Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-10-18
EquiIbrat0r of Wellman's
Great Air Ship Is Said to
Jerking Badly But Thus Far
no Danger Is Done
BALLOON MAY HAVE
MADE ABOUT 400 MILES
According to Experts WeiIman
Had Had Opportunity of
Going 0ne-FOurth of the
Way to Ireland

NEW YORK. oct IT.-SOnewhere be-
tween SiaScOnsstt and Sandy Hook. the
liner Arabic. which arrived here early
this mOrning. must have passed Walter
WelImGn's air ship. America, sGilins
rapidly eastward through the fOg- But
though a sharp lookout was kept for the
big balloon ard though tie liners wire
less operator was listening alertly FOR
tne -eUde~ sisI.a.I OF the air ship, not
a sign OF her was seen nor heard
From Ins SiasSonseJJ wireless station.
details o. IEs start and copies OF mes
sages sent landward by the aerial yOy-
ayers had informed the officers and pas
sengers OF tie Arabic early on sunday
that the new ocean going air ship was
likely TO cross their path durang the
day and everybody was on deck eager
10 catch 4 view OF her through the IOs
cloud OF il no rift came IN the fog, to
hear the thFob OF her engines as she
passed
MUST CROSS ARABIC
The Arabic is the Erst Of about
dozen incoming ships whose course
must have crossed that OF the America
during the last "a hours. 1t is regarded
as unlikely that any OF them saw the
balloon or heard the engines for the FOG
which hung persistently all day must
have prevented any sighting OF the
WeIlman craft, while dispatches from
SoascOnsett indicate that the engines
were silent for much OF the time. while
the balloon drifted before 25-knot
breeze toward her destination Perhaps
the most significant Of the messages
from weIlman before he got beyond
reach Of the wireless apparatus at Sis
consett was the following received
shortly before noon yesterday:
The equilibIatOr is jerking on the
air ship as IL leaps rom wave to wave
but no damage has been done.
The weather Is thick We believe we
are south Of Nantucket
The outlook is not so favorable, but
We are keeping up the fight"
The reason for shutting down the
Americas motors while running before
the wind is made apparent to experts
in the information thus given as to the
conduct Of the squilibratOr. The equi-
Hbrator is the line OF iron gasoline tanks
strung on a steel cable and reaching
down 10 the sea. where its rising and
falling with expansion and contraction
OF the hydrogen in the great gas bag
due to differences OF day and night tenn
peratures. is supposed TO keep the air
ship within a narrow range Of altitude
and to avoid the necessity OF letting gas
out Of the bag when the heat Of the
midday sun would vary it to too great
a height. The device is the invention
OF Melvin Van-man. chief engineer of the
America His idea in filling the iron
tanks OF the equilibrator with gasoline
was that as the buoyancy Of the air
ship grew less the tanks could be hauled
I'D and their contents used in the mo-
sors, thus gradually lessening the weight
10 be carried
The squilibrator was one OF the chic;
problems of the venture and il is not
surprising that it should make trouble
in the manner described by Mr.. Well
man. with the tail OF the equilibrator
dragging over the topz OF the waves al
a speed OF 3 miles an hour it would not
be safe to run the engines OF the air
ship and thus increase its Jerking.
The unsatisfactory conduct Of the equi-
Iibrator is probably what he refers to in
saying that ''the outlook is not so favor
able"
II WeIlman Is still in the air he has
already won for himself a worlds record
by outdOing all previous feats with dir
gibles so far as time in the air is con-
ceFned- At s:I3 o'clock last night he
equallsd the mark OF 81 hours of con-
tinuous fight in a dirigible. which was
set by Count Zeppelin and has not here
tofore been approached by any others.
At sunrise today Wellman has already
covered about a fourth Of the distance
TO Ireland. according TO computations OF
probabilities as figured BY balloon ex-
perts here. They figure that the balloon
had made about 400 miles at 1 D. m. yes
terday and that the continuing strong