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ED AS TARGETS ice to Carry on tant Experiments. perial Councilor Mar- shed book on battles uliar interest to some the German war office y out. ships are to be made n and rifle fire, to important question of may be done to them. ectiveness of balloons ct destruction on for- os and troops on the ar. will be made in the Small balloons of the ubic feet will be let veiling a certain dis-t guns will be trained practicable. l be held captive by length, attached to rill tow them within batteries at ranges to nine miles. will be witnessed by al staff, artillery offi- and officers of the Norfolk. Va. 7 Apr 1907. N-NEW YORK ALF A DAY AIRSHIP Be Accomplished Fifteen Years, De- Jose Weiss-Pro- Aerial Inventions ch 6.-Jose Weiss, the of an airship, interview- subject said: een years New York will rs distant from London,' 50 miles an hour being flying machines of the g type gliders. xplains in detail the ex- is making with gliders e plans so far as these n. ep towards the conques be to obtain the mastery ace of the simple glider essentially of a hollo two fixed outstretche ving upward at [[upside down]] gnt. The official [[?]] 9 to 0, though many [[/upside down]] Inventors Solving the Problem of Aerial Flight Activities of the Signal Corps Brings Down Upon It a Deluge of Wonderful Airships. THE publication of a statement that the army Signal Corps was preparing for a balloon excursion for some of its officers from Washington to Fort Leavenworth has served to stimulate somewhat the daily average of communications to the Signal Corps from anxious, interested, and patriotic inventors, all of whom have the latest and surest sort of flying machine warship that could possibly be made. The fact that the signal officers are not going from Washington to Fort Leavenworth by balloon hasn't the least thing to do with it. The newspapers said they were, and that was enough for the aforesaid anxious, interested, and patriotic inventors. The ordinary work-a-day man, busily engaged in stifling the home cry for bread, hardly ever stop to consider the number of persons in this broad land who are certain they have solved the problem of aerial navigation. Judging by the mall of the Signal Corps they are legion. And in the offices of the Chief Signal Officer, up in the big, State, War, and Navy Building in Washington, they think they are about the only persons in the world who do not believe that the problem has been solved. They take so little stock in the reports of solution by this or that devise that when they actually saw a man fly around the Washington Monument and then around the dome of the Capitol they smiled in superior fashion and said: "Yes, that certainly proves that that man has a sublime nerve, to trust himself to such a crazy machine." And that's as far as they would go. Not another point would be admitted in the aeronaut's favor. You see, they have grown a little tired of the bombardment up there. Not a day passes that does not bring half a dozen, at least, letters or bunches of plans and specifications from the anxious, interested, and patriotic inventors. These letters and communications vary greatly, while all have one thing in common. Sometimes the writer has just stumbled on the idea and it is brand new to him. he never in his life heard that anybody else had thought of the problem of trying to fly, and in the fervor and enthusiasm of his discovery he promptly informs the Signal Corps all about what he is going to do in that line to-morrow or next week. Now, then, since he is so certain to accomplish this greatly-to-be-desired trick, how soon will the War Department be ready to remit a few thousands or hundreds or even dollars in the way of recompense for his self-sacrificing efforts? What appropriation will the department make for experiments? Here is the great idea, just palpitating on the very verge of complete success, and all that is needed is a little Government expense money to enable Uncle Sam's warriors to outfly the eagles. That's the anxious kind. The interested inventor is even more sure of himself. He was worked at the problem years enough to know all that has been attempted by everybody else, and to be perfectly certain that his lucubrations are the only means of settling this Government ahead of all the rest of the world. Therefore, what will Uncle Sam give? How soon will the draft be forthcoming? No discount allowed for cash. Then comes the patriot. He has the trick all worked out: there isn't the slightest doubt about it. he has made flights in his airship, or whatever he calls it, that make anything done anywhere else in the world look like a toboggan slide. He is about to place this wonderful invention on the market, but before everything else he is an American, and he realizes the tremendous value this will be to his Government in case of war. Why, it will absolutely insure the utter annihilation of any enemy without the least risk or danger to our own people. Navies and armies may be disbanded; there will be no further use for them as fighting machines when this invention is put to work. Being first of all a patriotic citizen, the inventor gives the United States the first opportunity to acquire the sole and secret rights to this twentieth century wonder. He does this at great personal sacrifice. England, Germany, France, and especially Japan, are hanging breathless on his decision, waiting the opportunity to snap up this terrible engine of destruction, but of course it can only go to Uncle Sam. No hated foreigner shall have so much as a peep at it-until the United States has ungratefully refused to look. So in fear and trembling the S Corps sends out its mimeographed cular informing the patriot that fortunately for the Government an genius there is no appropriation abling the department to purchase marvel, and despite, the terrible da that may result the hated foreign must have their chance to buy. The curious thing about it is tha spite of the thousands of these circ the Signal Corps officers have sent they have never heard a word about foreign purchases of these death- ing inventions. Only One Aeroplane Venture. So while others fly and lie the Si Corps plods soberly along in its path, working with the old-fashi and fairly familiar balloon. There been one experience with the flying chine. Congress did put up the $50,000 an aeroplane, and the best part Summer was spent in preparing thing and waiting for the proper meant to set it soaring. Then about seconds were consumed in watching with a smash that ended it and $50,000 together. Since then both [[Con]]gress and the War Department been somewhat more conservative the subject of flying machines, and the Signal Corps mimeograph has busy about them. But the balloon is different. Th have been accomplished to some ex by balloons, even if it were not more than giving the enemy a range for tier artillery practice. T is hope that persistent experiment ultimately get beyond that stage, the Signal Corps officers are incline reply indignantly nowadays if su suggestion is made to them. So persist in experimenting. Now they are about to undertak more extended experiment than been tried before. A new balloon is ing constructed in New York, under supervision of Mr. Leo Stevens, aeronaut of many ascensions. It be the biggest thing in the balloon that has been blown up in a long t It will have a capacity of 78,000 c feet of gas, nearly enough to hold entire speech by John Wesley Gaine one performance. But instead of such rarefied output as that it is t inflated with ordinarily plebeian illum inating gas made out of coal. The power of that much gas is abo ton and a half, so that a fairly subs tial and commodious car can be s to this gas bag, capable of carry four men, with two or three sandwi and perhaps a bottle of beer. M food and drink does not count muc the plans of the aeronaut. The ins are the things that count him, and [[?]] as a lot of them to along. To begin with, there is whole "ometer" family-barom thermometer, hygrometer, a and all rest, a perfect wilderness of them. P vision has to be made also for a tr of ballast, to be thrown out when it comes imperative to go a little higher avoid being impaled on lightning r or the horns of stray and inquisitive [[image]] AIR SHIP FOR U.S. GOVERNMENT BEING VARNISHED removing his hat with a sweep that would have done credit to a courtier of the olden times. As they passed on Mr. Underwood asked who the woman was that she should be shown such marked distinction. Mr. Truesdale replied, "That young lady is Miss Phoebe Snow, whom you probably did not recognize owing to her having just completed a trip to Buffalo on the Erie." In justice to Mr. Underwood it may be said that he appreciated the joke
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