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THE OREGON DAILY JOURNAL, PORTLAND SATURDAY EVENING. DECEMBER 8, 1908
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OU ca.n hardly Imaglna n"
ultra-proaalo spot cn
Tir-TMnrertirairTnnTTr avenue
4n.t ahova TwentT-thlrd street
tn Nsw Torlt City. Foremost and above
1I else there is that hideous structure
on which the elevated trains thunder
by. eastlnc a gloom on the mean street
below. Mingled with the roaring of the
Iron monsters overhead ars the shrill
erlea of the spawns of Smudgy, hau
dreased children who litter the thor
oughfare underneath, and the -unholy
shoutings of the drivers and motormen
v. ... fnravar flihttnc valiantly with
"their tongues. And out of the curiously
hulliHnr emanate a iiwauy
miA nnMttllns smells. Among i
. VulllnarM t m miim.
iM.innkinv than the low-browed eoa
iraptlott on which I fouad a mtln black
sign, gxad-letterta:
1"" A. tEO STEVENS. ' I
7 , MANTJFACTVRER OF 1
t BAIXOONS. :
rt. aim wan aandwlched among v
oral others. Indicating thst besides the
balloon factory thers was everyxning m
the place from piano nopii w
. m - T jlt' Irnnw iuat OX'
- i.-nnr-tk TJInlTi" avenuTtrIy morning. Association with him la I ' H f.r'-' .- , r '-" I - ? 11 .".-.. I . r " .v k..-.'.'v. -i"-!. f i.-.i . t, v' I III - I
gctly what I eipeetedjbut In aom.anaelEbtJn-Jit-lky-
"n.?Vrrl5ravfgair6niavag Hrl"" "d ni1"'"
oclated In my mind s, certain derres of
cleanliness and Idyllle surroundings.
The balloon factory la on the very
topmost floor. Tou climb a dingy,
rough-hewn set of stairs and breathe
dust and peeling kalsomlne. Finally
yo wslk directly Into a long, narrow
loft, where, as you seo tn the picture,
km are heans and heaps of yellow and
white cloths and backets and rope rig
ging and numerous mechanical Instru
ments that your mind doesn't compre
hend at once. I came up on a bright
afternoon. -A man, dressed simply In
m. hlua cotton undershirt and trousers.
perspiration pouring from his face, was
Industriously woraing over wna
to h. thin oilskin, such aa sailors'
weather coats are mad of, spread out
m the floor. Off to one slds sat
woman workinr at a sewing machine.
-4 aaked for Mr. Btevens. As 1 311 o
I had an Intuitive sense that the work-
man was Btevens, and X was not sur
prised when he Introduced himself.
, Stevens Is a broad-shouldered.- mus
cular, undersized roan. He has a broad,
high, curving forehead. Indicating the
Vmrnhtnatlon of lmarlnatlon and practl
Mlltv. together with an executive
abllttv that he needs In his business,
for he Is the foremost aeronaut In this
" country. He Is only 14 years old. but
ha has gone to the. clouds In ships ever
sine he has been IS. Me is the man
who constructed th first dirigible bal
loon In this country, which he sailed In
' a test with Santos-Dumont In ltot at
Manhattan beach. If you can remem
.. ber your newspaper-read lnr so fsr back
s that yon will recall tnai a man
named Boise ailed the Bantos-Dumont
machine, and that Btevens created an
Intense sensation by sailing over, under
and all around the French aeronaut, so
arouslns Ms Ire by bis surprising skill
that th Braxfllan permitted himself
fceveral ebullitions of soger that cost
him the toleration of the New Yorkers
and sent him back to Franc with a
very sorry story to tell the Parisians
,
7 Btevens. in physiognomy and general
' bodily geography, benrs a striking re
semblance to Napoleon I. His ccrk
yes are deep-set and satisfactorily
separated by a keen, strong, well-curved
. nose. His mouth is straight and thin
' lipped, clenched firmly. His Jaw Is
strong and resolute, and 'his voice has
vibrant snap snd authoritative quick
ness. But he1ack the Napoleonic at
tribute of Inconalderateness. lie Is very
patient and very courteous. I was very
much pleased with nis personality.
