Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-10-09
JULES VERNE FAR OUTDONE
Chicago Capitalists Propose to Ann ihi
late Distance with an Aerial
Invention.
The Aeronautic Manufacturing Com
pany Incorporated with a Capt.
tai Stock of $40, 100000.
The Problem of Aerial LocOmotiOn
Apparently SGlTed-Around the
World in Five Days.

CHICAGO, Oct 4-F0r week past
dozen gentlemen have been gathered at the
Grand Pacific in earnest discussion of d
plan which SOUNDS like a tale from the
Arabian Nights" # carried out-and
| $50, 900, 900 Of solid cash have been paid in
to say that it will be-their schemes will
result IN making railroad trains appear
like mere stage-coac,les, will make the
transportation of the mails almost
equal to the telegraph, allow a
business man to have his Office ii New
York and yet live il Chicago with no
more inconvenience than if his home were
just around the corner. The tourist will
be permitted to leave any point in the
United States one day and arrive in Eu-
rope 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 af-
| ternoon and today at Springfield the Mount
Carmel Aeronaut1c Manufacturing COM
pany will be chartered with capital of
$50 100000. Within sixty days the first air-
ship is to arrive in Chicago The company
is backed by powerful English syndicate
! and by eastern capitalists, both these ~
terests having representatives at the Grand
Pacific meeting. The incorporators, how
ever, are the inventors, E. J. Pennington
and Richard Butler Of the Mount Carmel
machine and pulley works at Mount Car
mel, ILL.,, W. c. Dewey of the Grand Rap
ids Furniture Manufacturing company of
Grand Rapids, Mich, E. l.. Chamberlain
and James A. Pugh.
The proposed air-ship, models Of which
have been successfully tested, will carry
Cars the size of the Puilmans and will con-
tain fifty persons each, special cars being
manufactured for quick mail and passenger
service Work will commence immedi-
ately at Mount Carmel upon the manufac-
tory, the plant being a mammoth one
covering many acres. The first building
to be erected will be 800 feet sunare, and
the contracts fvr it have already been let
! The company will manufacture all it needs
| from the raw material, even to the alumni
mum of which the air-ships will be almost
entirely composed. This metal is not
onl the strongest and lightest. but by a
new process owned by the company, it can
be made the cheapest.
The ship combines 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 Or
binary sea vessel. it has on either SIDE
and extending the entire length, large
wings arranged so as to turn into para
chute in case of accident At the corners
of these wings there are propeller wheels.
enabling the ship to be raised or lowered
at will. A large propeller wheel
at the low gives the ship power
either to go backward or forward. Above
the buoylng chamber is rudder for steer
ing horizontally. Just in the rear of this
is a smaller one to steer either to the ri ght
Or left. The cabin or car is suspended i'm
mediately beneath this frame work and
| beneath this are the storage batteries,
which also act as ballast. 10 the front of
the car is place for the pilot, who is pro-
vided with levers for switching the cleo
| trio appliances, the rudders and propellers
being controlled by electricity. The chief
secret IN this final and successful solving
| of the aerial navigation problem has been
| aluminium. In addition to this all the
machinery is of an entirely new design
and of the lightest weight possible. 1t is
also to be noticed that In order to cause
the shi p to fall or to be lost control of at
oil the rudders, the wings, the propeller
wheels, and the buoyancy chamber must
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, should
allow the shipto descend gently to the
earth, and as special cars will be made
for crossing the ocean, even should this
happen in mid-ocean it would float on
touching the water.
The inventors and the members of the
company have met every obstacle suggest
ed by the few to whom they have revealed
their plans with the most convincing
proofs. When it was decided yesterday
to go to work at once on the construction
Of buildings, and that the first ship
for travel should be completed and
in Chicago within sixty days, there
were those who said that such things could
! only come after years of preparation and
development. But three years it was
shown had already been spent Hundreds
Of partly successful attempts have been
made In the same direction and the reason
why until today it has never been sue
cessfuIly accomplished were that
electricity had not reached a high
mouge perfection and aiuminu 1.-THE
only possible material for construction
was not sufficiently cheap or well enough
understood Matters equally stupendous
were sneered at a few years ago, yet are
ROW In ordinary daily use.
! The first car will leave st. Louis for
M0unt Carmel within two months ard will
| then come to Chicago, where the men and
d few invited guests will take a days va
cation for trip to the Pacific coast or to
some other distant point.