Evening star., 1926-08-22

II 11TE up
IL on stills out of the sea,
are proposed by Howard r.
A N Armstrong, An American en-
eineer, to facilitate trans
atlantic air flights. These huge sea
0romes" viii have a landing platform
Epace of many acres, and will stand
20 feet out of water, steady in the
most violent Of storms. Spread out
along a chosen airway, they will make
fuel and supply stations for quick
hops to any part of Europe. Mr..
Armstrong, who is chief of the expert
mental department at the du Pont de
Eemours Co, is sure that they
promise an early air service between
continents. The New Yorker will
then be able to enjoy a protracted
week end at Deauville or Venice as
easily as he now goes to Atlantic
City or Asbury Park. And the trip,
from Manhattan to London or Paris,
will cost perhaps S75 each way.
You would board a comfortable
feather seated airplane in New York
Rt, say. 8 O'Clock Friday morning.
You would sail out over the ocean un-
I'll there was nothing to be seen any
where but sky and water. with a few
steamers like white and black specks
below YOU. About noontime, when
the fresh air and excitement of the
"trip began to tell in your vitals. and
you started wondering If they passed
around any lunch, you would sight a
strange object, apparently standing
up out of the sea ahead. Like a great
spider walking on the ocean floor.
you would think 1t. And then YOU
would find that your plane was max
ing straight in it's direction.
1t is a smooth fioored surface, near
ay l. acres in area. upon which your
air vehicle may land There you
would get out, stretch your legs. and
visit an excellent restaurant and rest
room maintained by the aviation COM
pany. After your physical needs were
attended to. YOU would begin to in
Sestisate this strange man-made is
land.
Looking over the edge you would
fnd Yourself 90 to 100 feet above
the level of the sea. Under ordinary
conditions the waves would look like
tiny white scratches in it's surface
beneath YOU. You would still have
the sensation of being in an airplane.
The platform is supported only by
stills, long legs which hold it out of
the water. and go down into the
deeps for a great distance. To get
an idea of how it looks. stick hatpins
around the edge of a restaurant menu
card, place corks, and then cardboard
disks on the ends of the hatpins, and
then weight the points of the pins
with solder. The menu will stand for
the platform. the Corks viii represent
great huoTant drums. the disks will
serve purpose to be described later
and the solder IS q weight to keep the
whole 'island" stable.
* 4 X
RTT To continue the journey. After
lunch You will set sail in your
plane again. At nightfall you sail on,
perhaps wondering whether YOU have
10 sleep in the auto-chair of the air
plane. Then. through the dark, YOU
see an ;turcoie OF light, halo about
another great spiders head. There
will be no chance of Your pilot missing
his landing. Within a swoop, he
comes down. You have dinner at a
hotel and retire for the night
In tho morning. YOU awake in a
storm. The winds howl outside your
window. and in the gray dawn-for
Sou must rise early-you can see
great waves. - feet high. rolling and
pitching across the sea. But the plat
form is motiou,ess. 1t is so construct
ed that the waves cannot shake 1t.
You board your plane and soar up
above the storm. confident that you
will lunch on another such island.
Some time during the afternoon YOU
would arrive III Paris.
The theory Of Mr. Armstrong; plat
form is Very simple. In q storm
&here is little horizontal movement of
the ocean water. the waves move
across the surface Of the sea. but at
any ono point the body Of water itself
only goes up and down. At a slight
distance under the surface there is
scarcely any movement at all. The