Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1912-03-19

MtINN NaNlNHn. FORMER Honolulu
uan. Is preparing TO cross tho At
ldniiC ocean In an airship, an i'm.
mouse diripjhl" In recent number
N" Scientific American publishes an
interesting account nf Mr.. Nauimln
md his ship" the Akron" The
account says:
IT was with no feeling Of regret
tina Mr.. Melvin Nauiman. leaning
over the tafrrail of the steam hin
Trent" watched tho Inflated airship
America" sink slowly to tho sea. One
might suppose that the engineer who
mad spent SO many wears Of work on
this dirigiblC would Cn'crtain some
Continental regard for the old bal.
loon. But MIR. Nanimdns thought -,
were on another expedition. in which
he would not he hamporCd with old
material, an old gas bag, aud old en-
zines, hut could plan an entirely new
airHhip made 0r brand now mlterial
exactly as he wanted It. The Anne
ri"n had served her purpose we'll, and
from her IN tho years that had pass
ed Mr. Nanman had learned the les
SONS that were necessary to make a
future ship successful The design OF
this new airship was already begin
ming to take form in his mind. and
after Snort rest he was eng r to
begin the work again along now
line.
When the America" was abandon
cd 1t was stTuc'urllly sound, showing
that the principles involved were cor
rect. one part only had failed: Il
Fey worked loose In one OF the pro-
TellCrs, and to this defect Mr.. Nani.
man attributed tho failure of the cX.
petition, az was pointed out in the
Scientific American of October 20th
1910 The propeller was one of u
pair that could b" rcVO,ved with their
axes 50 ~ to exert thrust AT any
desired angle. Had he been able TO
use this pair OF prOpcllCrs to lift the
machine bodily upward by power. he
could have rIisCd his CuulibratOr out
of the water and prevented that ter
htying and nervC-racking surGinC OF
the airship caused by the drag of the
eQuilibratur in the waves during tho
storm. Contrary to public opinion,
Mr.. Nanimln's faith In the cquilbra
tor, or its equivalent WIS nO' shaken.
of enabling the "AmeriCl" to beat all
records for drigihle balloons as to
time in the air, distance travelled, anl
weight carried. It's action in the sea.
It's defects ana gOOl Qualities were
all known after this voyage, aud II
was from this experience that NJ"
Nauiman Fu' 10 the heart Of the pro-
DlCm, viz. the designing Ct u device
that would serve the purpose of the
old CQuilibratnr and MT have its dc.
icCts, device that would have z
Changcahlc weight. not a fixed weight
in other words, AN CVIilibratOr thai
could be made heavy or light at will
Principal Features Of the Construc.
ton.
Fairly this summer Mr.. vanimar
succeeded in interesting Mr.. +. A
Scibcrling, president of tho Goodyear
fire & Rubber Co., Of Akron, Ohio
who agreed to furnish the necessary
capital The construction of the gas
bag was Immediately started at the
Goodycar plant and 1t was shipped tC
Atlantic City early in September Tn,
gas bag was built according to Mr.
Naniman's directions, and differs con
sidcrably from that Of the America.
The akron" as the new airshp II
called, Is longer but of smaller dia
meter, and tapers gracefully TOWARD
the stern. The old hangar of the las
years expedition Is being used by Mr.
Nanman. and to use this shed with
out enlargement II was found ncces
gary to cut out 10 feet from the en-
velope as originally designed. Tn,
present length Of the gas bag, there
fore, Is two hundred and fifty-eIgh
feet, while its diameter Is fOrty-seyeI
feet.
Below the airship runs a car SINH
lar In shape to that of the America,
bu'. in the present instance, c1nsld
orably longer. Tho body of the ca
Is q steel tank forming a reservoir
for Eve tons Of gasoline. On THU
tank q platform is built which is tt,
deck of the airship. To drive the air
ship three engines are provided ON,
forward, of 100 horsepower rating, /
iittcd with prOpellers that rotate OIL,
in the vertical plane. The next NV,
engines, of 100 and 80 horsepower
respectively drive the propeller
whose plane ol rotation may be turn
ed to any desired angle. Normally
only the forward engine will be use
TO drive the airship ahead, and
should give the craft a speed OF abOu
80 miles per hour. About so bound
Of gasoline will he consumed per hour
so that the supply of gasoline shout
last about week The propeller
of the other two engines will be feath
cred, or turned to horizontal position
50 as to offer no resistance to tn
forward propulsion Of the vessel. Il
addition to these engines. there is
II horsepower engine directly con
nected with a dynamo which vii
aeHerate current for lighting the air
'hip NJ night and for operating IT,
Marc0ni wireless telegraph appira
tus. This engine will also operate