IMPORTANT INTENTION

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 201, 26 July 1926, Page 2

IMPORTANT INTENTION

NEW ZEALANDER’S SUCCESS. CLEVER APPARATUS DEVISED. A New Zealander who has accomplished much in the world of aeronautical engineering, returned from the United States last week by the Aorangi, says the Auckland Herald. He is Mr Humphrey E. Parker, formerly of Gisborne, and an old Nelson and Canterbury College boy. It is as a result of his researches that helium, instead of hydrogen, has been generally adopted in America as the inflating content of airships and dirigibles. He perfected what is known as the water-recovery apparatus, which was the deciding factor in rendering economical and practical tho use of this gas for aeronautical purposes. Mr Parker is the son of Mr and Mrs Frederick Parker, of Auckland, formerly of Gisborne. He left Canterbury College in 1915 to take up war service, and was engaged as a pilot in the Royal Naval Air Service until he was injured in a crash in 1916. After being invalided home, he became interested in aeronautical research work, and succeeded in developing the water-recovery apparatus, which he took to England and America. It was eventually adopted by the United States Navy Department, which installed the apparatus on the airships Shenandoah and Los Angeles, besides a number of smaller aircraft. SUBSTITUTION OF HELIUM. To appreciate the significance of the invention it must be remembered that an airship carries a considerable weight of petrol to operate her engines. As this fuel is burned the total weight of the airship is reduced, with the result that it ascends and necessitates the release of a quantity of gas from the envelope chambers. With hydrogen this was a relatively simple matter, but in the case of helium the cost of the gas prohibits a practice that would be undesirably expensive. Helium, is valued at £2O per 1000 cubic feet, as against 10s to £1 per 1000 cubic feet in the case of hydrogen. Mr Parker’s apparatus recovers the water from tho air which is burned with the petrol mixture. In every internal combustion engine an enormous amount of air i’s absorbed, 9000 gallons of air to every gallon of petrol if the mixture is correctly proportioned. Tho carbon in tho petrol produces carbonic acid gas, and the hydrogen combines with the oxygen to form water, and it is this water which is conserved by the new device. In fact, the total amount of water thus produced is greater than tho weight of petrol originally carried. Under theso circumstances the weight of the airship can be kept always constant, thus doing away, except in emergencies, with the need for losing considerable quantities of the precious helium. THE RARITY OF HELIUM, The great advantage of helium over hydrogen is its non-inflammable property, which makes it absolutely safe to handle. Tho States of Texas and Oklahoma are the only places in the world where the substance is extracted commercially, although a supply also exists in Canada. When the United States Government took up his apparatus Mr Parker stayed in the country to supervise its construction and installation at the naval aircraft factory at Philadelphia. He also did a great deal of flying at Lakehurst. New Jersey. Mr Parker hopes to remain in New Zealand for a month or two before going back to the United States, where ho will resume his activities in the technical laboratories.