PICCARD'S NEW ASCENT PLAN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 20, 16 October 1937, Page 15

PICCARD'S NEW ASCENT PLAN

2000-Balloon Power

JT was at the circus that ballooning got its stprt in former days, and recently Br. Jean Piccard, one of the world 's foremqst stratosphere scientists, "went .back to the circus" to learn a few tricks modern ballooning has almost forgotten. Where is the circus-loving boy, for instauce, who has not at* Some time dreampd of fying a flock of red, white and bliie hydrogen-jnflated balloons together fpr a sail abov© th© clouds? That |s just what Dr. Ficcard is thinking about to-day, but because he happens tp be a practical-minded physicist, he plans to nse stputer balloons than the circus yariety. Nevertheless they will be mad? Qf rubber, 200Q oi them, all tied together pn a boss pf mptal, beneath which will be attached hjs clpsed gondola. And whon the flight takes place, Mrg. Ficcard will again sail with him. Thi? is no idle dream. Dr. and Mrs. Ficcard were both in Cambridge, talMng pver technipal details w^h engineerl |t the. Dew®? A-hny Chomicai -Wprhe, mah®ra Of the Darp? balloons which he used once Before in a test flight to 11,000 feet and which he ydll use again when he sets out for the 20mile inark — straight np — his gondpla loaded with scientifle instruments. Another practical item — the cost pf financing such a flight— seemed clearcr. It was hfrs. FiCpard who thought of that; pnd her suggestion was to sell share? in the expedition at £20 a share, printing the name of the individua! iponsorp pn the balloons, each to be sent to its !"Qwner;' when the flight is "gver. Thus eaeh eponsor will have .p eouyenir that "went higher than Bic* card.?' D?. Ficcard prpmisea to bring back 90 per cent. pf the haUopns intact, th© rest wiB necessarily be de* slroyed in the dpscent. His most recpnt flight, in which he imyfetigated the" possibxlity pf nsing small ballppns in place of one large ppp for stratosphere w°rk, was made on Ouly 17, ,Qn this P.ccaaion. he nsed appronwnately 80 ballppns pf the type emglpyed by meteorolo^sts for investighiion pf wea^her conditions jn the higher afmpsphere. The -balloons were hitphed tp a specially constructed gondola christened thp Fl.eiades.,, For this flight, metal pupchings were pse.d ps baBasf fo pontroi the ascent pf th| strange craft. It is .estimated that thp tqtal'iift pf jkhe ball.oons was in the ueighbpurhood. of 400 ppunds. Dir. Ficcayl, in commenting pn his test flight, stated that fhe balloons .'/behaved :be.autifuHy.,, The ascensipn |yas mnde at jnidnight from Soldiers jpield, 'Rochester, -Minnesota, in a ,prow|haped ajuminium gondola carrying scientifle instruments and a two-way radio. Half pf fhe 80-odd balloons were in a cluster 57 feet above the gondola and the other 40 floated 50 feet above this tier. "I rose rather slowly to an altitude of about 11,000 feet," he said, '.'where I stopped further ascent by cutting loose a few of the -balloons. For

about three hours I floated in a state of practical equilibrium, but at "dawn, seeing that I was near the Mlssissippi river and dense fog banks, I decided to descend. I pulled the balloons down on the strings this time, and punched them with my huiiting knife. In thii way I came to land in' a small canyon, shooting a dozen or so ballppns with my revolver at the last miniite toi hastea thp descent." As soon as the gondola was on thti ground, he released the tpjx cluster of balloons by pxplpAing a previptwly pre^ pwed chftff? of TNT, It wat the ex^ celsior in which the TNT had been packed which canght fire and fell into the gondola, setting fire to it and d*f stroying th© instruments. "I am, hpwever, dpeidedly pleased with the ©as© with which th© whple aiw craft -was contrplled," Dr. Piccard dw clared. "This accident at landing was one which would not ordinarily occur and which can easily b© prevented in the future by using rockwood ina I aad of excelsior." 'fYou spoke of 'string* being' nsed to connect the balloons with tfle gon* dola, no doubt you mean a.?tput somebqdy commented at the intervipw* "No, I didn't nse wire, HoWever^ you couldn^t really call it atring," smikd the Profe?sor. "It was prduH ary Irish linpn thread of th© ten-gord variety. I tested ihe strength WTt labpratory and found it has a * very, high breakage point, well within ' the necessary limit for safety." Another snrprise came when methode of inflation were talked of. "I can in* flate my balloons and get off the ground iu a very few minutes," h© " "This is not so of the Iprge, ©Iflsde bag type of, craft. "Furthprmqre, the small balloeai permit an economical method of lifting, A fapricated balloon bag, snitable fo© an as.cent into the stratophere, would cost aroupd £30,000, whereas wu.th 2000 Darex meteorological balloojie ihe cost will only be around £1700." These balloons are ©ast from liquid latex by a newly developed and palented process in relatively small size. Thp flnish.ed balloon has a diameter pf about four to five feet and is .capable of expandiug tp some tweuty feet in diameter before bursting. It is this abiiity to expand easily whicli provid.es the necessary iift for th# craft. There is .very little difference in pressure between the gas inside ihe bal^ loons and the air outside, but the balloon stretches so readily that qs it jisei and the pressure of the atmosphere be* comes less, the gas inside expands nntil the balloon waH is hardly thicker than the thickness of the rubber moleeule. At this size it becomes transparent and has expanded to four or five times it# original size. For inflating the infliyiflual balloons, Dr. Ficcard has invented a small glas# stopper which fits in the balloon nozzle, can be fastened with thread aud speeds the former process of inflating and tying* tremendously.