The Nome nugget., 1924-01-26

time balloons were dI1ecleu, iaiiiuS when they passed under a cloud and shooting upward when they came nto the sunlight, with correspond ing losses of ballast and gas to off set these actions.
 There are six power cars. each con- taining 30O-hnrse-power motor. driving all eighteen foot propeller. These motors have actually turned up an even greater power, :" that the maximum of the ship is estimat- ed at 2.100 horsepower. while it needs only 1 l.200 horsepower for average cruising. Cruising speed will be approximately fortyfve miles an hour. but the ship has a potential speed of seventy-fve miles an hour.
 The airship weighs 76,0d0 pounds. Y has a gross lift of 100 900 pounds which provides for the crew ~nd enough fuel for 5.000-mile cruise, Perhaps the most important detail. We read is, that;
 Helium is the gas with which the ship will be inflated. In fact. it is the first dirigible to be lifted with this means. Helium. although it's lifting power is S per cent. less than hydrogen. has an inestimable ad- vantage in that it is non-inflamable. and flame has been the chief factor in most of the great airship trage- dies. like the loss of the ZR-2 and tte Roma.
 This inert gas hplium is found in certain of the natural gas and oil fields of Texas and Kansas. and the United States has practically mon opoiy on it. At present it costs the Government about S5 cents cubic foot. but ii is believed that this price can be greatly reduced. There is said to be one well in Texas that could produce enogh helium to sup ply a dozen such ships as the ZR-1, hut at the same time there is danger that the rare gas will be lost through failure of proper action to conserve i..
 The fuel gasoline is contained in forty-eight tanks of l3l gallons cap acity each. They are hung on the keel with an interchangeable pump ing system whereby the fuel can be shifted from one to another. if need ful. These tanks are hung along the keel and can he dropped as ballast il necessary The regular ballast. however is water and is stored in rubber bags and is operated by auto iuatic releases. Special valves for the release of the gas are also con- ,ained In each of the balloonettes to counteract the excessive buoyancy.
 The very heart of the ship is in the forward car where the wheels that operate the rudders and elevators are situated along with all the other control apparatus and navigating in struments. such as the magnetic and gyroscopic compasses. the altimet- CTS. rate-of-climb meters, and stato- scopes
 The ship is also equipped with a radio compass. novel device for taking advantage of the "30, 900 aerial Lighthouses" unwittingly pro- vided for seamen of the air by the radio craze. These Lighthouses are the radio-sending stations of the country Should the airship be lost in dense fog and unable to make observations of either the sky above or the ground below it could send out call for signals from radio stations.
 The compass would detect the di rection from which the call came. By finding the station on the map and drawing lines from them at the angle indicated by the radio com- pass the navigator could determine his exact position by the point where the lines crossed on the map.
 The Bureau of Naval Aeronautics, at the suggestion of the officers at the Lakehurst station. are also workingg on another instrument by which they hope to be able to detect their distance from the ground. an | uncertain thing, as altimeters only register the height above sea-level or the spot from which the ship started. This new device would be worked out on the sound wave basis like the instruments already used in the Navy to detect depth of the water or the proximity of another rhip bv sound waves. In fog the aviator at present is never sure of his distance from the ground. The ZR-1, We aye told. was based