The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-05-19
DlSCOverer of GiISonite Has
Completed Model After
Thirty-fIve Years.

Will Salt Lake City become the CEN
ter of the aerial navigation of the
world? Will the coveted secret of mas
terins the tickle Zephyrs after a labor OF
ages be discovered here? Scientists and
daring inventors have struggled for
ages in vain endeavor to learn this
secret. Many of them have lost their
lives III the attempt: millions of dol
lars have been spent in constructing
various devices calculated to defy or
rather conform to the laws of nature
and, although many successful flights
have been made, practical airship
that would secure safety and speed has
not yet been invented.
To Samuel II. ellison of this city will
come the credit and the plaudits of the
world for the contamination of the
work of the inventive genius of ages.
and for. the acquiring of the secret
which opens the way for a revolution in
industry and modes of living. should an
invention which he has labOred with for
thirty-fve years and has just COM
pleted prove successful.
MIR. ellison is known in every mining
camp in the west as successful pros
poctor and mining man. Through his
discovery of gilsonite, the mineral prod
net that has come into use I'm every
city in the country. he has achieved
national reputation. Mr.. ellison was al
ways a close student OF nature. The
birds and the animals of the fields were
always an object Of interest to him.
Learned Secret from Birds.
Early in his career .ALr. ellison began
his Hfe-study of aerial navigation. He
commenced by studying birds and their
powers of overcoming the action of
gravity and gliding through space with
no apparent effort He studied differ
ent types of birds and their machinery
for flying and learned. to his surprise.
that large birds were capable of sus-
tanning themselves in the air much
more easily than the smaller variety.
For example. the goose moves its wings
but fifty-two times a minute, while a
humming birds wings make over 500
revolutions every minute. Along this
same line he conducted further expert
ments and found that the heavier the
body the more easily it was sustained
in the air, because of the amount of
air displaced He tied a one-pound
weight to a small parachute and ten
pound weight TO a parachute ten times
as large. and dropped them from a
height at the same time. The lighter
weight reached the ground much soon
er than the other.
To apply the principles learned by
everyday observation was hard prob
lem, and after over three decades of
hard work Mr. ellison says he has now
solved this problem. Five models were
constructed at various times, but none
of them proved sa isfactory to the in
ventor until his latest one was built,
which embodies all of the successful
features of the other four.
Combines Discoveries of Others.
His invention, which he now proposes
TO construct on a scale that will make il
a practical airship, is an innovation in
aeromotors. Knabenshue has a dirigi-.
BILE balloon that he can direct almost at
will; Santos-Dumont is the pioneer of
the aeroplane, and can almost glide
through the air on splinter. Though
both of these inventions mark rapid
strides in the right direction. neverthe-
less they have been of but little prac-
tical value. Before Knabenshue's bal
loon can be made to carry passengers
II must be so large that so much sur
face is exposed to the wind that it can
not be made dirigible. Santos-Dumont
has never been able to make an aero
plane that will not tilt and descend to
the earth when struck by a sudden gust
of wind.
In Mr. Gilson's novel aAromotor there
is combined the discoveries of both of
these noted inventors. 1t is a double
HerOpldue WIFI d QudDt1ty OF gas III the
sack on the upper plane just largo
enough so that the airship can main
tain it's equilibrium. It rises by its
own machinery and without the aid of
a balloon. 1t is mounted on automobile
like wheels and runs along the ground
until it gains sufficient momentum, then
a lever is released and the contrivance
glides away into space, soaring aloft.
The aeromotor is guided by means of a
rudder and driven by a propeller and
several pairs of aluminium wings. The
power is furnished by a small gasoline
engine.
Aerial Train Possible.
The possibilities of this aeromotor
are many, says Mr.. ellison. 1t requires
but comparatively little effort to draw
a weight through the air, there being
such little resistance offered by the air
to objects passing through it, Since
this is true, Mr.. ellison proposes to
make his invention a sort of aerial 10
connective capable of. drawing through
the air a number Of aerial cars laden
with freight and passengers, these cars
to be doub9e aeroplanes constructed
similar to the airship drawing them. but
without motive power.
To look a bit into the future one may
expect to see before many years, If this
inventors theories are demonstrated to
be correct, aerial trains of ore being
brought In a trice from the mines of