The sun., 1919-02-09
By JOHN W. HARRINGTON.

RI born gas. is hailed as the new
hope OF aeronautics. The dis
rovery that it can be produced at an
infnitesinal fraction OF Its cost before
bions OF the rigid helium airship to
proclaim that the lighter-than-a air
craft will loom in the skies as the rival
Of the airplane. They declare that by
substituting the inert vapor now avail
able for the inflammablc hydrogen
men may take the wings OF the
morning and go 70 the uttcrmost parts
OF the earth without hazard OF fire.
Whether or not the airship will ever
be . commercial success Is a question.
the new balloon gas may mean aerial
hattleships, If there ever come another
great war. and 1t may aid spectacular
crossings of seas and continents by
those who would go adventuring into
the empyrean.
Suppose that II. G. Wells had known
about helium, He would not have had
matches forbidden on pain of death
10 the crew of the great airship which
moved to the conquest of the world.
Eipling would have had another arGu-
:rent In favor of the dirigible over the
plane in his glimpse into the future
of air travel, With the Night Mail"
He could have had the whimsical adj
rertisements set forth the superiority
Of fiameproof dirigibles and added such
titles as Sparks Among the Gas
5jags" to his Bee Line Bookshop.
"Zcpps" Highly InanmmabIe.
Many a time in the European war
was Zeppelin brought down a wrath
rglow by merely firing incendisry bull
lets into the gas envelope. When the
''Zeps" went hurting to tho heath. as
sc often they did, II did not take long
Tor the sparkling engines to change them
into ashes Of fabric and heat twisted
skeletons Of aluminium and steel. One
OF the reasons why these ponderous
Hun air cruisers were accounted mill
tary failures was that even under the
best conditions the light hydrogen with
which they were filled was liable al
ways TO ignition.
Such sky adventures as Walter
Wellman years ago took their chances
in huge dirigibles in which the cars
we're swung close to the gas bag. The
fiery exhausts from the engines blazed
within only a short distance Of the
bullying cylinder of hydrogen. Well
man escaped the fire peril, as did many
other daring aeronauts, such as AL
berto antos-Dumont and the Count
&c VaulX, but within the last few
months many an army or navy air
ship, hydrogen filed. went up in n
blaze of glory. The casualties among
the 'tblimps" from fire and explosion
were heavier than Is generally known.
The sea forces lost some which got too
close TO the tunnels OF battleships and
The fire record Is long one among the
naval kites.
The British Admiralty, 10 whom Sir
William Ramsay had suggested the
use of helium for filling war balloons.
believed that the dream OF the dis
tinguished scientist would come true,
Up to the time the war had begun
there had probably never been pro-
6uced more than 100 cubic feet of
lelum in all the world. Ever since
Janssen, the French astronomer. de-
tected its presence in the sun by the
peculiar line on tho spectrum, it had
al
,nospherc in tho proportion of one
volume TO $4,000 volumes OF air and
in certain rare minerals.
TOO Costly at s1,7OO n Cubic Foot
Helium at 81, 700 cubic foot may be
all very we'll as n laboratory curiosity
but even for filing war balloons 1t was
too much of luxury. The Admiralty
with typical English tenacity, insisted
on getting IL cheaply enough to use
for airships. A natural gas was found
in Canada which contained third OF
one per cent. Of hclium.
When the United States entered the
war the helium problem was handed
10 the United States Bureau Of Mines
and the Navy Department also tool
part in the quest. Down in northern
Texas, near the Oklahoma line. were
found natural gases which contained &
little more than 1 per cent. Of the
much sought element. They were
plped to Fort Worth. whore they were
treated in two plants built by the Gov
eminent on the premises of companies
which were extracting oxygen ant
nitrogen for commercial purposes. Thu
Bureau OF Mines built tTrd plant a
Petrolia, Tex, adjacent to the ga
wells.
The process OF getting the heliun
r. much the same as that employed II
Inc extraction OF air products. The ga