The New York herald., 1922-10-29
The Cost of Heliur,,.
Is It Greater Than the Cost Of the
Airships Destroyed by Fire?

To THE New YORK HERALD: The ex-
pressed intent OF the War Department
to use helium gas instead Of hydrogen
with which to initiate airships viii
meet emphatic public approval. Already
the loss Of airships due to the ignition .
and explosion of hydrogen has cost a
lamentable toll Of lives and financial
less that half dozen times over would
have paid for the development of our re-
sources of helium. s.s
Hydrogen is one of the most innam-
p1able OF gases. "a. Not only is It In.
fIammable but mixture of hydrogen
with air is violent explosive. Air.
ships are propelled by internal combus-
tion engines and In the operation OF
these tho electric spark Ia an essential
feature; It ignites the gases which
create the power. A leak of gas which
the exhaust OF the motor may result
in an explosion or it>may set nre to
the fabric Of the airshlp. In either case
the airship is matter OF past history.
with few II any survivors among en-
GERS and crew.
Helium is chemically inert II VII noe
burn nor can Il be made explosive; In,
deed. II II absolutely safe fyorn tgaitisn
or from explosion. Roughly Il has %
per cent. OF the buoyancy Of hydrogsu.
and It is not materially more mobile
with respect to leakage through eas
bags and airship fabrics than % hydro
gen. The reasons hitherto given Cor not
using II are it, scarcity and IL srsa3
cost. both OF which are being met and
overcome.
The hsiium 20 Tar obtainabie oonnso
from the natural sas walls In Two ssNe4
one In Texas. the other In KAnsas ana
Oklahoma. There IL = small area In
southern California. ansthsy IN Men
tana and very promising hosisou In
Ohio. near Cincinnati Tests covssiae
the natural gas horisons show that
helium occurs In more than $50 wellA
and In proportions varying from ops-
nfth OF per cent to more than per
cent. Of the gas content A. q matter
Of fact the surveys and tests are
scarcely more than q supsr6cial cvers
look at the present time. The supply
now availabls comes from Q few gas
wells In the vicinity Of Fort westh.
TexaA. and from the Ksnsas-0k Oklahoma
horizon, From the wells potentially
productive the United States Geological
Survey estimates that more than $4,000
cubic feet Of helium may be obtained
daily for the next two or three yearA
But gas wells are short lived and q fu-
turs supply must probably be sought In
other wells.
Tho process of separation OF ths
helium from the other contents Of ~
gas wells is simple in theory but costly
In practice. Heiium liquenes at q tenr
peraturs far below that Of the iiquefae.
tion temperature Of the gases with which
Il Is mixed---as q matter of fact close to
the absolute zero Of temperature. The
other constituents are liquened under
pressure and intense cold the helium ID
then separated.
During the war the cost Of the process
was reduced from figure which had
been prohibitive to approximately ten
cents q cubic foot From time to time
since the cost has been materially low.
cred. with a certain and a steady de-
mand 1t Is not unlikely that tho cost
viii be lowered to q small fraction Of
the war time figures. Whether or moi
he use of helium may be considered
economicxi depends upon the value
placed upon the lives OF trained airship
crews. ]. w. REpwAy.
MouNr VrpNoN. October 2s,