Evening star., 1933-06-28
ASCENT GONDOLA
IS WELL PLANNED
Picard Flight Laboratory
Constructed to Meet All
Emergencies.
BY PROF. JEAN PICARD.

CHICAGO, June 28 - The gondola,
or cabin, in which the next adventure
into the stratosphere will be taken from
Soldiers Field some evening in July
by the largest balloon ever constructed
will pe the living quarters for the pilot
and cosmiC ray observer for about II
hours.
The globe-shaped gondola she'll has
been finished and is now being tllr-
nished with equipment necessary roI
the flight beyond the troposphere, which
is the atmosphere below the stratos-
phere or where temperature rapidly de-
creases with altitude and where clouds
form. The StratoSphere begins at an
altitude of about miles.
The gondola is made of dowmetal, a
metal smelted by chemical and elec-
trical processes from brine, then cast,
rolled and fabricated as any other
metal. It is pure white and remarkable
for its lightness. The shell wall is
one-eighth of an inch in thickness and
is made of eight segments of dowmetal
tightly welded together. The welding
is all X-rayed to make certain that the
ball is free from the slightest flaw. To
the weight of tie shell, 1876 pounds, will
be added that of the doors and other
fixtures.
Seven Feet in Diameter.
The gondola is feet in diameter
Seven inches above the bottom is the
floor, feet in diameter. Below this
floor is the cellar" where most of
the heavy electrical batteries to be used
on the flight will be stored. At the
edge of the floor there are eight vertical
struts which support the three circular
shelves which fill out the space between
the struts and the gondola wall.
The middle OF these shelves is foot
and one-half wide and goes all around
the gondola, while the two minor
shelves are interrupted at several places
to allow the crew to put their heads
close to the little windows. There will
be 10 of these windows, each 3l2 inches
in diameter. They are of heavy dou-
BILE plate glass and are made alright
by means of rubber washers similar
to the ones used for fruit jar preserv-
ing. The manholes are located be-
tween the middle and upper shelves.
Each manhole is closed by two thick
cast doors of the same metal as the
shell, which is one-third lighter than
aluminium. The two doors, one outer
and one inner, are pressed against the
door frame by means of strong screws
which can be operated as well from
the inside as from the outside.
Required Much Thought.
All this seems rather complicated,
perhaps, and it took lot of thinking
to make all the devices necessary work
in perfect order For each problem
faced in the construction of the gon-
dola several solutions were proposed
and one was chosen.
Some one may ask how it was pos
sible to make progress when half a
dozen engineers sat around a table
comforting, and each one of these en-
gineers would like to see his own sug-
gestion adopted. The answer is very
simple. We did not sit around table
discussing politics or economics. Each
one of us was interested to see the
best solution adopted, regardless of who
made it, and each one had a chance
to see at least some of his suggestions
embodied in the final design.
A very important feature Of the gon-
dola is that by which the occupants
will be connected with the near vacuum
surrounding them when they reach the
top of the tropoSphere. At several
places holes are cut in the shell, and
solid metal rings welded in these holes.
These rings resemble the mouth of a
bottle. Rubber shoppers are solidly
wired into these openings and any elec-