TO THE NORTH POLE IN A BALLOON.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXIX, Issue 6985, 10 February 1891, Page 4

TO THE NORTH POLE IN A BALLOON.

Thenorth pole, despitethelong, ominous list of martyrs to scientific or commercial curiosity, continues to exert a fascination over many minds. This fascination Jules Verne has graphically depicted in his "Adventures with Captain Hatteras." The problem discussed is whether there is land, ice, or an open polar sea at the pole. An attempt will soon be made to solve the problem by a Parisian aeronaut and a Parisian astronomer, Messrs Besancon and Hermite, neither of whom has attained the age of thirty. The plan they propose to adopt, while original with them, is by no means new. In 1870 Sibermann, and in 1874 Sivel, publishedstudies dealing with the practicability of reaching the north pole by balloon. In complete ignorance of these reserches, Messrs Hermite and Besancon conceived the same idea. In honor of these. researches, which they later discovered, and as a tribute to the memory of the illustrious martyr to aeronautic science, they decided to call their balloon by the name of " Sivel." The "Sivel," when inflated, will measure 165,250 yards and have a diameter of 324 yards. It will be capable of carrying 17f tons, and will have an ascensional force of three pounds to the cubic yard. The envelope will be composed of two thicknesses of Chinese silk, covered with a new specially devised varnish, which renders it absolutely impermeable, and augments the resisting of the envelope, rendering it capable of supporting, without rupture, a pressure of 6,400 pounds to the square yard. The^ balloon, whichl is spherical in shape, will contain an immense internal balloon so constructed as to be perfectly andpermanently inflated with 3,250 cubic yards of gas under the same pressure. Th isis intended to remedy in great part th grave inconveniences — the chief cause of balloon instability — which result from hygrometnic and thermometric variations produced by altitude changes. The inf rlor balloon is furnished with two valves of automatic certainty which will be in communication with a ventilator moved by electric action. If the"; gas be^omea thiner the interior balloon can be depleted. If it becomes thicker the interior balloon can be inflated. The •• Sivel " Is thus always inflated. The internal balloon represents about one-fifth of the entire balloon, a needed proportion, since balloons raised 2,700 feefc lose about one-tenth of their gas independently of the loss occasioned by temperature variation. The " Sivel" will carry several pilot ballonsto be usedinstudyingaerial currents and sixteen balloonets to supply, through its valves, the gas of the interior balloons oj the "Sivel." The balloon's altitude will be regulated by means of a trail rope of considerable Aveight, which trails as a species of anchor over the ice. The car, which is of osiers, is so strengthened by steel armatures as to be absolutely rigid. It is so arranged as to maintain in its interior a regular temperature. A safety petroleum hea er is used for the purpose. The car will be prepared for all emergencies by making it unsnbmersible and furnishing it with runners for use as a sledge. It is ten feet Avide by sixteen long, and -will contain, besides the two explorers and there three aids, eight Esquimaux dogs, a sledge and unsubmer.sible canoe, provisions and water rendered unfreezable by a chemical procedure. The total Aveight of car and contents is 15 tons. Above the car is a bridge accessible by a rope ladder. The explorers Avill sail to France on tAvo steamships in the latter part of May, 1892 so as to arrive in Spitzbergen in July. There they will depart soon as practicable by favourable Avinds from the south. The exploration will lasfc in all six months. Its cost will be 108,000 dollars, of AA'hich 12,000 dol. is required for the construction of the " Sivel." The cost is defrayed by Mr Hermite and some English capitalists of scientific aspirations. While the idea of reaching the north pole by balloon is not a neAv one it has had its details on this occasion for the first time "worked out with care.