4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL March 2, 2016
O PINION
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Offbeat Oregon History
Thanks, Dian
Would inventor’s silver steam-powered airship have worked?
BY FINN J.D. JOHN
For the Sentinel
I
ronically enough, it was on the
fi rst day of winter — the winter
after the 1929 stock-market crash
that kicked off the Great Depression
— that Oregon inventor Thomas B.
Slate’s dream of a business empire
built on shiny silver steam-powered
airships received its death blow.
Slate had left his native state sev-
eral years earlier and made a fortune
by inventing and commercializing
the production of “dry ice” — fro-
zen carbon dioxide. Then he’d left,
sold his company and moved to
Glendale, Calif., to launch a new
venture: A nationwide line of pas-
senger airships based on a revolu-
tionary design he had worked out.
At fi rst glance, the design looked
ridiculous — like a piece of sci-
ence-fi ction hopefulness sketched
out by an amateur without the ben-
efi t of any scientifi c or engineering
knowledge. This initial appearance
— together with the fact that Slate
was best known for his innovations
in dry-ice manufacture rather than
for his aeronautical work during
the First World War — has fooled
more than one observer into assum-
ing its inventor was just another rich
guy with too much money and not
enough knowledge, trying to force
the laws of physics to conform to his
dreams.
The Slate dirigible was shaped
like a colossal teardrop, with a big
blunt front and a tapering-away tail.
A long, streamlined cabin stretched
along the bottom, with room for
about three-dozen passengers and
crew to dwell in comfort and lux-
ury during the anticipated 36-hour
transcontinental journeys the airship
would make.
Its hull was made entirely of
aluminum, built in strips that were
folded together in a specially pat-
ented gas-tight manner and riveted
in place, with deep symmetrical
grooves leading from the nose back
to the tail. At the front of the hull,
on the tip of the nose, could be seen
an improbably tiny, odd-shaped fan
or propeller of sorts; at the tail, an
equally improbably tiny set of con-
trol surfaces — rudder and horizon-
tal stabilizers.
These elements were at the heart
of the revolutionary design that Slate
had created. The fan on the front
was an impeller — a steam-powered
blower that sucked great volumes of
air out of the space just ahead of the
airship and blasted it out to the sides
in a great sheet of wind. This sheet
of wind would be drawn to curve
around the front of the airship by
the venturi effect, creating a cush-
ion of moving, partially evacuated
air that would suck the hull forward
even as it buffered the big airship
from atmospheric turbulence. This
artifi cial wind would have abated
considerably by the time it reached
the tail surfaces, but it would still be
quite strong enough that only very
small ailerons and rudders would be
needed.
Pipe-dreamy as this plan sounded,
it apparently worked fantastically
well — at least, it worked fantas-
tically well on the scale models
Slate had tested in the wind tun-
nel at New York University. If the
models scaled, Slate reckoned the
full-size dirigible would require just
400 horsepower to transport 21,000
pounds of airship, passengers, crew
and luggage through the air at up to
100 miles per hour.
This propulsion system would
make Slate’s design ridiculously
cheap to operate. In addition, the sys-
tem of offl oading passengers via an
elevator car traveling up and down a
cable hanging beneath would make
it possible to operate with complete
independence of airfi elds and other
expensive ground infrastructure
— except for hangars to park the big
things in when not in use.
Slate envisioned a nationwide air-
line network served with his big sil-
ver-teardrop airships shuttling pas-
sengers anywhere and everywhere
in comfort, luxury and profi tability.
And the fi rst step toward that goal
was to get his fi rst prototype model
into the air so that all the doubters
could see that his revolutionary pro-
pulsion system would work.
So the inventor got busy in his
giant blimp shed, working on con-
struction of the fi rst model — which,
with an eye toward public relations,
he dubbed the “City of Glendale.”
Throughout the spring, summer
and fall of 1929, the City of Glendale
took shape. City residents fl ocked to
the airfi eld on each of the days when
it was taken out and tested. Slate
worked tirelessly to get the big air-
ship ready for its maiden voyage.
As the ship neared its launch date,
Slate made a few changes here and
there; the high-pressure boiler was
giving him trouble, so he left it out
and purchased a big radial aircraft
engine. It’s not clear whether this
was a temporary measure for testing,
or if he’d actually given up on steam
as a power distribution system.
Finally, the big day came. In what
would later seem a bitterly ironic
twist, it was the fi rst day of winter.
But it was a warm day, and a beauti-
ful one. Out came the City of Glen-
dale, ready to show what it could
do.
