"The netting which surrounds the envelope is a stout cord, manufactured from flax expressly for the purpose. Its aggregate strength is equal to a resistance of 160 tons, each cord being capable of sustaining a weight of 400 lbs. or 500 lbs.
"The basket which is to be suspended immediately below the balloon is made of rattan, is 20 feet in circumference and 4 feet deep. Its form is circular, and it is surrounded by canvas. This car will carry the aeronauts. It is warmed by a lime-stove, an invention of Mr. O. A. Gager, by whom it was presented to Mr. Lowe. A lime-stove is a new feature in air voyages. It is claimed that it will furnish heat without fire, and is intended for a warming apparatus only. The stove is 1½ feet high, and 2 feet square. Mr. Lowe states that he is so well convinced of the utility of this contrivance, that he conceives it to be possible to ascend to a region where water will freeze, and yet keep himself from freezing. This is to be tested.
"Dropping below the basket is a metallic lifeboat, in which is placed an Ericsson engine. Captain Ericsson's invention is therefore to be tried in mid-air. Its particular purpose is the control of a propeller, rigged upon the principle of the screw, by which it is proposed to obtain a regulating power. The application of the mechanical power is ingeniously devised. The propeller is fixed in the bow of the lifeboat, projecting at an angle of about forty-five degrees. From a wheel at the extremity twenty fans radiate. Each of these fans is 5 feet in length, widening gradually from the point of contact with the screw to the extremity, where the width of each is 1½ feet. Mr. Lowe claims that by the application of these mechanical contrivances his air-ship can be readily raised or lowered, to seek different currents of air; that they will give him ample steerage way, and that they will prevent the rotatory motion of the machine. In applying the principle of the fan, he does not claim any new discovery, but simply a practical development of the theory advanced by other aeronauts, and partially reduced to practice by Charles Green, the celebrated English aeronaut.
"Mr. Lowe contends that the application of machinery to aerial navigation has been long enough a mere theory. He proposes to reduce the theory to practice, and see what will come of it. It is estimated that the raising and lowering power of the machinery will be equal to a weight of 300 lbs., the fans being so adjusted as to admit of very rapid motion upward or downward. As the loss of three or four pounds only is sufficient to enable a balloon to rise rapidly, and as the escape of a very small portion of the gas suffices to reduce its altitude, Mr. Lowe regards this systematic regulator as quite sufficient to enable him to control his movements and to keep at any altitude he desires. It is his intention to ascend to a height of three or four miles at the start, but this altitude will not be permanently sustained. He prefers, he says, to keep within a respectable distance of mundane things, where 'he can see folks.' It is to be hoped his machinery will perform all that he anticipates from it. It is a novel affair throughout, and a variety of new applications remain to be tested. Mr. Lowe, expressing the utmost confidence in all the appointments of his apparatus, assured us that he would certainly go, and, as certainly, would go into the ocean, or deliver a copy of Monday's Times in London on the following Wednesday. He proposes to effect a landing in England or France, and will take a course north of east. A due easterly course would land him in Spain, but to that course he objects. He hopes to make the trip from this city to London in forty-eight hours, certainly in sixty-four hours. He scouts the idea of danger, goes about his preparations deliberately, and promises himself a good time. As the upper currents, setting due east, will not permit his return by the same route, he proposes to pack up the City of New York, and take the first steamer for home.
"The air-ship will carry weight. Its cubical contents of 725,000 feet of gas suffice to lift a weight of 22½ tons. With outfit complete its own weight will be 3½ tons. With this weight 19 tons of lifting power remain, and there is accordingly room for as many passengers as will care to take the venture. We understand, however, that the company is limited to eight or ten. Mr. Lowe provides sand for ballast, regards his chances of salvation as exceedingly favourable, places implicit faith in the strength of his netting, the power of his machinery, and the buoyancy of his lifeboat, and altogether considers himself secure from the hazard of disaster. If he accomplish his voyage in safety, he will have done more than any air navigator has yet ventured to undertake. If he fail, the enterprise sinks the snug sum of 20,000 dollars. Wealthy men who are his backers, sharing his own enthusiasm, declare failure impossible, and invite a patient public to wait and see."
A night ascent witnessed at any of the public gardens is certainly a stirring scene, particularly if the wind is rather high. On approaching the balloon, swayed to and fro by the breeze, it seems almost capable of crushing the bold individual who would venture beneath it; seen as a large dark mass in the yet dimly-lighted square, it appears to be incapable of control; when the inflation is completed, the aeronaut, all importance, seats himself in the car, and blue lights, with other fireworks, display the victim who is to make a "last ascent," or perhaps descent. Finally the word is given, the ropes are cast off, and the bulky chariot rises majestically to the sound of the National Anthem. The crowd see no more, but the next day's Times reports the end of the aerial journey.
Balloons can never be of any permanent value as means of locomotion until they can be steered; and this is a problem, the solution of which is something like perpetual motion. In the first place, a balloon of any size exposes an enormous surface to the pressure and force of the winds; and when we consider that they move at the rate of from three to eighty miles per hour, it will be understood that the fabric of the balloon itself must give way in any attempt to tear, work, or pull it against such a force. Secondly and lastly, the power has not yet been created which will do all this without the inconvenience of being so heavy that the steering engine fixes the balloon steadily to the earth by its obstinate gravity. When engines of power are constructed without the aeronaut's obstacle of weight—when balloons are made of thin copper or sheet-iron, then we may possibly hear of the voyage of the good ship Aerial, bound for any place, and quite independent of dock, port, and the host of dues (quere), which the sea-going ships have to disburse. It is, however, gratifying to the zeal and perseverance of those who dream of aerial navigation, to know that a balloon is not quite useless; and here we may return to the consideration of Mr. Darby's signals, which are of various kinds, and intended to appeal to the senses by night as well as by day; and first, by audible sounds. Such means have long been recognised, from the ancient float and bell of the "Inchcape Rock," to the painful minute-gun at sea, or the shrill railway whistle and detonating signals employed to prevent the horrors of a collision between two trains. The signal sounds are produced by the explosion of shells capable of yielding a report equal to that of a six-pounder cannon, and they are constructed in a very simple manner. A ball, composed of wood or copper, and made up by screwing together the two hemispheres, is attached to a shaft or tail of cane or lance-wood, properly feathered like an arrow; at the side opposite to that of the arrow—viz., at its antipodes, is placed a slight protuberance containing a minute bulb of glass filled with oil of vitriol, and surrounded with a mixture of chlorate of potash and sugar, the whole being protected with gutta-percha, and communicating by a touch-hole with the interior, which is of course filled with gunpowder. These shells are attached to a circular framework by a strong whipcord, which passes to a central fuse, and are detached one after the other as the slow fuse (made hollow on the principle of the argand lamp) burns steadily away. Directly a shell falls to the ground, the little bulb containing the oil of vitriol breaks, and the acid coming in contact with the chlorate of potash and sugar, causes the mixture to take fire, when the gunpowder explodes. During the siege of Sebastopol many similar mines were prepared by the Russians in the earth, so that when an unfortunate soldier trod upon the spot, the concealed mine blew up and seriously injured him; such petty warfare is as bad as shooting sentries, and a cruel application of science, that unnecessarily increases the miseries of war without producing those grand results for which the truly great captains, Wellington and Napoleon, only warred. (Fig. 115.)
Fig. 115.
a. Ring attached to balloon, carrying an hexagonal framework with six shells. b. Hollow fuse, which burns slowly up to the strings, and detaches each shell in succession. c. Section of shell. The shaded portion represents the gunpowder.