The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition: Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five VolumesPoe, Edgar Allan
General
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition: Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes
Poe, Edgar Allan
American fiction -- 19th century; Fantasy fiction; Horror tales, American; Indexes; Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849; Short stories
“Like Sir George Cayley’s balloon, his own was an ellipsoid. Its
length was thirteen feet six inches—height, six feet eight
inches. It contained about three hundred and twenty cubic feet of
gas, which, if pure hydrogen, would support twenty-one pounds
upon its first inflation, before the gas has time to deteriorate
or escape. The weight of the whole machine and apparatus was
seventeen pounds—leaving about four pounds to spare. Beneath the
centre of the balloon, was a frame of light wood, about nine feet
long, and rigged on to the balloon itself with a network in the
customary manner. From this framework was suspended a wicker
basket or car.
“The screw consists of an axis of hollow brass tube, eighteen
inches in length, through which, upon a semi-spiral inclined at
fifteen degrees, pass a series of steel wire radii, two feet
long, and thus projecting a foot on either side. These radii are
connected at the outer extremities by two bands of flattened
wire—the whole in this manner forming the framework of the screw,
which is completed by a covering of oiled silk cut into gores,
and tightened so as to present a tolerably uniform surface. At
each end of its axis this screw is supported by pillars of hollow
brass tube descending from the hoop. In the lower ends of these
tubes are holes in which the pivots of the axis revolve. From the
end of the axis which is next the car, proceeds a shaft of steel,
connecting the screw with the pinion of a piece of spring
machinery fixed in the car. By the operation of this spring, the
screw is made to revolve with great rapidity, communicating a
progressive motion to the whole. By means of the rudder, the
machine was readily turned in any direction. The spring was of
great power, compared with its dimensions, being capable of
raising forty-five pounds upon a barrel of four inches diameter,
after the first turn, and gradually increasing as it was wound
up. It weighed, altogether, eight pounds six ounces. The rudder
was a light frame of cane covered with silk, shaped somewhat like
a battle-door, and was about three feet long, and at the widest,
one foot. Its weight was about two ounces. It could be turned
_flat_, and directed upwards or downwards, as well as to the
right or left; and thus enabled the æronaut to transfer the
resistance of the air which in an inclined position it must
generate in its passage, to any side upon which he might desire
to act; thus determining the balloon in the opposite direction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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