THE PROJECTILE-VEHICLE
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!