Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-04-23
BRITISH HOLD
SECRET OF NON
BURNING c A S
He|ium, Discovered by Ameri-
can Chemist. Has Been Re-
Discovered lin England;
Vital for War.
By MATTHEW F. TIGHE.
(By Staff Correspondent of Universal
Seryice1


Washington, April 22.-Great
Britain has the secret of helium gas,
the discovery of an American, and
up to this time the exclusive prop
erty of the United States govern
ment.
No charge is made that few fed
eral employees were responsible for
the British governments acquisi-
ton of the non-combustibla chemical
or that it was obtained by unfair
methods. Scientists at McGill uni
versity. Montreal, Canada it was
stated, simply worked OUT the
process.
The gas was discovered by a
Washingtonian named Hildebrand,
and perfected by American SCI
entists. 1t was shipped to Europe
in large quantities when the war was
on. 1t is absolutely non-inAam-
mable and was intended, had the war
continued, to be pumped into di-
rigibles, which would then have been
immune from explosion even if nit
by shell fire.
Would Make U. S. Air Mistress.
Sole possession of the gas would
have made the United States the
mistress of the air" and revolution
lied aerial warfare.
1t is now being developed at
special works in Texas and has been
supplied to a number of the new
airships of the British admiralty.
These are Zeppelin types and some
of them have flying or floating
radius of 5000 miles. In construc-
ton many of them have greater
length than the greatest dread
noughts. Helium gas was relied
upon by army and navy authorities
here to provide the United States
with flotation power of sufficient
value to best whatever Great Britain
or France offered in the construc-
ton of lighter than air machines.
And this country, they say, with
the exclusive use of this gas, would
have been the most powerful enemy
of any or all nations in the event of
future wars
Helium surpassed all expectations
in actual use. 1t proved its efficacy
in the first few weeks of the war
when it was tried out in dirigible
near this city. The balloon was
riddled with shot and shell, yet the
gas did not explode or ignite. AT
ter this experiment the manufacture
was begun on an extensive scale,
and quantities were shipped abroad.
The secret was supposed to have
been kept in Europe as we'll as here.
"Rediscovery" is Certainty.
1t was said that there was little
question but that the process had
been "rediscovered" at McGill uni
versity, and that the new British air
ships would be equipped for actual
service with the invaluable gas The
Canadian physicists, it is believed. re-
newed Their search for a non-inflam-
mable gas when they realized the
potentialities of helium gas as war
asset.
Scientists here are unwilling to adj
NIT that the British gas IS, IN all re-
spects, comparable to the American
gas, which is now being manufac-
tured secretly. They are certain,
however, that Great Britain has a
non-combustible gas and that it is
helium.
The research incidental to the dis
covery of helium was conducted by |
the bureau of mines here during the |
war and also by a special commits
sion of experts named by the War
and Navy departments. The gas is |
evolved from certain kind of natur-
al gas, which was supposed to have
been found only in certain parts of
Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. 1t
appears now, however, that suffi-
Gent quantities of the natural gas re-
CURED for the production, of helium