“His ‘Petradtheolin’ airship. It’s his own invention, you know, but up to now he has been unsuccessful. He has built a wonderful aluminium airship—most beautifully fitted and upholstered—in fact it is absolutely ready to fly, but up to now it won’t budge an inch.”
“What?”
“He is under the impression,” went on Alan “that in the near future flying will be an every day occurrence, and it is his greatest ambition to own the most comfortable, most speedy, and lightest airship of the day.”
Mr. Winthrop smiled. “There is a great deal of talk about flying now,” said he, “but do you honestly think it will ever come to anything?”
“I don’t know,” said Alan thoughtfully, “we have conquered the sea—‘Iron on the water shall float, like any wooden boat’,” he quoted. “We have built ships that can submerge and remain under water and navigate for certain periods of time. I see no reason why the modern man should not also conquer the air.”
Mr. Winthrop shook his head. “I may be old-fashioned, but it seems impossible to believe that navigable ships could be built for flying, that were safe. I don’t doubt that airships will be built that up to a certain point will be successful—say for a few hours’ flight, but it seems inconceivable to me that man could so conquer the air, that commerce and travel would benefit.”
“Well, Uncle John thinks he will conquer it with his ‘Argenta’,” went on Alan.
“Surely that was not what you called it just now?” asked the vicar.
Alan laughed. “The ‘Argenta’ is the name of the ship itself, but ‘Petradtheolin’ is the name of the power he is experimenting on, that he is desirous of using to propel it.”
“The machine itself is complete,” went on Desmond enthusiastically, “the balance is perfect, and its engines are supposed to be of wonderful velocity, but no known power will raise it even an inch from the ground. So he is still experimenting on this spirit. It is a formula which embraces petrol, radium and theolin; these chemicals are blended in some way or other—concentrated and solidified. The engines are made so as to generate electricity in the bonnet part. The current acts on the solidified cubes, which as they melt are sent through metal retorts drop by drop, and then being conveyed to the engines should make the machine fly.”