Evening Star Newspaper, November 10, 1929, Page 109

23,000 square feet, ' The structural steel in the doors alone weighs 2 400 tons and in the shell of the building and the shops 4,800 tons. The ceremony of laying the ring began with the opening of the huge doors to the public for the first time, while bands played and naval officers in gold braid and blue led the throngs into the building. The great master ring of the ship, which will form the widest part of the girth of the great hull, was laid out horizontally on the floor. The ceremony took place within the ring, which was large enough to accommo- date 500 guests of honor. THE first stage in construction of the dirigible will be the raising of the ring to a vertical position and the fabricatiom of other rings, which will form the hull, and the joining of the whole with horizontal girders. The master ring is 185 feet in diameter, constructed of duralumin and triangular in cross section. The Navy Department will conduct thorough tests with the first section of the dirigible framework to determine whether their calculations have been correct. These tests probably will continue throughout the Winter and well into next Summer. The first dirigible is not to be completed before the end of 1930 and possibly not until the middle of the following year. The sister ship is to be completed in 1932, and both of them will be in the National Capital for the celebration of the bicentennial of Washington's birth. The dirigibles will earry within themselves complete airplane hangars, where five fighting planes may be carried, serviced and repaired. These planes will be launched by 2 trapeze ar- rangement lowered through great doors in the bottom of the hull. The planes may be launched or picked up in flight, serving to de- fend the mother ship or to act as speedy scouts or messengers. The Navy Department has been conducting extensive tests with the Los Angeles in the launching and attaching of airplanes in flight, climaxing the tests with a successful demon- stration before 150,000 persons at the national air races in Cleveland a few weeks ago. This demonstration included the first transfer in history of a passenger from a dirigible to an airplane in flight.. The ZRS-4 will carry light artillery in turrets built"in®® the sides of the hull, in the tail and rudders and on top of the bag. Machine guns also will be carried. The dirigibles will be in- flated with helium gas, which is not inflamma- ~—Copyright by Underwood & Underwood. Rear Admiral William A. Mofjett, chief of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, who drove the gold rivet which come pleted the “master ring” of the ZRS-4. ble, and even if every one of the interior gas cells was riddled with bullets the gas leakage would not exceed 25 per cent in 5 hours, during which the crew could be repairing the damage. The new ships will have tremendous military power and will be able to raid and fight over vast distances. Increased knowledge has made them safe, even from the elements. In lightning storms their great metal framework acts as a *Faracay cage;” which collects and distributes dn criist’s view of the giant airship and building, or 10 games of foot the lightning, dissipating its force. As science has learned more about weather conditions 1t bas become apparent that storms can even be of service to airships and expert pilots now seek out storms and ride with them. It is explained that almost all storms run in tremendous circles THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, NOVEMBER 10, 1929. o e e e e S e s L e S e e hangar at Akron. ball i HEddli g gt her five engines, whereas liquid is used in the American ships. of the ZRS-4 and the ZRS-5 cubic feet. greater dirigibles will be built in is predicted by Lieut. Comdr, former commander of the Los who now is training crews for the two super-dirigibles. not make up your minds that the Los , the Graf Zeppelin, the British R-100 and R-101, or even our own new ZRS-4, to be finished in the Summer of 1931, are really large alrships,” Comdr. Rosendahl said in a Navy day radio address. ‘“We know that as we increase the size of airships we increase their efficiency and can make them faster, stronger and of greater range and carrying power. Experienced designers tell us that we can build airships up 15,000,000 cubic feet capacity, or the size of the Los Angeles, with in- eficlency.” dirigibles will be 789 feet long and with & maximum diameter of 132 feet. They will be “gelf-contained,” with no cabins, motor compartments or other protruding structures which will eut down speed. The propellers