He was mending a iallonn that had
. Just come In from out In the country
. somewhere for repairs. There Is only
, . on balloon factory In the United States,
' snd unless there Is something radically
- - wrong with -the contrivance the Balloon.
1st who owns It makes his repairs hlm
' self. The rigging In this balloon had
- been torn ana me envelope needed a
rew--covering of rubber and varnish.
In th enurs of our conversation Bte
vens told me that In his. vocabulary
there was ho such word ss impossible.
yi aaid that he had never yet found
th circumstance that he rould not mas-
ter, and. In. watch log him patiently
working among that mnxe of small
. ropes, splicing, and disentangling, eare
. fully, but quickly and deftly, I readily
paw why there wag no sucn word aa im
possible In his vocabulary. The man's
rs parity for Inftnte attention to minute
flotall la wonderful. I called on him
several times later In gathering th ma.
. terlal for this article, and even aa late
s quarter f mldn)bt I found him
'sssfstjififfsnm. f u Tfc ' k.p a . iivii 1 i i m m m m m - r- m - i
w,,: wmww win - , -7;
working among his riggings, and I
early morning. . Association with him la
stimulating.
Naturally, most ef the balloons
shtpped out of this factory are made
for aeronauts, at county fairs and for
advertising purposes. These are the
staplea - of Btevens' business. - On his
Income from this source he depends to
make his experiments in aerial naviga
tion. He turns out something like 71
balloons a year for such uses. - He sells
these balloons for an average price of
$135 each. They are made of a mate
rial similar to percale, which la var
nished with a mixture usually composed
41nseedolt; 'VaiiiTsh and rubber.
Theso balloons sre usually filled with
hot air, and have none of the safety ao-
did not understand exactly what hot air
was. so I asked Mr. Stevfns. If you are
as Ignorant as I was, it may Interest
you to know that it" Is nothing.-more
nor Ies than the neat emanating from
any kind of fire built under the de
flated balloon. This, ss you know from
your experiments with the Fourth of
July paper balloons, has an ascensional
power. When all the heat has been
the air
until th heat turns Into smoke. Th
aeronaut with any experience Intuitively
knows when this change-is . about to oc
cur," and Just before the heat turns Into
smoke and the balloon eonaequently col
lapsea the aeronaut pulls a little tackle,
which la cleverly attached to a penknife,
which cuts the trspese on which he sits
from th dangerous balloon, and down
he satis on his parachute. At balloon
ascensions I had often witnessed th
aeronaut doing what seemed to me to
be the lknlt of human foblhardlness In
performing trapes acta while sailing
through the air. He would awing from
hla-iincanny- perch en - one foot -nd
"chin" the bar and turn cartwheels,
until, sick with apprehension, I would
turn away. I asked lar. Btevens about
this. He aalu that theae aerial perform
ers are always secured so that they can
not failr They are faatened to .the.
trapes by a belt which Is three feet
long. Most aeronauts work for some
one who controls an entire company of
balloonlsts. On the laat Fourth of July
Stevens had 40 men and balloons out
working all over the United States.
The .balloonist gets ft for each aaren
sloiunnd all his expenses are paid. Th
man who aenda him out geta $125 for
the service and is obliged to furnish
the balloon and all the accessories. As
a professional Stevens made his first
ssoent when he was 14 years old, snd
that time, he says, the man he worked
for received aa much as 13, H for on
ascension, while out of that he would
pay-him $400 or $500. And be made aa
many as five ascensions in one week.
But the money wss easy come and eaay
go, and the balloonmaker says that he
would wind up th aeason Just aa poor
as he waa when he started, and - he
would go back to his home. In Cleveland.
