The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1900-10-24
KEEPING HOUSE
IN THE ARMY.
An Important Sc vice on the Ia'tle
lield l-pon Nhiel Much Of tie
Success, OF Il War lcptn
Judson Lawrence. Balloonmlker.

Could any appear easi,t at tira
sight than 10 MAXI a balloon that in
Veutidn that IS PLAYING such an imrutz
tant part III modern warfare As
somebody nlPpantB remarked All
yuu haVr to do Is iust To- take some
gas aud then rat some silk around il
iut actually tn process is a WY
difficult and del4eIte "ne ngCrs iarily
somce hs1 slaW. ton and In thla anti
lie I propose to tdke thu reader FOR an
excursion through modstn balloon
factory. and 10 rne him as clearly as
I-,au sune ida 81 the various stages
la thc. manufacture Of a complete aud
perfect aerial machine.
The dIst nrcesa ity in the work of
balloon making IL naturally 10 procure
the silk 1t is Il matter FOR serious con
sideratinn what eNact texture of ma
triisl Sau NH tmrjoN to carry you into
the higher atmospheric regions. Nari-
Gus eiil, lions hay, Ia hr taken into ac-
count, ehef among thcm being the pro
posed ssae al the balloon. According
Ia lhr s.1e SO thu resisting power Of
the silk hts tu be gauscd to nicely,
of cuuts... silk is not always used. cot
ton aud alpaca are cheaper materials.
hut / ann describing the making of the
Wy ht II, st class of balloon chitHy
used for scientific purposes so | VIII
NH, q al with tho one material silk,
in this article.
Tn tFst IS applied by means of
dynannmet,r, specially designed Tor
the purpos". which tens Just Whht
st.a4. Tic fahri" viii stand. For the
"Iercui,s,' the balloon whose con
snuctinn We are about to watch from
FIRST to last, the index of the dynamo
meter shows a breaking strain Of over
225O pounds. This figure appears to
satiHfy the operator So far SO good.
The mat eriaI ought to stand. Now how
much viii it take? Ten pieces % yards
long and one yard wide VIII give su-
pcrfieial area of so square yards. This,
then. has to be Transformed INTO n per
feet balloon
BEGINNING THE WORK.
one OF the very first operations Is to
prepare the diagrams Of the projected
balloon and TO cut the patterns some
what In the same way that tailor or
dressmaker adopts. TO this end the
material IL fixed on a long bench, and
forty thicknosscs are cut out at time
70 cut through all this material 81
simultaneously "A peculiarly shaped and
exceedingly sharp instrument has To he
used. and the deXterity with which the
operation Is performed IL simply amaz-
ing. Having cut out these forty thick
nesses. you have forty strips Identical
in size and shape, which presently have
to he joined together.
At this stage of the proceedings the
help of the fair sex Is enlisted. a smart
CORPS Of willing hands ply the needle.
and roughly stitch the strips or cores,
MS they are technically termed -tOgeth-
er From these needle women the work
passes 10 the sewing machine hands,
whose work IL JUS as delicate as the
first stitching operation is rough. Be
tween every two stitches by hand the
IT., ,,,a,lfne makes several hun
ar"a
~. s,rongtb az the thread used Is.
M ~ ,,at,.,tal itself tested bv means
- d,,nannrn4tcr and where the strips
-, tainad instead If having the edges
80, -, no other they are doubled
.,,a,. -, intercaIated-to use once more
tochnical Terminus making the
-, ,,a,,icntorlv eecure and strong
Tba strIns are finally put together in
....t,aa a,d In the balloon whose
.,nf.ctura W. are imaginarlly
,'at,I,tna tbere are altogether 0fty-
60, saatiane smolI portion of the
- md az Zach strln haa To be cut
mp ~. .,i,o,t,,,.. At tha
90, - tba halIoon from one to three
10, IN diameter This space is occu-