsis at We!mar. soberly review
Ing the state Of the high art Of aero
nautics as 1t than was. maintains that the
cylindric-conica form Is the only proper
one for balloons. and advocates the use Of
seven propsllers not only for propulsion in
q horizontal direction, but also Tor the rise
and descent OF balloons.
1t is not 30 long ago, say fifteen, years, that
even the caste Of scientists, with very few
exceptions. aid therefore, Of course, the world
AT large, ridicu!ed the idea of. the possibility
OF rational man flight and looked upon students
Of the subject as fantaStical cranky or crazy
persons, No doubt Die Liftschiffahrts.
kUade," published iifty-two years ago. was
little read. and, like all similar publications..
carefully hidden from the view Of the scofting
WoTlu, uNkITDNPu NlitLlcNtl IV'lIli Nv Inv lili
soning fanatics OF reason thi- NAV account Tor
fact, among many others, that the public never
heard Of the bras. balloon OF lSt3, fully de-
scribed in the work above mentioned,
About sixty years ago NJ Edward Marcy
Monse. Jr,. a Frenchman. recognizing the
desirahility NEARLY a. great now &c II vas
thenl Of providing "A balloon material abso-
lutcly impermeablc. absolutely preventing. gas
from escaping and air from entering, decided
in 1913 TO construct a brass balloon thirty
two, feet in diameter, ls lifting capacity
va. calculated at THO Mounds NIL told nut
the protector argued. with admirable philoso-
ply that Il, owing 10 some error in calculation.
GARY .a'f is own weight up into; The ether blue y.
First he built u wooden frame or form OF
suitable size. revolving around q horizontal
AYE ,Se r rrorird q ab e"i lower r.r'I por TGSu' Of OK , tSs' n9Tns
rine feet deep' Over tits frame very thin
%ninetaen inches wide. so,dered tcue, .ier. were
then fitted most carefully, Each sheet had
been carefully examined by means Of n species
If camerao bscnrn the So!dering Of innumerabIe
JOB. indeed, These holes greatly le,Sened
faith 10 the Impe-menbili,y q the metal there
layers Of paper. 1t seems that the removal
Of the frame through an opening Ave feet In
diameter 'eft At one pole. formed, the most
d1,nTuin PAM and 70 for . some er rime nt,erwa TtI a bowels seT.
ful veatilator filed the balloon. with IN some
extent compressed air and thus prevented
~ rom rolInp~iNR- NcNI mn alrIlkUl UeAlVle
tube for the ultimate admission Of gas, and
n similar tube tos the esCaTe Of the atmos-
phrric air having been atted. the balloon
wa hoisted into n net hanging about seven
feet above the Erouati, and on June ? is4t
a year and a half after the beginning Of this
Incredibly tedious undertaking. the Sling
Of the balloon began.
NJ. Marey-MougH spent two months and
n Qrcat deal Of money in providing tho required
quantity of hydrogen The nliiDR hegan-aud
very shortly nf'crward ended unsatiSfnot0rily
such a quantity OF hydrogen escaped from
the tanks and through the brass that the sup
ply gave ont before the balloon was filed.
Having speat more than rs 200 francs already,
VI. Marey-NiOrge concluded 10 give up the
experiment. The report Incidentally states
that the balloon weighed n5o pounds. while
is lifting capacity was only 100 pounds. so
that the experiment would have proved "A
iallIrp anyhow But the AVERAGE French
ma viii ever pvt all the blame on Germany
bacauS~ the brass sheets had bean ordered
from Germanv. Die Iuftschinfahriskunde"
csrna to the conclusion that metal il wholly
unsuitable for balloons. and most earnestly
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS instead,
such il the old old story OF the brass balloon.
Who laughs2 Have we not had equally fall
lacious. more pretentious and more eypen-
sive experiments IN naronantlcs during these
l.tter days' Besides. Chocmn. a son govt.
J. II. ZCDkKBuHLkR.