Jackson County journal., 1919-12-19
Radio Direction indicators Are
improvements to Save
Life and Time.
NEED FOR Cash IS ACUTE
Eight Planes Used in Mail Service in
United States and So in English
Channel Service Compared
Fog No Longer Menace.

New York.-New devices to safe
guard mail pilots and assure the sure
guidance of mail planes through all
kinds of weather are now being in
stalled on mail planes and at the New
ark and Bellefonte flying fields, accord
Ing to statement by Otto Praeger.
second assistant postmaster general
In charge of aerial mail Radio direc-
tlOn indicators and a new compass are
among the improvements which will
save both life and time.
In his state, rent Mr.. Praeger goes
carefully into the aerial mail situation
In this country, pointing out that much
depends upon the attitude of congress
toward appropriations for the exten-
| sion of the service. He contrasts the
eight airplanes in daily mail carrying
operations throughout the entire Unit
ed States with the "a transporting
mail each day in Great Britain and
across the channel
THE fact that European countries
are operating more extensive air mail
services than the United States is due
solely to the reason that the post office
department has not been able to obtain
appropriations for the desired devel-
opment," he says. Concerning the i'm
provementS in air mail carrying, he
says:
with the cooperation of the bureau
OF standards, the signal corps of the
army and the radio section of the
navy, the aerial mail service has de-
veloped most powerful loop radio for
communication of mail planes and
their guidance through all sorts OF
weather, even fog. This equipment
is now being installed on the new mai
planes and landing fields at College
Park, Newark and Bellefonte, Pa.
THE radio set has a tremendous
range for sending. Its possibilitie
have not been fully determined In
stead of requiring masts from 200 t,
500 feet high, the aerial wires are be
ing raised on masts only % feet high
Field Marking Equipment.
Included in the equipment is a field
marking radio device which enables
pilot to steer exactly for the center Q
his landing field, although it may b
invisible and Obscured by clouds, rair
snow or fog. The tremendous impor
ance of this invention, which has bee
perfected by the bureau of standard
= = on the initiative of the aerial ma
t service, can be barely realized by thos
unfamiliar with the art of flying
< Fog is the aviatOrs most dangeror
: enemy. A majority Of crashes and ba
= landings are caused solely by the il
t, ability Of the pilot to determine h
as position and the location Of q suitab
landing place.
"a new compass has been devise
and put in service on the small plane
IL but one Of the most important cont
buttons to aviation being worked o.
by the aerial mail service, with eve
prospect of success, is a nonmagnet
c and nongyrOscOpic compass which w
overcome the unreliability Of the ma
netic compass caused by vibration al
J" other disturbing features of an a
plane in motion.
Through the encouragement al
actual assistance of the aerial m;
service an American inventor h
created a self-cleaning spark plug
the powerful high-cOmpression type
Liberty motor.
"We have every reason to belle
that these new inventions will do mu