June1999
go andscreamed to altitude where you parachutedout. Usually
February1999)!ThomSheppard,ourfavor-iteEnglishEx-well over a thousand feetup.
Patriot, left no holds barred in an E-mail reprimanding me for myI wouldfinditrarethatIcouldheatupamodernhotair
errors and snide presentation. I think he was especially dismayedballoon with clearclean propaneburner effluent and beableto get
to perceive that I didn’t already knowabout the good Rev. Baconmore than a few hundred feet of rise before leveling off (without
andhismodernTurnof the Century hot air balloon.more heat). Would that be because of adiabatic cooling of the hot
Turn ofthe LASTCentury, that is. I was also admonished forair? Now if it had a whole bunch of carbonparticles suspended
makingfunofthe Englishvernacular.I didn’tmeanto.I wasin the air, those particles could be heat sinks that would feed heat
reallytrying to “Setthe mood” of my bumbling progress on thebackintotheairasitcooled,maintainingtheliftforthefull
Motorways and byways. I have always found it delightful to visitascent. The myth of needing soot tocoat the cottonisjust that.
strange places. (Last week I went to Weyerhaeuser, Wisconsin toThe sootis really to prolong the retentionof the heat energy.
visitthePiccardMedicalCorporationandal-Inthelastcolumn,IspeculatedthatEn-
mostboughta1920JohnDeeresteelluggedgland,withitslimitedexpanse,providedan
wheel tractor for Willie’sfarm.)idealvenueforhotairascomparedtogas.
SomycompleteapologiestomymanyMaybe that was not so great a point, as, one, the
friendsandidolsinEngland,aswellasallgasavailablethenwascitygas.Citygaswas
Anglophiles everywhere, if I trod on any toes. Itwidelyavailableandcheap.Two,thefolks
was inadvertent, to saythe least. Maybe I can’tballooning were people like Hedges Butler and
say the samefor Cheeseheads. Oops, sorry Thom.C. S. Rolls, so cost maynot have been much of
ButtheMysterycontinues.Whydidn’ta factor. Three, I doubtthat suchpeople hefted
Rev.Baconbringhomethebaconwithhismanyofthe“DownoneDiamond”sandbags
balloon? Westillhaven’tgotEduardRaven’sthemselves, sothe physicaleffortrequiredfor
arti cleab outBrenn er’sb alloo nin“Dergasballooningmaynothavebeensocritical,
Freiballon” translated yet, so I can’t be sure. Buteither.MaybeBacon’sballoondidnotreally
I still think that his burner systemwasjust toohave any appreciable advantage over the exist-
complicated. Early partial translations also indi-inggasballoons.Anditmusthavehadthe
cate thatthe cotton wasconsidered unsatisfac-disadvantage of noise. The pictures can’t show
tory because it would have short life in a hot airthat.
balloonenvironmentandsocouldnotbeap-Could the Hindenburg syndrome be reason
provedby the Germanauthorities.theVulcooncaughtonwhere its predecessors
The Bacon burner (NO! don’t flame me ondied on the vine? Helium sport ballooning was
that,IamNOTtalkingaboutmywife.),thenota possibilityin the 50’s and60’s. It seems
picture shown with the previous column is nowthat it is onlygrowing now from the broad base
right side up, and in color was very simple andofhot air balloonists. Thatis, without the suc-
almostidenticaltothecurrentburnersonthecess of the modern hot air balloon, we would not
market, if not better.have the current popularity of Charliere’s and de
The lategreatJamesContosattemptedtoRoziere’s.Ifwecouldgetaroundthecostof
fly a “Modern”hot airballoon, but the date ofhishelium, and the effort of sandbagging, perhaps
Donnybrookisindoubtduetoquestionablewecouldseeasimilarexpansionofgasbal-
witness affidavits. Besides, he used cotton, tooloons.
and it did not hold the lift.Current comment saysBut my mystery at Ashbridge (sic) contin-
that cotton hot air balloons have to be “Smokedues.Ifyouhaveanythoughtsonthematter,
Up” to close the poreswithsoottoholdthe hotplease throw them into the discussionby an E-
air in. But that wouldholdtrue for anyfabric.mailtoDonPiccard@USA.netor snail mailto
Let us look at another phenomenon. The smoketheeditor.Awaitingyourcomments,Iagain
balloons thatrequiredsootingup didnot carrymust close with“ToBe Continued.”
fire on board. You got her pulsatinghot, let herThe Bacon burner
