The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-08-08
DEvEL 0PMENT OF HELIUM GAS IS STORY OF ROMANCE
 IN TIE WORLD OF SCIENCE
Government Maintains Three Plants For Manu-
 featuring of Gas.

men who were making observations of the eclipse turned a spectroscope for the first time on the solar chro- mosphere-that part of the atmo- sphere ot the sun which merges into the corona. A bright yellow line was observed and was thought at first to be due to sodium.
 Line Found to Vary. Jansen showed, however, that this line was not just the same as either the D1 or D2 line of sodium, although 1t was extremely close to these lines. Hence he suggested that the new line have the designation D3. Frankland and Lockyer decided that D3 was due to an element in the sun not previous ly discovered on the earth and sug- gested for it the name of "HeIium''- from the Greek word helios, meaning the sun.
 For several years nothing more was done in connection with this element. In 1894 Sir William Ramsay, in cons nection with Lord Rayleigh, made his memorable discovery of argon in the atmosphere. After this discovery Ramsay looked for. other sources of the element. He learned that Dr. W. F. Hillebrand, of the United States Geological Survey, had obtained inert gas from certain uranium min erals, which gas he had decided was nitrogen. Ramsay believed part of it might be argon. He obtained from Hillebrand for experimental purposes sample of the mineral-cleveite,
 
 ter extracting gas from the mineral and purifying it, he ran it into a spectrum tube. The lines obtained, however, were different from those of argon. Among them was the bright yellow line noted by Jansen. Thus was terestial helium discovered. Helium Taken from Air. Dr. R. B. Moore, chief chemist of the Bureaus of Mines, says that from samples of air taken at an a1ti- tude of several miles the proportion of helium has proved to be about the same as at lower levels one part | by volume to 1000.
 | At extremely high attitudes, such | as 100 miles or more, the proportion may be greatly increased, Dr. Moore says.
 Before the World War the Ger mans had developed type of diri- gible called Zeppelin, after Count Zep- pelin, its inventor. The French and I British had no dirigibles at the be- ginning of the war, but later hastened to repair their deficiency. From ex- | perlence gained in the defense of | London it was recognized that the | dirigible was vulnerable against a | well-organized attack. The Germans too, recognized this and invariably | made attacks on England at night
 operating from a high altitude in order to minimize attacks by airplane, as a single incendiary bullet fired into dirigible would quickly bring the ship down, a mass of flames. Hydrogen InflammabIe.
 The inflammability of the hydrogen contained in the ship was the one weak point in this method of attack. | The remedy for this situation was to be found In non-inflammabIe gas
 light enough to replace hydrogen as | a. lifting force. Helium is the only gas known to have these qualities. | When the United States entered the war helium for use in dirigibles was 1 discussed among Bureau of Mines of | ficials, and the matter was present. ed to the War and Navy Departments. | The Air Service approved the proposi- ton, and allotments of money were made from the Army and Navy appro- priations to carry it forward. II Three experimental plants were
 constructed in Texas under the di- recton of the Bureau of Mines two at Fort Worth and one at Petrolia. Plants at Fort Worth. One of the plants at Fort Worth
 was completed in October, 1920, and
 was operated during part of 1921. It produced about 100000 cubic feet
 of helium, which makes available at | the present time a total of about D.
 100000 cubic feet of helium over 90 per cent. in purity. Most of the gas is graded around 95 per cent.
 have been constructed by the Army. One of these is at Langley Field, Virginia The other unit has been installed on two railroad cars so it can be moved about as needed. Complete equipment for conducting
 research at low temperature -> the Cryogenic Laboratory of the Bu- reau of Mines-is located at Wash ington. Helium can probably be re- | duced in this plant for ten cents a
 foot, but officials think this cost can
 be reduced to three or two cents a