INTERESTING BALLOON EXPERIMENTS.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 108, 5 October 1874, Page 3

INTERESTING BALLOON EXPERIMENTS.

An experimental balloon ascent from Woolwich Arsenal took place on July 25th, under very favorable circumstances. The strong westerly winds which had prevailed a week previously, and rendered an ascent out of the question, especially for the purpose in view, had quite abated, and there was almost a dead calm, the best possible conditions under which the trial could have been made. The apparatus to be tested was, as already briefly explained, the invention of Mr C. A. Bowdler, who hoped by its means to accomplish that which had long been a desideratum with scientific aeronauts, to steer the balloon in the air at an angle by deviation, more or less deflecting, from the direction of the wind. The value of such a discovery in a military point of view may be estimated by the one fact alone that it would enable a general to communicate with his friends in a beleagured town or fortress, by a careful calculation of distance, force of

wind, and the deflecting power of his machinery. In the late European war any method of ascending in a balloon with the certainty of striking a given town, such as Metz or Paris, would have been invaluable. The balloon employed was nearly a new one. Its height, independent of the car, is eighty feet, and it contains when inflated 60,000 cubic feet of gas, so that it is a large balloon. As, however it was necessary to accommodate four persons and some machinery in the car, it was necessary to have a huge balloon At three o’clock, the hour fixed for the experiments, the balloon was fully inflated, and there were assembled a large number of spectators. The four passengers in the balloon were Major Beaumont, Mr Coxwell, Mr Bowdler, and a stalwart sapper, Serjeant T. Murry, to assist in working the steering machinery. This was fixed to the car in a few minutes. A tall frame of wood was lashed inside containing a few small cogwheels and a common crank handle, while outside and above the car were fixed in connection with it two fans or screw propellers, precisely like the screw of a ship, and made apparently of tin or zinc. The simple nature of the affair, and its immense disproportion to the colossal balloon which towered above it, suggested a very general doubt whether it could have any influence or control over the course which the monster must take if left to sail free before the wind, and opinions were unreservedly expressed by men who have studied the question that the object aimed at can never be attained until some agency more patent than manual power can be carried with the balloon —some engine which shall be capable of driving an arrangement of fans at a high speed but weigh only a few’ pounds. Mr Bowdler’s apparatus was but three feet in diameter, and its rate of motion was but 12 or 14 revolutions per second, The second screw in Mr Bowdler’s machine was fixed vertically just below the other, and with this he purposed to raise and depress the balloon, and it was decided to try this first. Major Beaumont, mounted in the rigging, took command, and Mr Coxwell, by a careful expenditure of ballast, got his balloon, which was held captive by a guy rope, to a nice balance about 20 feet from the ground. The major gave the order, and the inventor and his soldier assistant worked vigorously at the crank, when the vertical fan spun round. When the machinery was set going it slowly but unmistakably began to rise, and rose until it was checked by the guy rope about forty feet from the ground, and what w r as even more convincing, as soon as the crank ceased to work the balloon began to descend, and descended till it touched the earth. The experiment was repeated and always w’ith the same result. The balloon rose when the fan was at work, sometimes very slowly, but it always came down when the apparatus stopped. Major Beaumont having formed his own conclusions upon this part of the trial, the order was given to release the balloon in order to try the propeller in the higher air. It ascended almost perpendicularly, the major still in the shrouds, and Mr Coxwell standing on the edge of the car. After the balloon had ascended 1000 feet the steering apparatus was tried, but failed to have any apparent effect on the course of the balloon ; but it developed one quality which was not expected, and which may or may not be of value. It enabled the aeronauts to make the balloon revolve either to the right or to the left, according to the way in which they worked it ; but in the opinion of the Government officer it failed to fulfil its original object. After making a low dip over the Essex marshes by letting out gas and repeating the trial, some ballast was discharged and the balloon ascended to an altitude of two miles. After enjoying this for awhile, they opened the valve and dropped down through the clouds, alighting safely at seven o’clock on the farm of Mr Morris, at Cray’s Hill, nine miles from Romford and four from Pitsea station on the Tilbury and Southend line.