Chapter 2 CHAPTER II The members of the Welton Society are arguing and disagreeing

"As long as anyone says no!..." "Really? When it's time to say it, say it!" "I'm not afraid of your threat!..." "Be careful what you say, Bart Fern!" "Uncle Prudang, you should be more careful about what you say!" "I just don't think the propeller should be in the tail!" "We also have the same opinion!..." 50 voices said in unison. "No! It should be installed in the front!" Another 50 voices responded loudly, not to be outdone. "In this way, there will never be consensus!" "Never possible!"

"Then what's the use of arguing?" "It's not an argument! ... It's a discussion!" For a whole quarter of an hour, there were verbal attacks, accusations and abuse at the venue.Who heard it and could believe it was being discussed? "This auditorium is indeed the largest at the Weldon Society. It is situated on Walnut Road in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is the most prestigious of all the clubs. A demonstration had taken place in the city the day before for the election of a lamplighter.There was a lot of noise and fists at the rally, and the boiling emotions have not subsided yet.This may be the reason why the members of the Welton Society were so excited just now.Though it was no more than an ordinary meeting of the "balloonists," it was about a subject that was exciting even then: the handling of balloons.

This is what happened in a city in the United States.The city is growing faster than New York, Chicago, Cincinnati and San Francisco.The city was neither a port nor a coal mine or an oil base, nor a manufacturing center nor a railway hub, but it was more than Berlin.Manchester, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Vienna, Dublin, St. Petersburg are all bigger; the city's parks are larger than the combined area of ​​the seven largest parks in the British capital.Currently, the city has a population of 1.2 million and is known as the fourth largest city in the world after London, Paris and New York. With its magnificent architecture and unparalleled public facilities, Philadelphia is like a marble city.The best school in the New World - Gillinde School, in Philadelphia.The largest iron bridge in the world, the Shoekill River Bridge, is in Philadelphia.The most beautiful church of the Freemasonry, the Freemasonry Hall, is in Philadelphia.Even the biggest club for aviation believers is in Philadelphia.If anyone is willing to visit on the evening of June 12th, they may really have a lot of fun.

In the Great Hall, the hundred or so ballonists, wearing top hats, agitated, rioting, gesticulating, lecturing, and quarreling, were all headed by a single president of the club, who was assisted by a secretary and a treasurer.These people are not professional engineers, not at all, they are just balloon lovers, but these are very enthusiastic enthusiasts, and they have nothing to do with any "heavier-than-air" machines, like flying machines, spaceships, or whatever. People who replace balloons with something are sworn to death.These good men might find a way to steer the balloons, but in any case, their chairman had a hard time maneuvering them.

The chairman is the well-known Philadelphia celebrity, Uncle Prudden—Prudang is his surname.As for the title of uncle, there is nothing unusual in this part of the United States. You don't need to have nephews or nieces to be an uncle.Uncle here, like daddy elsewhere. Uncle Pruden was a distinguished man, who, despite his surname, was famous for his boldness.He was extremely rich, and even in America there is no harm in having a lot of money.He owns most of the stock in Niagara Falls, so how can he not be rich?At that time, the city of Buffalo formed a waterfall development engineering company, which is indeed a very profitable business!Niagara Falls flows 7,500 cubic meters per second and generates 7 million horsepower.Distributing this huge energy to factories within a radius of 500 kilometers can earn 1.5 billion francs a year, part of which flows into the company's cash drawer and Uncle Pruddan's pocket.And he was single and lived a simple life.His only servant was his footman, Fricoland.The boldness of the servant did not quite match that of his master.There are such abnormal phenomena in the world.

Uncle Pruden was rich, and of course he had friends, of course; but he also had enemies, because he was president of the society, and that included everyone who wanted to be president.Among those who opposed him most vigorously, there was one who deserves mention, and that was the Secretary of the Weldon Institution. The man's name was Phil Evans.He was also very wealthy and was the owner of the Walton Watch Company.This is a large watch factory, using mechanized production, with a daily output of 500 movements, and its quality is comparable to the best products in Switzerland.If it weren't for Uncle Prudden, Phil Evans would have been the happiest man in America, if not the world.They were the same age, both forty-five, and equally strong enough to take any beating; they had the same guts, and the same unwillingness to trade the sure and sure benefits of celibacy for the unpredictability of married life. happiness.They should be a pair of natural confidantes, but they don't understand each other, and both of them have great personalities: Uncle Prudden has a hot temper, while Phil Evans hides and doesn't show it.

Why didn't Phil Evans become president of the society?He and Uncle Pruden were always evenly matched, and twenty times out of twenty votes were tied, neither winning a majority.This embarrassing situation may not be resolved until both candidates are dead. So a member of the society came up with a way of ruling. This person was the treasurer of the Weldon Society, Jim Shipp.Jem Shipp is a staunch vegetarian, no meat, no alcohol, a half-Brahmin, half-Muslim figure, who can compete with Pittman, Val Germany, David's generation to match. In this matter Jem Heep was also supported by another member, William T. Forbes.He was the owner of a large factory in which glucose was obtained by treating rags with sulfuric acid, from old clothes.This William T. Forbes was a very steady man, and he had two charming daughters, Dorothy, known as Miss Dole, and Martha, known as Miss Matt.These two old ladies were quite influential in Philadelphia society.

