The morning times., 1896-12-20

metal-extendedd down othe ground, where
! they are reciproCated at regular intervals
! 10y an eleCtromotor, which enables them
| TO initiate the motion of walkng and carry
! the balloon along at the rate OF some fif
| teen miles an hour. They are not meant
| for high speed, and can travel only, Of
'Burse, uu prepared routes. but are very
I convenient in certain plac es.
Air cutters and the larger air ships re
employed for flying in any direction and
with much greater velocity. They are on
an entirely different plan from the flying
machines which were announced but had
not Yet com. INTO use when | was last
alive. The present air ships apply the
principle shown, for example in the rapid
flutter OF the humble bees wing. This is
the shutter principle. The ship itself
is built OF latticed aluminium strengthened
with a small amount OF copper, and en-
closed with transparent cellulUid for pro-
lection against weather iceluloId now
being generally used in place OF glass
| Through the center of the floor are thrust
four short aluminium tubes three feet in
diameter with three feet OF length below;
and these are each filled with 2,O0o very
thin celuloid shutters, SO arranged that
they can be thrown upward. resenting only
their thin edges TO the air. offering no re-
siStance TO il. The instant they are turned
down flat, they prevent the passage of air
from below, and SO compress ii into great
density. THE inertia OF the air
in the tubes, you see,' Hanmerfleet re-
marked makes it like a rigid column
more rigid than steel This forces the car
upward, when il starts; and il ascends on
the top of a continually frightening pillar
Of air which holds 1 up buuyantly and firm
iy- The 2,0e0 shutters in each tube work
between balanced springs and reciprocate
at the rate OF $4,000 strokes a minute
that Is, they open and smut $50 times every
second
The motor by which they were worked
was, | thought, very ingenious. 1T is Il
smal electric engine of eleven lorse power
set between the tubes, and has an armature
of the finest chemically pure iron wire,
wound with silver and insulated with col
lUd-ol reduced 10y chemical means 10 Gel
lulose. The armature, by an automatic
device. is balanced To suit all degrees of
speed, and has q rcvClHt on OF 5000 per
minute The rrCiprocating parts are of
ALUMINIUM, the bearings are COMPRESSED
graphite, fabricated with n volatile oil
kept VISIONS by folid carbonic ucid held
in box on the bearings. The motor and
mechanism weigh Cnly 40 ouEds, ard
the electricity is generated by oXidZing
gas-retort carl on in fused soda, with oxide
p of opper as n Teducer.
The idea OF the ship is radically unlike
former machines. which either depended on
lied on acGoplancs or the lush of air under
an upward slant.
This later ana successful contriyance
rests on the solid building up of a com
pressed air foundation beneath it, so that
it cannot possibly fall. The direction is
controlled in two or three WAYS the usual
ono being by ordinary artificial silk sails
together with a large ruGGer of stretched
silk for tacking and steering, as on the
water. BY using an aluminium screw, with
an auxiliary engine, instead Of the silk
rudder. bne lis Independent of the wind.
and can raise the speed of the air ship 10
between sixty and eighty miles an hour.
AT the foot of the mountain we changed
to one of these equipage and, as we flew
along, we saw many others scudding by in
all quarters, far and near. The flotation
sall-that is, the hollow silk sail inflated
with gas-1 learned had come into univer-
sal use for water vessels as well, and had
added immensely to the speed and excite
ment OF yacht racing. In fact, as we
sklrted the great lakes and passed over
rivers and ponds, i had chance to OBJ
serve craft of all sorts and sizes with
these sails whiZZing like arrows before the
wind or leaning gracefully away fromtand
sklInmlng the liquid surface as lightly
rs waterbugs, but much more beautiful
and useful ia their movements.
The shutter principle, also, Graemantie
told me, had been adapted to steamshi
or, rather, electric ocea anliners and freight
ers, by using several hundred thin blades
at the stern, in lieu OF the old propeller.
and also on the sides. which-hy direct
thrust when turned flat against the water
utilized the notion OF the waves to con-
dense air, and drove the vessel forward.
Sun engines, which derived electricity di-
rectly from sunlight, and another process
that eXtricated IL from coal in cloudy
weather, supplied the motive power, and
electrolySis along the sides OF the ship re-