Airships not among the twelve that
Germany admits officially are made of this material. Its formula is a
government secret and England or France would give thousands of
dollars to possess it.
The objection of inflammability of the lifting power has also been
overcome. The power of the ordinary hydrogen gas in all its various
forms has been multiplied threefold by a new dioxygen gas discovered
at the Spandau government chemical laboratory. This gas has also the
enormous advantages of being absolutely noninflammable. I have seen
experiments made with it. It cannot be used for illuminating
purposes. Dirigibles that are equipped with it are not liable to the
awful explosions that have characterized flights under the ordinary
system. The new gas has also the enormous advantage of having a
liquid form. To produce the gas it is only necessary to let the
ordinary atmosphere come in contact with the liquid. Carried in
cylinders two feet long and with a diameter of six inches it is
obvious that enough of this liquid can be carried aboard the big war
dirigibles to permit their refilling in midair. So, you see, all the
objections to the commonly known system of operation have been
overcome by the War Office.
The last dirigible tried by the War Office in 1912, the mysterious
Zeppelin X, made a continuous trip from Stettin over the Baltic to
Upsala in Sweden, thence across the Baltic again to Riga in the Gulf
of Finland, where it doubled and sailed back to Stettin.
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