Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 124, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 May 1920 — Super Terrestrial"Aerial Submarine" [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Super Terrestrial"Aerial Submarine"

k UPER TERRESTRIAL Is the suggested name of the latest thing In flying makjHkKjf chines. It will be an “aerial submal ine” kind of a thing. This sounds like »]VS»K an Irish bull, but it readily suggests yjfrfWg)} the thing itself—an enclosed machine which will protect both the machine and the flyer from the air. —— High-flying has lately proved so Interesting that it fascinates both the aviator and {the scientist. “The Roof of the World” is evidently a most astounding place. And as it is a danjgerous thing to try to reach it, It is just the place jthat the daring want to try to reach. A scientist [worth his salt -is a man with an imagination—|pnH that imagination is busy these days with conditions super terrestrial. What little we know of these upper heights {makes us keen to know more. For example, we know of heavy trade winds blowing many miles labove the earth at such a terrific speed that could be utilised in accelerating machines, men t circle the globe at several hundred miles an {hour. Also there are indications of a rise in temjperature after a certain altitude is passed, of belts {of mysterious gases and vapors, and of other (strange phenomena, all of which combine to make K trip to the outer edge of the atmospheric ocean Surrounding this planet the most romantic and alluring of all voyages ever attempted by man. (So it is small wonder that planes are made for Specially constructed airplanes, designed to meet (the conditions existing at great altitudes and to (minimise the dangers that have hitherto rendered jijtgb flying such a hazardous undertaking. The (Super Terrestrial is not yet an accomplished fact, (but it seems to be well on the way. Major Schroeider, having recovered from the effects of bis recent 36,000-foot flight, is said to be interested in (the construction of such a machine, in which he (hopes to reach the altitude of 50,000 feet. It is further reported that Louis Breguet, a French aeronautical engineer, has announced that an enjgine been perfected capable of ascending 100,000 feet, or nearly nineteen miles, and that flight to that altitude is immediately in prospect The ipmin feature of the new type of aircraft will be en enclosed fuselage or cabin to protect the aviator and the machinery itself. “The ‘Super Terrestrial’ would seem to me to k>e the answer,” said August Post, secretary of (die Aero Club of America, giving the proposed (carrier the name he himself had coined, as quoted jbi the New York Tribunejby Arnold D. Prince. “From what man already has experienced in E attempts to pierce the heights he has learned t some form of protection not yet devised is essary. Something designed along the lines of the submarine would seem to be what *- needed. “The inclosed cabin for the aviator suggests itself as the most sensible scheme. Sitting in this (air-tight compartment, he would be within easy reach of the levers controlling the mechanism and regulating the supply of oxygen needed by himself as well as by the super chargers by which air at sea level pressure is now fed to thfe carburetors Jn altitude flights. “He would not oaly be safeguarded against the (physical hardships which have beaten him back heretofore, but with adjustable propellers capable taf increasing their purchase on Hie rarefied atmospheres, he could push his way into levels now beyond his reach.” What is it like np there among the stars, or , r even a little lower down? Some things we know already. We know, far example, that some distance above the earth’s “atmospheric envelope,” but below that Stratum of “inflammable air” which science has discovered, are trade winds which blow from west to east with unfailing regularity; and we know, too, and this is even more reassuring, that at that level it is far less cold than had long been supBfcr some of this knowledge we are Indebted to seKmtis ts like M. de Bort. discoverer of what is railed “inversion of temperature" and for the rest to our own courageous aviators, and to bal-

