The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-07-29
4 MANAGEABLE A|RSH|p.
Il Seems the Problem Has Been
Solved by Prussia's War
Department.
successful Flights Were Made Be.
tween Distant Mountain Peaks
In Switzerland.
The speed Of the Carrier Pigeon Almost
Observation-Disclosures Largely Used
In the Machine.

The Of mysterious airships who
were seen lowering over the Russian from
tier q few months ago receives some sort o.
confirmation from q rather unexpecte'
quarter.
According to tho official report Of the de
partment Of public traffic in Switzerland
which has only been published recently
the problem OF manageable airships SEEM
to have been solved, and the secret 10 1,
the possession Of the Prussian war depart.
ment.
Nearly q year ago. according to this 70
port, the Swiss embassy In Berlin trans
mitted a petition to the homo department
for public highways and traffic, in which
the manufacturing firm Of Kleinstorf. OF
Breslau, asked for permission to conduct a
few a%eronautio experiments in Switzerland.
Tho manufacturers explained that they
had made an apparatus initiating the flight
Of birds for which the Prussian war depart
ment was willing to pay 100000 marks in
case the experiments were 90 successful
that the machine could be used a once.
These experimental, however. could not be
conducted on German soil. because the
danger Of detection by foreign spies was too
great; whereas the misty atmosphere OF
northern Germany on cloudy days made
the experiments all but impossible. The
mountains of Switzerland offered far greater
advantages. particularly in late autumn.
when the valleys and plains are shrouded
in mist, while the peaks of the mountains
stand ont in clear, cold sunlight, high above
the sea Of clouds rolling beneath them.
Thus the inventor of the new airship, Herr
Won Prigaldsky, hoped to conduct his OK
periments unseen on some remote noun
tain peaks.
government decided to permit both the pre-
liminRry and the final experiments to take
place on their soil. The Prussian officers
and the inventor selected for a locality the
two peaks of tho Napi and Saints. in the
comparatively little visited region near ST.
Gallen, of which Schaffel has sung in his
romance of the monk Eckehard. On Sept.
% the apparatus was taken up the mount
ain aide, bridge-like structures Of wood
were erected on either peak, and a connec-
tion by wi ca was established. The expert
ments began on OCT. 2, a MINDLESS day,
when the country below was hidden in fog.
They were viewed by Herr Won Progaldsky,
the Prussian army, and by two civil enGi-
neers Of the swiss government. The Off
cial report of the latter ia couched in sus-
piciously vague terms:
''Ihe functions Fof "a birds flight have
been so successfully grasped and reduced to
their most simple elements, the influence
of gravity has been so accurately weighed
and considered, while the force of the wind
on the slanting surfaces of the propellers
has been used to such an advantage that
the succsA5 of the new %aeronautic process 10
bHr~a. question Of tine.--Lhis 10 due chishy
TO the use of aluminium in conneetlea<w with
another metallic substance, which has
hitherto remained nnnoticed in the nan
featuring of similar machines. Thus it has
been possible to manufacture electric 40
cumulators for this machine. whicn, rela-
lively speaking, are almost three times as
light as the liChtest accumulators that have
ever been produced. Nevertheless, the
weight of the whole apparatus. which can
seat eight persons at most. is $50 kilo-
grammes."
The first flight from one peak to the
other took An hour and eighteen minutes.
In the beginning the aelonaut had some
trouble in making the ship rise. but after
tInue his journey with great rapidity. On
the following days the time of the flight
was considerably reduced, 80 that in the
end they could cover the distance between
the two mountains in almost az short 4
time as a carrier pigeon. All in all, from
sDct. : TO Oct. Ia, the night was performed
eighteen times. until one of the propsllors
got out of order. and certain repairs be-
came necessary which had to done at the
works in Breslau. How to make a propel-
lcr which is sufficiently powerful without
going above a certain weight still remained
a problem, it seems. when the experiments
were discontinued.
The Swiss government intends to acquire
the patent from the inventors, and has al
ready ordered two airships, which are to be !
used for purposes of public traffic only.