5

‘2 .

THE COLLEGE NEWS

Page Five





Mrs. Piccard Relates
Story. of Air Flight



‘ -Continued from Page One

the earliest balloon models. In 1783,
Moptgolfier built the world’s first bal-
loon and ascended with it into the air.
Although it was satisfactory for his
little’ excursions, it was nevertheless
very imperfect. It lacked a valve to
control the inflation of the bag, and
the sole means of managing the de-
gree of altitude was by throwing bal-
last over the side of the,cage. More-
over, the balloon was enclosed in a net,
to which the gondola was attached.
In altitude flying, the extra weigt, of
the net is a: hindrance; its ropes are
easily torn by the expansion of the
bag; and they are apt to break away
from the cage if this is subjected to
any strong pressure.

August Piccard, the brother and
fellow-worker of Dr. Jean Piccard,
planned a balloon on entirely different
principles. He hung his cabinet on
the lower catenary of the balloon it-
self. A valve was built-on the top of

. the bag and controlled by a rope run-

ning down through the. balloon into the
gondola. In order that it might not



There was much danger in prepar-
ing for the ascent. The valve rope
stretching down through the balloon

might becorhe entangled half way, and

then the gas would have to be let out
again, as half way up in the ‘balloon
was a height equivalent to that of a
seven story building. The bag might
become unevenly inflated. The infla-
tion was guided by a system of rais-
ing and lowering flags, and at each
lowering of the flags the men holding
the inflation ropes walked forward a

specified length; then inspectors: walk-’

ed all around the bag to see that the
ropes were even.

Another ‘danger was that when the
hydrogen collected in the top. of the

| balloon, which was to be only 1-6 full,

the empty material below might be
sucked together or up toward the top.
As this had occurred in previous bal-
loons, Dr. Piccard had iyvented for
his bag an appendix much larger than
usual held by a steel ring and stopped
by a cover easily unfastened by a long
rope. Mrs. Piccard held the rope dur-
ing’ the inflation and, when the order
was. giver, pulled it and let air rush
in to fill the lower part of the bag.
The hydrogen and oxygen of the in-
rushing. air did not unite in a fire,

be injured in inflation or in taking off,,)since they were not in the propir pro-

this. balloon. was. anchored to the
ground by a most elaborate system, of
ropes going to the posts, which could
be released only from the balloon it-
self. -To do this was. Mrs. Piccard’s
job; she perched on top of the gon-
dola, and simply exploded each rope
with two inches of TNT and an elec-
tric motor to set it off.



portions.

The metal gondola of» the balloon
was curiously painted; the upper
hemisphere was white and the lower
black. This coloring was to regulate
the temperature inside and to keep the
heads of the occupants cold while their
feet should be warm, for the black
absorbed heat from the earth, while





MILLIONS MORE
~FOR FINER TOBACCOS

’ Camels are made from
finer, MORE EXPENSIVE







the white reflected back ‘the heat from
the sun. To regulate the breathin:
quality of the air inside the gondola,
tanks of oxygen were carried, but only

in their inner casings, as no weight |

not absolutely necessary’ was allowed
on the ship. Various chemicals were
exposed to absorb the carbon dioxide
and the organic compounds resulting
from human breathing, while other
chemicals were used to dry the air.

Of the instruments in the gondola,
those for measuring the intensity and
frequency of cosmig rays’ were most
important, as the investigation of
these rays, rather than any altitude
record, was the purpose of the Piccard
flight. Dr. Milliken, of California, had
constructed an ionization chamber for
discovering the intensity of the cosmiic
rays, and this was installed in the
gondalo, but it was of use only in the
case of the harder rays. The Bartow
Research Foundation provided guide
counters designed by Dr. Swan, which
were most helpful, Each of these con-
sisted of a tube, a wire, and two elec-
trodes. When a cosmic ray entered
the tube, it ionizéd the gases ,there,
producing an _ electric current. Al-
though the current was feeble, it could
be magnified by radio tubes and made



to almost anything at all. The Pic-
JEANNETT’S
BRYN MAWR FLOWER.
SHOP, Inc.

Mrs. N. S. T. Grammet
823 Lancaster Avenue
BRYN MAWR, PA.