But as the Slate Aircraft Company
crews busied themselves getting the
big bird ready, the warm Southern
California sun was beating down
directly on the aluminum hull, and
it was warming up. Soon the helium
inside was expanding … and it soon
became clear that the pressure-re-
lease valve had gotten stuck.
A sharp, explosive pop rang out.
Bystanders ducked; it sounded like
a gunshot. And then another, and an-
other. Rivets were being torn out of
the big dirigible’s hull.
And then, with a sigh of escap-
ing gas, the City of Glendale settled
wearily down onto the tarmac and
lay over on its side.
Slate was, of course, dismayed.
But as yet he had no idea that his
dream had just been destroyed. That
came when the big dirigible was
back in the shop, a week or two later,
when he and his construction crews
came to a horrible realization:
The envelope was not fi xable. Be-
cause of the way each piece of alu-
minum interlocked with every other
piece, the only way to replace the
missing rivets and torn strips of alu-
minum would be to disassemble the
whole thing, like a jigsaw puzzle,
and start from scratch.
Had Slate used screws instead of
rivets, that would have been do-able,
although hardly pleasant. But when
he’d engineered the big dirigible,
he hadn’t even considered the need
to periodically repair pieces of the
hull.
Slate got busy immediately, trying
to raise the funds he’d need to build
a second model. But the world had
changed radically just two months
before, on Oct. 29, 1929. The coun-
try was just plunging into what
would become the Great Depression.
Investors had stopped investing and
started trying to salvage as much of
their nest eggs as they could. There
was no money available.
Some attempts were made to re-
start the project after the disaster.
Nothing worked out, though. Final-
ly, in 1931, the Slate Aircraft Com-
pany fi led for bankruptcy.
After the company failed, Slate’s
son Claude took the lead in trying to
interest others in picking up where
his father had left off, even sending
a proposal to the U.S. Congress with
an eye toward earning a grant. Noth-
ing came of this at the time, probably
partly because of the counterintui-
tive nature of the engineering sys-
tems Slate developed. After 1937,
reviving the idea became almost an
impossibility, as the Hindenberg di-
saster had soured almost everyone
on the very idea of airship travel.
Eventually, Thomas Slate and
his family found their way back to
Oregon and settled back into life
in Slate’s old home town of Alsea.
He continued to invent things, and
his patent fi lings continued to show
a Tesla-like ability to re-imagine
and innovate. They included a cy-
clone-generating device for remov-
ing smog from the air, a radically
re-imagined fl ying-boat design. He
died a week before his 100th birth-
day, on Nov. 26, 1980.
Dian Missar passed away last week.
She was a founding member of the Black-
berry Pie Society and served as our secre-
tary for many years. Her moral certitude
combined with her unwavering, yet gentle
approach to progressive political activism
sustained the Blackberry Pie Society’s
creative, fun and innovative approach
to raising political awareness in Cottage
Grove.
We will carry on without her, but we
will never stop asking ourselves, ‘What
would Dian do? What out-of-the-ordi-
nary idea would she come up with?’
We will do our best to imagine the an-
swer, but we are all well aware we can
never replicate or even emulate what she
would have done or said. Dian was our
creative rudder, and we miss her as will
countless others in the Cottage Grove
community that she so loved and nur-
tured.
The Cottage Grove Blackberry
Pie Society:
Cathy Bellavita
Leslie Rubinstein
Steve Kilston
Julie Parker
Gail Hoelzle
Alice Doyle
Brian Forge
Freedom of speech is
protected
If there is any truth to what I heard
on NPR this morning than we should be
shocked.
Donald Trump would, if elected, pro-
poses to bring libel suits to all press or-
ganizations that have ever made false ac-
cusations or lies against him. (NPR this
Saturday morning on KLCC at 9 a.m.).
Anyone who has ever read the U.S.
Constitution will see that the First Amend-
ment specifi cally protects the freedom of
speech of everyone. Donald Trumps’ lat-
est comment really is an insult to freedom
of speech, and to the Constitution. Just be-
cause he disagrees with press coverage is
well known. That he would make threats
to curtail this puts him in good company
with Vladimir Putin of Russia, who has
no regard for one of our most dear rights.
Do we want to live in a society where the
press is censored or even self-censors it-
self out of fear of reprisals?
Charles Ames
Cottage Grove
Other costs?
I just read the article outlining the costs
for the proposed new tax levy regarding
the building of the new Harrison school
and all the other costs. As I was going
down through the list of items wanted
with the new bond levy, I read the “other
costs” item totaling $6,173,285.
