ENGLAND'S WAR BALLOON.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 221, 11 September 1908, Page 4

ENGLAND'S WAR BALLOON.

UODi 6 London, thny lt>. ll is stated that the various amicullies wiiii machinery of me r(-'"o----valed win' teuooii, jjiriyiule .\». i, nave at last becu o'vtju:uiiu' at tue factory near luirnborough, and, weatuer 'ucmiUiiig, .U»e aerial »iU lor a cruise the first favorable day /this week. The chief trouble lias been of late witll tile motor-cylinders, fcome'ot wliicli, owing, presumably, u» their light construction, have bursty Once mora the Dirigible Xo. 1 is to be run by aft' eight cylinder Antoinette engine. . Aa has already been intimated, the craft has been lightened and rerigged. tihv has now greater lilting power; and the closer knit and simpler gear for connecting the car will enable her to travel at a higher rate of speed. The skin envelope liolds the uydrogeu gas perfectly, and the sausage snaped machine lias such a pressure oi gas within that two men walk arm-in-arm as upon a railroad, along the. top of the inflated aerostat. It may seem surprising, but such is actually the case. Various sets of new propellors liave been tried, besides tlie former shovel-headed pattern, and the revolutions of these air screws have been increased. It lias been claimed that these will give a thrust of several hundreds of pounds when in motion, and will drive the air-ship at the rate of over thirty miles an liour. There is also by means of the reduction in weights obtained in tlie rig"higs, a greater reserve of lifting power. "Dirigible No. 1" will carry not only two men and all the accessory stores of patrol, including water for cooling the motor, but a surplus load of five or six hundred pounds. Xt is thought that thus renewed and altered she will have an effective working radius of 500 miles. • By means of an arrangement formerly mentioned the loss of weight occasioned by the using of the petrol, is compensated for_ by letting gas escape from a subsidiary balloon carried in or near the car.

r There is also a smaller "dirigible" at Aldershot, and with that and No. 1, while more are building, officers will be taught at once how to manage "dirigible" to be ready for all eventualities. It should be added that Mr Cody ha? perfected his a'eroplane, and once the engine is in working order he means frying its wings, lie is quite confident that he can fly with his new apparatus, and has no fear of being put to compete willi either Ml' Wilbur Wright or Mr Farman. Certainly [Mr Cody is not only a skilled mechanician, lm ; t a superbly daring aeronaut. His friends are seeking to lay money that the Cody machine will lly this month, and to a greater distance and a far higher altitude than lias ever been attempted by any other heavier than air machine.