Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1869 — Deseription of the New Air Ship. [ARTICLE]

Deseription of the New Air Ship.

L<i . I • ■ A numhich of our citizens,on Saturday, received invitations from the Sfccretary of the Aerial Steam Navigation Company, to attend a private. .view of then- model carriage, which has for a long time past been in course of construction At qliell Mound Track, in San Mateo WSuaty. Among others we cquolddcd to accept the invitation, and the 8:80 train of the San Joee Railroad Company landed us 'at lhe tr *ck yesterday at 10- o’ciook a. m. } We found the "Avitor" inflated, and the engineers and attendants leading ’the stately little fellow from the ahed where 5? wes constructed out into the open air. Unfortunately a stiff breeze had justi sprung up, and it was too evident that the managers had thilr oWn doflbtf as to nothing wad left but to> return hftn to:the shed, wherehe waaput Uircugh a measured paw. V(e are compelled to sa/t&aT-the performance lookedsomething Hire afcllUW,;Md a filing .of regret, rather than of ndieujq. perjaded the, company present, at the lowering bf the hopes thutjh ad been raised py its over sanguine tevWtor. Tho “Avitor” can he briefly described simply as a balloon of tfaA form Of a Aery short and thick cigaf, its extreme, length

being about ninety-five feet, its height ten feet, and its width at the center about seveh leet. A delicate frame-work of light and strong wood passes longitudinally through ft, and serves to hold the guides for regulating its movement in their places. At the after end of the frame the rudder is placed— ap Ingenious contrivance for directing its course either vertically or horizontally. The propelling power is furnished by a very small engine and boiler, of the very lightest weight, and certainly of no more effective force than could be produced by turning a crank by a man of ordinary strength. The engine and boiler—the latter fired up with alcohol—are in dangerous proximity to the balloon itself, and are placed in a niche in its bottom. From the engine, by light shafts and gearing, the power is transmitted to a couple of propellers working in the frame first mentioned, and a number of lines, bands, ribbons and network, all of the lightest material, serve to bind the frame to the balloon and preserve its contour. The inventor has evidently made his greatest error in supposing that any practical speed can be obtained from the application of so little power to so great a mass. It is apparent that to give any velocity to the balloon—relative to the air through which it travels—the air in front must be removed and passed to its rear so that a bulk of its own size must be moved by its propellers in order to fcrce it to move its own length. The scale upon which the machinery is constructed is so very trilling and inadequate to do this, that its failure cannot be a matter of surprise; in fact, until some other power is discovered that can be condensed in a far less compass than that of steam, we fear that the success of the present affair is hopeless.— San Francisco Atlas.