Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-03-10
DR.. De BAUSS[T' 5 A|RSH|p
He Says 1t Will Take a Trip
to Paris Soon.
1T MAY NOT WORK WELL
viii Float a Steel Cylinder by Means
Of a Vacuum Four and One-Half
Miles Up in the Air--iIe Has Also
Company to Float.

Who wants to go to the Paris Expo
sition by airline? Any person pos
sessing the requisite courage to disport
himself at an altitude OF four and one
half miles and the requisite cash to pay
fare of nearly ten times the cost of
passage by water, may have the OPP
portunity to cleave the upper air at the
rate of 100 miles an hour and make
Paris in thirty hours from this city.
saws the New York Sun, according to
the plans and specifications OF an
aeronautical engineer who has been
stirring about in the flying machine
market He is DR.. A. De Banssot, and
that ne means business of one sort
or another is shown by the fact that he
has organized stock company to float
his airship-hnancially, that is, for he
says that it will float itself otherwise
and, announcing his capital at $100,000
900, offers one million shares at 500
a share. His airship is to be the big
gest thing in the balloon line ever
thought of; it is to ascend by the va
cuum principle, and it will have a ca
pacity of 1000 passengers.
Theoretically Or. De Bausset's idea
! of a vacuum airship is an excellent
| one, to all appearances. He has been
studying on it for nearly twenty years,
| he says, and he is not only sure of his
! figures and plans but he has the tes-
| timony of competent engineers as to
! the correctness Of his CONSTITUTIONAL
mathematics. Here are the principal
characteristics of the craft as set forth
by the inventor:
The ascentional force of overcoming
gravitation is to be obtained by pump
| ing air out from within the cylinder
and causing it to raise it's own weight
of $50 tons, including the car fastened
under it, which contains all the APP
paratus for propelling and steering the
aerial vessel.
The maximum altitude contemplated
to be reached for interoceanic travels
is four and one-half miles.
The apparatus will consist of forty
exhausting screw propellers, each cap
able of exhausting $4,000 cubic feet of
air per minute. Eight Of these propel-
lers are to be used as steering ap1
paratus, forcing the air so exhausted
at any angle desired for obtaining the
! direction wanted The other thirty
two propellers are to be located directly
under the cylinder-yacuum and are to
be rigidly bolted at the lower rail of
the cylinder, their base resting upon
the hurricane deck of the car, which
car itself is to be rigidly fastened to
the cylinder in order to render the
whole construction so solid that no
swaying can take place.
The mechanical horse power is taken
at a maximum of $4,000 pounds.
The power required to propel a craft
of this type at sea level will become
three times more effective in navigat-
ing the sky at four and one half miles
altitude, owing to the decrease of bar
ometric pressure, and the speed will be
proportionately increased.
We're almost ready to begin work
on it," says the inventor. "A site was
offered us in New Jersey, but we have
picked out a place on Long Island and
shall probably commence the building
at once Capital has come in both
from this country and from Europe
and I think we shall have enough to
start on at once"
How long will it take to build the
ship"
I'VE want and intend to build twenty
ships at once" replied the inventor. so
as to have a fleet ready to go all over
the world, and that would take a year.
but first we shall build one to go to
the Paris Exposition and hurry 1t up
as fast as possible. BY working day
and night we expect to get it completed
in time for the Exposition
Don't you expect to find difficulty in
getting any one to try the trip?"
mo, indeed" said the inventor en-
phatically. II have already had appli-
cations from people in this country and
in Europe who are eager to go and
willing to pay the 81 900 passage to ex-
perience the novelty of flying through
the air and escaping the miseries Of
sea sickness"
How much will it cost to build one
of these ships?" asked the reporter.
About half a million dollars, accord
ing to my most careful estimate" an
swered DR.. De Bausset. You see air
navigation will not be as expensive as
/ sea navigation in the first instance.
The reason for the high passage rates
is that we can carry no freight to speak
/ of. Besides we don't expect much COM
petition in our line and it will be worth
/ the price to travel so swiftly and com
/ fortably between here and the other
/ continents of the world. We shall not
| limit ourselves to transatlantic travel
! but shall go all over the universe when
we get our fleet built. Also we shall
/ discover the North Pole and the South
! Pole"
The great problem of aeronautics has
always been to build an airship which
should be dirigible. Many expert
mentors have constructed so-called di-
rigible balloons, but balloons have
either failed to steer occarding to plan
and specification or the inventors have
failed to reckon successfully with the
wandering winds of heaven. A case in
point is that of a Brooklyn man named
| Campbell who, about twenty-five years
ago set out from this city for Europe
In a "dirigible" airship. Mr.. Campbell
has not been heard of since. and 1t is
confidently predicted by students Of
aerial navigation and other persons
that he never will be.