The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1910-10-21

voyage the current number of the
Scientific American says:
In the early days OF the dirigible bal
loon, before any airship had made
even 100 miles on a single uninterrupt-
ed voyage, Walter Wellman planned
an aerial expedition from Spitzbergen
over the frozen Arctic to the North
Pole and return, a distance of 1400
miles. So far were the plans carried
out, that huge dirigible balloon was
actually constructed and two starts
were made. Now that the glory of
discovering the North Pole has been
lost to him, Mr.. Wellman purposes an
other daring adventure, namely, a trip
by airship across the Atlantic Ocean
The start will be made from Allan
tic. City, and the very shortest dis
lance across is close to 5000 miles,
whereas no airship has as yet made a
record of as much as 500 miles of UNI
interrupted travel, and even the re-
cord of a drifting balloon is much less
than half that proposed by the Well
man expedition.
Description of Airship.
The airship is not the same as the
one in which the polar expeditions
were undertaken. The balloon has
been extended to an overall length of
22S feet, while it's diameter is 50 feet,
giving a lifting capacity of nearly II
tons, or to be more exact, 23,650
pounds. The envelope itself weighs
over two tons, and is MADE up of two
layers of silk and one layer of cotton
gummed together with rubber, so that
leakage of hydrogen gas is reduced to
a minimum
Unlike the Zeppelin type, the balloon
itself is flexible, but the airship is rem
dered rigid by Attachment to a long
car made up of steel tubing in the
form of a truss of triangular cross sec.
ton. 1nis car has been entirely re-
built, and now measures 156 feet in
length The bottom chord of the
structure is a steel tank IS feet long,
which is used for storage of gasoline.
At the top of the truss are a series
of transverse brackets. The gas bag
is attached to the car by means of rope
| connection between the ends of these
brackets and a band or web formed
on the envelope From the gasoline
tank fore and aft the bottom chord OF
the truss consists of tubular extern
sions. To stiffen the gasoline tank Ia
terally, stays are run from the end of
the extensions to horizontal cross
pieces at the ends of the tank. anu
thence back to the body of the tank.
The car is completely Enclosed in can
vas.
The airship is provided with three
gasoline engines, two of which are
used for power purposes, while the
third serves as a donkey engine. The
power engines are rated at 80 to 80
horsepower.
The engine shafts are disposed at
right angles to the car, and each shaft
drives a pair of screws through the
medium of bevel gearing. Unlike 9th
er airships of this type, no stabilizing
planes are provided, and there is no
sliding weight by which the airship
may be directed upward or downward.
Instead. the propelleTs of the after en-
CINE are ingeniously mounted so as to
be capable of angular motion in a
plane parallel with the car, and thus
drive it either upward or downward.
The forward propellers are IL feet s
inches in diameter and tio after pair
10 feet inches.
viii Carry Crew of Six.
The airship is to carry a crew Of
six, namely, Walter Wellman, Melvin
Vaniman, the chief engineer; Murray
Simon, junior officer of the steamship
| Oceanic who will be the navigator
of the expedition; j. r. Irwin, the
wireless telegraphic operator, and two
mechanics. The sleeping quarters of
the crew will probably be in lifeboat
swung beneath the car.
This lifeboat, which is q feet long
and of siX-foot beam, weighs less
than a thousand pounds, being con-
structed of layers of mahogany veneer
and canvas 1t is provided with two
water-tight compartments fore and aft,
and is a selfbailing boat.
The boat will be plentifully stocked
with provisions, so that in case of ac-
cident to the airship the crew may
take to it until picked up by passing
vessel. The boat is provided with a
jury mast and sail.
The wireless telegraph apparatus of
the expedition will be located in the
forward compartment of the lifeboat.
The current for this system will be
taken from a storage battery charged