The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1891-04-16
The Latest Airshlp.

| DciiiB tAHlDlJtu III tllCtiSO, dre uOO re
assuring. After flying round for a
few minutes, the machine is gently
hauled down and the loss of hydrogen
gas made good if required, from a por,
table generator. 1t was first said that
this model airship, which is about &c
feet long and 81 feet in diameter, was
to carry a passenger, possibly two,
but the lifting power evidently
amounts to but few ounces, and the
balloon is pulled down between finger
and thumb. The propeller makes
about 600 revolutions per minute,
and the speed OF the apparatus is from
to 81 feet per second, say to 4
miles per hour. This seems slow in
deed when it is remembered that the
French war balloon 'La France" has
been driven IA miles per hour, and
that in 1881 M. Tissandier showed at
the electrical exposition at Paris a
model electrical balloon liz feet long
and AZ feet in diameter, which lifted
it's own motive power, and travelled at
the rate OF Ak to g miles per hour,
a maximum development OF power
OF 434 foot pounds per minute. The
inventor claims that the airship prop
er will be driven at 200 miles an hour
by gas engine of 100-horse power
weighing only $50 pounds. To those
acquainted with modern gas engine
practice in which the weights run from
300 to 1000 pounds horsepower, and
who understand the fixed limits of
possible pressure, which are less than
with the steam engine, this statement
OF the inventor is very much open to
question. Even if it were true, the
resulting speed would not be over 33
2 miles per hour, as may be readily
determined. The shape of the ma
chine, too, is very much against it.
The balloon chamber is circular
spindle, the largest diameter being at
its middle with the front and back
halves substantially similar. But it
is now well established us an axiom
OF @ronautics that to obtain the mini
mum OF resistance the greatest dia-
meter must be well forward of tn cen
tire, the front comparatively blunt
and the rear end much tapered.
Every known kind of fish or fowl has
this form, and it has long ago been de-
termined that it is the most hopeful
form on which to base any attempt
to solve the problem of the flying ma
chine.
The Meaning of Volts In Electricity.
During q recent examination a law
yer put the following question to
Thomas A. Edison: Explain what is
meant by the number of volts in an
electric current" To which he replied;
IL will have to use the analogy of a
waterfall to explain. Say we have a
carrent OF water and a turbine wheel
and allow 1000 gallons per second to
TALL from height OF one foot on the
turbine, get a certain power, we will
say one horsepower. Now the one
foot OF fall will represent one volt of
pressure in electricity, and the 1000
gallons Will represent the ampere or
the amount of current. We will call
that one ampere. Thus we have
i,Oo0 gallons OF water or one ampere
falling onefoot or one volt ofpressure,
and the water working the tur
blne gives one horsepower. If.
now, we go 1000 feet high, and
take one gallon of water and let
1T fall on the turbine wheel, we will get
the same power as we had before,
namely, one horsepower. We have
got 1000 times less current or less
water, and we will have one thou
sandth of an ampere in place of one
ampere, and we have 1 900 volts in
place of one volt, and we will have a
tall OF water 1000 feet, against one
loot. Now the fall of water or the
height from which it falls is the pres
sure or volts in electricity, and the
amount of water is the amperes. 1t
will be seen that 1, 900 gallons a min
ute falling on man from a height of
only one foot would be no danger to
the man, and that if we took one gal
lon and took it up 900 feet and let
1T fall down, it would crush him. So
1t is not the quantity or current of
water that does the damage, but it is
the velocity or the pressure that pro-
duces the effect"