The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-11
WELLMAN EXPLAINS
 THE EQU|L|bRATOR

Walter wellman Ifn the December num- Der of Hampton's Magazine tells all about that much discussed "equilibrator' on which he and Engineer Melvin Van iman placed so much reliance, but which finally forced them to abandon the air ship America at tea. It was this 'equilibrator's that was the principal cause of the disaster to the expedition s attempt at crossing the Atlantic ocean | in the air
 | For the equipment of our polar air ship" says MT. Welman. T long ago suggested and experimented with vari- ous devices for utilizing the old principle of the trailing guide rope. which is really weight used as ballast, but bal last which can be used over and over | again. Engineer vaniman and I have worked together upon the development of this principle into a safe and practi- cable instrument, and it was largely due to his inventive and constructive skill that we had for this campaign the much discussed steel equilibrator. It consisted of series of steel reservoirs. each about I four feet long and nine inches in di- ameter.
 Each reservoir had a tube 1engthwise through it's center, and all of them there were 30 in all--were strung up- on a staunch steel cable passing through these tubes. Each reservoir was con cave at its forward end and convex at the other, so that one fitted into the other 1 like cup joint which was padded with felt to take up shocks and prevent wear and abrasion. A special clamp held each tank to the cable at the required place, and the cuplike joints gave to the series great flexibility.
 ."All Of the reservoirs were filled with gasoline, and each tank and it's contents had weight of about 100 pounds Cas- oline was not put in because we wished to carry fuel in this mapner but be- cause the equilibrator, to be effective for the purpose for which it was designed, must have a certain weight, and it was ! far better to have that weight made up largely of a useful material rather than of such dead weights as steel or wood. The whole was so arranged that after the 15oO gallons of gasoline carried in l the car were exhausted the reserve sup ply inc these reservoirs became available. More than 200 feet in length with a total weight of nearly two tons. the ! lower end of the equilibrator was to ride upon the surface of the sea This | lower end was composed of 40 solid wooden blocks tapering to small diam eter, much like the tail of a snake. The wooden blocks, and the steel tanks as 1 we'll, were buoyant and flexible, and the
 whole was designed to swim in the wake of the 'America,' partly upon the sur face of the sea, partly lifted in the air q giant steel sea serpent with a wooden tail. Hl.ss} Suppose half of our great snake of steel, his belly full of gasoline, is upon tho water and half in the air Night ccmes on; the gas cools; rain falls; the America drops more and more to the sea- As she goes downward, one after the other of the constituent steel tubes of the serpent is deposited upon the sur s.ce> of the, ocean. The ship is relieved If 100 pounds of weight plus the slight weight of the cable for every four feet f descent; and this continues until she is again balanced in the air, perhaps the greater part of the equilibrator now floating along behind us. In the morn fig the sun rises bright and hot. The reverse process follows-the expanding as sends the ship upward. As she rises ne after another of the steel reser- oirs must be- lifted from the sea, 10t ounds more weight upon the ship fol very yard and third of her ascent. Thus the steel serpent becomes ar automatic governor upon the upward and