WASTE OF HELIUM

Manawatu Times, 4 May 1926, Page 11

WASTE OF HELIUM

WORLD OUTPUT LOST IN PEW AIRSHIP FLIGHTS.

Helium, being non-inflammable, is by far the most suitable gas for filling airships. Only in America is it found in considerable quantities, and even there no more than 100,000 cubic metres are produced yearly. The American airship, Los Angeies, carries about 70,000 cubic metres, but every airship loses quantiles .of gas on every long trip, states the Berlin correspondent of the "Manchester Guardian.” It can only rise by throwing out ballast. In emergencies it may even have to get rid of some of its fuel so as to decrease weight with all possible speed. But owing to dimished air pressure at greater heights the gas expands inside of the colls of the airship so that some of it has to bo released. More gas has to be released to make tne airship descend. Even if the airship has had a smooth journey it will, if the flight has been a long one, have to release gas to make up for the loss of weight due to the consumption of fuel. Thus, one of the most serious problems of aerial navigation nas arisen, in view if the extreme scarcity and expense of helium. The Los Angeles, on one recent trip, had to sacrifice some 20,000 cubic metres Of | its helium, and oven this was no abnormally large wastage. Thus, ino world’s total production of helium allows no more than a few journeys a year to one single airship. How can such wastage do avoided? It seems as though this question was being answered in a satisfactory manner by two Gorman scientists, Peters and Schlumbohm. They have elaborated the idea that an airship should be made to ascend or descend, not by throwing out ballast or releasing helium, but by expanding and contracting helium by heating or cooling. Helium expands by about 1 per cent, of its volume with every three degrees of heat. Thus, 50,000 cubic metres of helium in an airship could be expanded to 70,000 if it were heated to about forty degrees above the temperature of the atmosphere. If great quantities of fuel were consumed on the journey the helium could be cooled correspondingly, so that none need be released. In this way there need be no wastage of helium, except for slight unavoidable leakage, and the world's yearly production would

allow far more flights (than it does at preseat. X understand that Peters and Schulmbohm have designed the necessary apparatus for heating, and cooling helium electrically within the airship, and that it will bo of a relatively simple character, working in conjunction with the engines. American naval authorities are . greatly interested in the idea, and a representative of the United States Government is investigating the work of Peters and Schulmbohm here in Berlin,