A SYDNEY AERONAUT

Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7232, 18 December 1888, Page 5

A SYDNEY AERONAUT

DESCENT IN T A PARACHUTE.

[FROM OUR COURESPOIfDENT.I

[By Telegraph from the Bluff.]

SYDNEY, December 11.

Several thousand persons assembled at the Ashfield Recreation Ground, on Saturday afternoon, to witness a balloon ascent and descent by means of a parachute. The emulator of the sensational performance of Professor Baldwin was Mr J. T. Williams, a watchmaker and jeweller, ■with a taste for aeronautics, who wished to test a parachute constructed on what is known a3 the G-ardener principle, an improvement invented by himself. The parachute, which wa3 constructed of Chinese silk, weighed 401b, and was very similar to that used by Baldwin, but was much more easily controlled. For instance, the vent or hole at the top is capable of being enlarged or decreased in size at the will of the operator, and the whole machine can be started to some extent and partly checked in its progress by manipulation cords. The police authorities warned the officials at the grounds that they would be held responsible for any accident, but fortunately the experiment proved highly successful in every respect. A balloon lent by Captain Hendens was used for the ascent, and when Williams took his seat in a loop under the balloon he shot upwards rapidly, and within a short space attained an altitude of upwards of 6000 ft. The flight of the balloon was first to the southward, but as it reached the upper currents it almost retraced ita course, and when Williams left his aerial carriage he was almost immediately over the starting place. The parachute was attached to the balloon by a cord strong enough to hold it in position while not in use, but which would snap on a slightly extra strain being applied. William unfastened the valve of the balloon, and the moment the gas began to escape threw his weight on to the parachute. The latter then floated gracefully earthwards at a moderate rate. Nearly ten minutes was occupied in the descent, and the para chute sailed along without any jerking or other movement, beyond a little swaying caused by Williams in his experiments at steering. Williams was carried by the wind about two miles from the starting point, and landed without the slightest difficulty in a paddock near Homebush. He states that no jerking or tugging was noticeable in the descent, and he proposed to hang on to the ring with his teeth in a future descent, with a view of demonstrating the evenness of the flight of his apparatus. Williams is small in stature, aiid Sst Clb in. weight. He is a native of Birmingham, and has been resident in Sydney for twelve years, his age being about thirty-two. Williams is now quite a hero, and has been run after by show managers.