The Projectile-vehicle

: From The Earth To The Moon

On the completion of the Columbiad the public interest centered

in the projectile itself, the vehicle which was destined to

carry the three hardy adventurers into space.



The new plans had been sent to Breadwill and Co., of Albany,

with the request for their speedy execution. The projectile was

consequently cast on the 2nd of November, and immediately

forwarded by the Eastern Railway to Stones Hill, which it

reached without accident on the 10th of that month, where Michel

Ardan, Barbicane, and Nicholl were waiting impatiently for it.



The projectile had now to be filled to the depth of three feet

with a bed of water, intended to support a water-tight wooden

disc, which worked easily within the walls of the projectile.

It was upon this kind of raft that the travelers were to take

their place. This body of water was divided by horizontal

partitions, which the shock of the departure would have to break

in succession. Then each sheet of the water, from the lowest

to the highest, running off into escape tubes toward the top of

the projectile, constituted a kind of spring; and the wooden

disc, supplied with extremely powerful plugs, could not strike

the lowest plate except after breaking successively the

different partitions. Undoubtedly the travelers would still

have to encounter a violent recoil after the complete escapement

of the water; but the first shock would be almost entirely

destroyed by this powerful spring. The upper parts of the walls

were lined with a thick padding of leather, fastened upon springs

of the best steel, behind which the escape tubes were completely

concealed; thus all imaginable precautions had been taken for

averting the first shock; and if they did get crushed, they

must, as Michel Ardan said, be made of very bad materials.



The entrance into this metallic tower was by a narrow aperture

contrived in the wall of the cone. This was hermetically closed

by a plate of aluminum, fastened internally by powerful

screw-pressure. The travelers could therefore quit their prison

at pleasure, as soon as they should reach the moon.



Light and view were given by means of four thick lenticular

glass scuttles, two pierced in the circular wall itself, the

third in the bottom, the fourth in the top. These scuttles then

were protected against the shock of departure by plates let into

solid grooves, which could easily be opened outward by

unscrewing them from the inside. Reservoirs firmly fixed

contained water and the necessary provisions; and fire

and light were procurable by means of gas, contained in a

special reservoir under a pressure of several atmospheres.

They had only to turn a tap, and for six hours the gas would

light and warm this comfortable vehicle.



There now remained only the question of air; for allowing for

the consumption of air by Barbicane, his two companions, and two

dogs which he proposed taking with him, it was necessary to

renew the air of the projectile. Now air consists principally

of twenty-one parts of oxygen and seventy-nine of nitrogen.

The lungs absorb the oxygen, which is indispensable for the support

of life, and reject the nitrogen. The air expired loses nearly

five per cent. of the former and contains nearly an equal volume

of carbonic acid, produced by the combustion of the elements of

the blood. In an air-tight enclosure, then, after a certain

time, all the oxygen of the air will be replaced by the carbonic

acid-- a gas fatal to life. There were two things to be done

then-- first, to replace the absorbed oxygen; secondly, to

destroy the expired carbonic acid; both easy enough to do, by

means of chlorate of potassium and caustic potash. The former

is a salt which appears under the form of white crystals; when

raised to a temperature of 400 degrees it is transformed into

chlorure of potassium, and the oxygen which it contains is

entirely liberated. Now twenty-eight pounds of chlorate of

potassium produces seven pounds of oxygen, or 2,400 litres-- the

quantity necessary for the travelers during twenty-four hours.



Caustic potash has a great affinity for carbonic acid; and it is

sufficient to shake it in order for it to seize upon the acid

and form bicarbonate of potassium. By these two means they

would be enabled to restore to the vitiated air its life-

supporting properties.



It is necessary, however, to add that the experiments had

hitherto been made in anima vili. Whatever its scientific

accuracy was, they were at present ignorant how it would answer

with human beings. The honor of putting it to the proof was

energetically claimed by J. T. Maston.



"Since I am not to go," said the brave artillerist, "I may at

least live for a week in the projectile."



It would have been hard to refuse him; so they consented to

his wish. A sufficient quantity of chlorate of potassium and

of caustic potash was placed at his disposal, together with

provisions for eight days. And having shaken hands with his

friends, on the 12th of November, at six o'clock A.M., after

strictly informing them not to open his prison before the 20th,

at six o'clock P.M., he slid down the projectile, the plate of

which was at once hermetically sealed. What did he do with

himself during that week? They could get no information.

The thickness of the walls of the projectile prevented any

sound reaching from the inside to the outside. On the 20th

of November, at six P.M. exactly, the plate was opened.

The friends of J. T. Maston had been all along in a state of

much anxiety; but they were promptly reassured on hearing a

jolly voice shouting a boisterous hurrah.



Presently afterward the secretary of the Gun Club appeared at

the top of the cone in a triumphant attitude. He had grown fat!