According to Jim Shipp's proposal, which had been endorsed by William T. Forbes and several others, the choice of president of the society should be decided by the "midpoint" method. In fact, this election method is suitable for any occasion where the most competent person needs to be elected, and many far-sighted Americans are already considering using this method to elect the President of the United States. On each of two immaculate white boards draw a black line, both of exact equal length, with as much precision as in triangulating the position of the base of the first triangle.Then, set up the board and place it in the center of the auditorium where the light and brightness are the same. The two competitors each take a thin needle and walk towards their respective white boards at the same time.Whoever could push the needle closer to the halfway point of the black line was elected president of the Weldon Society.

Needless to say, this action must be done all at once, without marking, without groping back and forth, it all depends on one's own eyesight, as the saying goes, if you have a ruler in your eyes, victory or defeat depends on one action. Uncle Prudden and Phil Evans inserted the needle at the same time.Measurements are then taken to determine which of the two competitors is closest to the midpoint. It was a miracle!The movements of the two are so precise that there is almost no difference.Although the two needles were not inserted exactly in the middle, the deviation of the two needles could not be felt by feeling alone, as if the deviation was exactly the same.

This suddenly stumped the members attending the meeting. Fortunately, a member named Truk Milner insisted on re-measurement with another ruler, Mr. Perot's mechanical micrometer.This kind of ruler can divide 1 millimeter into 1,500 equal parts, and the scale of 1500th of a millimeter drawn on the ruler shines with the light of diamonds.After reading the scale with the help of a microscope, the results obtained are as follows: Uncle Pruden was about 15600mm from the midpoint, and Phil Evans was about 15900mm. So Phil Evans was obliged to become Secretary of the Weldon Institution, and Uncle Prudden was declared elected President of the Institution.

