The Lampasas Daily Leader. (Lampasas, Tex.), Vol. 6, No. 1623, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 2, 1909 Page: 3 of 4
four pages : ill. ; page 22 x 15 in. Scanned from physical pages.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
ALL NATIONS SEE
IMPORTANCE OF
AERIAL WARSHIPS
-wr--w- -yITHOUT a dollar of ap-
Is p r o p t i a t i on directly
/ M / available for the
W W work, the aeronautical
^ f division of the signal
corps of the army is
about to-begin its summer campaign,
for the study of aerial navigation. The
fact that $20,000,000 or more are now
being expended annually by this gov-
ernment for the construction of bat-
tleships may be making the United
States one of the foremost naval pow-
ers of the world, but the further fact
that not a single penny has been set
aside by congress for the building of
airships or for their operation or de-
velopment is causing this country to
be left far behind the nations of Eu-
rope in the matter of military aero-
nautics.
Notwithstanding the fact that the
signal corps, with the approval of the
secretary of war, has asked congress
for a modest allotment of funds with
which to equip itself with the means
of studying and experimenting with
the subject, the lawmakers have al-
ways turned a deaf ear to the appeals.
Now, at a time when Germany,
France, Great Britain, Russia and
even the .weaker nations, such as
Italy and Spain and Belgium, are de-
voting large sums of money and the
time and experience of experts to the
solution of the problem, the accom-
plishment of which has been man’s
dream for ages, the United States
finds itself handicapped, and its prog-
ress estopped because it has been im-
possible to obtain a meager appropria-
tion to carry on its ’work. The only
encouragement which the signal corps
has thus far found in its attempt to
keep pace with the development of
aeronautics in other countries is the
unofficial announcement of President
Taft that he will advocate a suitable
appropriation by congress at its next
session for the use of the war depart-
ment in the purchase of dirigible bal-
loons and aeroplanes.
Signal Corps at Work.
In spite of the discouragement oc-
casioned by the lack of money the
signal corps is going ahead with the
means at hand, and expects to make
some substantial advancement in bal-
looning during the coming summer.
Five officers, Lieuts. Lahm, Fulois,
Winters, Bamberger and Dickinson,
s.nd 17 men of the corps have been
assigned by Gen. Allen to the aero-
nautical detail, and will conduct what-
ever experimental work is done. None
of the men has ever made an ascen-
sion, and the same is true of two of
the officers. Lieut. Lahm is the only
recognized pilot, by which is meant,
according to the rule of the various
aero clubs, one who has made not less
than ten ascensions, at least one of
which must have been alone, and one
at night. Under this rule. Lieut.
Uahm, who recently made a success-
ful ascension from Fort Myer, Va., in
the government’s spherical balloon,
is the only officer who can qualify.
Aside from two spherical free bal-
loons, one of 540 cubic meters and
the other of 1,000 cubic meters ca-
pacity, the government possesses one
dirigible balloon. Just now the men
-of the squad are being trained at Fort
Myer in the work of handling the
spherical balloons, in learning how to
fill them, and fare for them. Within
a few days they will be advanced to
the work on the dirigible, known as
Dirigible No. 1. This balloon was
built for the department by Capt.
Thomas S. Baldwin, under specifica-
tions, and delivered to the signal
corps last August.
The money with whiclr it was paid
. lor came from the fund allotted in the
regular annual appropriation to the
board of ordnance and fortifications.
Description of Balloon.
The balloon is 120 feet long and is
capable of making 20 miles an hour.
The gas bag is spindle shaped, 96
feet long, maximum diameter 19 feet
six inches, and has a volume of 20,-
000 cubic feet. A ballonet for air is
provided inside the gas bag, and has
a volume of 2,800 cubic feet. The
material for the gas bag is made of
two layers of Japanese silk with a
layer of vulcanized rubber between
them.
The car is made of spruce and is 60
feet long, 2 y2 feet wide, and 2y2 feet
high. It has a 20 horse power motor.