loonlsts like Henry Glaisher and his assistant, James Coxwell, both Britons, who in September, 1862, rose to an altitude calculated by them as about seven miles, which was higher than that attained by Major Schroeder, the American flyer, in his rijeent sensational “jump” at Dayton, O. Glaishcr’s experience was especially valuable from the standpoint Of the person who wants to know “what it is like up there” because the aspirator quit working at an altitude of five miles. Writing for the British Association for Balloon Experiments as to what happened after reaching the five-mile level, he said: “Up to this time I had taken observations with comfort and experienced no difficulty whatever in breathing. “Then, having discharged sand, we rose still higher. The aspirator became troublesome to work and I began to find difficulty in seeing. ... .1 could not see the column of mercury in the wet bnlb thermometer, nor the hands of the watch, nor the fine division of any instrument “Shortly after I laid my arm on the table, possessed of its full vigor, but on being desirous of using It a little later I found it powerless. I tried to move the other arm ; I found it powerless also. I tried to shake myself and succeeded, but I seemed to have no limbs. “I dimly saw Mr. Coxwell and endeavored to speak to him but could not Then,. In an Instant intense darkness overcame me, so that the optic nerve lost-power suddenly, but I was still conscious with as active a brain as at the present moment while writing this. I thought I had been seized with asphyxia and believed I should experience nothing more, as death would come unless we speedily descended; other thoughts were entering my mind when I suddenly became unconscious. “I cannot tell anything of the sense of hearing, as no sound reaches the air to break the perfect silence of the regions between six and seven miles above the earth.” The balloon finally began to descend after Coxwell, who retained consciousness even longer than his chief, had managed to pull the valve rope with his teeth. Both men regained consciousness after the balloon had descended several thousand feet, and they managed to make a safe landing. Two facts having a direct bearing on the question as to atmospheric conditions above the earth were established by them. One is that sounds like that made by passing railroad trains can still be heard at a height of about four miles, but that at six miles there Is perfect silence.. The other Is that up to a certain point, scientifically referred to as the level where “inversion of atmosphere” occurs, the fall of the mercury averages about one degree Fahrenheit to ev4ry 300 feet* J In April, 1875. M. Gaston Tissandier and two companions confirmed these findings when they rose from Paris in a balloon to a height of nearly six miles, b ut I® ibis case the expedition was marred by the fact that both companions of M. Tissandier, having less stamina than he or the British aeronauts, died before the gas bag returned to the ground. If further corroboration Is desired as to conditions as they exist on sbe “first lap” of the aerial journey into the void they can be had from the experiences of the aviators who, since Hie advent of airplanes, have tried to reach the “lid of the world’s atmosphere.” Two of the most prominent of these, at least the American aviators, have been Major Schroeder and Roland Rohlfs, who have engaged in a unique contest for highest records above the clouds. Major Schroeder in his flight a few weeks ago attained an altitude of 36,020 feet, at which height his thermometer registered 55 degrees below zero centigrade, or 67 degrees below zero Fahrenheit So, in his case, as well as in that of Rohlfs whenfaa readied 30,300 feet in Jnly last, and that of Adjutant Casale, of the French army, who rose 83,-

137 feet several months ago, the average of a fail of one degree in temperature to every 300 feet of altitude was fairly well maintained. Moreover, in all these flights, when the men had passed above the four-mile level and had risen beyond the screen of atmospheric particles which make our “sky,” they entered the stratum in which absolute silence reigned and in which vision was remarkably clarified. The firmament above became almost black, due to the absence of light refraction; the stars were easily visible, even in brightest day, and the cold was terrible apd intense. But in each instance certain phenomena were observed, which brings up the next question of importance to the inquirer as to conditions “up there,” and this is the subject of “inversion of temperature.” For a great many years man believed that temperature invariably changed with altitude, and that as height Increased there was always a corresponding drop in the mercury. M. de Bort proved that not only does the principle of increasing cold cease to function at an altitude of from six to eight miles above the earth, but that exactly the opposite occurs, and from there up it constantly grows warmer. Sounding balloons with self-recording Instruments have been sent up to a distance of seventeen miles and have invariably confirmed this discovery. So, then, the situation presented to those who are planning the Super Terrestrial and arranging to launch man on his greatest adventure In the air Is this: They know —as, of course, do we who are fairly consistent readers of newspapers—Hie conditions as they exist up to six or seven miles. It is there that nature plays the parts with which we are most familiar. There thunders roll, lightning flashes, clouds gather and elements clash in never ending strife. It is from there that we get such wintry storms as recently experienced, and where the humble drama of rain, snow, sleet and weather unfolds itself. They know, too, that “atmosphere,” as we know it, although in constanUy thinning quality, extends above the “weather strip" to a height of about twenty to thirty miles, but beyond that, what? It is here that real difficulties will begin, and the Super Terrestrial will encounter its greatest obstacles— provided, of course, that long before that bourn is reached the presumptuous craft has not been destroyed. Here hew dangers will appear in the shape of drifHng “ice clouds.” which for ImaginaHve purposes may be likened to icebergs; the void will assume a totally alien aspect; meteors and shooHng stars will occasionally, flash across the path, and the traveler will enter the boundary of “inflammable*air," or pure hydrogen. Passing through this —always supposing, of course, that It is not snuffed out long before like a peanut shell under Hie foot of an elephant—the Super Terrestrial will emerge Into the stratum of helium whlc* on earth Is created from radium and encountered in practical quantities oaly In test tubes. '* _ Then —but perhaps this is enough for the moment. Even the most voracious seeker of knowledge as to “what things are like up there” will have been satisfied long ere this, and the first voyage of the Super Terrestrial need not be charted further. “Provision would, of course, have to be made for changed condiHons,” Mr. Post concluded. In touching on the mechanical necessities of the undertaking. “Of course, with, the thinning of the atmosphere the Super TerrestHai would encounter less air resistance, and prowled the propellers were adjusted to increase purchase, tremendous speed would be attained. V “The propellers would revolves much faster and the craft would shoot ahead lifcSp a meteor. “And It—that is, the Super Terrestrial, if you desire to call it that—la the next thing on Hie cards.” •; " i