Show INSURING SUPPLIES OF HELIUM GAS FOR USE OF MILITARY dirigibles the successful transatlantic flight of the monster dirigible the graf zeppelin and the announcement by the navy department of the awarding of a contract for two leviathans levi athans of the air of far larger dimensions even than the b great areat german airship have aroused keen interest in the possibilities of safe and rapid travel by means of these huge lighter than air craft great britain is constructing two palatial diri dirigibles 6 ables intended for transoceanic trans oceanic service service and private american interests have taken up tip in earnest the manufacture of gigantic b 1 11 air liners if these ar argolies argosies argo 6 asies sies of the air are to offer the real assurance of safety necessary to their completely successful use it is essential that they depend for buoy alice on a non fl amable 6 gas cras the only za gas gas of this description having the requirement of lightness is helium that very rare element which is found in small proportions in certain natural gases ases As is well known the hydro hydrogen 6 en 6 gas as used as the lifting agent of the graf zeppelin is extremely explosive and the accidental ignition t of hydrogen has been responsible for disasters to various airships in the past the dirigibles operated by the army and the navy of the united states are provided with helium but all f foreign orein n owned aircraft air craft must depend on the highly b inflammable h hydrogen yd rogen for their buoyancy this situation is due to the fact that the united states is the only nation so far as known havin having 6 sufficient resources of helium to develop a commercial supply for aeronautics it requires however a 6 great amount of helium to fill the b gas as cells of a bi big 6 dirigible a little over two and one half million cubic feet of helium being needed for the los angeles in those rather rare natural 6 gas cras deposits which contain an any helium at all no more than between 1 and 2 per cent by volume of the b gas as can be extracted as pure helium the known natural gas fields to which the united states can look for obtaining its helium are not inexhaustible in fact the petrolia field in northern texas which has been the principal source of supply is now in the last stages of its life after producing gas for more than twenty years where then are to be obtained the large supplies of helium which will be necessary for the continued safe operation of the two air monsters recently contracted for by the navy and other ships which will be built from time to time bureau of mines solves problem the maintenance of these vital helium supplies is one of the jobs which have been put up tip to the united states bureau of ii mines iines the scientific bureau which has kept uncle sam in helium for the past several years for years the chemists of the bureau of mines have been analyzing samples of natural gas obtained from many gas fie fields ids located throughout the country always in quest of the characteristic bright yellow line which viewed through the spectra sc ope pe announces the presence of the prized helium T this his analytical work has resulted in accumulating valuable data regarding our helium resources and the answer to the question as to where uncle sam is to obtain his helium for some time to come at least has been found it is considered in in the cliffside natural 6 gas as structure lying to the northwest of the city of amarillo in the panhandle district of texas A bi big 6 helium production plant eni embodying bodyl 1 ng in its helium separation cycle the results of thorough research on the part of the bureaus specialists is nearing completion near the townsite of soncy about six miles west of amarillo and from the natural gas of the cliffside structure which has been found to have a helium content of about one and three fourths per cent by volume will be extracted the supplies of the wonder 6 gas gas which will keep aloft uncle sams giant bant air cruisers of the future the story of helium has been called one of the romances of science viewed through the spectroscope helium made incandescent by an electric discharge displays a bri bright ht yellow line characteristic of this gas as this line was first made visible to man when in 1868 a group of scientific investigators 6 in india for the first time turned a spectroscope on the that part of the atmosphere of the sun about miles deep which merges into the corona recognizing 6 t an element in the sun not previously discovered on the earth the new element was given iven the name heli helium tini 14 from the greek word helios the sun not until the latter part of 1894 was terrestrial helium discovered when sir william ramsay the eminent english scientist found the bright yellow helium line in an inert gas 6 as obtained from the radioactive radio active mineral dr AV F hillebrand of th the e united states geological survey had ol obtained this same gas as from the same source but lid did not identify the helium in in it helium is found in the atmosphere asmo sphere in the proportion of one part in parts it is found in minute quantities in sealand sea and river water in the gases lb bases evolved from mineral springs b and in some volcanic gases gases but in none of these latter sources is the 6 gas as sufficiently plentiful to p provide ro commercial supplies helium production for use in lighter than air craft was vas started by the united states government during the world war A thorough study was made of fields which contained helium bearing natural gas yas by specialists of the united states bureau of mines and the united states geological survey As a result it was ivas established that the petrolia yas as field of clay county texas was at that time the field best suited as a source of supply for the governments initial helium developments development |