The propeller is in the front end of
the car and is connected with the
engine by a steel shaft. It is also
built of spruce and turns at the rate
of 450 revolutions per minute. A fixed
vertical surface is provided at the
rear end of the car to minimize veer-
ing, and a horizontal surface attached
to the vertical rudder at the rear to
minimize pitching. A double hori-
zontal surface, controlled by a lever
and attached to the car in front of the
engine, serves to control the vertical
motion, and also to minimize pitching.
The position of the car very near to
the gas bag is one of the features of
the balloon. This is calculated to re-
duce the resistance of the suspension,
and places the propelled thrust near
the center of resistance. This airship
has a total lifting capacity of 1,350
pounds, of which 500 pounds are avail-
able for passengers, ballast and fuel.
When its official trials were had it
succeeded in attaining a speed slight-
ly less than twenty miles an hour over
a measured course. It also had an en-
durance run lasting two hours, during
which approximately 70 per cent, of
its maximum speed was maintained.
Thus far this dirigible has served
during the comparatively short time
it has been in the possession of the
signal corps, a very important pur-
pose in initiating officers of the corps
in the operation and construction of a
dirigible balloon. During the greater
part of the coming month the dirigible
will be put into use for practice pur-
poses at Fort Myer. Later in the
summer it will be sent to the Signal
school and Staff college at Fort
Leavenworth, Kan., where the officers
and men there will be given a course
of instruction in its mechanism and
operation.
Plant at Fort Omaha.
In anticipation of the government’s
taking up the subject of aeronautics
on a scale commensurate with its
importance a complete plant has been
constructed at the signal corps post
at Fort Omaha, Neb. This plant com-
prises a steel balloon house 200 feet
long and large enough to house a
dirigible the size of the new French
military airship known as La Repub-
lique. An electrolytic plant has been
installed capable of furnishing 3,000
cubic feet of gas an hour. Various
other appliances have also been
added, but unfortunately the corps has
no balloon to operate at the plant.
There is, however, some doubt as to
the wisdom displayed in erecting this
plant at Fort Omaha, owing to the
disadvantage caused by the prairie
winds at times. All things considered,
the most of the experimental work in
aeronautics conducted by the army
for the present will be at Fort Myer,
where the conditions are good both
for experiments with dirigibles and
with aeroplanes.
Compared to the progress with
dirigibles which has been made in
Germany, France and England, the
United States is practically at a
standstill in this rapidly advancing
form of military preparation. Devel-
opment in the science of aerial navi-
gation is going on with such strides
that it is almost Impossible for this
government, with its single small
dirigible, to keep pace with the ex-
periments in other countries. Ger-
many Is regarded as further advanced
than any of her sister countries in the
way of making the dirigible a prac-
tical military necessity.
Already three of ner principal cities
along the French border are equipped
with balloon defenses, and a fourth
will be similarly equipped within the
coming summer. During the past
year the German government expend-
ed more than $1,000,000 in the pur-
chase and development of dirigible
balloons.
Will Build Airship Garages.
Last fall the crown prince of Ger-
many made a trip in the Zeppelin No.
3. The emperor has decorated Count
Zeppelin with the Order of the Black
Eagle, and German patriotism and en-
thusiasm have been so aroused that
the German association for an aerial
fleet has been organized in sections
throughout the country. It has an-
nounced its Intention of building 50
garages for the housing of airships.
France is not far behind Germany
in the matter of supplying her army
with dirigible balloons. There are
two French types, the Patrie and the
Republique. The Patrie, the third of
its type, was first operated in 1906. It
was developed by an engineer named
Julliot, employed by Lebaudy Broth-
ers at their sugar refinery in Paris.
The second French type is the Re-
publique, which is 200 feet long and
35 y2 feet in diameter. It has a lifting
capacity of 9,000 pounds, of which
2,700 are available for passengers,
fuel and ballast. The best it has been
able to do was to cover 125 miles in
6% hours in an unfavorable wind.
The English budget this year car-
ries an appropriation of $100,000 for
military aeronautics, and a keen in-
terest is being taken in the subject, so
much so that there has been a vigor-
ous protest made by those officers who
have the subject in hand against the
smallness of the allotment for the
work.
