The Topeka state journal., 1905-09-08
SAIL HIS AIRSHIP.
z. S. FOllett With Man Angel No.
l Arrives.
Will Be One of Features of State
Fair.
TALKS ABOUT WORK.
Feels as Safe in Airship as on
Train.
'ALKS ABOUT WORK.
Thinks Problem of Aerial
Navigation Solved.

testing the ropes and looking after the
details thatmust be arranged each time
before an ascent can be made. The
hie airshiD came in at the same time
that Captain Follett arrived, in fact
that is a part of the programme, Tor
the airshiD is a tender bit of creation
and receives a marked consideration
from the man who risks his life in the
machine which when not minated is
hardly more than a handful of cam
brio The airship arrived yesterday
morning and as it was hauled down
Kansas avenue did not cause the least
bit of excitement for the truth or the
matter is that probably not one person
in a thousand who saw the box con-
tanning the folds of cambria which go
to make the airShip would nave taken
second thought, for the big box looks
for all in the world like box OF dry
goods that has been consigned to some
of the stores along Kansas avenue. The
receptacle is not more than four feet
square and the airship hangs in folds
in this box like bat taking its noon
day nap. The box has a refrigerator
department which must be kept filled
with ice for if the oiled cloth which
goes to make Up the airShiD becomes
too hot it will cause spontaneous
combustion and there will be puff of
smoke and a flash of flame and that
| will be the end of the airshiD. Man
Angel has been the talk of the western
world for months past. The airSh1p
which will be on exhibition here dur
| ing the fair is new idea altogether.
There have been two airships tried out
| during the past year or two, but this
one is on different plans from all of
the rest. There is not a bit of ma
chinery about the entire structure, not
a thing that can get out of order and
/ hurl the daring driver on his trip to
eternity. OF course if by some chance
a hole should be torn in the side of
the frail craft the descent to earth
would be sudden and probably fatal to
the navigator, but in the particular
part of the world that is traversed by
this big machine it is not supposed
that one will strike the roots of a tree
or other distractions likely to damage
the frail bag and even though the
block system is not in use, there is no
| danger of d collision.
/ Captain Follett, who will make the
ascent each day at the fair grounds, is
not new at the business by any means,
for most of his life has been taken up
IN making balloon ascensions and
parachute leaps from the clouds to the
earth below, and he regards the run
I,nlng OF an airShio as a sort of a pro-
motion over the old time balloon as
| eension. Each day of the fair the big
a1rshiD will make one or more ascen-
slons The wind of course will have
some ething to do with it, but not all bv
any means. for the ship will be an
chored and will be a captive until the
last day and then if the wind is not
| DIow1ng too strong the airship will take
Trip Up town and around the dome of
| the state house and will return to it's
temporary home at the fair grounds.
L MS Will be the first appearance of
TINS air ship save in Los Angeles, where
II was patented and built by a carpen-
ter who went to the Worlds fair at ST
| Louis as an employe of Captain Bald
win with view of studying the air shin
proDlem and who evolved an idea that
was entirely new and constructed an
ar snip along these lines. The air ship
is inflated with hydrogen gas and is
not hot air proposition in any sense
or meaning of the word. The gas is
MADE right on the ground by mixing
sulphurlc acid and iron and steel shaw
1ngs. The first thing to be done before
an ascent is to be made is to procure a
ton OF old scrap iron, for it takes this
amount of either iron or steel mixed
with the same weight of sulphuric acid
TO generate enough gas to make an
ascension and unlike the old fashioned
balloon after the bag is once filled with
gas a number of flights may be made
without reflling. For the first trip it
takes from "a to Sc hours to initiate the
bag but after that the ship is ready to
sail on a moments notice for all that
there is to do is for the navigator to
seat himself in the machine and take
up the oar-like motions used in guiding
water
same stroke that would propel a boat
forward will cause the air ship to rise
and when you want to descend all that
you have to do is to back water and
the craft will slowly sink to earth
again; the guiding of the craft is ac-
complished in much the same manner
that boat is guided. Besides the
novelty of the affair a ride in an ali
ship of this kind has many advantages
over a boat ride; there is hardly q
i n For 70 fol
be drowned and the proposition of some
fool passenger rocking the boat is out
of the question.
Air Ship Man Talks.
Il In speaking of the air ship which he
will exhibit at the state fair Captain
one of the big features of your statt
fair for it viii be the first time in the
S history of the world that an air shiI
of any kind has ever sailed through the
blue skies and pure air of the state
The California air ship Man Angel mum,
ber one is the first of the many so
called air ships that has been able t.
q navigate the air successfully. 1 do no
depend on the raising power of gas anC
81 | I am at all times independent as far a,
81 the directing of the craft is concerned
8 have the same power over my Graf
that the oarsman has over his boat.
can go just wherever please, 1igh
# | whenever I want to and move in an,
b direction that / want to. AS far as tn
3 danger is concerned. of course ther
B is always some danger, 1 feel rnucl
safer in this air ship than I do in rid
s ing in the fast trains that the railroad
seem to feel it necessary to run now
adays. An ascent is just a nice httl
pleasure trip away from the hurry an
hustle of the world. I intend to Civ
exhibitions each day at the fair ground
and there is but one condition that wi
prevent me from making an ascent
it should happen to rain then I canno
| make the ascent the big bag will ab
sorb so much moisture that it will nc
rise but this condition will hardly pre-
vail every day of the fair even if
should happen to rain a part of tn