The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1890-10-08
NEW KIND OF AIR LINE.
SHIPS TO BE BUILT FOR AERIAL
NAVIGATION.
a Chicago Company Formed for tho Pur-
pose of Building Line of Air ships That
VIII DO Away With Railroads and
What the Inventors say.

~
VIII DO Away with Railroads and
Steamboats-What the Inventors say.
Chicago dispatch.
For a week past dozen gentlemen
have gathered at the Grand Pacific in
earnest discussion OF plan which sounds
like tale from the "Arabian Nights. ="
If carried out-and il Is claimed SEQ, 0OO,-
600 OF solid cash has been paid In % say
that il will be-their schemes will result
in making railroad trains appear like
mere stage coaches, will make the trans
portation of the mails almost equal To the
telegraph, allow business man to have
his Office in New York and yet live in
Chicago with no moro Inconvenience than
il his home were just around the corner.
The tourist will be permitted To leave
any point i'm the United States one day
and arrive i'm Europe the next, and any
one may have the opportunity of leaving
Nellie bly, back in the middle ages by
making the circuit OF the globe In just
five days.
The project was completed yesterday
afternoon and to-day at Springfield the
Mount Carmel Aeronautic Manufacture
ing Company will be chartered with a
capital OF $4,000, 900. Within sixty
days the first air-ship is put down on the
schedule TO arrive in Chicago. The COM
pany is said to be backed by a powerful
English syndicate and by Eastern capt.
talistS, both these interests having Pp-
reSentativeS at the Grand Pacific meet
ing. The incorpOrators, however, are
the inventors, f.. j. Pennington and
Richard Butler, of the Mount Carmel
Machine and Pulley Works at Mount
Carmel, H.; w. c. Dewey, OF the Grand
Rapids Furniture Manufacturing Com
pany of Grand Rapids, Mich; E. l..
Chamberlain and James A. Pugh.
Tho proposed air-ship, models Of which
the inventors claim have been success
fully tested, will carry cars the size OF
the Pullmans and will contain fifty per-
sons each. special cars being manufac-
tured for quick mail and passenger Serv-
ice. Work will commence Immediately
at Mount Carmel upon the mandatory,
the plant being IA mammoth one covering
many acres. The first building To be
erected will be 500 feet square. and the
contracts for il have already been let.
The company will manufacture all il
needs from the raw material, even to the
aluminium, of which the air-ShipS will be
almost entirely composed. This metal
is not only the strongest and lighteSt,
but by new process owned by the com
pany it can be made the cheapest.
The claim is made that the ship COM
bnes safety, speed, and comfort, and is
so perfect as to be under the absolute
control of crew Of two men. 1t is
shaped much like the hull of an ordinary
sea vessel 1t has on either side and eX-
tending the entire length large wings
arranged so as 70 turn into parachute
in case of accident. At the corners Of
these wings there are propeller wheels,
enabling the ship TO be raised or lowered
az will. A large propeller wheel at the
bow gives the ship power either to go
backward or forward. Above the buoy
ancy chamber is a rudder for steering
horizontally. just in the rear of this is
smaller one 10 steer either to the right
or left The cabin or car is suspended
Immediately beneath this framework,
and beneath this are the storage batter
les, whlch,alSo act as ballast. In the front
of the ear is a place for the pilot, who is
provided with levers for switching the
electric appliances, the rudders and pro-
pellers being controlled by electricity.
The inventors say the chief secret i'm the
aerial navigation problem has been
aluminium. In addition To this all the
machinery is OF entirely new design and
of the lightest weight possible. 1t is also
said that in order 20 cause the ship 70
fall or TO be lost control of at all the rud-
ders, the wings, the propeller wheels,
and the buoyancy chamber must all
break at once, for any one of these would
keep it suspended. But even if they
should do SO the automatic parachute,
formed instantly by the wings, would
allow the ship To descend gently 10 the
earth, and as special cars will be made
for crossing the ocean, even should this
happen in mid-occan il would float on
touching the water
Mr.. Dewey, with whom n talk was had
at his room at the Palmer at the close of
the Grand Pacific meeting, said that not
dollar would be asked from the public
at any time 10 float the company. 1t was
entirely beyond that. Nor would dol
lars worth of stock be offered the public
until the company had complete and
perfectly equipped ships in which they
could ask the public to travel. Then ii
there was any stock TO spare it might be
placed on the market, but at present not
a share is for sale.
"When IL is first presented TO you," said
MT. Dewey, III seems Simply lWpOSSlDle
1t is really the simplest and most
practical matter in the world. Nor was
there ever so great scheme backed by
more solid business and financial a
concern. i have no more doubt of It's
success than of the fact that | shall be
in Grand Rapids in the morning. OF
course, IL successful, IL will revoutinize
the world, even more than the railroad
or the telegraph has done. We are al
ready in correspondence with the post
office department at Washington, and
have been assured that the mails will be
sent by our air-ships the moment we prove
that they can 20 faster than the present
mail trains. They have not realized the
stupendous fact that in few months a
man will be able To fly over the CONT
nent Saturday night and return in time
for business Monday morning"
The first car will leave st. Louis for
Mount Carmel within wO months, and
will then come 20 Chicago, where the
men and few invited guests will take q
days vacation for a trip to the Pacific
coast or TO some other distant point.
DURING her voyage of 1875 days from
Calcutta TO New York, the Timandra
ran through four hurricanes. Oil bags