will be driven by a gear arrangement, unique in air- ship construction, from the motors inside the ‘The Navy Department has been busy for more than s year preparing for delivery of the new Six miles of standard railway tracks could be laid be played simultaneously inside on regulation gridirons. air monsters. The training of crews and the development of new radio equipment and moor- ing masts and the selection of sites for per- manent dirigible bases has been engaging the b Dr. Karl Arnstein, chief designer of the Navy airships. of several Navy boards. A special is making a survey of possible sites of the country and it now is believed will be located on the Pacific on the Atlantic Coast, possibly Shore of Maryland. This board submit recommendations to the Department and Congress sometime this ter, so that hangars may be constructed in time to house the ships when they are delivered. i ] ;ggsggg spEfEE RIORGANEATION of the lighter-than-air forces of the Navy in preparation for the coming expansion has been completed this year and two crews are in training at the Naval Air wof b P in this Station at Lakehurst, N. J. The Navy has created a training school for dirigible officers, known as “the Rigid Airship Training and Ex- perimental Squadron,” in charge of Comdr. Rosendahl. When the work of the school has been com- pleted the Navy will have at least three highly trained dirigible commanders and crews, with a number of reserve officers trained to fill any vacancies which may occur and to form the nucleus of future dirigible crews. The new airship school is one of the most complete of its kind in the world, including training in ground work and the handling of dirigibles afioat under every possible condition. Advanced air navigation courses are being taught and the officers will be thoroughly trained in dirigible construction, following close- ly the fabrication of the two giant ships at Akron. Comdr. Rosendahl’s post as commander of the Los Angeles has been filled by Lieut. Comdr. Herbert V. Wiley. It is understood that Comdr. Rosendahl and Comdr. Wiley probably will take command of the two mnew dirigibles. Lieut. Comdr. Vincent A. Clarke, jr., who was naval cbserver aboard the Graf Zeppelin, probably will be the third dirigible commander. The Los Angeles is the training ship of the squadron and has been making a number of flights up and down the East Coast, including two visits to the National Capital during the past month. He Whoops to Conquer. Continued jrom Fifteenth Page was just hunting for truffies—a quaint old cus~ tom among the Parisian pigs.” “I don’t say he was a spy and not hunting for truffies,” demurred the bow-legged chap stubw. bornly. “I only say he could have been a spy.” “And I tell you——" .began Pvt. Jackson ag- grievedly®— “You boys stop arguing,” ordered Mary Ann, coming back from doling out doughnuts and smiles. “Lew, you shut up. Bud, if you keep on I'll get my revenge. I'll do something you'll al- ways regret. If you say another word—when we get back home I'll marry you. Anyway, you ask- ed me last week.” ¥ “Now, I'll continue™ asserted Pvt. Jackson with a happy grin. “This pig was not a spy—he was just hunting for truffies. Well, Mary Ann, I am willing you should have roast pork every Tuesday, as you planned, and the only stipulation I make is that Aloysius be not present, post- humously or otherwise. Also, with Lew I am wille ing to let bygones be bygones, and if he wants to he can come and take charge of the farm machinery.” “That’s kayo with me,” grumbled Doughboy Mullins, as Mary Ann slipped with a wonder- tul smile into her sweetheart’s arms, “but please understand what I mean. I don’'t say he was a spy and not hunting for truffies. I only say he could have been & spy.” But his two friends did not hear him—they were busy. (Copyright, 1929.) Manufacture of Nails. THE manufacture of nails dates back three centuries to Birmingham, England, where the work was carried on by hand for many years. At one time as many as 60,000 men, women and children were engaged in the manufacture of handmade nails. Gradually, with the perfecting of machinery, the hande made nail was eliminated, and with the inven tion of the wire nail machinery, passed out completely, except for the horseshoe nail, which is a cut nail. Hundreds of thousands of tons of wire are now used annually in the United States in the manufacture of nails. The wire is fed into the machine from a reel, after which it is cut, - headed and pointed and finally rolled out straight. The nail-making machines can turm out as many as 500 nails a minute, depending upon their size.