AIRSHIP ENGINES

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 3, 4 July 1922, Page 7

AIRSHIP ENGINES

WASTE HYDROGEN AS FUEL.

, LONDON, 2nd July. Messrs. .Vickers, Limited, ,announce that experiments' under the direction of Commander Burney have overcome the danger of fire in airships by means .of an engine burning a mixture of paraffin oil and hydrogen' taken from the envelope of the airship. The flashpoint of the fuel can be raised from 40 degrees to 220 degrees. The engine $180 reduces' the cost of fuel by two-thirds. It will be used in the Imperial service if the Gov-" ernment,approves of, the scheme.

[The significance of the experiments, referred to lies in the fact that the fire-risk in airships is chiefly due to the condition that hydrogen escapes from the balloons and forms an explosive, atmosphere; about them. In practically . ali . modern airships; the hydrogen, which is.used to give them buoyancy, is contained *in relatively small ballbons (or "balloonettes") enclosed in the envelope of the airship. No fabric has yet been discovered which, while sufficiently thin to. be light, will completely prevent leakage of hydrogen. (The gas. passes easily through thin sheets of india-rubber.) Between,'the balloonettes and the envelope, there thus exists a dangerous mass Of explosive, gases. The hydrogen in this _ mixture, cannot be recovered.. Its lifting -value remains, so long as it .stays inside the envelope, but is too inconsiderable to be worth ■ considering in comparison with its dangerous effect. To draw upon it for fuel gets rid of the danger as well as-utilising its large thermal value.] .