The Florida star., 1909-04-23


Has Been Chatter Of DirisibIs Cratic
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 rhe interesting statement that
the new dirigible now being built for
him at Hammondsport. N. Y. VIII be
q noiseless machine.
81 will make my new machine so de-
void of noise when in operation" said
Captain Baldwin. ''that two men in
the machine win be able to carry on
conversation If necessary In a whisper
This win be done by mufiing the en-
gine and using ball and roller bearings
Tor the propellers. There ought to be
no great difficulty in preventing ex-
eessive noise in a dirigible 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 afr. Now that this has
been accomplished refinements In me-
chanical work will follow, and the
next few years. l predict, will see
scores OF improvements which will
make airships highly practicable for
q number Of purposes"
Added interest In the futuAe practi-
cabillty Of airships has recently been
aroused from the criticisms made by
Prince Henry Of Prussia in a lecture
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 disadvan-
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 II Is necessary
to write them and send them in a car
rier attached to an endless wire. as It
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 airshlp 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 ques
ton whether steerable alrships were
at present suitable as regular means |
Of communication or could be en-
ployed for purposes OF war must be
regarded skeptlcally.
A steerable airship. he added. could |
not make headway against wind above |
a certain velocity. and. further. the in |
ternal combustion engine is not yet ca
pable Of undertaking a long distance
JOuAhCys mOACONCIs tue lUdI
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.
IAN airship will always. more or
less, be at the mercy Of the wind" said
Captain Baldwin. "a steamship can.
not make its best headway in a storm
or against adverse head winds. and
the same is true when one tries to sail
In changing air currents. My new ma
chine will be built for a speed Of TWEEN
ty-two miles an hour. Going against a
ten mile wind. therefore. the machine
will go only about twelve miles an
hour, and II the wind is greater than
twenty-five miles 1t will be at its mer-
cy to just that extent. But this is the
least Of the evils. and I believe all the
difficulties enumerated by Prince Hen
~ viii 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 IL. Muffling 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 kent
atoat although one engine had ceased
TO work. In the trials with the govern
ment machine we frequently found It
Object TO Strong Madic;nas