NEW TYPE OF AIRSHIP.

Waipukurau Press, 5 June 1922, Page 4

NEW TYPE OF AIRSHIP.

A IiE.U ARKABLE CI.’AIT An airship win h, it is ileclarod, will revolutionise not only ‘‘war in the air,” but air tra-jwrt generally is to I be. constructed ami tested in Italy. Ths ship is the invention of Signor I \ angv.tn, who, instead of using a gas- • tilled container to make his airship -rise, I creates by means of sanction pumps, a . vacuum inside the envelope, which consequently becomes lighter than air. I’or hundreds of years experimenters and scientists have.been working on these lines, but always, when success has seemed near nt hand, their models have collapsed owing to the enormous .'pressuii' of the atmosphere, amounting, I with a perfect vacuum to as much as j 1.5 pounds to the square inch, on the I outside Of the ship. Sqpior \;-i:go:in, however, claim;, to law overcome this ditiicu.'tv by build 1 ing his airship in three sections, one ■ inside the other. The spa. <• between the outside <.;’ the airship and the first ' iut. ri.>r hull is partly emptied of air, ’ -til! more air is exhausted from the next i space, while it the centre cornpr.r’moii* l of the ship the vacuum is made as per--1 feet us possible. By this means th* pres.-ure of the | wiitsidc atmosphere is distributed over | three surfaces and is reduced io less than five pounds pr square inch on any portion of the ship. The airship now to be built is to la equipped with four engines. each of dOi) .'horse-power, of n type invented by i’’ofesser Bnrutila. These engines, instead of burning petrol. Use heavy oil. , thus. with the deiene- of hydrogen in ■ the ship itself. eliminating to a great I extent the risk of fire. The engines serve I Io- dual purpose | of driving lite airship ihrongh the air and working the pumps which create the vacuum inside the s hip. so that tin. v ticiium can be increased or dimiu idled it will in order to make the s hip rise or fall. i If is claimed that owiii" to the pe- .' i ultir const ruction of the hull, and'to its ability to rise to great ehighls, where the air is more rarilied and therefore offers less resistance, speeds as . groat as -15 miles an hour should ba I possible, and that the journey from I London to New York could be aecomi pished in IS hours.