The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-04-21

smaller still But the steel is of the finest quality, and the tube Is won derful form for strength and rigidfty. The completed structure looks some what spider webbish. but 1t has the stiffness and endurance. It Is " shaped, the point of the V down. From top to bottom 1t Is eight feet; and the top width Is five feet.
 At the bottom of the V is something that was never before seen in airshin construction, or anywhere else. we believe. It is an illustration. of the manner in which we have tried to thing perform two or more services. We wanted to carry in the airship nearly 1000 pounds of gasoline for the motor about 1,150 gallons. To put all this fluid in small tanks would re- quire about a thousand pounds of tanks. since they must be strong. tight tanks. sure not to leak. We did not much like the idea of giving up half ton of our precious weight to mere tanks, useless after the gaso- line was taken out of them. Was It not possible to utilize this weight to better advantage?
 We solved the problem by making steel tank eighteen inches fin diame- ter and 115 feet in length--running the whole length of the car--and put ting 1t at the bottom of the V, where 1t is not only a storage tank but an integral part of the car itself, giving strength and rigidity to that struct- ure. The weight of this somewhat remarkable steel tank is about 1000 pounds, or almost exactly that we should have been compelled to put in to the small tanks we originally had In mind. The long tank, like the car itself. is divided into fourteen sections --and each section of the gasoline res ervoir is a compartment by itself. so that If there should be leakage from one the adjacent sections need not be affected.
 The weight of the combined car and tank is a little more than a ton, and the capacity of the tank Is 1,2oo gallons of gasoline.
 This long, V-shaped steel car Is suspended from the gas reservoirs by steel cables--not wires, but steel ropes of the highest tensile strength, the best English makers culd give us. The cables vary from one-quarter inch to one-eighth inch diameter, accord ing to the work put upon them. The gas reservoir lifts much more In It's central part than at the ends, and or course the cables must be stronger amidship. Throughout there Is factor of safety of ten to one.
 The top of the car Is only six feet from the bottom of the gas reservoir We have put it close up for two req sons One, because in that way 1t Is easier to bind the gas bag and the car firmly together--and the more closely they resemble solid block the better. the less likelihood or ac cident, the smaller the resistance of the whole in passing through the air. Second, with the tive so near together a man standing on the top of the car can reach with his hands the valves and other adjuncts of the gas reservoir, which might ne impor- tant in case of any Arrangement Tn the field.
 The car is closed, sides and top. with oiled silk stretched taut. Of course. there are windows for obser- vation purposes.
 The forward sections of the steel car are built stronger than the rear part. These sections are triangular, and possess great rlgidity in proportions to their weight. rms is because they contain the engines ana carry the screws; therefore they must be able to withstand the vibration. In the center of this triangular structure is placed the motor, of sixty to seventy horse power. The driving shaft runs right through the engine. across the car, and at each side Is steel screw eleven and a half feet in diameter. One screw turns in one direction and one in the other. the gyratory effect of one being counter balanced by that of it's mate-a great advantage over the old way of placing a screw forward or aft, it's revolutions being sure to set up a twisting motion liable to do dam age to the structure. Turning at It's normal speed of 1000 revolutions per minute, the screws turn about 300 per minute, and the speed imparted to the airship is approximately seventeen statute miles per hour-ffteen knots or geographical miles.
 In the section imm edately forward of the one containing the sixty to seV- enty horse power motor, the five horse power motor and the other machinery the engineroom of this aerial cruiser -is the navigating deck, where the ship is to be managed. In the section aft the engine room is the cabin Of the crew. with sleeping hunks and little cook steve At the extreme rear is the rudder which steers the craft to the right or left. and near by are nov able planes placed horizontally-rud- ders for pointing the nose of the craft upward or downward, all manipulated of course, from the navigating deck. Extending out from the top of the car are spreaders which carry wide eX- panse of silk stretched taut. forming a large permanent horizontal plane de signed to steady the ship in her prog ress through the air averting much of the "tangage" or pitching and rolling to which most airships are subject and which retards the speed.
 
 An airshp. like any other ship, should be properly loaded. Her carS3 must be well distributed. The bulk of our load is the fuel carried in the long tank at the bottom of he car, where its weight is well placed for securing stability. This fuel can draw from any section we like, hls trimming the ship Moreover. Chief Engineer Nani- man has arranged an ingenious device in the form of a little overhead rail- way wi.ich carries a suspended car containing 600 pounds of food, and this car can be run the whole length of the structure 115 fcet-so much ballast movable at our will by working a cord from the engine room.
 On top of the fuel tank is a board platform or runway, two and a half feet wide and extending the whole length of the steel car. 115 feet, giving the crew arcess to every part of the structure,
 These are some of the characteristics of the new America. others must be described in future letters.
 The Sou~e nf HumOr.
 Lowell Courier-ritizen.
 The saving sense of humor, which exists throughout the land. and Pbounds in New Hampshire, seems to flourish