Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1909-08-04
AIRsHIP TO CARRY 600 PEOPLE.
Three Hundred Miles Without Max
ing Landing,


ner, a German inventor at Brussels,
has been at the A.toria for several
weeks perfecting engagements for
the exploitation in America Of seS vera!
OF his patents. On Wednesday he
wrote to the Secretary of War, pro-
posing to build a mammoth air ship
Of the dirigible balloon type for the
government. Mr.. Boerner offers to
build the big flyer at his own eX-
pense, the government to buy it for
81 100000 If 1t meets all the re-
Guirements laid down for it. Or, If
the government prefers, Mr.. 3oerner
is willing to build the machine for
the expenses Of the building. Under
the latter arrangement the inventor
would allow the government to build
three additional ships Of the same
type without further payment for the
use OF the Boerner inventions. Should
his services be desired in connection
with their construction he will give
them for $4,000 per additional ship.
The letter to the Secretary of War
guarantees that the proposed air ship
will carry 200 persons for 3 900 miles
without landing, or 400 persons for
! 900 miles, or 600 persons for 500
miles, and that it's speed will average
about so kilometers an hour with
maximum of 120 kilometers. The
ship, as proposed, will have motors
of 5000 horsepower. 1t will be so
built as to enable it to land anywhere
there is sufficient room for it, and
will require no building for its pro-
lection. The ship is guaranteed to
be able to maintain height of one
its own length. 1t will be heavier
than air, will need no ballast. and
the loss OF gas will be less than the
consumption Of petrol.
Mr.. Boerner is short, stocky
man, we'll groomed and well fed with
a short black moustache, and has the
general appearance Of a prosperous
business man. He is encamped in a
gOodly suite at the Astoria, along
with a secretary-who also acts as
interpreter-and stenographer. One
Of the later Of Mr. Boerner's success
full inventions, according to his secre-
tary, was projectile charged with
an explosive, which eXplodes only af-
ter having passed through the armor
of a ship. The flights for this inven-
ton, the secretary says, were sold to
Krupp. Another recent invention Of
MIR. Boerner is an automobile tire Of
solid rubber spheres set in a metal.
1t is partly in connection with this
tire that Mr.. Boerner came to Amer
lea. He expects to return to Europe
shortly, but will come back to Amer
lea in September, and, if the govern
his air ship proposition, he will builu
a smaller vessel of the same type on
his own account, to demonstrate the
feasibility OF his plan. So, whether
he receives government aid or not,
Mr.. Boerner expects to build some
sort of air ship here in the fall.
Accompanying the letter to the
war Department was description Of
the proposed air ship. 1t covers II
typewriter pages. The chassis Of
the vessel is to be 81 feet broad by
770.S feet long. On this chassis are
arranged three rows Of balloons, each
with a diameter Of 3912 feet and
height, for the middle row, of 60 feet
and for the side rows 62 feet. The
middle row consists of 19 balloons
the outside rows Of / s balloons each
| The shape of the front balloons is
so arranged as to give sort of club
| like head to the machine, and this is
| further carried out by means of a
sort of protecting shell over the
| PROV. The gas volume will be 13O,-
| 919 cubic yards, with theoretical
lifting power of 26i, ,963 pounds, and
pounds.
The upper part Of the bridge
| frame, to which the balloons are at
! tached, is designed to be q sort Of
acroplanc without lifting power, but
with n supporting power Of considera
bic moment; or, as the description
has it, those acroplanes have the
object to supply during the flight the
lifting force which at the beginning
Of the flight is produced dynamically
50 that the effect Of the dynamica
: ! LLLl III In nIN L, L. L.IiIi..-..I