The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-03
eloo0 Ts5Sey4 ~ 1000 y ,

Nv prfaona ~ much etprriencs, pcopia1
chr wish w eniny thia rev form N facteasl
ton shouid avail themselves ~ tho tsAaaine
" others ~ they hccrur eSpeft In the afS
NJ handling n lnlloon
the spherical balloon IL cha chty VIA
that ran ~, ~ usei foF pleasure pstFpcpNB
Sith any degree ~ safety Al tho diifNibts
elfahips arr still IN the Experimental stage
and shoutd he left ~ The men who are study<1
ing otst the rroblstn. and sofnn ~ whoha
arr even rishing their lives IN tho enoYt D
solve n,
No one haa any Idea that tho spherical
balloon can ever hc guided H. will Turn
On ita pivot, hut u will ~ whore The wind
lIa,eth.
It's advantage il that improvements have !
made II much lighter than formerly in
proportion "a the area 81 %e1rface, and the
material Of tho gas bag IL now stronger
and more nearly impermeable, 40 that
there Ia less danger of either explosion
or gas leakage. II the place and time
Of ascension are we'll selected and the ball
loon Ia skilfully managed the liability TO ACC
cident Ia reduced to n minimum
Suppose, however, that the beat regu-
lated balloon should burst In midair, sons
thousands Of feet above the earth, what
would happen? Most of us would probably
say that the only thing to do would 30
TO gather up the fragments OF the III fatsd
yagers and give them a decent burial.
There Is a strong probability, howeverS
that they might escape at least with their
lives. The balloon OF the American aeros
naut, Wise, in 1889 burst when he was $1,000
feet In the air. His descent at FIRST was
terribly rapid, but suddenly the velocity
wal diminished with a jar that was almost
like a collision.
The lower part OF the balloon had lifted
against the upper part, forming On effective
parachute, and W Use reached the earth
without a broken bone and with very little
perturbation. He wrote.
Before many minutes had elapsed azteT
this descent ] had resolved TO repeat this
experiment from Philadelphia at the FIRST
opportunity"
aloft and in no instance have The ~aeronauts
been seriously injured. Newspapers q v
| called these escapes miraculous, but there,
was no miracle about them. The gas bags
simply formed parachutes, and though the
collision with the earth was severe no
mortal injuries were inflicted. 4
OF course, the unexpected. will some
times happen in the most unpleasant man,
ner, and no cool head or quick wit can ward.
! on some CI1lCal SlIudtlOnS. Couio yCrfe
apoa European aeronaut was making what.
he thought was going to be a very suooessful'
landing. =
As he came down, however, 1t seemed
to him that he was going to, touch terra
frma right on a railroad track and to his
dismay he saw that a passenger train was
rapidly approaching: He shouted at the
top of his voice and the next instant he was
on the track half buried under his collapsed
balloon.
Fortunately he was seen, the lever was
reversed, the emergency brakes applied
and the train was stopped within a few feet
Of the place where the man was struggling
out Of his ENHANCEMENT.
1t may be said here that some a%eronauts
and not a few Arctic explorers do not
look very hopefully upon the project OF
Wellman for reaching the North Pole by
an appliance should be used in polar work
until a higher stage Of efficiency has been
ing its course. They are asking, too, il
Wellman is likely to be able to move his big
spread Of cloth toward the goal in the faoe
Of one of those Arctic zephyrs which SO often
attain the velocity Of a hurricane.