Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1907-09-10
AN AERIAL NAVIGATOR.
YOUNG INVENTOR WILL FLY
THROUGH THE AIR.
IS NOW HEADED FOR KENTUCKY
State Fair Management Announces
His Appearance in Passenger.
Carrying Ship.

The problem of aerial navigation has
at last been solved. The inventor tC
attain this desired end is Captain Roy
Knabenshue, of Toledo. o., the first
| American to make a successful flight
in an airship. This first flight was
made during the Worlds Fair at St
Louis in October, 1904, when Knaben
shue was only in his twenties He il
yet very young man, but he has tai.
ents that he has successfully applied
During the past winter, he has spent
his entire time in perfecting a piece
of craft to ply the clouds which will
carry passengers.
Fortunately for those who will at
tend the Kentucky State Fair to be
held at Louisville, September 10th to
21st, the services of Captain Knaben-
shue and his passenger carrying air
ship have been secured for daily fights
during this great exhibition week at
the metropolis of Kentucky. The
State Board of Agriculture, under
whose auspices the fair is to be given,
closed a contract with Captain Knab-
enshue several weeks ago, stipulating
therein that his visit to the Kentucky
State Fair was to be his only personal
appearance in his passenger-carrying
airship either in Kentucky or in South
ern Indiana.
The big airship will be displayed in
an aerodrome when not in operation
permitting visitors at the fair to make
a close inspection Of it, who will also
have an opportunity of taking ride
through the air with Captain Knaben-
shue if they desire.
Captain Knabenshue is guarding
very firmly the secret of the mechan
ism that enables him to carry passen-
gers into the air, but he has permitted
us to give a brief description of his
marvellous invention. The elongated
gas bag has a capacity of 10000 cubic
feet of hydrogen gas, giving a lifting
power of 1900 pounds. The envelope
is 120 feet in length and about 35 feet
in diameter. Two mammoth aero
planes, which serve to resist the
wind pressure and propel the yes
sci, are built on either side.
Two delicately constructed engines of
twenty horse power each furnish the
drawing power, enabling the craft to
sail through the unchartered skies at
a speed of sixty miles per hour. This
speed is attained only in calm, while
in a moderate wind the velocity is re-
duced to about forty-five miles an hour
With his new airship, Captain Knaben-
shue is able to sail under any weather
conditions.
Resembling very closely the modern
coach of a street railway, the carrying
car is ninety feet long with cushion
seats provided for the passengers. The
operator sits at the bow of the vessel
and guides it in its Journey. Captain
Knabenshue has built the propeller and
rudder along entirely different lines
than heretofore, and the vessel taken
as whole, but family resembles the
smaller crafts which heretofore have
been shown in this country.
The engagement Of Captain Knaben-
shue and his passenger-carrying air
ship at the State Fair is for a flight
daily for six days, and one or more
flights at night, when the worlds
greatest aerial navigator will use an
immense searchlight to guide his pas
sage.