Compared with the five officers and
the 17 men which the United States
has detailed for aeronautical work in
the army, whole balloon battalions
are maintained by Germany., France
and Russia, and a company by Eng-
land. Thfe French battalion consists
of four companies with a factory and
an experimental station at Meudon.
The German battalion has three com-
panies of trained officers and men
with headquarters and a school at
Tegel. Russia, which only recently
purchased a dirigible of one of the
French types for military purposes,
has assigned three battalions for its
study and operation, and is contem-
plating some extensive investments in
this means of war preparation. Italy
also purchased a dirigible last year,
and has five officers and 80 men as-
signed to the study of aeronautics.
Spain has also acquired a small dirig-
ible, and even Belgium is as far ad-
vanced as is the United States in this
respect.
Where United States Leads.
In the matter of aeroplanes, or
heavier-than-air machines, however,
the United States is somewhat ad-
vanced. The two machines which the
government has contracted for, to be
paid for out of the funds appropri-
ated for the board of ordnance and
fortifications, are due to be turned
over during June, the Herring ma-
chine on June 1 and the Wright
brothers aeroplane on June 28. The
contract price of the former is $20,000
and the amount to be paid for the lat-
ter is $25,000. Technical delivery of
both machines has been made to the
signal corps at Fort Myer, and, so far
as the Wright brothers are concerned,
they completed a part of their trials
last fall before the accident which re*
suited in the death of Lieut. Selfridge
and the injury to Mr. Orville Wright,
Since that time Mr. Wilbur Wright
has been continuing his experiments
in France with success. Although
the war department has not yet been
officially advised, it is expected that
the new aeroplane of the Wright
brothers will be delivered on time,
and that its trials will occur at Fort
Myer during the month of July. The
conditions of their contract require a
machine which will have a speed of
40 miles an hour, and in its trial
flights remain continuously in the air
for at least one hour. It is designed
to carry two persons with a combined
weight of 350 pounds, and also suf-
ficient fuel for 125 miles. The trials
last year indicated that the machine
would be able to fulfill the require-
ments.
As soon as the aeroplanes are deliv-
ered at Fort Myer and the trials com-
pleted to the satisfaction of the mili-
tary board of aeronautics it is the pur-
pose of the signal corps to train the
balloon detachments in their opera*
tion.
Opinions of Experts.
Discussing the development and fu-
ture of aeronautics, Lieut Lahm, who
is the signal corps expert, and is de-
voting his entire time to this bn»nch
of the service, said:
“The military art up to the time ot
the formal entry of dirigible balloons
into the field of possible operations
has been conducted practically in a
plane where the armies concerned
have been confined in their move-
ments in time and place by the physi-
cal character of the terrane.
“The development of two types is
considered advisable. One compara-
tively small, of 50,000 or 100,000 cubic
feet capacity, to be used principally
for scouting purposes, and to a limited
extent for carrying explosives for
demolitions or for incendiary pur-
poses, such as the destruction of
bridges and supply depots close to the
mobile army or coast-defense fort-
resses.
“The second type desired in the
dirigible is for burden-carrying pur-
poses. The larger the airship the
greater the speed attainable, and the
greater its radius Of action. There is
no reason to doubt that airships of
500,000 to 1,000,000 cubic feet capacity
may be developed ultimately to reach
a speed of 50 or 75 miles an hour.”
In speaking of the aeroplane, Maj.
George O. Squire of the signal corps,
who has given a great deal of time to
a scientific study of aeronautics, said:
“If the United States had possessed
in 1898 a single dirigible balloon,
even of the size of the one now at
Fort Myer, which cost less than $10,-
000, the American army and navy
would not have long remained in
doubt of the presence of Cervera’s
fleet in Santiago harbor.
“The world is undoubtedly growing
more humane year by year. We have
arrived at a~ conception of the prin-
ciple of an efficient army and navy,
not to provoke war, but to preserve
peace, and it is believed that, follow-
ing this principle, the perfection of
ships of the air for military purposes
will materially contribute, on the
whole, to make war less likely in the
future than in the past.”
In Favor of Soap and Water.
