Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1909-05-27
NOISELESS AIRSHIP,
Features of Craft Being Built by
Captain T. S. Baldwin.
OVERCOMES A BIG HANDICAP

One of the Most Serious Drawbacks
Has Been Clatter of DrieibIe Crafts
Machinery - Californian Claims to
Have Solved Intricate Problem.
Captain Thomas S. Baldwin, the Cal
ifornia aeronaut, whose dirigible air.
ship was accepted by the United
States government last year, recently
made the interesting statement that
the new dirigible now being built for
him Mt Hammondsport, n. Y. will be
a noiseless machine.
Il will make my new machine so de-
void of noise when in operation" said
Captain Baldwin, that two men in
the machine VIII be able to carry on a
conversation If necessary in a whisper.
This will be done by mufiling the en-
gine and using ball and roller bearings
for the propellers. There ought to be
no great difficulty in preventing ex-
cessive noise in q dirtgible while in
the air. The solution is one of i'm
proved construction.
up to the present time the main
effort has been directed toward get
ting in the air. Now that this has
been accomplished refnements in me.
chanical work will follow, and the
next few years, | predict will see
scores of improvements which will
make airships highly practicable for
a number of purposes"
Added interest in the future practi-
cability of airships has recently been
aroused from the criticisms made by
which he recently gave at the Marine
academy at Kiel. describing his trip in
the immense Zeppelin airship. Among
other things he regarded the noise of
the propellers as a serious dlsadyan-
tage, being calculated to betray the
approach of the ship in wartime. To
send orders from the bridge to men In
other parts of the ship it is necessary
to write them and send them in a car
rier attached to an endless wire, as 1t
is impossible to hear a voice above the
din of the motors. This difficulty has
been experienced in all similar ma
chimes.
To permit the man at the motor to
give quick orders to the man steering
at the rear of the machine Lieutenant
Lahm advised the equipment of the
government airship with speaking
tubes. and this will probably be in use
when the military dirigible resumes its
aerial flight this year.
Prince Henry in summing up the re-
suits of the Zeppelin invention said
that the problem of reaching a fixed
and not too distant point in not too
unfavorable weather conditions was
solved. but he thought that the cues.
tion whether steerable airshlps were
at present suitable as regular means
Of communication or could be en-
ployed for purposes of war must be
regarded skepdCally.
A steerable airshtp. he added could
not make headway against wind above
q certain velocity, and. further the in
ternal combustion engine is not yet ca
pabie of undertaking n long distance
journey. Moreover, the altitude that
can be attained is limited by the fact
that above a certain height, owing to
the decreasing density OF the atmos-
phere, the propellers met with less re
sistance, while the motors give unsatis.
factory results owing to the decrease
OF oxygen.
"An alrshlp will always, more or
less, be at the mercy of the wind" said
Captain Baldwin. "A steamship can
not make its best headway in n storm
or against adverse head winds. and
the same is true when one tries to sail
, in changing air currents. My new ma
chine VIII be built for speed OF twen-
ty-two miles an hour. Going against a
ten mile wind, therefore, the machine
will go only about twelve miles an
hour, and If the wind is greater than
twenty-five miles 1t VIII be at its mer-
cy to just that extent. But this is the
least of the evils, and believe all the
difficulties enumerated by Prince Hen
ry will be overcome In time through
improved methods of construction.
Take the noise difficulty, for in
stance. No effort has thus far been
made to lessen it. Muffilng an engine
naturally curtails some of its power
The airship people have pursued the
policy that they needed the maximum
power of their engines. That isn't al
ways necessary, for the Zeppelin air.
ship while buffeted by the winds kept
afioat although one engine had ceased
to work. In the trials with the govern
ment machine we frequently found 1t
advisable to throttle the engine. as we
were getting more power than we
needed. The Improvement in gasoline
engine building no longer requires that
the maximum power be used to attain
satisfactory results under ordinary
conditions. 1t is there, however, if
needed. New York Cor Philadelphia
Public Ledger.