The bill distributor consists of a long piece of wood, to which are attached a number of hollow fuses, with packets of bills, protected from being burned or singed by a thin tin plate; 10,000 or 20,000 bills can thus be delivered, and the wind assists in scattering them, whilst the balloon travels over a distance of many miles. It must be recollected that in each case the shells and the bills are detached by the string burning away as the fire creeps up from the fuse. (Fig. 116.)
Fig. 116.
The bill distributor, consisting of three hollow fuses, with bills attached in packets.
Another most ingenious arrangement, also prepared by Mr. Darby, is termed by the inventor, the "Land and Water Signal," and may be thus described:—A short hollow ball of gutta-percha, or other convenient material, five or six inches in diameter, and filled with printed bills, or the information, whatever it may be, that is required to be sent, is attached to a cap to which a red flag, having the words "Open the shell" and four cross sticks, canes, or whalebones with bits of cork at equal distances, are fitted. The whole is connected by a string to the fuse as before described. These signals are adapted for land and water: in either case they fall upright, and in consequence of the sticks projecting out they float well in the water, and can be seen by a telescope at a distance of three miles. (Fig. 117.) Many of these signals were sent away by Mr. Darby from Vauxhall; one was picked up at Harwich, another at Brighton, a third at Croydon; in the latter case it was found by a cottager, who, fearing gunpowder and combustibles, did not examine the shell, but having mentioned the circumstance to a gentleman living near him, they agreed to cut it open; and intelligence of their arrival, in this and the other cases, was politely forwarded to Mr. Darby at Vauxhall Gardens.
Fig. 117.
The land and water signal, which remains upright on land, or floats on the surface of water. a. The water-tight gutta-percha shell, containing the message or information. b b b. Sticks of cane to keep the flag in an upright position; at the ends are attached cork bungs.
Balloons, like a great many other clever inventions, have been despised by military men as new-fangled expedients, toys, which may do very well to please the gaping public, but are and must be useless in the field. Over and over again it has been suggested that a balloon corps for observation should be attached to the British army, but the scheme has been rejected, although the expense of a few yards of silk and the generation of hydrogen gas would be a mere bagatelle as compared with the transport and use of a single 32-pounder cannon. The antiquated notions of octogenarian generals have, however, received a great shock in the fact that the Emperor Napoleon III. was enabled, by the assistance of a captive balloon, to watch the movements and dispositions of the Austrian troops; and with the aid of the information so obtained, he made his preparations, and was rewarded by the victory of Solferino; and as soon as the battle was over Napoleon III. occupied at Cavriana the very room and ate the dinner prepared for his adversary, the Emperor Francis Joseph.
Over and over again the most excellent histories have been written of aerostation, but they all tend to one truth, and that is, the great danger and risk of such excursions; and to enable our readers to form their own judgment, a chronological list of some of the most celebrated aeronauts, &c., is appended.