Airborne dynamite, what could go wrong?

What a great idea Mr. E.S. Haines had back in 1884. When rain is needed, send up a balloon, disperse a chemical into the air and, voila! rain will fall.

Kerang Times and Swan Hill Gazette 11 Apr 1884 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65586449

These days we call that cloud seeding, not something I know too much about, but a quick bit of research confirmed something I did know. Not one of the chemicals used currently to make rain is called dynamite.

Mr. Haines idea was;

“to construct a captive balloon capable of carrying 800 cubic feet of hydrogen gas, and to it will be suspended a cask containing 50lb of dynamite. When rain is much needed, the balloon will be sent on a trip to the clouds, and by means of electricity the dynamite will be exploded, with the result, as the inventor anticipates, that copious showers of rain will fall on the land beneath. The explosion will open a valve which will cause the gas to leave the balloon, and the aerial visitor will then slowly return to earth.“

Uh huh.

Australia is a very dry place after all, we need as much rain as we can get and if he thinks that his invention could supply it where needed well, good luck to him.

Just don’t try it over my house.

I have to say that the thought of seeing this invention set into motion is utterly wonderful to me. No, I don’t think rain will fall, well, not the kind of crop saving rain Mr. Haines is expecting anyway.

Along with the stunned and slightly singed birds who were unfortunate enough to be passing by I imagine there will be tiny bits of flaming paper wrapper, marked ACME DYNAMITE of course, floating back to earth.

Naturally I expect there will be bits of balloon returning to earth too, the balloon will of course not be ‘slowly returning to earth’ as expected, it was full of highly flammable hydrogen gas. In my mind’s eye there will either be smoking pieces broadcast across the fields it was supposed to be watering.

I wonder what ‘means of electricity’ will be used to detonate this contraption? I think 1884 was a little early for safe remote detonation. All I can see in my mind’s eye is a person standing directly under the balloon with a long, long, wire and a big red button. How fast do you think the wire will return to earth after the boom? I hope the button pusher is wearing a sturdy helmet….

Fortunately I found this appropriate clip on youtube.

Now imagine the 800 cubic feet of hydrogen gas suspended above 50lb (22kg+) of dynamite like a tiny, tiny Hindenberg. 😉

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Gardening can be deadly.

As you know, the Man and I have been doing a fair bit of work in the garden at the moment. Reading this article from the Herald-Sun website today makes me glad that we aren’t getting any garden supplies delivered from these guys in Perth.

Today a house in Hazelmere, a suburb East of Perth, received a delivery of sand that came from a building site in Perth’s south. Mixed in with this delivery is what appears to be a 14 inch bomb left over from the Second World War.

I say appeared because at the time of writing the street is cordoned off and I expect that people are giving the sand pile quite a wide berth!

After all, if it is an old bomb it has recently been picked up by a mechanical loader and dumped into the back of a truck, driven across town, then spilled out onto the ground. Any one of these indignities could have detonated a live bomb so I think we can assume that it is safe.

Doesn’t mean I would want to be standing poking it with a stick though…

More kids and bombs. 1933.

The Sydney Morning Herald 13 Jul 1933 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16990781

Here is another lot of kids playing with something better left well alone.

Those Mills bombs seemed to be pretty popular with kids didn’t they? I expect that it was because they were easily souvenired by men returning from the war.

Still, having seen the effects of a bomb first-hand, you would think that they would be unlikely to pack one into their bag for the trip home, and even less likely to give them to children!

I wonder if the policeman that commented that the bomb was unlikely to go off ‘unless subjected to unusual violence’ had sons? I doubt it. I have lovely and gentle boys, but when they are playing a battle game things definitely take a turn for the worse!