The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-27

In view of the heavy material to be
 used Dr. de Bausset realized that his
 airship to be successful must have vast
 proportions He determined that some
 thing over TOO feet would give the best
 results. He worked out his plan for a
 ship TIA feet long, having a diameter of IA feet, the cylinder displacing 10000 GOO cubic feet of air equal to a weight of about 400 tons. To this great tube the car, with all machinery, provisions and complete equipment for a long voyage, would weigh, according to the French mans calculations, 276 tons, leaving lifting power of 124 tons. But Dr. de Bausset did not intend to exhaust all of the air within the cylinder. With three fourths of the air pumped out he judged he would still have enough ascensional force to raise several tons. His plan was to run this big ship with electricity. Many detailed improvements are possible now, Mir. McCready pointed out, not only in the motive power, but in the construction itself, as steel of greater tensile strength and yet lighter in weight can be obtained now than was possible 20 years ago.
 Here is a ship then, in brief, that is twice as long as the Zeppelin airship that made its record flight of $50 miles last week over Germany. The Zeppelin ship Is 446 feet long, while the de Bausset ship calls for length of TIA feet. The diameter of the former is 421s feet; of the latter IA feet. The displacement capacity of the Zeppelin is 46o.0oo cubic feet and of the vacuum ship about 100000 cubic feet, while the Zeppelin has lifting force of IS tons to PA tons with a complete vacuum, which, however, would never be attained sfor the de Bausset ship.
 As the bouyancy of a ship of this sort depends entirely upon the quantity of air left within the cylinder, 1t will be seen that all that is necessary to bring the big ship with its freight and passengers to the earth would be to let In more air. Hence the cylinder becoming heavier the machine would sink to 8 lower level. The under part of the cylinder would contain several valves which could be opened to admit air.
 The cylinder was to be made of rolled steel, one-quarter of an inch thick, braced against collapse by internal ribs by a method which the inventor believed would offer resistance to external pressure twice as great as would be required It must not be forgotten that the higher the alti- tude attained by the steel ship the less would be the exterior pressure. To ex- haust the air four powerful pneumatic pumps were to be provided driven by storage batteries and horizontal motion was to be obtained by a dozen more large propellers, put at different parts of the car. For the motive power Dr. de Bausset planned to use A electric motors, six engines of 60 horse power each, and several dynamos. This would now be to the use of gasoline motors.
 General E. W. Serrell in a report on the practicability of the plan, said that he believed 1t was perfectly feasible to con struct large cylinder of metal with conical ends light enough and strong enough in proportion to it's size not only to go up and stay as long as required, but to carry, besides it's own weight, more than 100 tons. A smaller cylinder, he ad- mtted, could not be made light enough In to its size to go up at all.
 The vacuum principle was based upon the belief that the problem of aerial navi- gation could not be solved for practical by the method of imitation, which has been depended on for success in the past in all cases except with aero- planes. The use of gas for practical pur- poses in big alrships has serious limita- tions. It is expensive to fill the balloon structure of such a ship as the Zeppelin. Moreover the gas is always evaporating. and special contrivances have to be ar- ranged to keep the envelope sufficiently inflated whepn on long voyage. The vacuum airshfp is based upon the system of defaton, and provided a successful ship of that nature could be built 1t would at once eliminate all gas-filled airships. The length of the voyage would depend solely upon the relia bilty of the motive power and the fuel supply. MT. 4dcCready believes that a ship TIA feet long would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,00 but if it would cross the ocean at rate of from 50 to 70 miles an hour, carrying several hundred passengers and many tons of freight. it would not only be an economical venture, but would vir-
 
 rapid transit