The mirror., 1919-07-10
NE of the most amazing
scientific achievements of
the war, and one that
will have a tremendous

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HEg8gNR the war, and one that
HN2g will have a tremendous
influence on the future of man.
kind, is the production of a non-
infammable gas for balloons. 1t
means revolution in aeronautics
that holds a world of possibilities.
When the war started, Germany
placed a great deal of reliance on
her Zeppelins. Those huge
dirigibles, capable of lifting use
full load of thirty eight tons and of
travelling at the rate of seventy
miles per hour. seemed ideally
suited to carry German frightful-
ness into the very home of the
Briton. But they were afraid
these great airships- afraid of the
little battleplanes that attacked
them. The airplanes travelled SO
fast and lodged so quickly that
the Zeppelin's guns could not find
them. They would mount above
the airship where the huge gas-bag
hid them from the gunners.
Even when guns we're mounted
on top of the balloon, the Germans
had reason for dread because the
battle-planes fired incendiary bull
lets, and it needed but one of these
to penetrate the skin of the Zep-
pelin and set fire to the hydrogen
gas it contained. The Zeppelin
commanders position was about
as enviable as would be that of a
naval commander who went forth
to war in boat nodded out of
INT. He was adoat under two
million cubic feet of highly in.
fammable gas, which needed but
to be mixed with suitable quanti-
ty of air to become powerful ex-
plosive.
Even in time of peace the bag
of hydrogen is a hazardous thing
to deal with. There is no balloon
fabric that is absolutely gas-tight.
The German machines are formed
of a rigid she'll divided into COM
partments in which the gas-bags
are placed. In the space between
the bags and their containers there
is bound to be an accumulation of
gas which mixes with the air and
needs only spark to touch it off.
Under the balloon are the gasoline
engines, which are quite liable to
discharge flaming gases from their
exhaust pipes. To avoid the dan
ger of fire these engines must
be suspended we'll below the
gas-bags and their exhaust-pipes
must be carefully screened.
Another danger lies in the fabric
of the balloon itself. 1t is liable to
become highly electrified and un-
der certain conditions will emit
sparks which may cause the bal
loon to explode.
In view of all these drawbacks
the Allies did not find it advisable
to build many dirigible balloons,
and even the Germans had to ad-
NIT that airships we're not a sue
cess for aerial warfare.
When this country entered the
war our Allies took us into their
confidence and told us all their
troubles and deficiencies. British
aeronautical experts advised us
that there was crying need for a
balloon gas that would not burn,
and they suggested that our
chemists might pay some attention
to the production of helium, which
is not infammable. Helium was
one of the rare gases. Its cost per
cubic foot ranged from fifteen
hundred dollars to six thousand
dollars. To fill a large Zeppelin
with hellum at even the lowest
market price would have cost three
billion dollars! But then there
was not that much helium in cap
tivity. No laboratory in the coun-
try could of boast more than five