O., where his father owned an amuse
ment park, which was then known as
Beyerlles park, and later was known as
Forest City. There he would get a po
sition as shipping clerk In some mer
cantile establishment until the winter
le out.
The manner tn which he became a
balloonist is amusing and exciting. As
a boy he loved to tinker around ma
chinery. He was eminently practical.
One day his teacher gave him an Ap
pleton's children's library volume .which
narrated the adventures of two chil
dren who In some msnner got Into a
balloon and were born away. When
they were sailing In the empyrean blue
they did not know what to do. Eventu
ally, however, as always happens in all
children's stories of well-regulated
morals, they cam to earth safe and
sound in limb and body. But the moral
was ' that they had not . been self
possersed, for if they had they would
have remembered that some one had
once explained to them that to lower,
th balloon-all they hud to do Was to
pull a small rope which all the time
had dangled In their reach. Btevens
thought that the children were very
silly not to have .discovered the rope
for themselves, and the story, gener-
lly speaking, aroused his contempt
but 'it set his mind to running upon
aerial navigation, though naturally that
phrase was not -in his vocabulary at
this time. The fact that a balloon could
be mu(T-to rts or gink st will was a
revelation to him, and the Idea of tra
versing the air as easily as he sailed
the water with his boat fired his Imagi
nation. He determined to become, an
air sailor, and In U seriousness he
broached th subject to his father.
Ironically the paterfamilias Informed
him that he had n objection at all;
that U jhe ever managed to find his
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ax!MLl ..
boat to sail away In he would be glad
to see him off.
There cam to the park about this
time a man named Warden from Lon
don, who was advertised to make an
ascension with hia balloon. Toung Bte-
lrCHB.T1'""'1y
onaufal
frlendshlp and helped him .work about
hta balloon, thus learning a great many
thing concerning It
The following Sunday he announced
to his father that he was going to
make a trip in the balloon. His father,
thinking it was but the Idle boastful
ness ef a 13-year-old boy,, told him to
go rignt anesa. in tact ne urged mm
to do so, piqued by his father's sar
casm, the youngster picked up bis
father's Jack knife. Watching until he
saw that there was no one around the
hug bag he stole up th hill on whloh
It was anchored. He clambered Into
th car and leaned over and cut tho
rope which held It down to earth. In
a second he shot up Into the air with a
rapidity that bereft him of his wits.
Shutting his eyes tight, he crouched In
a owner of the ear. olenchlng the open
Jack knife In his hand. How long he
remained there he himself does not
know. . Finally, however, his native
spunk cam back and he stood nprlght
In the esr. He looked around him apd
saw strange, - terror-filling masses of
clouds. When he gazed below he could
only faintly distinguish clumps of
blackness and streaks of ' something
shimmering. And as he. gazed he re
ceived a new fright He seemed to be
going higher 'and higher. The earth
was rapidly fading from his sight He
ssys dear old Mother Earth . never
seemed so good to him as at that mo
ment - II perceived that the time had
come for some tall and quick thinking,
and he did 4t. . He was mortally afraid
that he might sail right up to the moon.
While the prospect bad Its allurements,
' I n KB M II ' - '
, . i.4, J '
he didn't know how Ions; tt might take
to get thers, and he felt that he might
starve en route. 80 he wondered how
he might get down.
Suddenly 'the story of Appleton's li
brary burst on his mind.- He remem-
bered the rope thatthe children jjld not
nave sense enougn to puii. n iwmo
up, and behold! there dangled, away be
yond his reach, a small piece of rope.
