FROM AMERICA TO LONDON IN THIRTY HOUHS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 287, 11 December 1878, Page 4

FROM AMERICA TO LONDON IN THIRTY HOUHS.

The idea of aerial navngaiion baa busied inventive tninda ever sinew the days of MoDtgolfier, tnd the belief that the upper-air travel will eorao duy supersede coacbes, railrnaiis, ami stecmboatp, has alwisys had its enthusiastic supporjer?. Its latest exponent is Mr P« W. Sfliroeder, formerly a lieutenant in the United States service, but a German by n&tiv'.ty, who cume to. this country in 186.1, and served a few we> Us as an engineer in the gun <lepa» tment with Hernoau B.ker ami Co., of this city, who were then encaged upon a iareo coufuioi {or the Government. Mr Suhroeder. was born in Hnnov< r, educated for iho profession »f tm made his first nsreot in Frireland when he wes only 12 yeara «f ogp, and bus been au aeronmtio enthusiast for the last 30 years. Previous to coming to America hehad seen eorne service a9 nn ensign in (ho English Array during the campaign of the Crimea. Subsequently he fouud his wuy into Egypt, the Teudezvouß of advtniutoug spirits, and pasaed saveral yenrs in Asiatic nud Afrionn travels. The air-ship in which Mr Schroe.ler proposea to make this trip will not bo a levge affair, compqrntively spetking. Tne gas-bag wi!l t:e 9i feet long aud 20 feet in diameter, in the form of a cylinder pointed sharply at each end, eo 88 to ofTVr the leeft possible obatructo rapid motion. The strongest silk that can be obtained will form the basis of the receptaculurn, lined with an imvervioua rubber coating, and besmeared externally with b coatiug of linseed oil. Mr Shroeder thinks such a bap, once inflated with carbonic acid gas, will remain inflated for months. Over this will be thrown & roof of sloutcanvae, which inceeeof accident, is 80 nrronged ns to gather tho air and break the descent. The gondola beneath is h'ed all tho way round to the 'edges of the eanras by moans of e tays and guy rop?e. It is 19 feet shorter than the balloon itsel/, nearly pointed ntench end, and 4 feet deep at the middle— j simple I oat composed of thin strips of while pinp, sireoglhfned with a tlronu framework. At one end (the stern) in a delicate rudder jat Ihe o;her, which is the bow, a screw propeller, driven by an electric eu«ine of one-half horse rower at the rate of from 1000 to 1500 ; revolu'.iona per minute, pulls the ship Ihrougb the thin atmosphere at from 45 to 65 miles per hour. The open epuce between the car end the balloon 13 20 .feet high. A pair of giaßntic winpje, convex above, concave beneath,; occupy a part of this spr.ee. A eiogle flap of dnjse . powerful engines °pf wlevauon will, Mr Shroeder calculated, lift the balloon 30 fuft into tho air. Their strokes enn bo made as rapidly as once every second, thus lifting tlie ship 1000 feet in half a minute. Once at this altitude, which is not nearly so appalling as it appears when observed from beneath, the propeller cornea into action, and : the loug , air vessel moves at the rate of a lightning express This method of lifiihg has been adoptel alter due consideration as one of the necessary factors of a system of aerial navigation, in which there is an exact balance between the buoyancy of the gas-bag when fully inflated and the weight of the gondola and its pas. Bengers. Left to itself consequently, the ship would not ascend, and when not in motion it must be- maintained at any given altitude ty the alow flapping of the wings. Tlie propeller haß two longitudinal blades, each 5 feel long by 2 feet in width ; the rudder is 6 feet long by 5 feet in width — ;an irou network covered with canvas. Brass hoops encircle the gondola at intervals of two feet. Mr Schroeder thinks he will be able to turn the sharpest corners or beat bis way against the strongest air currents with perfect ease, and quotes a similar bat less complete ship constructed upon his model now in opeiation with aeronuata in France which onawers all the conditions of high air navigation, men making headway against strong currente, and turning the eharpfßt angles with wonderful exactness and celerity. While talking with (his man of 500 balloon ascensions in his quiet quarters st No. 325 Earn Fourteenth street, one mfo'raUy breathes in a whiff of his own entbusiam,; and pictures the man of the twentieth century liviag at the Cotekille, or in the recesses of the Hikhlands, and starting for the city at 8 o'clock in ibe moro° ing in bis own little air-ship, arriving at 10, and getting home in the afternoon in the same manner.. Then comesanew literature— that of bir6"e-3ye view; and possibly the newspapers will serve their Btibscribers by moans of a staff of balloonist*, each outtravelling the fastest railway express by 20 to 80 miles an bour.