New Britain herald., 1924-10-28
'SHENANDOAHBE BEST
 CONVEYANCE YET
DirigiblSs Hangar Appro1i' mates National Capitol in Size

Washington, D. C.. Oct. 2s.--Al- ready Amsricas best known vehicle is the Shenandoah, says bulletin of the National Geographic society from its Washington, D. c. head quarters.
 Hundreds of thousands have seen some of the country's crack trains and giant ocean liners; liter ally millions have watched the sil- very Shenandoah steal silently across the. sky" says . communication to the society.
 Incidentally, the Shenandoah and the ZR-S, are not, strictly speaking. dirigibles. They are technically called rigid airships
 ''The Shenandoah comprises many wonder stories of modern science. It's length, 6S0 feet, is two-thirds that of the Leviathan, yet its weight of only 37 tons is a tiny fraction of the Leviathans 50,000 tons.
 Hangar Near Capitols Size
 ''To house 1t and bigger sister ship, a hangar was built in a clear ing of the New Jersey woods, which building is 201 feet longer than the U. s. capitol building, just two feet less than the capitols' widest part, and more than two-thirds as wide. TAe sliding doors at one end weigh f,30O tons!
 "As the airship floats mysterious ly overhead, 1t looks like a magni- fled cigar. wrapped in tin fail, with six tiny baskets suspended from it. Inside the covering are 20 great gas bags, with a total gas capacity equal to the cubic contents of a train of 700 freight cars. These are inter spersed with from 40 to 7S gasoline tanks and complement of one-ton water tanks.
 This equipment is supported by a metal framework which is verit- able maze of girders, struts. and beams; there are 5000 struts alone in the intricate design.
 A "Magic MetaP' Is Used
 Tt is for this metal framework that duralumin is used-an alloy so light and strong that a girder 16 feet long can be balanced on ones little finger, yet if the tips are placed on brooks 1t will bear the load of eight men sitting upon it.
 Tn one of it's six cars is a photo graphic laboratory, so that motion picture reels and photographs may be developed on board and the pie torial story of flight be ready when the ship lands, or even throw1, overheard by parachutes at ,desig- mated places. Another car has 9 soundproof radio compartment with a powerful sending apparatus and telegra phic instruments.
 An Astonishing Contrivance, "The most astonishing mechanical contrivance on the Shenandoah is the newly installed water-recovery apparatus, which replaces the gaso- line burned with an equivalent weight of water. and thus saves the valving of precious helium.
 You will recall, from your chem. istry courses, that gasoline consists ! of hydrogeN and carbon. When gasoline is burned, the carbon con- pines with some of the oxygen from the air to form carbon dioxide, and the hydrogen, with other oxygen forms water.
 "Automobilists notice in cold weather that their exhaust pipes steam. Occasionally the moisture freezes and forms frostlike ring on the vent. The apparatus for re. covering water on the Shenandoah consists of several tiers of long, light pipes, exposed to the cooling air, SC that the super-heated steam. con. denses and fills water tanks. This manufactured water compensates fol the weight of the gasoline consumed
 Formerly. as fuel was burned the ship grew lighter and tended tc rise. Thereupon the gas expanded and 1t was necessary to release enough helium to equalize the lift oI the gas to the weight of the ship,
 Even though hclium cost ha' been brought from a radiumlikt luxury price of $S1 for a thousand cubic feet, the amount the Shenan doah had to valve on long trips wal an expensive operating item. On iti St Louis visit, for example, 20O,00t cubic feet of helium had to bt waived. The water-recovery device means a saving on one such trip O s.20o--enough 10 pay for the ex perimentation and installation of tn, mechanism"