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

As long as anyone says no! Yeah?When it's time to say it, say it! Not afraid of your threat! Be careful what you say, Bart.Fern! Uncle Prudang, you should be careful what you say! I just don't think the propeller should be in the tail! That's our opinion too!Fifty voices spoke in unison. wrong!It should be in the front!Another fifty voices responded loudly, not to be outdone. This way, there will never be consensus! Never possible! So what's the use of arguing? This is not an argument!Here's the 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 Institute.It is based at Walnut Road in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America, and Walnut Road 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.Although this was no more than an ordinary meeting of balloonists, the discussion was on 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 is neither a port nor a coal mine or an oil base, nor a manufacturing center nor a railway junction, but it is larger than Berlin, Manchester, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Vienna, Dublin, St. Petersburg; The total area of ​​the Great Park is even larger.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 Masonic Church, the most beautiful church of the Freemasons, 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 balloonists, wearing top hats, agitated, rioting, gesticulating, talking, and quarreling, were all headed by a single president of the club, who had a secretary and a treasurer as assistants.These guys aren't professional engineers, not at all, they're just balloon enthusiasts, but these are very serious enthusiasts, and they have nothing to do with people who want to use heavier-than-air machines, like flying machines, or spaceships, or whatever. Whoever replaces the balloon is 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.

This chairman is the well-known Philadelphia celebrity and the famous Uncle Prudang, whose surname is Prudang.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 Prudent is a prominent figure. Although his surname is Prudent (Note: prudent, meaning prudent.), he is 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 Nicaragua Falls, so how can he not be rich?At that time, Buffalo established a waterfall development engineering company, which is indeed a very profitable business!Niagara Falls flows 7,500 cubic meters per second, generating 7 million horsepower.Distributing this huge amount of energy to factories within a radius of 500 kilometers can make a profit of 1.5 billion francs every year, and part of it will flow 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. This man's name is 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 there is no Uncle Prudang, Phil.Evans could have been the happiest man in America, if not the world.They were both of the same age, both forty-five, and equally strong enough to take any beating; they had the same courage, and the same unwillingness to trade the sure and sure advantages of celibacy for the difficulty of married life. Foretold happiness.They should be a pair of natural confidants, but they don't understand each other, and both of them have great personalities: Uncle Prudang has a hot temper, and Phil.Evans kept it secret.

why philHad Evans not become president of the Society?He and Uncle Pruden were always tied in the votes, 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 to rule. This person is the treasurer of the Weldon Society, Jim.chypre.Jim.Hipp is a staunch vegetarian, does not eat meat, does not drink alcohol, a half-Brahmin, half-Muslim figure, who can compete with the famous figures of this half-crazy sect of harmless people, Pittman, Wald, Day Wei's generation rivals.