He determined that the only to get that
rope was to clamber up on the side of
he 'car1nto the rigging as far as he
could get and pull It down, lip he went
and finally he reached It . To hi fear
some astonishment a part of the bait
loon that seemed to be tucked away
In the interior somewhere unraveled as
he tugged at the rope. Swinging up
there, his breath coming with some dif
ficulty on account of the altitude, he
looked about , him. It made him shud
der. . He frantically determined to pull
that rope, come what might- H felt
that far worse than a fall might hap
pen. But In his eagerness he yanked
It too hard. He had laid hold of the
proper rope all right, but he opened the
valve so wide that the balloon came
down with terrlflo velocity. Af first
the boy did not notice th speed of his
descent But ' when he struck a ' tree
the force of the fall was so great that
he bounded through th branches like
a cannon ball, taking the boughs with
him. After he struck th ground he
rolled until he lay at the very edge -of
the canal. Her th people who cam
running from all directions found him,
ruefully sitting - up surveying his
wrecked clothing and his bloody arms,
legs and hands. The town. of Canton
waa only a few moments away and
there he was taken, cleaned, bandaged
and fed and set upon his way back to
Cleveland. His father was among th
tliroog to meet him at th railroad sta
tion. But th father waa so lnoeosed
.j ,' ,
that he whaled . th ltttl fellow un
til th police Interfered. The story of
his adventure, naturally, was tele
graphed around the world, and during
th next weeks he received fabulous of
fers to go with different shows.
-Wha I began -ter write thlartlele-I
purposed to describe simply a balloon
factory and to tell something about bal
loons and ballooning in this country,
but I find myself constantly recurring
to Mr. Htevens. for his history and the
story of ballooning as a pastime are as
closely interwoven as the rigging of a
balloon Is woven Into, the basket It car
ries. While it was not his definite pur
pose to create a market for balloons
outside of the regular show trade, his
ceaselessly Intelligent work and uncon
scious exploitation of tho subject by his
own enthusiasm Began to Interest that
claaa of Americans who take to automo
blllng for the danger there Is In It and
when Stevens saw that the people wers
beginning to regard the' balloon as a
medium of sport for amateurs, he set
his restless brain to work upon Its Im
provement and to make It leas hazard
ous and more 'comfortable. ''For the
first 10 years of his professional llfg
he was a show -balloonist pur and
simple, ' He . was th third person tn
America to make a parachute leap. He
lived moat of bis waking Ufa up in the
air. The business In spit ef Its haz
ards, however, began to be overcrowded,
and th compensation grew smaller and,
moreover, the novelty of the show bal
loonist was wearing away, and his serv
ices wsre not In euoh great demand. All
these things were apparent to Stevens
whsn he became a manufacturer In con
nection with his performances. During
the first year he was In business as a
manufacturer he told m that he made
aa many as too balloons a year, and bad
large crowds of aeronauts working for
him la all parts f tbe country. During
all this time he was studying aerial
navigation, following the experiments of
ths aeronauts abroad closely, and mak
ing endless testa, in his own. workshop.
He spent all Ills earnings on devices to
make balloons safer and, more adapta
ble for pleasuring. lie sent to France
for his engines; they cost him hundreds
of dollars apiece, but out of th first
consignments the ratio that he could
use was about one out of ten.- When
ever he -arrived at a solution that
seemed thoroughly good he patented It.
