SOME IMPRESSIONS OF A BALLOONIST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13390, 19 January 1907, Page 5 (Supplement)

SOME IMPRESSIONS OF A BALLOONIST.

A NARROW ESCAPE

Whin tlie gas bag of the balloon cavorted up into the air the other day with Dr. Julian 1". Thomas tangled in the ropes it but added one move thrilling experience to a long list previously enjoyed—that's what lie hays, enjoyed—by the gentleman.

The drag rope- had been a. prolific source of these adventures. In Apploton's Magazine Dr. Thomas tells how he lias been nearly killed with kindness—kindness and Ids drag rope.

The latter is 300 feet long and weighs 75 pounds, One of its functions is to act as ballast : when its end drags on the ground jiM so much weight is removed front the- balloon. It also is a sort of feeler in » fog or at night.

The objections to it are that it destroys properly and that in passing over a forest it catches in the branches and jerks and rocks the balloon, causing the gas to escape and the aeronauts to became seasick. There is also the considerable risk that enthusiastic spectators will grab it and cause great danger to the aeronaut in their endeavour to save Ids life.

"Once some eager I'.rooklyiiites twisted the drag rope of my balloon around a po.-t and dashed my wife and me down oil ton of a church. The tone of the concussion threw us to our knees in the bottom ot the basket. Looking up we found directly in front of us the cross on the steeple. We were then dragged mi down to the ground in spite of our expostulations, and it was only when the police began to use their clubs that we were finally released.

"Oil another occasion several hundred persons grabbed the guide rope and caused us to be blown towards four large chimneys belching forth smoke and sparks. The balloon was surrounded by the sparks, and it is a mystery how it escaped ignition. Fortunately, some of our friends were following in an auto, and with the help of the police freed us.

•"After so many mishaps with the guide rope I devised a contrivance for hoisting and lowering it quickly, both to keep it out of the reach of a crowd and to raise it when passing over a. forest, ft is nothing more than a double pulley, but I consider it a permanent improvement in

aeronautics

'" Even with a large amount of ballast one cannot always control tin- buoyancy of the balloon. On one occasion we were 10.000 feet up in the air in the hot sunshine above the (loads.

"A cool current of air struck us and condensed the gas in the balloon, so that we fell into the clouds. There, out of the sun's rays, we cooled still more, and tell more rapidly.

'" 1 was throwing out ballast all this time, but without stopping our descent. Indeed, at one time in our-fall the sand T cast overboard seemed to move upward, at such a tremendous rate were we descending. From t\ie clouds we fell into the cool breeze that always blows over a forest; and lastly we crossed a liver, which added the finishing touch to the condensation of the gas in the balloon.

""We threw over all the ballast, the anchor and guide rope, our luncheon and water, the camera, and all the clothes we should not absolutely need on our arrival on the earth we were so rapidly approaching. Nothing seemed to check the rapidity of our fall, and when finally we struck in the midst of a forest our legs were doubled up under us, in spite of the protection afforded us bv the basket.

" I should have had to throw my brother overboard, too, to have kept in the air, and. indeed, he had to get out ofthe basket —after we had somewhat recovered from the shock of our alighting— before the balloon would rise so that we could steer it to a. suitable place for deflating it. Fully one-third of the gas was lost—or, rather, it was condensed to twothirds its former volume.

"The first cost of ballooning is smaller than that of automobiling, but each ascension costs about 500 dollais. The delights of the sport are so intense that in the reaction after they are over the earth seems tame and not worth while.

"One lias almost to become acclimated on descending from the high altitudes: for a week after an ascension I have no appetite, and am depressed. Incidentally. T should not recommend ballooning to a person of weak heart or nerves.

"When one leaves the earth the impressions come so fast that one can hardly differentiate them. They produce a kaleidoscopic effect. A man must stop and concentrate, his mind on certain special sensations, or else on returning to earth he win find that he has no sensation in particular to tell about.

"There is the impression of the crowd of people shouting and waving their hands. Before you realise it they have vanished, as individuals. The earth sinks from you: the houses become tiny boxes, the streets lines, and large rivers appear brooks that you could easily jump across.

'•The lake.-, ate pools and marshland seems solid. This latter was the cause of my friend Noquet's landing where he did and sacrificing his life.

Forests become smooth like pasture land. Railroad trains are like crawling worms, and all the earth sounds eventually cease. At- one or two thousand feet you pass the dusi line, which is as clearly milked as the line between water and air.

"As high as two thousand fee! there are still frequently seen butterflies, mosquitoes, and other insets. Remarkably beautiful effects of clouds are seen from the balloon. They often seem like snow banks, and their edge- are always bluish like water and ever give the aeronaut the sensation of approaching the ocean.

" When in the clouds you can see only the basket- and its occupants: and suddenly pass out of them to find that you are driving straight into a mountain peak, is we old once. If you stay in the fog there is nothing to warn you of such a danger except the roaring of the wind in the tree tops, and a- quirk casting out of ballast may be necessary to save you from balloon wreck on the crags.

"Tie- most humorous side of ballooning comes from the fellows with schemes. One man declared that there is an opposite to everything. Heat has cold; hardness has softness; light has darkness—-and that of gravitation alone the opposite has not been found. When he discovers the opposite of gravitation he feels that he will have solved the problem of aerial navigation—as doubtless he will.

"Another man has a. plan for rifting to the surface of the atmosphere and the,i skimming along the too as a boat floats on water. He would carry along some oxygen for breathing purposes.

"A lady over in .Jersey has heard thai certain flowers general*; hydrogen gas. She wishes to combine the ornamental with the aeronautic by taking a lot. of these flowers into an airship, suitably built, and rising from their gas.

"The name of my balloon is Nirvana, •that best expressing the state into which it transports its devotees."

A foreign physician has invented a swimming machine, in which the swimmer lias to furnish the. motive power himself, mis device is capable of considerable speed with comparatively small effort. 'the operator stretches at full length upon a float which is pointed at the forward end. The propeller revolves by means of gearing driven by means of foot pedals similar to rhe pedals of a bicycle. Another float over the machine) v serves to support it in the water. This arrangement permits the swimmer to keep his head out of water and to undertake long distances. When tired one has simply to cease working the pedals until rested. The patentee claims that anyone can learn to use it in a few minutes, and there, ought to be a demand for such a simple and effective appliance*