If this tax bond is going to get my ‘yes’
vote, I want to know what the other $6
million-plus is exactly. I know of no one
who would give me a loan for “other
costs” without knowing exactly what I
was asking for.
I believe it is only by being fair and be-
ing transparent with the bond amount that
a passage of the bond will succeed. And
by the way, I did vote yes for the new high
school, but a voter must have better infor-
mation on where our hard-earned money
will be going.
Rod Cameron
Cottage Grove
Editor's Note: In a Monday meeting,
South Lane Superintendent Krista Par-
ent said that many of the "Other Costs"
concern the furnishings, building per-
mits, fees, etc. necessary to build the
new Harrison Elementary School. Par-
ent also stated that she would request an
itemized list of those costs from BLRB
Architects, a list that will appear in an
upcoming Sentinel.
(Sources: Slate Aircraft Co.
Website, slateaircraft.com; Benton
County Historical Society, bchsnow.
org; Flight Magazine, Feb. 7, 1929;
Radecki, Alan. “Slate’s Strange Di-
rigible,” vintageairphotos.blogspot.
com, 20 Aug 2013)
Green vegetables protect the heart
BY JOEL FUHRMAN, MD
For the Sentinel
G
reen leafy vegetables are
superior to other foods in
their nutrient density, and un-
surprisingly, greater intake of
leafy greens is associated with
reduced risk of cardiovascular
disease. Greater consumption of
cruciferous vegetables (a family
of vegetables known for their
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
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anti-can-
cer effects,
it includes
many leafy
greens such
as kale, cab-
bage and
bok choy),
are simi-
larly asso-
ciated with lower risk of death
from cardiovascular disease and
from all causes.
Oxidative stress is known to
be a signifi cant contributor to
the development of cardiovascu-
lar disease. Our antioxidant de-
fenses are a combination of di-
etary compounds and the body’s
own antioxidant enzymes, and
there is evidence that when we
eat cruciferous vegetables, their
phytochemicals signal the body
to produce its own protective
antioxidant enzymes by activat-
ing a protein called Nrf2.
Nrf2 is a transcription factor,
a protein that can increase or
decrease the expression of cer-
tain genes. Nrf2 works by bind-
ing a specifi c sequence present
in genes called the antioxidant
response element (ARE). In the
presence of certain phytochemi-
cals, Nrf2 travels to the nucleus
of the cell to induce that cell
to produce natural antioxidant
enzymes and protect against in-
fl ammation. Essentially, Nrf2 is
a messenger through which ben-
efi cial phytochemicals from the
diet turn on the body’s natural
antioxidant and anti-infl amma-
tory protection mechanisms.
For example, one study on
sulforaphane (a phytochemical
found in broccoli) showed that
once activated, Nrf2 suppresses
the activity of adhesion mol-
ecules on the endothelial cell
surface to prevent binding of in-
fl ammatory cells and therefore
retard atherosclerotic plaque
development. Another study
showed that sulforaphane and
other isothiocyanates (crucifer-
ous vegetable phytochemicals),
by activating Nrf2, blocked in-
fl ammatory gene expression
and oxidative stress in endothe-
lial cells inhibiting aging of the
vascular tree. Sulforaphane also
helps maintain the integrity of
the blood-brain barrier, a vas-
cular system that is crucial for
proper brain tissue function, via
activation of Nrf2. The point is
that cruciferous vegetables are
essential for excellent health
and promotion of maximum
lifespan.
Other phytochemicals that
can activate Nrf2 include an-
thocyanins (found in berries),
EGCG (found in green tea) and
resveratrol (found in grapes and
peanuts). Exercise may also ac-
tivate Nrf2. In contrast, smoking
suppresses the protective actions
of Nrf2; human endothelial cells
exposed to the blood of smok-
ers compared to non-smokers
showed decreased Nrf2 ex-
pression, reducing antioxidant
defenses. Not surprising that
smoking and green vegetables
have opposite effects!
Research on phytochemicals
and the protective effects Nrf2
is still in its early stages, and as
we learn more, we can expect
exciting advances in the under-
standing of how phytochemicals
work to promote health and ex-
tend lifespan.
Dr. Fuhrman is a #1 New
York Times best-selling author
and a board certifi ed family
physician specializing in life-
style and nutritional medicine.
Visit his informative website at
DrFuhrman.com. Submit your
questions and comments about
this column directly to news-
questions@drfuhrman.com.
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