Consequently he holds today every pat
ent on balloons and airships Issued In
America. '
When I converse with th average
peraon I do not find that I am very
much more Ignorant, of things that lie
outside of their Immediate ken than
they are, so I do not suppose that I am
so very stupid to have assumed that
all there is to a balloon Is simply a gas
bag and Soma ropes tu hold the basket
underneath. My -Idea as to th msn
ner of landing waa simply that, the
balloon dropped when -It ot . ready, to
do so, and thus the daring persons who
rode In such foolish conveyances -found
terra flrma again. After analyzing a
a balloon with an expert I can readily
understand that comparatively It Is Just
as safe a manner of locomotion as the
automobile, and a sensible understand
ing of its construction and manipulation
has engendered a very ardent desire
to ride In It
Such a balloon as I saw In the course
of construction In the workshop is put
together according to a scientific plan
that Is figured down to the minutest de
tail on paper. A balloon-maker like
Btevens knows the location of each rope
and each templet and each toggle .and
this part of the valve and that part of
the rlpcord. Just as an architect knows
where he has placed th different things
that go to make up the -nous he Is
building. And. like an architect, the
balloon-maker has his plan always be
fore him. He works sxactly according
to his scale to th most Infinitesimal
detail. lie begins bycuttlng the mate
rial of which th bag, or envelope, as It
is technically called, is made, usually
of silk or several varieties of cotton or
linen. Tbe material Is cut Into many
pieces Shaped like bricks. These vary
In size according to their location. Then
th templets, as each piece , is called,
are sewn together; each edge la folded
In six thicknesses. This Is done sd that
If by any accident the templet should
be ripped out or the seam give,, only
the particular templet In question is af
fected, and the opening In th balloon is
not sufficient to cause serious trouble.
And tn this connection th balloon
maker explains that , It is Impossible
for an accident to happen through ' the
bursting of a balloon In the air- He
shows that sven 4f a templet should
give and all the gas dissipate, what
ever way you look at tt the balloon has"
sufficient area to form a natural para
chute, which would lower the paasen
gers safely to some landing.
But this Is ahead of the story. When
all th parts have been carefully sewn
together, looking. somewhat similar to
bricks placed one upon another In a
wall, the entire envelop Is bathed In a
mixture of linseed oil, varnish and rub
ber, which I have already mentioned.
In the meantime, while the envelop la
drying, taking on that yellow oilskin
appearance, th basket or car. Is being
finished. This Is simply an Enlarged
square clothes basket built of very
strong rattan and other reeds. But In
th basket is woven a mass of strong
ropes, which ars specially manufactured
for ballooning.- On the and of these
ropes are acdlngljt strong', catches
m m A m .1 hmJ wfctnt! 1 1 4 t arl -'
1 iicbq vujft auiv iwym -v u ,iuin-
the .load ring, which Is that little ring -you
usually see Just above the head of '.
UK1(UUIIIBM 111 HV1U1. i t
ine connecting link between the car and
the envelope. The ring is made of hick
ory or a similar tough wood.' Mean
while the netting which goea over the
envelop ha been put together. . .This
is one of the nicest problems In the
hallnnn-muker's work. The roues must .
be so netted that aa the lines converge
toward their meeting point at the load
ring the bottom lines must be Just as
many times stronger aa there are lines '
around the equator of th balloon, and.
the lines of the netting' must b ad-
Justed to an exact nicety over all.
, When the envelope la dry the valve is
placed at its very top. This valve is
made of wood, ana is so contrived mat
It opens precisely aa the navigator wills.
But besides the valve there Is sewn Into
sn ODlong arrangement raneci me rip- -cord.
The use of this will be apparent
Immediately.
-The balloon la now ready for an as---,
cenelon. The statuscope. which Indi
cates th altitude, and the barometer,
which indicates the atmospherical prea- .
sure. Is adjusted In the car. The neck
of tho balloon Is fastened in lt, place
and the globe Is ready for Inflation. It
Is weighted down and tilled with hydro
gen gas. This is the pest gas for bal
looning. . because it is lightest It Is
manufactured by placing In a large
caldron sulpburlo acid over Iron. The
resultant fumes sre conducted by means
of pipes Into snother caldron, where
they are percolated through three
Inches pf water Into another pipe,
which conducts them through Mm, and
then they enter the balloon It coats
about $1 to Inflate an ordinary bal
loon. - . . : y ; " .