The Rochester (N. Y.) City Federa-
tion of Women’s Clubs is working in
aid of the anti-tuberculosis movement,
for the closing of stores at six o’clock
on Saturday nights, and the plan to
use the State Industrial school as a
state prison. It was said at this con-
vention that soap and water properly
applied are better than all the disin:
fectants, but that disinfectant makers
would not like this to be said
LOST III WOODS;
DOG BIGS KELT
LIFE OF THREE-YEAR-OLD BOV
SAVED BY ACTIONS OF FAITH-
FUL BULLDOG.
YOUNGSTER GOES FOR DOCTOR
Leaves Home in Quest of Physician
for Dying Father and Loses Way
—Pet Guides Rescuer
to Spot.
New York.—Friends mourning with
the widow of Joel T. Biggs, chief en-
gineer of the battleship Connecticut,
who died of pneumonia in his home on
Flushing avenue, Jamaica, learned of
perils which Erwin Biggs, three years
old, encountered in an effort to aid his
dying father, perils which nearly cost
the child’s life. Numb from expos-
ure and overwhelmed by terror, the
boy was rescued at night from the
woods where he was hopelessly en-
tangled in the unaergrowth.
Biggs returned from the battleship
cruise around the world without mis-
hap. Soon after the fleet returned he
suffered an injury to his head and
came home on furlough. Pneumonia
developed later. Erwin, a sturdy lit-
tle chap for his age, saw his mother’s
grief and sought to comfoi't her.
“Winny get ’e doctor-man?” he an-
nounced as he put on his coat and
hat.
Mrs. Biggs, harassed by anxieties,
paid little attention to Erwin when
he left the house accompanied by
his pets and companions, a bulldog
and a Newfoundland puppy. He
trudged, unseen by anyone who knew
him, to the woods which skirt the
city. Just why the child expected to
find a doctor in the deep -woods is not
known. Subsequent developments fur-
nished an accurate picture of the
quest. When night fell, the child was
in the heart of the woods and lost.
The search for a doctor had exhaust-
ed him and he was disheartened by
failure. His face and hands, scratched
Guided by the Dog, Judge Humphrey
Found the Child.
and bleeding, told of his struggles in
the undergrowth before he collapsed.
The Newfoundland puppy trotted
back home and stood whining at the
door. Mrs. Biggs could not under-
stand why Erwin had not returned,
but solaced herself with the thought
that he was safe with neighbors,
instinct, perhaps, told the bulldog that
his little master, wailing in the
ihicket, needed help. Erwin said later*
that the faithful animal stood by for
a time, then licked his hand and de-
parted. The child, left alone, increased
his cries.
County Judge Burt J. Humphrey
of Queens was walking with his
niece, Miss Mabel Thuillard, near
the edge of the woods when the dog
ran toward them with manifestations
of delight. They followed him, feel-
ing sure that his unusual actions had
significance. The dog led them within
sound of the lost child’s voice.
“Why, no one lives in there,” Judge
Humphrey said to his niece. “What is
a child doing in these woods at this
time of night?”
The dog bounded forward as1
Judge Humphrey advanced, unmis-
takably indicating he would lead the
way through the tangle. The cries
grew fainter as Judge Humphrey
plunged through the underbrush and
briars and and he trusted entirely to
the dog. It disappeared, but a few
moments later indicated its where-
abouts by incessant barking.
Guided in this way, Judge Humph-
rey found the child, w.eak from ex-
posure and exhaustion and so terri-
fied he scarcely could whisper. After
disengaging the vines which held
the boy Judge Humphrey carried him
in his arms, escorted by the bulldog,
to the clearing where Miss Thuillard
was waiting.
“Dirigible No. 1.”— Signal Corps, U. S. A.
Preparing to Start a “Dirigible.”—The Center Picture Shows the Airship
in Its Tent at Fort Myer.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Vernor, J. E. The Lampasas Daily Leader. (Lampasas, Tex.), Vol. 6, No. 1623, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 2, 1909, newspaper, June 2, 1909; Lampasas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth911025/m1/3/: accessed May 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lampasas Public Library.