JAPAN AIRSHIP SECRETS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 11 August 1909, Page 80

JAPAN AIRSHIP SECRETS.

The notion of an inflated airship, ' which is towed along by a powerful motor suspended 50ft below the ship it-elf, is the latest product of Japanese ingenuity. In describing the invention, the Daily Mail says :—: — " Although, apparently, little public int erect is taken in Japan regarding . aeronautics generally, the Government is keenly alive to the possibilities of the airship, and .v?cretly much work is being done of a character similar to the great efforts of Zeppelin and other experimenters with the dirigible balloon. " No practical work i.s being done with the aeroplane, the usefulness of which is doubted in comparison with the possibilities of the dirigible type, but the progress made in all brances o«f avia- ' tion is being watched vei^y closely and , recorded in the archives of the dep.irt- | ment concerned. For this purpos-e :i corps of translators is employed by the Japanese Government, and every important article on the PubjecL of aviation appearing in Emopean and AmciiL.m journals is duly translated and docketed '

- ' for future use. The principal inventoi , for the Government is a private citizen, 1 a civilian, of. whom a good deal may 1 be heard in the future. He has just b patented the Yamada Kikiu, an airship i for which advantiges axe claimed. i " Mr Isabuic Yamada is a man of 47, - short and thick-set, with the typical 1 Oriental eye, expressionless except to a close observer, and short-cropped hair. L In a small, Dickensonian sort of house in Tokio, crowded in among others, with - a tramway in. front and a railway at j the rear, *in the midst of all sorts of » noises, Mr Yamada works out his intricate calculation* untroubled, with the '. plans in blue and white of his airship . and airship-destroyer before him, to1 gether with a third invention of which . he talks little. b "The leading idea, in Mr Tamadas m- . vention seems simple enough. It has an 3 ordinary deep-bellied balloon, length 35 1 metres, and holding 2000 cubic feet of > gas, towed by a gasolene motor of 50 b h.p. suspended from the bow or head of . the balloon. "The inventor claims that the shape of the balloon gives it an advantage over the Zeppelija type in navigating a strong wind. It is better ! able to resist a wind abeam, and can r always keep its head to the wind and t yet go in any direction by means of - the motor, suspended 50ft below, whose r propeller is capable of 600 revolutions a F minute. " One man is seated in the notor-boat, lin telephonic communication with th© , commander and others, while in a basket immediately below the balloon is the man ! in charge of ammunition, who drops his ! shells through a hole in the bottom of > the basket. Th© commander and engineer > are in a basket. to the rear, having with * them a compass and an instrument to ) measure the velocity of the wind. There ! are two compartments in the balloon, , the top containing hydrogen and the1 bottom compartment air, which enters : through a funnel underneath the bow, , and is let out through a smaller funnel 1 at t/he stern. i "Mr Yamada explains that, while this is a German idea, as far as he is" concerned (the idea is original as applied to balloons. But it is a very old one 1 in Japan. For hundreds of years May 5 1 has been the date of the Boys' Festival < (Tai.go no Sekku), and on, this date huge . paper or cotton fish (carp) float suspended from bamboo poles, like flags. The mouth- of the carp, through which air enters, is large. th« huge body or balloon is inflated and floats in the wind, the air finding an exit through the smaller hole at the tail. " This idea is exemplified in the plan of Mr Yamada's balloon, and he claims that it was th© floating carp which suggested it. Two other features of the plan are valves on the roof of the balloon. The safety valve is on tne right, while the" one to the left is the escape valve, to enable the balloon to descend. A projection at the rear is the rudder. The Yamada Kikiu, as it :s: s now registered in th© Patent Office at Tokio, is the fruit of 15 years' study, but it is not a first invention."