The Air Ship.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 244, 14 July 1874, Page 6

The Air Ship.

An air ship, with wings worked by steam, and capable of being driven 100 miles per hour, has, it is said, been constructed at last. It is the production of Mr L. B. Hunt, a talented and an enterprising mechanic, of Auburn, State of New York, and is thus described in the New York Sun: —‘ ‘The car destined to carry the passengers is of wood, 30ft. long, Bft. high, and Bft. wide. This is attached to the engine-room, 20ft. above, by four wire cables, and the motive power is steam, one of Sbsby’s rotatory 50 horse-power engines being used. The engine is so constructed as to turn upright shafts, one within the other, working in opposite directions, to which wings made of sheet-iron, slightly concave, are attached. These wings are eight in number—of a foot wide next the shaft, 6ft. at the extreme end, and 12ft. long, being attached to the outer shaft ; and four of a similar shape of the same dimensions being attached to the inner shaft, 10ft. above the other. When the machinery is set in motion, these wings lift the vessel, and the whole apparatus is steered by a sheet-iron rudder, parallel to the shaft of the engine at the right of the machine, 10ft. long, by sft. wide. From the car to the top of the shaft the vessel measures 58ft., and it has cost twelve thousand dollars. It weighs six tons, is capable of carrying six tons more, and will afford accommodation for forty persons.” This, though placed in quotation, is a somewhat abridged account of this extraordinary vessel. But it contains all that is material, without going into more minute details. It should be observed, however, that no trial has yet been made of this vessel, although one is promised at an early day.