The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-06-10

in the solar spectrum. He assigned
to the new element the name which
Lockyer had suggested for it.
Germans Lucky in Past.
The United States, with her plen-
teous supply of helium, has used
it in operating her airships, but
the Germans have always b n
Slightly skeptical about the Ameri-
can enthusiasm for the gas. 1t is,
next to hydrogen, the lightest gas
known, yet its pay load efficiency is
20 per cent less. Despite this fact,
hydrogen costs about $3.50 per 1000
cubic feet as against many times
that amount for helium. At that
rate it can't be wasted cheerfully
in maneuvering a ship.
UP to the time of the Hindenburg
crash, the Germans had been very
expert-and not a little lucky-in
handling their many airships with
out losses due to fire and explosion.
T h e Hindenburg was the 129th
of noble line (the official
number of the ship was LZ-129)
Of her predecessors, 10 were never
completed, Is were lost by storm
and accident, 6 by causes unknown,
81 were dismantled, As were wrecked
by the war, IL were turned over to
the Allies after the war and 7 were
sabotaged that they need not be
surrendered. The Graf Zeppelin and
the Los Angeles are the only ones
left. The old Graf carries on like
the veteran she is, her comings and
goings between Germany and South
America hardly occasioning COM
ment any more. She landed a t
Frankfort from Rio de Janiero the
day after the disaster, with % pas
sengers, and was Immediately
grounded indefinitely. She will not
take off again without helium.
Before the World war helium was
worth hundreds of dollars per cubic
foot. 1t was obtained from minerals
such as cleveite, fergusonite, mo-
Matte, thorianite, and other radio
active minerals, as well as h e
uranite used by Ramsay. But it
was not until wartime that the
United States bureau of mines
solved the problem of producing
it from natural gas in quantities
sufficient to initiate giant airships.
The victory of the bureau is con-
sidered an epic of science.
The first wartime helium plant
was at Petrolia, Texas, but the
compressors and other apparatus
for extraction were later moved to
Amarillo, a better location. Here
the government has complete
plant producing helium from a gas
field which is one of the world S
richest in the inert, non-infamma-
BILE gas.
Nazis Never Enthusiastic.
In addition, far-sighted Uncle Sam
has established helium reserves in
just the way that he has oil re-
serves.
In the past steps have been taken
to permit the sale of Uncle Sam S
helium to Nazi Germany, to insure
the safety of airship flight, but Ger
many had never been overanxious
or insistent. Indeed, one version has
it that the United States offered
helium to the Zeppelin company,
but certain German experts con-
sidered the expense of the safer
gas too great for commercial use
and, furthermore, cited the greater
lifting power of hydrogen.
The President has been given dis
cretionary power to sell helium to
a foreign nation, if he has the rec
ommendation of the secretaries of
interior, war and navy.
According to Watson Davis, di-
rector of Science Service, to whom
the writer is indebted for much of
his information, ''There is admitted
ly a war angle to this question of
whether America should relinquish
even to a limited extent it's nature
given monopoly of helium. But there
was growing feeling that the air
ship line across the Atlantic should
be made as safe as possible. That
would mean extending to Germany
the courtesy of helium, just as the
navy has given them the facilities of
its Lakehurst airship station, the
only suitable landing field for air.
ships in eastern United States"
@western Newspaper Union.