Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-18
AIRSHIPS WILL CARRY
COMMUTERS TO HOMES
PREDICTION is MADE BY MEN OF
SCIENCE
Say Both DiriqIbIe Balloon and Aero
plane Are Rapidly Assuming POSI-
tions of Practical import
ance to Country

NEW YORK, July IA. NJ. Her
ring and Capt. Thomas S. Baldwin,
both of whom are building airships Tor
the United States government, the Ior-
mer an aeroplane and the latter dirl-
gible balloon, expressed Keen lhterest
in the recent remarkable night Oh
twelve hours over Switzerland by
Count Zeppelin in his dirigible airshlp'
carrying fourteen men.
"The dirigible balloon is here TO
stay" said Capt. Baldwin. Its success
has only begun to appear, and greater
triumphs will be seen within snort
time. There can no longer be any
Doubt that the worst problems or air
navigation have been solved and the
time is almost upon us when the air.
ship will be a practical necessity.
A. M. Herring, whose interest mes
more in the aeroplane type of machlne'
said:
1.-THE dirigible balloon and the aero
nlane will certainly be developed side
by side for practical purposes. Both
will be the war airships of the future.
The dirigible, which will naturally be
much the larger of the two, Will rep
resent the battleship of the ocean, car
rying a number of men with plenty OF
| stores and supplies, while the aeroplaHe
will represent the torpedo and scouting
| boats.
cat present the limit .of the aero
n1ane. as l see it, is confined to ten
men. To be sure, that carrying capac-
| itv has not been reached, and only in a
few instances have two men been car
ried The great problem yet to De
solved in aeroplane building and man
agement is that of the equilibrium. A
shin on the ocean is suspended at all
points. whereas the aeroplane as now
in use is designed to take all the strain
from the center, this weight from the
center being strong enough TO support
the fins of the machine. By different
distribution of the load after we OBJ
tain a better equilibrium II may be pos
sible to build these machines relatively
weaker than they are now, SO that an
aeroplane capable of carrying ntty
men may be evolved
Hopes Much from Tests
Mr. Herring admitted that these as
sertions might seem radical even TO
some of the most pronounced expon-
ents of successful air flights, but ne
said the principles would DC clearly
demonstrated at the coming tests az
Fort Myer, when the government Will
fest the Wright brothers machine ana
the one that Mr.. Herring is building.
While he was naturally guarded IN
giving any inkling of the new ideas 10
be brought out in his machine. MI
Herring did say that he could fly with
one man with a machine only fourteen
feet in length, while it would be pos
sible to carry three men on 27-toot
81 am perfectly convinced by my ex-
neriments." added Mr.. Herring, that
the aeroplane of the immediate future
will be not only safe, but emlnently
practical l say with perfect assurance
20 cf machine for
getting over the country l would buy
| an aeroplane instead of an automobile.
"If I were a business man in some
| town outside of New York, say. living
| in Greenwich, and doing business in
Hartford, 1 would have no hesitancy In
| using an aeroplane to travel 10 my
place of business and back. The only
! trouble in coming to big city like
New York would be the difficulty in
landing, but in any stretch of open
country, where safe landing might be
made, could go anywhere"
Mr.. Herring was asked if these sure
thing trips between objective points
would not depend for success con-
siderably upon the wind.
! mo" he replied. 81 can sail in any
wind that a catboat would be safe in.
! l can pick out my terminal point and
will guarantee to land within three
inches of the spot where 1 wish to come
down."
Wires Are Menace
1.-THE greatest nuisances at present to
the man in the air are fences and tele-
graph wires, for contact with them
means damage to the aeroplane sec
tions. I do not think I would care to
make a long trip over the water, sim
ply on account of the uncertainty of
the motors, for, although giving ex-
cellent results, they are by no means
perfect, and if the motor should stop
over the water you would surely come
down and sink.
"If this trouble should happen on
land a safe landing could be made with
no greater damage than would follow
from coming down amid trees or catch
ing on telegraph wires. The ease of
control and the surety with which the
improved aeroplane may be navigated,
both with and against the wind. will be
demonstrated, 1 think, as never before
at the Fort Myer tests"
In speaking of the comparative val
ues of the Wright machine as contract
ed with the Farman and Delagrange
machines, Mr.. Herring said he consid-
cred the Wright machine decidedly su-
perior.
"The foreign machines are not certain
of their equilibrium he said.
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II YOU are easily satisfied" with you