Th balloonJsnpirsoarlp In the.
air. It is supposed to be at th mercy
of- th air currents. This Is not en
tirely true. saysMr. Stevens. Tou can
take a palm-lclkffan andjteer ltsl-.
most anywhere you desire, ms ex
tremley susceptible to ny vibration
whatsoever. There is one thing that is
surprising to a novice. The higher you
go the swifter Is your ascent " The
explanation for this Is that th air
at th surface Of the earth gives the
most resistance, and the higher you
mount th less .realztance.ihcre is
When your statuscope warns you thaT
It la wise to descend a bit yoti put your
hand up to a little white bag at on
aid or the car and puJl th rope-end .
you And therein. This is the valve
rope.- Aa soon as you pU It a certain
muunt of gas escapee through the .
opening of the valve doors at the very
top of the balloon, and you Immediate
ly notlc that you begin to fall. The
descent does not cease, although it
modifies, when you clou th valves.
Tour next step to stop th descent is
to take a little wooden spoon and ladle
out your sand ballast until you notlc
that the balloon floats steadily. But
suppose lnr the meantime something his .
happened making It imperative that you
ahould get down to earth Just as quick
ly s possible.
Tou put your hand up to a little red
bag on th other side of the baaket
and give a hard yank at the rope-end
you find therein. -This rips a segment
which Is sewn In the side of the balloon
and permlta the gas to dissipate with
much greater rapidity than tbe valve.
Should the gas escape entirely th en
velope will form a perfect parachute
and deposit th paasengers with very
llftle Jarring upon the ground. Ther
you have the story of a balloon pur
and simple. Such a balloon costs from
1600 to 11,600. There are about 11 to
20 of these balloons owned by ama
tsnrs throughout the United, j!tateJLIf
you are a member of the Aero Club of
America you will Insist - that every
amateur shall hare on board sn expert
pilot This pilot Is licensed by the
Aero Club of France. He la put through
an unuaually rigid examination, and Is
supposed to have .some acquaintance
with the treacherous wind currents
which are admittedly largely unchari
table as yet. The man who knew them
best 1s the man who lost his life In
proving his theory concerning them.
That was Nocquet th sculptor, who
died such a sad death laat spring on
Long Island.. There are only Ave or sis
professional pilots In - this - country.
Their, fee Is 160 and all expenses paid,
and If they attend to the detail of In
flation you pay 140 mora.'
. Th difference between a balloon and
an airship Is that one simply soars in
the air without any steering gear or
machinery, while the other generates its
own gas and la steered by a rudder
and a propeller that la driven by an
engine. "Pegasus" wss the first suo
cessful airship to navigate with power
applied In this country, ,
Mr, Btevens showed me "Pegasus."
Tou can ' see lis shape In thg-ptctur
which was taken during Its first flight
on September IS, 102. The silk of
which th envelope of this balloon was
mad Is a Japanese silk that was woven
especially for this, purpose. It cost the
owner M.600. The only steel that he
could us for the car was brought from
England. Th engine, a Bouton, waa
made In Franc. Altogether,' th ma
chine cost Mr. Stevens 119,000 when It
was finished.
Th envelop 'contains 28,000 cublo
feet of hydrogen gas. This lifts a total
of Its pounds, which Is calculated to
be equal to on person and 160 pounds
of ballast minus the weight of th car. .
hThe car Is built of steel. Just abov. a
littl to the rear of the operator, tnere
fs tank of gasoline. Th oil flows
Into the carboreter, which Is ths mixer
of the air and gas and electricity which
Injects the motlv power Into tha en-
glue. The engine Is built forward, and -all
ths lnstrumsnts necessary for manlp
latlon are well within reach of the oper
ator. In front is th propeller, and rn
the rear the rudder. Just underneath
the onerator. on a long bar running th
length cf the car, hangs a torpedo--
shaped water tank. This tank can be
shifted by a sliding movement- any
where the operator desires. This Is th
medium that balances -the car. When
the ship Is to shoot up In the air th .
balance Is thrown to the rear of 'the
car. When-lt. Is to descend the posltlon
is reversed, or If It Is to ride level th
Uank Is simply shifted to the center.
(Continued on Following Page.).
V