A BROBDIGNAGIAN UMBRELLA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1600, 4 February 1884, Page 3

A BROBDIGNAGIAN UMBRELLA.

John Fluckingen and W, Bourphofor, of Buenos Ayres, may fairly claim'to bo the authors of the most surprising engineering proposal ever made, They offer to cover the city in which they reside with a huge umbrella, : the "handle" of which Would be 670 ft in diameter, and 1500 ft in hop, The ribs would be of cast iron, 3in, in circumference, and Bft apart. The lining, or,: as we should say, the woring, would bo of wrought iron, 1 Jin. in thickness, Somehow, in a manner not explained by tho inventors, this wrought iron would fold up, and, on fine days, the great umbrella would look like a gigantic monument, When the rain came, Buenos Ayrcs would simply hoist its umbrella, a mile and a-hnlf wide, and dofy the elements, Lest the water pouring off the umbrella should inundate tho city,,the "proponents," as they call themselves, suggest tho making of a oiroular canal, communicating with the Kiver Plate, and bridged, we suppose, at convenient intervals, Messrs Flnkingen and Bonrphofer affirm that if it will only.proyide itself with this uiyiquo umbrella, Buenos Ayres will become.the most remarkable city in the univorse, a statement with which most sensiblo.persons will feel bound Their article would beat the African .Prince's, mentioned bv Max Adeler/'alltofits." • v