Evening star., 1923-11-24
TO SAVE
HEL|UM PLANNED
Cabinet Members to Urge
Appropriation to Produce
and Conserve Gas.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

T. .. D Snenandoah'S triumphs in
crossing and re-crossing the country
In the ar have strengthened the
governments purpose to establish
| great helium gas reserves. The
ohlted States possesses a practical
hlohoFoiy or the worlds helium sup
Ply In case of war it would in
sense insure the American ARMY and
Navy command of the air For the
purposes of peace it provides Amer
/ lean private ENTERPRISE with ipcom-
PARABLE opportunities for the deyeIop-
''ie"' OF commercial aviation by
| '.eaha OF dirlgible "iighter-than-
air" ships.
| Inc secretaries Of the Interior.
| war and Navy shortly will ioin in
recommending to President Coolidge
| the approval, as an administration
! measure, OF bill appropriating
roundly $5.000.O00 for helium gas
purposes. Such project had the
IoruIal support of President Harding
! rings on 1t were held in Decem-
| Der l9z2 before the House commit
| tee on public lands, but the commit
tee eventually determined that if had
no Jurlsdlctlon. The proposition has
mean taridr .ims na been revived at the In
| Dental approval will be submitted
| TO the Sfxty-eighth Congress i'm re-
! vised form. L. S. S. Shenandoah's fine
record of fiiGhts-west to the Mis-
StsSlppi and back and north into New
Engiand, gross distance of 4.5OO
miles in 101 hours in the air. with
out the suggestion Of a mishap has
becn an effective demonstration of
hcllum value as an aid to aerial
navigation.
IN :SI.
The proposed legislation has two
main purposes: The requirement for
the government of he!ium reserve
Held Tor the future needs of the Army
ana Navy and the provision of plants
LOT the production and republication
OF helium Tor the use of the Army
Navy and other government services
HaS nelds in the neighborhood of
Fort Worth. Tex, are the region in
which. il the helium bill is enacted
the governments activities mainly
VIII center. The general trend of
helium- bearing gases is from Texas
In the southwest. through Oklahoma,
up through Ohio. southern Illinois
through pennsylvania, into New York
and taking in West Virginia, Ken
lucky and Indiana. There is a little
helium outside of that zone, but all
commercial gas is virtually in that
belt Nowhere else in the whole world
Is there any helium worth talking
OF calgary, Canada. and some guam
tity in Tuscany, Italy
Might Have Ended War.
Had the Germans possessed the he
llum reserved owned by the United
States, the whole course of the world
war might have been altered. Ger
tafnly their hydrogen filled and there
fore vulnerable Zeppelins. If filled
with non-infiammable helium and
thus proof against incendiary ammu-
milton from anti-aircraft guns would
have done terrible execution over
fighting lines. DIR. Richard Bishop
Moore, then chief chemist of the bu-
reau of mines. told the House COM
mittee on public lands that if neces-
could set up plants enough to keep 100
or 200 "Shenandoahs'' in the air filled
with helium for four or five years. No
one could rival us in that sphere.
The United States was abut to ship
$4,000 cubic feet of helium gas to
France for war use when the armi-
stice came along. We had already
supplied some to Britain and France
for experimental purposes. Helium
gas is needed in enormous quanti-
ties by dirigibles of the Shenandoah's
dimensions. That leviathan of the
clouds contains 2.250.0OO cubic feet
of 1t.
Might Lease GAS.
During. the past year highly salts
factory experiments at the small
Navy plant near Fort Worth have
developed processes for cheap pro-
duction of helium. AT present there
is protiigate waste of the gases
tin,ated at 500,000.000 cubic feet
year. Some authorities say enough
is wasted almost every day to fill
a ship of the Shenandoah's size. The
governments chemists and scientists
have been hard at work on ways and
means to conserve every cubic foot
of helium available. At the Navy
plant helium is extracted out of the
gas currently used for the city of
Fort Worth's supply.
The revised bill to be presented to
Congress will put upon the Interior
Department the responsibility for re-
search in connection with improve
actual production of helium for cur
rent supply of all government serv-
ices. The legislation also provides
for the necessities of commercial
aviation, such as the Goodrich Com
pany at Akron. which recently ac-
quired all Zeppelin rights for Amer
lea, purposes promoting. If at any
time the government helium plants
have on hand more gas than the
federal services need the Secretary
of the Interior will be empowered
to lease helium. under regulations
approved by the President, to private
corporations for use in commercial
ships These corporate tions can store
the helium thus obtained and return
1t to the government in case of need.
About S4,000,000 of the contemplated
S5,000.00O appropriation would be for
conservation of helium gas lands and
about $1,000.000 for plants, processes
and research.
Copyright. 1921