Viewing page 20 of 102

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-18-

I learned by many experiences to be ready for quick storms. Having had considerable trouble with them, I added additional equipment for the protection of the balloon while it was anchored in the open and thereafter was quite successful in saving the outfit where previously I had met with losses.

My ventures in the field of Meteorology taught me that thunder storms were one of the hazards to be avoided whenever possible. I studied them carefully and finally concluded that the balloon was much safer when free in the air than it was on the ground. My training with the telephone company led me to the conclusion that all bodies and particles floating freely in the air become charged more or less with positive static electricity, particularly in a thunder storm. This static would not be dangerous unless discharged in the immediate vicinity of the gas and not then unless it were possible to unite with a negative charge which logically would be on the ground. Therefore, the point where danger was possible would be on or near the ground where the balloon would discharge to the negative. The possibility of being struck by a direct bolt of lightning seemed to be remote, as the balloon would not attract but, being of a like force, would repel. The static as it accumulated would jump to and join the bolt on its discharge to the ground.

With this belief firmly entrenched in my mind, I determined to try an experiment feeling certain the only possible thing that could happen would be the bursting of the balloon itself. In such an event, I hoped that the deflating balloon would act as a parachute to bring me down to safety.

The opportunity to experiment came when I had an engagement at a small county fair in southern Ohio, during the summer of 1903. The middle west is an ideal place for the manufacturing of first