THE COMING AIRSHIP.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 19 July 1907, Page 4

THE COMING AIRSHIP.

| The correspondent of tht Daily Hail, writing from Uaddeck (via Sydney), tape Breton, OH April .sth. say.-.: —Professor Alexander Graham Bell will not have an entry in the coming living machine raee fgr the Gordon-Bennett Cup. II have had a eonverastioii with the dis :tinguished savant at hi, country home in Baddeck. a pretty village nestled among , mountains ..n the shore of the Great JBms <l'(»r Like. I learned that it will jbe at least six months before he will he in a position to make his initial attempt at aerial navigation in his new appliance.

Under the guidance of Mr F. \V. Bedwin, chief of Professor Hell's laboratories, I was shown over the entire plant at "lk-iun Breagb." For several yeais Dr licil has lieen engaged on au invention with the object of effecting aerial (light. While the majority of airship builders followed the beaten path ot having fur their supporting structure a large an 1 unwieldy balloon inllated with air. to which na.-, «u,|M'iidcd a car whence the operator, with but indifferent success. guided the huge bulk overhead. Dr Hill has blazed a trail of his own, and worked on an idea entirely different from that of the others engaged on (he same pro Idem.

X'early all other machines arc built with a lifting power (gas usually) that must lie placed in the machine before it leaves the ground. Dr Bell believes that an airship, to attain any great degree of efficiency, must contain within itself, by the nature of its construction, the power to float in the air. Working along these lines, he has nowperfected the superstructure of a machine that will rise from the ground of its own accord/and will remain suspended in the air without the aid of any outside agency, carrying at the same time up to three times the weight of the machine.

The final tests of flying the machine without a motor were made some time ago, when it was decided that as far a* a supporting surface went the airship is a certainty.

About six months ago the work of experimenting with the view of obtaining suitable motive power to direct the machine when in the air was begun, and, as far as it has gone, I am assured, the test lias proved satisfactory. For this purpose Professor Bell has had imported two copper air-tight tubes, about 28ft long aud aliout 4ft in circumference. These are held together six feet apart by a platform running the. entire length of the floats. On lop of this platform a bridge has been built, running horizontally with the tubes, the ends of which reach out over the sides about three feet. Knclosed in this tophamper in the centred a gasolene '/f.-h.p. engine, which, when set in motion, starts two propellers, one at either end, going through the air. On the same principle that a steamer's screw going through the water sends the vessel forward, so those blades, rotating through the air. send this heavy structure along the surface of the lake at a fairly rapid rate of speed. From this beginning it is intended to work up the motive and propelling power together with steering geer, so that the future airship may Ih> piloted safely.

In order to minimise the chances of life during the trial experiments, the machine was attached to two floats in the water which will allow it to soar but a short distance from the surface. The ship intended for this purpose ha* been completed, and is ready to start when the steering and propelling gear has been finished. Dr Hell thinks it will take upward* of a year before this Mill have been accomplished, and perhaps longer. He is not going to take any chances until he is practically certain the scheme lia- reached perfection.

At hi* laboratory [ was shown the huge kite eomjiosed of 1:11X1 tetrahedral cells, which when flown last summer easily carried a man up with it.

These cells are securely fastened in pairs with a support across the top, anil are fitted with the base of the form turned down. The skeleton is covered with sitk on two sides, and the action of the air on the ]>tanes when the machine is in motion furnishes the lifting power.

Looking at one of those airships standing perfectly still, nspended at any altitude that tile operator desires, it certainly looks as if, with the proper power. the problem of navigation through the air has at last been solved.