Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1920-02-05
More About HcIium

Washington, d. G., Feb. "A largt
commercial company for the production
Of hclium has just been formed with re.
tired officers Of the United States Al
! Service among ita directorate. At the
same time the government il initiating q
survey Of the heIi,nn resources Of the
| United States. II is confidently believed
That these are very large, and they are the
only known belium fields in the world.
| Helium, you know, IL the non-in-
| ilammable gas which is NV used in place
| of b drogen for the filling Of dirigible
| balloons. A former Haskin letter told
| how helIuisl was made IN this country
| during the war, and was ready for ship
| ment to Engl nd TO be used in great air
| raid on Germany when the war came TO an
end.
The interesting thing about heliun now
~ the fact that il seems TO afford the safest
| means Of flying yet discovered. If eiium
Is found in the quantities which experts
believe To exist, it is quite probable That
all Of will Ice safely travelling by mir
much sooner than would have been posi-
BILE with only the heayier-than-air ma
chimes To rely upon.
nELIUa SAFEST.
While believers in helium do not under
esiimste the possibilities Of the airplsne,
they regard the helitirn-innatad balloon
IS the safest n Il most practical airship,
especially for long voyages. They de
clare that the dirigble can travel much
greater distance than the airplane With
out stopping for fuel, that it affords a
much smoother way To travel the air, and
with helurn substituted for hydrogen, is
practically indcstructibIe.
Heretofore the greatest danger IN
balloon travel has been the highly in
flammable character of hydrogen, and
this one difficulty has been SO great az TO
practically eliminate the dirigible as a
common means Of aerial transportation.
A tiny spark from the motor or a fash
of lightning has been sufficient to do
stroy, in the twlnkling Of an eye, an air.
ship costing hundreds of thousands Of
dollars, sending the machine with its
crew and passengers crashing TO the ground
IN a mass Of flames
Airplanes are dangerous, but compared
to the hydrogen airship, they are
as safe as cradles in a freproof building
Scientists were st loss for n substitute
for hydrogen, for apparently ~ was the
only gas obtainable light enough for tho
purpose.
The fire hazard practically eliminated
the dlrigible from the war progran-the
lighter than-air craft going down 10 ig-
nominlous defeat before the anti-aircraft
guns Of the enemy. During the HOSTILE
ties the United States lost fOrty-four OBJ
servatiOn balloons with a replacement
value reaching over million dollars, and,
as Major Paul Pleiss declared in his report
on helium, the loss Of observation time
was lncalculable.
4 dingIble ran carry rntNb greater
load than the airplane, 1T being possible To
construct an airship with a lifting capacity
reaching $50, 900 To 40O, 900 pounds, white
the largest airplane ever built can carry
only about 5000 pounds.
DISCOVERED IN KAaas.
The original discovery Of helium in
America was made IN a little town called
Dexter in southern Kansas where the
event of its discovery vas regarded rather
in the light Of calamity than a blessing
by the inhabitants Of the town and the
owners of the well.
The men drilling for the natural gas
had been confident of securing a supply
sufficient for the households and indus
tries of the community, so the event Of
opening the well was made a holiday for
the people Of Dexter. A crowd collected
and the well Was dramatically opened, the
gas rushed forth and in order TO make
the demonstration complete, a lighted
torch was thrust into the mouth of the
well. According TO al rules the gas
should have Immediately ignited and
blazed forth the news of the opening of
the well TO the community but 10 did
nothing of the sort. The torch promptly
went out and though Others were thrust
into the gas it stall refused TO fame and
the people returned 10 their homes in q
rage with nature who had cheated them of
their promised supply of cheap fuel.
Samples of the mysterious gas were sent
to the State university where the secret
OF It's freproof qualities was disclosed
when DR. I'll. p Cady Of the university
staff announced that it contained a large
quantity of nitrogen and Isl per cent of
helium, both gases being incombustible
Other wells In Kansas We're asked to sub
nit samples and a careful analysis dis
closed the fact that nearly all Of them
contained helum. The gas was found 20
be particularly abundant In southern Kan
sas, where for years it had been called
wind gas and allowed 10 waste into the
air on the theory that it had no practical
value. Probably many millions OF cubic
eet OF the now precious substance was
wasted IN this manner.
Not only had the gas been regarded as
Useless but drillers for the deep oil bear
ng sands had found it great hindrance
% their work.
EXPERTS CALLED IN.
When the value of helium for fying |
vas discovered, experts from the army |
ind navy were called into the conference /
md finally two small experimental plants /
we're opened at Fort Worth, Texas, to /
reat the gas In the nearby Petrolia /
ields. Later third plant was opened in /
he field itself.
The history of the development of the |
leiium resources of this country is the /
most wonderful of all, involving experts
rom all over the nation and finally
bringing into the story chemists from