The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1876-07-28

Through the Air Like a Hle-
teOr.
From the Philadelphia Press.
The claimants for aerostatic re-
nowD, like the seekers after the
philosophers stone of old and the
secret of perpetual motion in these
latter days, are neither few nor far
between, but somehow their claims
TINS far have proved baseless, and
their visions of fame and profit
have faded away as have those of
the wild lunatics who only want
zone more cog" or "just another
screw" to perfect the machine
which shall rival eternity itself.
But Prof. Schroeder, the inventor
of the air-ship, has none of the APP
pearance of 3 visionary. On the
contrary, he seems to be shrewd,
common-sense man of business,
who counts the cost of an under
taking carefully, and never attem-
pts responsibilities. His air. ship,
which Is now being built at Forti-
eth street and Girard avenue, is to
be rs feet long, five feet high, and
four and one-half feet wide in the
center. 1t is to be pointed at both
ends, and will be supported by
balloon of an elliptical shape, 40
feet long, so feet high in the center
and capable of holding 5000 Gu
bic feet of hydrogen gas. 1t will
be fastened to the ship by 500 lines,
some upright and others stretched
from end to end. These "guys," as
the professor calls them, are calcu.
lated to keep the balloon from
awaying TO and fro, and also to
keep 1t setting snug to the ship.
The latter Is frame OF iron wire,
shaped somewhat like a flattened
cigar. At the forward end 1t is to
carry q pulling-propeller, made of
plate steel, covered with canvass.
1t will have two blades, and turn
on O two-inch steel shaft fifteen
feet long. The motive power will
be an electromagnetic engine of
twelve-horse power, which Prof
Whale, of the Polytechnic, is now
constructing. The engine is to have
an eighty-pound magaet. There
are said to be three rudders, one
ait and one each side. The stern
rudder, of steel, like the propeller,
will be eight feet hegh and seven
feet deep, and the side-rudders,
placed Q little forward of the center
of the ship, will be four and one
half feet high and five feet deep.
Tho interior of the ship will be fit
ted with hanging seats, and will ac-
commodate thirty or forty persons,
Her weight when covered with can
vas, Rill be $50 pounds. The gas
uaed iato be passed through a puri-
fer and. will average $3.50 cubic
feet to the pound, aud have lifting
power of one and one-fourth Oun-
ces per cubic foot. There will &C
tually be two balloons in one, that
on the inside being of twilled mus
lin, and the outer one of eight
ounce cotton duck. Should the
inner balloon burst, the outer will
form parachute, which will lower
the ship slowly and safely to the
earth. Prof. Schroeder says his
ship is not an experiment. It is
simply an Improvement on former
models. He had q ship of this kind,
he says, in Rio de Janeiro, except
that it had pushing, and not a
pulling propeller, and succeeded
we'll with it. 1t observed its helm
like frigate of the line, and shot
through the air like q meteor. He
also sailed In an air ship with Dep
uty de Lhome, the Paris aeronaut,
and although it was clumsily con-
strocted, aud had the Objectionable
pushing propeller, it still made
good time and obeyed its helm.
The professor proposes to exhibit
his invention during the Centenni-
al, after which he intends to start
for Europe. He says that by fol-
lowing the atmospheric currents
over the gulf stream he can make
from 60 to $50 miles an hour in
other words, that he can cross the
Atlantic in AZ hours or less. An
other use that he intends to put his
machine to is to photograph bodies
nf water. The surface of the wa
teD7 he says, forms a powerful re-
fleetor, and thus under favc rable
it is possible to pho
tograph the bottom of the sea, even,
provided . sufficient altitude can be
attained, and the balloon kept still
long enough to permit the use of
the instrument. The professor in
tends to photograph the bottom of
the Schuylkill river this summer.
He says he can make his ship stand
stationary as long as he chooses.