Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-01-13
devised a use for the suirplnne which

deviscd a use for the suirplnn, which
prornlses 10 be Immediately useful IL
proposes 10 carry aid 10 the scenos Of
mine disasters by airplaDe. The idea "
that Of Mr. Bailey, assistant chief of the
bureau. He wrote to the chief Of the
Air Service, asking If that department
was willing To cooperate an the use oi
planes for the purpose. He proposed that
In case Of disaster, plane from the
nearest air service station should 70 W
the headauarters Of the district engineer
Of the Bureau of Mines, and riusb ~ tho
disaster with that Individual and with as
many oxygen tanks M IL could carry.
An oxygen tank weighs only forty pounds,
and the average plane could carry about
eight of them. Often oxygen tanks
brought promptly to the scene Of dis
aster will save many lives. Often, too,
geophones are needed. The ge0phone,
YOU know. is a listening device by which
a miner, tapping on the wall OF mine,
can be heard and located through eighty
or ninety feet of solid rock and earth
The alrplancs could easily carry az many
geophones az might be needed. Also, IN
case of a fire, the plane would perform
a great service by carrying the engineer
10 the ecene Of the trouble ahead II the
mine rescue car, with its crew Uf trained
men. which the bureau sends " every
mine disaster The engincsr would make
all plans for hm work Of rescue and hrc-
fighting before the car arrived.
CONDITIONS HARD Tn OVERCOME
The chief of the Air Service has agreed
"a 10 the important services which an
airnlane might render IN Gaze Of mine
disaster, and he has agreed 10 render
them. provided the fiers arc assured ~
certain thing They must have landing
fields. at least 1900 feet squsre at each
end ot the trip, they must have gas md
hi AZ both terminals; and they must
oavc rraps of the rout' 20 be covered. II
seems that all of these conditions can be
net with regard To some of the mines,
while Others will probably be Impossible
TO reach by airplane until the means and
methods Of landing have BEEN greatly
improved Mr. Bailey plans to ~ out
this airplane stlint, probably next spriDg
IN Illinois or Indiana where the country
IS fiat and landing y not dIfhcult II
il works there. the use Of the planes Will
be gradually extended.
In addition to this protected use, the
bureau made on actual use % au arr
plane in It's work not Tong agn N conncc-
ton with the investigation 0f thc smoke
nuisance II Salt Lake City Utah That
town suffers rather severely from SCOT.
Investigation showed that over thirty
zoven tons of Eoot to the square mile lsii
every year On aorne parts d the city Il
had long bern believed by sprne scientists
and many ~ the people ~ large that this
SCOT was forced down into the city, which
leg in \ valley. by the gasrs given on ~
srnolters IN the surrounding bills. The
idea nav aeern fancifui 70 you, bat i
was believed that the srnelter gasce got
above the soot and prevented i from
blowing away, % that j. Ind 70 settle
in the city
T0 ascertain whether there was any
thing IN this theory, Mr. q st. John
Pcrrot A scientist Of the Rurean of Mines
who was an army aviator during the war,
few high up IN the AIR above the city
with 4 lot n vacuum bottles collected
samples of the upper AIR, brought :hern
down ard analyzed them He found inst
there was very little snelter gas above
the smoke cloud and hIs fight seems 70
have proved that the salt Lake City
people we're on the wrong track when
thcY blamed the smeiters. The Bureau
If Mines thinks they will never breathe
lcss soot until they learn y burn coke
instead If coal.