The difference is only 1,500 and 3 millimeters!Needing no further reason, Phil Evans began to hate Uncle Prudden.Although this resentment was not expressed, it was very strong. At that time, after a series of experiments carried out since the last quarter of the nineteenth century, some progress had been made on the problem of balloon guidance. Oval balloons with propeller pods hanging from Henri Giffard in 1852, Dupi de Rome in 1872, the Tissandier brothers in 1883 and Captains Kleber and Renard in 1884 Both have had some undeniable success.However, although these flights have been carried out in an atmosphere heavier than them, relying on propeller propulsion, advancing obliquely against the wind, even against the breeze, and later returning to the original point of departure, thus carrying out real "directed flight" ’, but all of these successes took place under extremely favorable climatic conditions.In a tall and wide covered field, very successful!In a calm atmosphere, good!In the small wind of five or six meters per second, it is still passable!However, all these advances have little practical significance.When encountering the wind that can blow the windmill, that is, when the wind speed is 8 meters per second, this kind of flying tool is almost difficult to move; when encountering a slightly stronger wind, that is, when the wind speed is 10 meters per second, they have to Backwards; in a storm, that is, when the wind speed is 25-30 meters per second, they will be blown away by the wind like feathers; in a hurricane, that is, when the wind speed is 45 meters per second, they may become If you encounter a tornado with a wind speed of 100 meters per second, you may not even find the shadow of the aircraft. That is to say, even with the sensational experiments of Captain Kleber and Captain Renard, and despite the increased speed of the airship, it can only withstand the light wind after all.So until then, this aerial locomotive has never been practical. In any case, the engine problem progressed incomparably more rapidly than the problem of balloon guidance, that is, how to obtain a static velocity for the balloon.The steam engine invented by Henri Giffard and the human engine invented by Dupi de Rome have gradually been replaced by electric motors.Using the high-energy chromium-potassium batteries of the Tissandier brothers, the speed of the balloon can reach 4 meters per second, and the average speed of the balloon can reach 6.5 meters per second with the 12-horsepower motors of Captain Kleber and Captain Renard. So engineers and electrical technicians began to seek to make the motor closer and closer to the ideal goal of "each watch-sized volume can generate 1 horsepower".After Captain Kleber and Captain Renard, whose secrets they had been loath to confide, batteries had been surpassed, balloonists followed them with ever smaller and more powerful electric motors. For those believers who believe that airships have practical value, this is indeed encouraging.However, how many people of insight refuse to put this tool into use!Yes, the airship can get support from the atmosphere, but at the same time it is also governed by the environment in which it is placed.As long as it is swayed by its environment, how can its extremely windy hull withstand even moderate winds, even if its propellers are powerful? This is always a problem.However, it is hoped that the problem can be solved by enlarging the mechanical power part. In the race to invent an engine that was both light and powerful, the Americans came closest.An electric motor powered by new batteries (the composition of which was a secret at the time) was already available from a then-obscure chemist in Boston.After careful calculation and precise graphic demonstration, it is shown that the speed of 18-20 meters per second can be obtained by using this machine as power to drive a propeller of appropriate size. Sure enough, it's really amazing! "And the price is not high!" added Uncle Pruden.As he spoke, he took the complete receipt from the inventor and handed him the last wad of dollar bills for the purchase of the invention. Welton learned to get to work right away.As long as a certain experiment has some practical significance, Americans are willing to pay for it.There is no need to set up any joint-stock company, and the funds will flow in.As soon as the call was made, 300,000 U.S. dollars, equivalent to 150,000 francs, were continuously piled into the cash drawer of the society.Led by America's most famous balloonist, Harry U. Tinder, the manufacture of airships began.He has been in the sky thousands of times, and there are three flights that are enough to make him famous: once, he rose to a height of 12,000 meters, far surpassing Guy Lussac, Coxwell, Sai Weil, Croce Spinelli, Tissandier, and Gleicher; on another occasion, he flew from New York to San Francisco, across the entire United States, and the flight was farther than Nadal, Godard, and Many others, including John Wise, who flew the 1,150 miles from St. Louis to Jefferson, were hundreds of miles further; Minor sprain.Pilater de Rozier was not as lucky as he, who fell from a height of 700 feet and died in one fell swoop. As the story begins, it can be said: Welton learns things pretty well.A huge airship has been lying on the Turner site in Philadelphia, and is about to be inspected for its fastness by inflating compressed air.Compared with all the other balloons, this balloon is indeed a colossus. Yes, how big is Nadal's "Giant"? 6,000 cubic meters.Where's John Wise's balloon? 20,000 cubic meters. How big was Giffard's balloon at the 1878 Exposition? 25,000 cubic meters with a radius of 18 meters.If you compare these three airships with the 40,000 cubic meter flying vehicle of the Welton Institute, you can understand why Uncle Prudden and his colleagues have the right to be so arrogant. Since the balloon was not designed to explore the highest atmosphere, it was not named "Excelsior," an adjective that is popular among U.S. citizens.No!Just call it "Go ahead", which means: "Go ahead".Now, as long as it does what the driver wants it to do, it can prove that it lives up to its name. At that time, the electric machine built from the drawings of the system for which the Welton Institute had bought the rights to the invention was also nearing completion.The Forward is expected to take to the skies in less than six weeks. However, as you can see, not all technical difficulties have been solved.They have met many times, not to discuss the shape or size of the propeller, but whether the propeller should be installed in the rear of the airship like the Tissandier brothers, or in the back of the airship like Captain Kleber and Captain Renard. The front of the airship.Needless to say, supporters of the two proposals even fought during the discussions. The number of "Front Faction" and "Rear Faction" is about the same.It stands to reason that when the two factions have different opinions and are at a stalemate, Uncle Prudang's opinion should play a key role.And Uncle Prudang might really be his disciple, but at this moment, he can't say anything. Therefore, there is no way to unify opinions, and there is no way to install the propeller.This situation, unless the government intervenes, will drag on for a long time.However, as we all know, the US government does not like to meddle in private affairs or be involved in things that have nothing to do with it.It does this right. That's how things go. The meeting on June 13th almost failed, or rather, it ended in a terrible row.Everyone abused each other, from insulting to shaking fists, from shaking fists to waving canes, from waving canes to shooting guns... At this moment, at 8:37, a small episode appeared. The janitor of the Welton Society, cold and unperturbed, like a police officer in a stormy meeting, walked up to the rostrum, handed him a business card, and stood aside waiting for Uncle Prudden's instructions . Uncle Pruden did not use bells to silence the venue, he used sirens, because even the Kremlin bells would not be loud enough here!He blew the whistle. ...but the uproar continued unabated.So the chairman "takes off his hat" to salute everyone.With such extreme measures, the venue became a little quieter. "There is an announcement!" said Uncle Pruden, taking a long drag of snuff from the snuff bottle that he always carried with him. "Say it! Say it!" 99 voices shouted in unison. It is really rare to be able to reach a consensus on this point. "Dear colleagues, a stranger wants to enter our conference hall." "Absolutely not 2" all the people replied in unison. "He wants to prove to all of us that whoever believes that balloons can be steered is believing in the most absurd Utopia." Uncle Pruden said again. Then there was a loud noise. "Let him in!...Let him in...!" "What's the name of this weirdo?" asked Phil Evans, the club secretary. "Robier," said Prudden the Great. "Robier! . . . Robier! . . . Robier!" all the people present shouted the name loudly. At the Weldon Society, the reason for the swift unanimity towards the peculiar name was the desire to take out unfinished anger on the person with the name. The storm had subsided for a moment—at least on the surface.For a nation that sends two or three storms to Europe every month in such a furious fashion, can the storm be calmed down?

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