The Delta independent., 1889-09-03
AIR SHIPS.
The Problem Of Their Construc.
tion Receiving Great Attention at

NsU
The Problem OF Their construc.
tion Receiving Great Attention at
Present,
The problem OF air navigation is re-
ceiving more attention now than ever
before, says the Railway Master
Mechanic. Nor is it '.cranks" only
who are working at it. Mechanical
engineers of ability and reputation are
devoting time and thought to its solu-
ton. That some one will work it out
at not very distant day is not at all
impossible, nor even improbable. 1t is
simply d question of increasing power
without increasing the weight Of the
apparatus by which the power is de-
veloped. Just how much the ratio Of
power to weight must be increased we
do not venture to say, but there are no
sufficient grounds for asserting that
such increase is impracticable. Tho
solution of the problem may be found
in improved engines and boilers or in
new fuels or in storage batteries or in
some yet unexplored part of the field
of electrical force. It would be rash
to predict just how success will be
reached, but it would be much moro
rash to insist that it never will be
reached. The successful air-ship will,
it is safe to say, be large structure,
very light in weight compared with its
strength, but yet many times heavier
than the air which it displaces. The
mechanical skill which has produced
that marvel of lightness and strength,
the modern bicycle, will not find the
task of designing such structure too
difficult.
Attempts to navigate tho air by
means of gas-inhated receptacles have
been persisted in through 100 years,
but no real success has been reached.
Such devices, in spite of all the efforts
to mako them dirigible, are but as
feathers in the wind. All such at
tempts are in the wrong direction. A
bird can fy-not because it is COM
paratively light in weight for it is
noD but because it is strong. Its
breast muscles by which its wings are
operated are OF immense proportionate
size and the rapid circulation OF its
blood supplies these muscles with
abundant stores OF energy. OF all liv-
ing creatures the vital energies OF the
bird are the most intense, and it is,
therefore. able to produce the power
required to sustain its body in and
propel it through the air.
A western inventor proposes to solve
the problem by means OF an immense
cylinder 500 feet long and 100 feet in
diameter, from the inside OF which the
air is to be exhausted in order to light
en- it. The plan will not bear investi-
CATION. The air in such cylinder
would weigh about $50 tons. Add con-
ical ends. each extending $50 feet, and
and 1t would be Theoretically possible
to pump out about 200 tons of air. But
the cylinder itself. made of quarter
inch steel without any internal bracing,
would weigh at least j, 200 tons. Com
pared with this the weight OF the air
is nsignificant-hardly more than that
OF the food in pigeons crop compar-
ed with the weight Of its entire body.
And as to exhaust the air from the
cylinder would subject it TO pressure
of considerably over 3.O0O,0 900 pounds
from the outside atmosphere. Tho
scheme appears rather wild. Much
less open to adverse criticism is the
plan suggested by E. G. Stedman years
ago in an article published in the then
Scribner's Monthly Mag azine, which
was to fill all the hollow spaces in the
proposed air-ship with hydrogen gas.
This gas. at normal pressure, would
sustain the pressure of the atmosphere,
while its weight is only one fourteenth
that Of air.
The notion that aluminium, because
Of its lightness, may make aerial navi-
CATION possible is a mistaken one.
That metal has only about one-third
the strength Of steel, and no special
advantage could be gained from its
| use:
The successful air-ship will not be q
bag OF gas nor an exhausted receiver,
but structure having the strength OF
steel and carrying machinery Of COM
paratively little weight, but capable of
! developing enormous power. 1t will
lift itself from the earth and hold a
level fight through space because OF
the tremendous force with which the
air is beaten by its huge whirling oars
or the blades Of its swiftly revolving
screws. 1t will be able to maintain its
course against those currents OF tho
aerial sea, the Winds And it is not
unlikely that the first successful voy-
age through the upper air will mark
the fartherst limit OF mans achieve
ments in his struggle OF the ages to
subdue the realm OF nature and bend
TO his own uses its most untamable
force. There will then be no new field
for the mechanical engineer to con-
quer.
The Vote ON the Royal Grant.
Tho vote in Parliment on the addi-