CHAPTER IV
THE EQUIPMENT
FOR THE VOYAGE
The equipment for the voyage consisted, for the most part, of the following:
1. The ship that bore us away to a foreign world and in due time transported us back to earth again and landed us safe at home. This craft together with its propelling machinery and other necessary installments was not only a strange-looking and complicated piece of mechanism, but a thing of magnitude, strength, and beauty, as well.
(a) This most mysterious of all conveyances, which by its power to neutralize the force of gravitation and to propel itself rapidly through space without a resisting medium has placed us in close touch and direct communication with other worlds than ours, was primarily divided into a sitting room and an air dome. In shape the sitting room was that of a right octagonal prism and contained in round numbers, one hundred and fifty-five thousand cubic feet of breathing space. The dome resembled an egg slightly flattened on the sides and placed on end with the point directly upward and had a volume of eight hundred and sixty thousand cubic feet. In other words, this ship had a floor whose perimeter was two hundred and thirty feet, and a dome with a circumference of three hundred and forty-six feet; and when placed in an upright position or sitting posture it stood two hundred and thirty-four feet in the air.
(b) The sitting room contained six observation windows each of which consisted of a perfectly transparent pane of glass two by three feet and ten inches thick, which were strengthened by a wide border of thick steel plate and closely fitted into the openings by means of broad, deep, metal-lined grooves. It was estimated that these panes were capable of safely resisting fifteen thousand pounds of atmospheric pressure at the level of the sea. A rostrum twelve feet wide and fourteen inches high bordered by a balustrade of heavy nickel-plated wire with four-inch meshes extended entirely around the room.
(c) The dome was divided by partitions into six apartments for carrying compressed air, all of which communicated directly with the sitting room but not with one another. The separating of the dome into several chambers was a precaution against losing all of the pent-up air, during our transits, in the event of a puncture by flying meteoric stones.
(d) A steel pipe or barrel ten inches in diameter and with an eight-inch bore extended from one of the chambers in the dome directly downward through the sitting room. All objects to be cast out were discharged through this pipe. A circular door supported by a strong hinge opened into the pipe from the sitting room. Through this opening into the pipe the object to be thrown overboard was passed, after which the door was closed and fastened by means of a strong, close-fitting, steel band, and then compressed air was turned on from the dome. In this way any object not too large could easily and quickly be expelled either gently or with great force.
(e) The floor, the walls, and the partitions of both the sitting room and the dome were very thick and strong and consisted, for the most part, of alternate layers of thick, heavy paper, large sheets of hard wood and of steel plate five-eighths inches thick thoroughly coated over with pitch and drawn closely together by means of strong steel bolts and nuts.
(f) The whole of the exterior of the ship was coated with thick, highly-polished plates of aluminum, which at a distance gave it a pale-blue, translucent appearance; and when fully exposed to the bright light of the sun, this stupendous craft glistened like an iceberg.
(g) The curved surface of the dome and the hard material of which the walls and the partitions were constructed, together with the manner in which they were built and braced, made them absolutely air-tight and capable of resisting almost any degree of atmospheric pressure from within and gave at least a partial guarantee against punctures by flying missiles from without. The entire cost of both the material and the construction was approximately two and a half millions of dollars.
(h) Seven huge compressors were installed–one in each apartment–and thus became practically a part of the ship. These condensers were mainly for the purpose of compressing air into the chambers of the ship in the event it was found that the atmosphere surrounding the moon was too highly rarefied, in its natural state, for breathing purposes.
(i) Three large Edison storage batteries of the submarine-boat type also were installed, and like the compressor became practically an essential part of the craft. These batteries furnished heat for the physical comfort of the passengers and the crew and for lighting and cooking purposes, and kept the pent-up air in a wholesome state for breathing. The potash solution with which this particular type of battery is charged absorbs carbon-dioxide, while an appliance for generating oxygen completes the system of air-purification and rejuvenation. There was sufficient potash in the three batteries installed to absorb all the carbon-dioxide expelled by the persons on board the ship in a period of twelve months. Mr. Edison had practically completed this type of battery by the close of the year 1912, and it was this that made voyages to other worlds possible and led Capt. Ewald to lend his intellectual energy to inventing the mysterious running gear of his ship. Before the installation of these batteries they were subjected to the most drastic tests to prove their fitness for the important service which they were to render.
Plate 7. Capt. Ewald’s Mysterious Craft
The ship that bore us away to a foreign world and in due time transported us backto earth again and landed us safe at home.
2. Fifteen couches–one for each member of our party–and an abundance of heavy, comfortable bedding.
3. Fifteen suits of clothing made of high-grade, heavy material, and much after the pattern and kind usually worn by arctic explorers.
4. Approximately one million cubic feet of air indicating a barometric pressure of sixty pounds to the square inch, and a sufficient quantity of plain but wholesome and nourishing food for the entire party for a period of twelve months, including six thousand gallons of water, a coop of five dozen chickens, six pigeons, and a gander.
5. Five dozen closed copper helmets which while were touring the moon, rendered a service without price. A more minute description of this helmet and how it was equipped will be given in a subsequent chapter.
6. One thousand feet of half-inch hemp rope, two and a half dozen pairs of heavy gloves, and forty-five pairs of climbing shoes.
7. Fifteen heavy reclining chairs with cushion bottoms, fifteen small legless tables which folded beneath the arms of the chairs, and two cooking stoves.
8. A Ford car, a Wright biplane of mammoth proportions, and a goodly supply of gasoline and storage batteries. These machines were taken along in the confident hope and belief that the surface conditions on the moon would be reasonably favorable to our making in them interesting and profitable, short, side-trips from our stops along, while touring our neighboring little world. These means of conveyance were selected from among other makes on account of the genuine service which they render in the way of speed and endurance due largely to the high-grade material of which they are built and the excellency of workmanship put into them.
9. One twelve-inch, clear-aperture, telescope and some spectroscopic attachments obtained from the Yerkes Observatory at Williams Bay, Wis., and one dozen small high-power telescopes.
10. A theodolite with armillary-sphere attachments, a cabinet of drawing and plotting instruments, and a ream of paper.
11. A dozen thermometers and as many barometers, a supply of chemical apparatus including blow-pipes, spirit-lamps, retorts, etc., and a supply of chemicals.
12. A typewriter, one and a half dozen ear trumpets, seven clocks and nine watches, and a photographer’s complete outfit.
13 One spade with a long narrow steel blade, one common chopping ax, three rock picks, two sledge hammers, one drill, and a supply of fuse, powder, and dynamite.
14. A supply of tacks, screws, and small bolts and nuts; a hundred-pound coil of No. 14 wire; two or three armloads of light, hard, finishing lumber; three bolts of strong, high-grade ducking, and a half dozen buckets of black paint and three paint brushes.
15. One small chest of handy and useful little tools, such as gimlets, hammers, scissors, screw drivers, wire pliers, etc.