Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 January 1885 — What Cripples the Balloon. [ARTICLE]

What Cripples the Balloon.

When Mr. Coxwell was asked, “How long can gas be retained in a balloon ?” he replied, “No balloon has ever gone over a second sunset. I will tell you why,” he went? on. “The moment the son goes down the gas condenses and you get through the night better than the day. But the next day, in the presence of the sub, the gas expands and you mount to great elevations, but every mount the balloon makes cripples its power and it is only a question of hours, if not minutes, how long you can keep up. It is the loss of the eternal ‘king of day’ which is the mischief. If an aeronaut could have forty-eight hours of night he could travel a great distance. ” Mr. Coxwell also mentioned that the highest rate of speed he had ever attained, even with a strong wind blowing, was eighty miles an hour. —lnterview with Aero naut Coxwell. '