Phone 570

-cards made it*turn the hands of a







clock... Each ray moved the hands for-
ward one second; at the end of ever:
thirty actual seconds, the clock wa.
photographed, Thus the frequency of
the rays was determined. By these
counters vertical and horizontal rays
and rays at angles of 60 degrees and
30 degrees were recorded. The bal-
loon itself was rotated in the air bya
propellor so that rays in all quarters
of the compass as well might be stud-
ied. It.was found that in the strath-
osphere horizontal rays are very com-
parable to vertical, and there are 50
per cent; as many horizontal as verti-
cal rays. Thése discoveries reveal the
effect of earth’s magnetic field on the
cosmic ray.

Outside the gondola hung a baro-
gram to register the altitude of the
flight. It was sealed up and could not
be unsealed on landing except in the
presence of respectable witnesses to
testify that the seals were unbroken
until that minute and that therefore
the records had not been tampered



P.)
Luncheon 40c ~50c - 75¢

Telephone: Bryn Mawr 386



‘conducted experiments
| proven that genius .is possessed by
| wits as often as by boys.



BRYN MAWR COLLEGE INN
TEA ROOM

vith ‘during the fight. An‘ electric
hermometer also /hung outside dnd
registered minus 49% degrees’ Ceriti-
grade in the strathosphere. <



Rabbits’ feet may be the pet good
luck pieces of most football players,
but Eddie Rolen, sophomore basket-
ball forward of the Michigan State
College five, trusts his fate to a bed
caster. Rolen carried a bed -caster
throughout high school as a good luck
omen, and he still retained it when he
became a member of the Spartan
squad. “When: he enters a gante he
always hands the caster to Edward
Kemp, student manager,’ for. safe-
keeping. Very few are allowed to

handle it because of fear the special
charm it is supposed to’ hold
escape.

will



Prof. Paul A. Witty, of Northwest-
ern University (Evanston, IIl.), has
which have

——_—

Dinner 85c - $1.25

Meals a la carte and table d’hote
Daily and Sunday 8.30 A. M. to 7.30 P.M.
Afternoon Teas

BRIDGE, DINNER PARTIES AND TEAS MAY BE ARRANGED
MEALS SERVED ON THE TERRACE WHEN WEATHER PERMITS
THE PUBLIC IS INVITED

Miss Sarah Davis, Manager







“WHEN ‘BLUE?’ spells come
on or I’m tired and jittery
from a busy day; I. turn to
Camels. In no time after

smoking a Camel,

fatigue

slips away. I have the energy ‘
to face the next task. And
what a delightful flavor
Camels have! I never seem

to tire of them.”

(Signed)

ELIZABETH CAGNEY,’35

“STUDIES ARE HARDER than they used to be,”
says Bissett, ’35. “Competition in all outside activities
is keener. I’m studying law myself—insurance law. The

prospect of combing over old case histories at night—
reading up on dry precedents and decisions — is pretty

heavy going—especially as I’m tired to begin with!

But Camels help me through. If I feel too tired to con-
centrate, I sit back and light a Camel. Soon I feel re-

freshed. I can renew my studies with fresh energy. As—

TOBACCOS — Turkish and
Domestic — than any
other popular brand.”

(Signed)

Ro OREYNOLDS: TOBACCO COMPANY
Winston-Salem; North Carolina

oe
Copyright, 1935
R. J. Reynolds Tob. Co. ~

TUNE IN ON THE CAMEL CARAVAN
Featuring WALTER O'KEEFE + ANNETTE HANSHAW

10:00p.m. E.S.T.
9:00p.m. C.S.T.

ANNETTE HANSHAW

Camels taste so grand, I smoke a lot. But I have never
had Camels bother my nerves.”

(Signed) WILLIAM F. BISSETT, '35

HIT SHOW OF THE AIR!

GLEN GRAY’S CASA LOMA

TUESDAY

8 :00p.m. M.S.T.
7:00p.m. P.S.T.

9:00p.m. E.S.T.
8:00 p.m. .C.S.T.

“THERE ARE PLENTY of
times when Iget tired. Then

I smoke a Camel. For I have

ORCHESTRA
THURSDAY

always noticed that Camels
help a lot in easing the strain
and renewing my ‘pep.’ I
smoke Camels a lot. They
taste so good, and never

affect my nerves.”” (Signed)

9 :30p.m. M.S.T.
8:30p.m. P.S.T.

OVER COAST-TO-COAST WABC-COLUMBIA NETWORK .

ER GET ON YOUR NERVES! |



E. H. PARKER, Chief Pilot

Eastern Air Lines