Back | From the Earth to the Moon | Next
Chapter XXIII: 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 Potassium chlorate|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!
Back | From the Earth to the Moon | Next