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1907. June 13 Thursday at Baddeck
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Post Houston Texas
21 Apr 1907

BALLOONS FOR TARGETS.

Imperial Councillor Martin's recently published book on battles in midair gives peculiar interest to some experiments which the German war office has decided to carry out.
Balloons and airships are to be made the targets of gun and rifle fire, to throw light on the important question of the damage that may be done to them, and also on the effectiveness of balloons and airships to inflict destruction on fortifications and camps and troops on the march in time of war.

The experiments will be made in the vicinity of Danzig. Small balloons of the capacity of 2500 cubic feet will be let loose, and after traveling a certain distance, rifle fire and guns will be trained on them as long as practicable.

Other balloons will be held captive by cables 3000 feet in length attached to warships which tow them within range of the coast batteries at ranges varying from three to nine miles.

The experiments will be witnessed by officers of the general staff, artillery officers, naval officers and officers of the balloon department.


Post Dispatch 
21 Apr 1907. St Louis

BIG SEARCHLIGHT AND WIRELESS ON BALLOON

BERLIN, April 20.——Count Zeppelin, who has received an imperial grant of $125,000 towards the reconstruction of his dirigible balloon and for experiments, is about to resume his trials over Lake Constance.

During the winter various improvements have been made with the steering arrangement, and the balloon has been provided with electric searchlights and receiving apparatus for wireless telegraphy.


Athens Post, Chicago
22 Apr 1907

Erfindung der Zukunft.

So überaus reich an epochemachenden Erfindungen auch das letzte Jahrhundert gewesen ist, so giebt es doch noch immer eine Fülle von Problemen, deren Lösung möglich erscheint und dem Erfinder voraussichtlich auch Gewinn bringen dürfte. Nehmen wir zurächst nur das Gebiet der Schrift. Genau so wie die alten Assyrer und Egypter malen wir heute noch mit Hilfe von Schreibrohren und einer Schreibflüssigkeit Schriftcharaktere auf das Papier. Stellenweise gehen wir sogar in die Zeit der Höhlenbewohner zurück und ritzen sie mit Griffeln auf Schiefertafeln. Gewiß hat die Schreibmaschine hier bereits erheblich Wandel geschaffen, aber schließlich wird doch auch bei dieser durch Fingerarbeit und durch fortwährendes, das Gehirn beanspruchendes Aussuchen der richtigen Tasten das Wort zu Papier gebracht. Bei der Fixirung einer schnell gesprochenen Rede kommt noch die intensive geistige Arbeit des Stenographen hinzu, der das Wort erst mit Hilfe der Kurzschrift fesselt.

Das Ideal wäre eine Maschine, die einer beliebig schnell gesprochene Rede sofort nach ihrer Beedigung in Form eines sauberen Manuscripts auswirft, und etwas Derartiges ist technisch am Ende wohl denkbar. Würde es erfunden und zu erträglichem Priese auf den Markt gebracht, so hätten Stenographen, Schreibmaschinen etc. mit einem Schlage ausgelitten. Ansätze zu derartigen Maschinen finden sich bereits in der Technik, aber nahe gekommen ist dem Ziel noch Niemand. Man hat es in dem Schnelltelegraphen von Pollack und Virag verstanden, ein Spiegelchen mit Hilfe von zwei Elektromagneten so zu steuern, daß ein Lichtstrahl, der vom Spiegel auf photographisches Papier f"llt, saubere lateinische Schreibschrift liefert, und zwar rund 2000 Silben in der Minute. Vielleicht findet daher auch eine Schreibmaschine, welche die gesprochene Rede mitschreibt, in absehbarer Zeit Verwirklichung.

Umgekehrt könnte man auch an eine Sprechmaschine denken, die Einem jedes gewöhnliche gedruckte Blatt Papier, das man hineinsteckt, vorliest. Der Phonograph thut das schon heute, aber er braucht besonders besprochene Plat- [[cut off]]


Post Dispatch St Louis Mo.
21 Apr 1907.

WAR BALLOONS AT NEW HOME OF SIGNAL CORPS

Headquarters Established at Fort Omaha for Army's Communication Experts.

TRYOUT THE AIRSHIPS

Enlisted Men Get Liberal Training in Many Useful Mechanical Lines.

OMAHA. Neb., April 20.——Fort Omaha for 30 years chief among the centers of operations against the unruly Indians, has been rehabilitated by Uncle Sam and assigned to the signal corps of the army as its first permanent home.

Although it is 58 years since the first appropriation of $2000 was made by Congress "for the manufacture or purchase of apparatus and equipment for the field signals," it was not until recently that the Government recognized the signal corps as of sufficient importance to assign it to a modern-constructed post, equipped wholly with a view to the development of army communication.

Fort Omaha was selected because its accessibility to every part of the country. This was a matter of importance, since assignments are made and small detachments detailed from the central signal station to every army post of every branch of the service.

The signal corps work of the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese conflict was closely watched by army officers, who were permitted to follow the Japanese armies in the field, and the result is the establishment at Fort Omaha of the first permanent signal corps post.

The appropriations for the remodeling and equipment of the station thus far have amounted to half a million dollars. There are located at this post six commissioned officers and about two hundred enlisted men, and two additional skeleton companies are being recruited to their full quota, the idea being to have a full battalion of 400 men and about fifteen commissioned officers stationed at Fort Omaha at all times.

Fort Was Abandoned in 1897.

Old Fort Omaha, headquarters of the Department of the Platte, was considertd too small for a large infantry post, and was abandoned in 1897 for the more commodious Fort Crook, just south of Omaha.

When it was decided to establish a Signal Corps Station at the abandoned Fort Omaha reservation the Secretary of War recommended to Congress an appropriation of $200,000 for rehabilitation purposes, and that amount was authorized in the regular army bill. Later additional appropriations were made, and about twenty permanent buildings have been erected, which include an exchange building, administration building, guardhouse, officers' quarters. barracks, stables and storehouses.

An appropriation of $150,000 was made by Congress which just adjourned, and a good share of this will be spent for new equipment, which to the officers, appears the most important at this time. The first new structure will be a balloon house, which is considered a most important adjunct.

Experiments in Balloons.

The principal work of the officers at Fort Omaha at this time is the preparation for the supplying of the seven or eight maneuvre camps for next August, with details of men and equipment, in order that a great test of ability along the general lines of communication during the active operations may be made. Nearly every sort of small apparatus known in modern times will be tried out and tests made of their practicability.
 
While the field telegraph and field telephone will be given great attention, perhaps the most interesting experiments will be with the captive balloons. One of these balloons is now at Fort Omaha. and three others are being built and will be ready for service when the maneuvres begin.

The signal work will drive an education to many young men and will result in qualifying them for civil pursuits after their enlistments expire. The Government will school these young men in telegraphy, fire control, ballooning, chemistry, and other lines. Attention will be given to the flag and lamp signalling, heliograph, rocket and semaphore systems and the arrangement of field construction and communication trains

The Government has enlarged the parade ground and part of it will be given to the balloon division, which will have an aerostatics park, in the center of which will be constructed a balloon house, to be used for the inflation of the large captive balloons, and from which the ascensions will be made.

Telegraph Wire in Rope.

All balloons used in the Signal Service are of the captive style, that is, [[cut off]]

Transcription Notes:
German needs to be completed (2nd paragraph started) and reviewed.-(Done.) ß ——