ATLANTIC AIRSHIP.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 886, 1 September 1910, Page 4

ATLANTIC AIRSHIP.

NEW YORK TO LONDON. New Zealanders will be interested i o hear of Mr Melvin Vaniman’s latest project in the conquest oi the air. He was for some time in the Dominion, and his recent exploits in the Wellman Polar Expedition have served to keep him tresh before the public. On his safe arrival in London some months ago, after braving many perils at Spitsbergen, he accorded me an interview, which enabled his friends in New Zealand to understand better the work which the Polar Expedition had in hand. There was a projected i voyage of 600 miles ; the present scheme is a far more gigantic enterprise, nothing less than a voyage across the Atlantic from New York to Loudon. Mr Walter Wellman and Mr Vauimau are now in Paris putting the finishing touches to The America, the motor balloon, with which they propose to cross the ocean in the autumn of the present year. The length of The America has been increased to 228 ft., and its greatest diameter is 52ft. A new steel car, 156 ft. long, has been built, and the balloon is to have three engines, one of which, of 70-8 h.p., is capable of giving the vessel a speed of 20 miles an hour. In addition an eightcylinder motor, of 200 h.p., is held in reserve. The airship is also to be furnished with an automatic equilibrating apparatus, the invention of Mr Vauimau. Mr Vauimau is an American, about 35 years of age, and is of Dutch origin, like Mr Roosevelt. Under the superintendanc of Messrs Wellman and Vanimau, the airship has been worked out piece by piece. The huge balloon envelope has been made in France, and is four times as large as the old one used for the Polar balloon. It is intended to contain 10,000 cubic yards of gas, and is the largest gas-bag ever constructed in France. With such an envelope, the balloon can retain its gas almost intact for months. When asked if he had found it necessary to make any radical changes in the airship after the Spitsbergen experience, Mr Vaniman said: “No, we have never had any trouble with the airship itself. Our troubles have always grown out of some uuforseeu problem, which could only arise in the actual carrying out of the work we had undertaken. The fundamental principles of the airship have never been changed, but, like other constructions, we have built stronger and larger,”

Questioned about the curious guide rope, Mr Vaniman explained ; “We consider it practically impossible to make the voyage from New York to London without some kind of stabilisator. The form we have adopted is a guide rope, 180 ft long, which weighs nearly two tons. This is attached to the car by a steel cable 320 ft. long, which runs through its entire length, and which has a breaking strain of tons. The stabilisator is made up of two parts. About 100 ft. of its length is composed of a series of cylindrical reservoirs, 3ft. bin. in length, fitted together by a kind of ball and socket joint. Each cylinder is attached to the steel cable by a special clamp. These reservoirs contain gasolene, and each can be raised independently into the car, and its contents emptied into the main reservoir for use in the motors. The remainder of the guide rope, which will trail in the water most of the time, is made up of cylindrical blocks of wood.” Concerning the problems of navigation, Mr Vaniman said: “The navigation is one of the most difficult features of the expedition. It was the lack of mastery of that subject that was the principal reason for the non-success of the Wellman Polar Expedition, of 1907. It is probably not generally known that an airship, which may have its head to the north, so far as the compass is concerned, may be actually travelling east, south, west, or any of th» intermediate directions, according to the relative velocity and direction of the wind. It was our experience in the north that caused us to invent instruments which enable the pilot to sit in his cabin and know the exact direction in which the airship is going, as well as its speed.” The envelope and gas-generating plant will be shipped to New York in the course of the next few days. The cars and motors will be shipped by the end of the month, so that all will be in New York by August 1. The only thing to be done then is to inflate the balloon, and attach the car, which will occupy five or six days. A fourcylinder motor, of 10 h.p., is used for the purpose of starting the big motors, driving a dynamo, and running a ventilator for filling the big balloonets with air. The airship is fitted with wireless telegraphy, is lighted by electricity, and carries a special uon-sinkable lifeboat.