In this matter, Jim.Shipp also got another member William.special.Backed by 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.special.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 this has won William.special.Forbes and several others have supported the suggestion that the society's president should be determined using 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, there was a man named Truk.Milner's members insisted on re-measurement with another ruler, Mr. Perrault's mechanical micrometer.This kind of ruler can divide a millimeter into 1500 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 Prudden is about 15600ths of a millimeter from the midpoint, Phil.Evans is about 15900mm. That's it, Phil.Evans was obliged to become secretary of the Welton Society, and Uncle Prudden was declared elected president of the Society. The difference is only 1,500 and 3 millimeters!Need no more reason, Phil.Evans began to hate Uncle Prudden.Although this resentment was not expressed, it was very strong. At that time, some progress had been made on the problem of balloon guidance through a series of experiments carried out since the last quarter of the nineteenth century.In 1852 Henry.Giffard, Dippy in 1872.De.Romm, the Tissandier brothers in 1883, and the oval balloons with propeller-propelled pods of Captain Kleber and Captain Renard in 1884 all had some not-to-be-ignored successes .However, although these flights have been carried out in an atmosphere heavier than themselves, relying on propeller propulsion, advancing obliquely against the wind, or even against the breeze, and later returning to the original point of departure, thus carrying out real directional 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 eight meters per second, this kind of flying tool is almost impossible to move; when encountering a slightly stronger wind, that is, when the wind speed is ten meters per second, they have to When encountering a storm, that is, when the wind speed is 25︱30 meters per second, they will be blown away by the wind like feathers; when encountering a hurricane, that is, when the wind speed is 45 meters per second, they will Maybe it will be smashed to pieces; if it encounters a tornado with a wind speed of 100 meters per second, it may even be impossible to 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 aerodynamic vehicle has never been practical. In any case, the engine problem proceeded incomparably more rapidly than the problem of balloon guidance, that is, how to obtain a static velocity for the balloon.Henry.The steam engine invented by Giffard and Dippy.De.The human engine invented by Rohm has gradually been replaced by electric motors.Using the high-energy chromium-potassium batteries of the Tissandier brothers, the speed of the balloon can reach four meters per second, and the average speed of the balloon can reach six meters per second with the twelve-horsepower electric motors of Captain Kleber and Captain Renard.five meters. So engineers and electricians began to seek the ideal goal of making the electric motor closer and closer to producing one horsepower in a watch-sized volume.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 eighteen to twenty 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!Uncle Pruden added.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 start doing it 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 a joint-stock company, and the funds will flow in.As soon as the call was issued, three hundred thousand dollars, equivalent to one hundred and fifty thousand francs, were continuously piled into the cash drawer of the society.By the most famous American balloon pilot Harry.Wu.Under the leadership of Tinder, the manufacture of airships began.He has been to the sky thousands of times, and there are three flights that can make him famous: one time he rose to a height of 12,000 meters, far exceeding the height of the given.Lussac, Coxwell, Sewell, Crosser.Spinelli, Tissandier, and Gleicher, among others; on another occasion, he flew from New York to San Francisco, across the United States, and flew farther than Nadal, Godard, and many others, among whom Including John who once flew 1,150 miles from St. Louis to Jefferson.Wise, hundreds of leagues away; the third time he fell from fifteen hundred feet and suffered only a slight sprain to his right wrist.Like Pilatel.De.Rozier was not so fortunate as he fell from a height of seven hundred feet and was killed instantly. 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 monster. Yes, how big is Nadal's Colossus?Six thousand cubic meters.John.Where's Wise's balloon?Twenty thousand cubic meters.How big was Giffard's balloon at the 1878 Exposition?two.Fifty thousand cubic meters, with a radius of eighteen meters.If you compare these three airships with the 40,000-cubic-meter flying vehicle learned by Weldon, you can understand why Uncle Prudden and his colleagues have the right to be so arrogant. Since the balloon was not used to explore the highest atmosphere, it did not use the adjective Excelsior, although this adjective is very popular among American citizens.No!Just call it Goahead casually, which means: move forward.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 mounted on the back of the airship like the Tissandier brothers, or in the airship like Captain Kleber and Captain Renard. Front part.Needless to say, supporters of the two proposals even fought during the discussions.The number of front and back factions 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.Uncle Prudang might really be a disciple of Professor Bi Lidang (Note), but at this moment, he can't express any opinions. (Note) Jean Buridan (Jean Buridan, 1300︱1366), a French scholastic philosopher, is famous for his argument on donkeys.A hungry and thirsty donkey found a bundle of grass and a bucket of water in two places at equal distances from it, and died because it could not decide whether to eat grass or drink water first.People often used to describe being indecisive between the two like Bi Lidang's donkey. 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 thirteenth almost failed, or rather, it ended in a terrible uproar.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 occurred. 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 didn't use bells to silence the venue, he used sirens, because even the Kremlin bells wouldn't be loud enough here!He blew the whistle.But the noise continued unabated.So the chairman took 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-box which he always carried with him. Speak!Speak!Ninety-nine 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.All the people answered in unison. He is trying to prove to us all that whoever believes that balloons can be steered believes in the most absurd Utopia.Uncle Prudang said again. Then there was a loud noise. let him in!let him in! What's the name of this weirdo?Club Secretary Phil.Evans asked. Robier.Uncle Prudang said. Robbie!Robbie!Robbie!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 calmed down for a while, 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?