Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-07-14
AN AIR SHIP.
Aerial Navigation to be Easily Per
 formed.
Scientific Description of Vessel and Its Forces that VIII Sail the Airy
 AIain-A Great Invention.


 the model of an air ship being built in this city, and the matter of secrecy thrown over the work on account of the manufacturers proposal to regulate the supply of gas when up from the earth. Otherwise the ar ship will not be unlike many other cigar-shaped vessels that have been caused so successfully
 Tn the air to float
 A easy as a wooden boat"
 So far the experiments have proved successful on small scale, and it stands to reason that they may work as success fully on a larger scale. There will be no patent applied .for,' in this case, be- cause the gentleman thinks that no analysis or assay can possibly discover the secret of the rapidity with which he can manufacture gas.
 Last evening a CITIZEN reporter met the discoverer at the plaza. Fearing the reporter might recognize the locality of the shop where theslsrge- sized air ship is being built, the gentleman sum moned one of Doc Millard's hacks, which together he and the reporter entered. The latter had to submit to having his eyes blindfOl0ed, while the hack took various and Clrcultous turns, and after half an hours driving, the two alighted, and on having the blinds removed the reporter found himself m a carpenter shop. Piles of Oregon pine stood on one side. 4 bench with the ordinary tools was along the other side. ShRvlngs were all over the floor. Two or three railroad lanterns adorned the dingy place In the center was a clgaT-shaped vessel about ten feet long and two feet wide that WAS built of pine, thin yet strong, and flat -bottomed. In its rear Is a large-sized screw and rudder, also made of wood, but strengthened with tempered wire. The vessel was lifted and proved to be quite light and strong enough Tor ar sailing, as 1t IS never intended to touch the water. The screw ID this present instance Is to be turned by hand, as the vessel Is too small to use steam, but may provide itself with an electric motor. It Is a well known fact that ar ships are in existence that are propelled by screws. This tiny beat, now finished, will be painted in patriotic colors. It will be elevated in the air by regular gas bal loon. The balloon will be known as what IS called a double sack that is, a balloon within 8 balloon. This will be for purposes of protection in case the outer bag should be rent by trees or birds and its gas escape.
 Well" sad the reporter, after taking m the machine, "I don't catch OIL to anything remarkable in this balloon business. Frank Marriott has an aero plane that flies all around the pavilion once every year at the Mechanics far, and McGlashan, of Santa Barbara, has some kind of a patent one that IS 10 run along near tO the earth, attached to 8 small wire cable. and l don't see that since the days of Montgolfer that navi- gators of the air have only been able to do anything but go up, let out their gas, and descend
 That's just 1t exactly answered the discoverer.
 You see. continued the gentleman, that all successful inventions of man are copied after the models of nature. The best boats are built fish-hke, and why not copy nature Tn aerial nayIga-
 
 quetly along the bottom of a river, when without any apparent movement 1t suddenly rises to the surface. If It IS swimming, and 1t meets a current too strong to overcome it rises above or falls below the force of the current, and thus pursues the even tenor of its way. The fsh's ability to thus ascend or descend 1 in the aqueous fluid Is mainly and oft | times solely due to his control of his ar l sack. which .s as the balloon while the fish IS the ship. The fish IS able to reg ulate the supply of the amount of air. If he is at the bottom of a pond and he sees a fly on the surface he manufac- lures a sufficient quantity of air on the spot, injects 1t into the sack, and ascends | to his feast. Now as air IS to water so Is gas 70 air. The question Is, how can as easily as the fish manufacture my gas | so I can ascend or descend in the air at | my pleasure and avoiding contrary winds pursue any continued direction | please: This has been the great fail l ure of aronauts since MOntgOliier. | have solved the difficult problem, but l | do not propose to explain how. l am l not much of a mechanic, but If l can | make my machine work smoothly pro- l pose to visit the Central Africa next | winter, and the North Pole next sum- | mer, stopping to chat with the Schiet- felin boys on the Yukon river on my | way home. I shall make my first trial trip to the Sierra Madres.
 That's all very fine air-castling, ob- l served the reporter, but can't you gi-e us some idea of the supply-cegulatlon | matter.
 Yes, I will explain, replied the discov- erer, recovering himself from the intox- lcation Of the slmost-realized happiness of his dream. It Is something like a Masonic lodge. l might give you all the signals and passwords, and then you work your way in. Your impO- sition would be discovered in moment. You see the air IS fluid like water. It has a daily tide that reaches its regular from 10 a. m. to p. m., and it's minimum a. the corresponding hours of the night It has its rivers as the Solanos of California its gUlf-streams and Suro kiwos, as the gentle, yet con tinuous trade-winds of the tropics. These flow so regular that sailors know exactly what wind they will get at a cer- tain place on a certain day.
 Being so light in its specific gravity, II Is a sort of "crank' among fluids com pared to the steadier and heavier water, which, in turn, Is excelled by mercury. But as ''teas have other tieas, etc, so there are other fluids lighter than air as nitrogen or the still lighter hydrogen, while ether is fabulously beyond both Fluids are unstable according to their gravity. Hence, man can never nayi- gate the air with the same degree of per lection that a fish does water, because of the greater instability of the air, but he can approximate. The least distur- bance. the desert heat, the natural warmth of the land, or the coolness of the sea, a fire, CT a cannonadiag will set if in motion. Then there a wind which the aerial navigator has to overcome. He has to rise above or fall below it, as the fish does the opposing currents of water. What is man but kind of fish living at the bottom of a mighty sea of air? And if the reople of some other world should 20 a fishing some Sunday and hold down some tempting bait, they might catch humans and lift them ilOundering and Hopping out of their native aerial element to make part of some celestial fish chowder. By rising above or fall ing below contrary and tompestuous winds, the aeronaut can travel safely by favorable winds or by his own propul sion in case of a dead calm.
 "Weu, now, what about the regula- tion 2r inquired the reporter.
 "Come here and see" said the gentle man. and going to the carpenters bench, the reporter there saw a galvanic battery in full play. The poles Of the wires were submerged in a vessel of water There was a continual sizzling and bubbling. Two inverted glass vases were above, from winch rubber tubes ran to huge silken bags in one end of the shop. which were partially filled out,