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Fantasy News Annual, v. 7, issue 1, whole no. 150, July 27, 1941
31858063099257_006
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Page Six SPECIAL FEATURE SECTION FANTASY NEWS THE DAWN OF ROCKETRY Cont'd: book, "Rockets Through Space", or even David Lasser's "Conquest Of Space", which may be obtained at any large public library. It is sufficient to say that their most promising fuel lacked the elements that make any fuel mixture practical. They lacked the element of safety. It is impossible to keep oxygen liquid at ordinary temperatures at a̲n̲y̲ pressure! Therefore the rocket plane would have to have a complete liquid oxygen refrigerating plant or fill up with liquid oxygen in giant vacuum bottles called Dewar flasks and used it while it is evaporating away, Now liquid oxygen if mixed with any combustible material such as cotton, charcoal, the dust from hair, etc., becomes such a good burning agent that it explodes violently. Also since it cannot be kept except at a low temperature , giant forces exerted on any container that literally blows it to pieces if closed tight. The engineering difficulties actually forbid and prevent such a fuel mixture from being practical. Thus any motor that is liable to blow up in your face, and has a greater chance of blowing up than not, is not going to be used, in spite of all the enthusiasts in the world. Liquid hydrogen is even worse than liquid oxygen so that could not be considered seriously at all. Therefore it looked as if rocket propulsion was a failure. Rocket engineers Insisted on using rockets as the sole or primary means of propulsion; The truth of the matter is,we need data on rockets far more than we need rocket ships that blow up. The only logical thing is to use the rocket as a secondary or auxiliary motor in conjunction with the gasoline motor on planes. That is the coming step in rocketry. But it has not solved the fuel problem. The author was somewhat discouraged in 1938 due to the fuel problem in rocketry. The rocket investigators held on to the impractical liquid oxygen-gasoline system. However, in 1940 (next Col,) an announcement; from a University in the East of a new rocket mixture. New? The materials have been known for a hundred years or more. No one had the idea of putting them together before, What do you think of them? A fuel mixture composed of a gas that can be kept liquid at ordinary temperatures by the application of pressure in a steel cylinder alone (the same gas is shipped every day in the liquid form), and the use of a liquid that is quite stable, —-the gas, nitrous oxide; the liquid, carbon disulfide. And to cap it all, calculations of the heat involved in the reaction, gases released, and temperature of the burning mixture show that it is as efficient as the famous liquid oxygen-gasoline mixture. There you have it. — a practical, safe fuel that in not too expensive and is manufactured in huge quantities every day for other industrial purposes. The feed valves that can be used are used all the time in oil burning furnaces and several ether devices. This fuel is being investigated seriously, and I am sorry to say that the "rocket engineers" missed it. We may expect now practical rockets on planes along with gasoline motors within five years. Another mixture that shows promise as a safe, low power fuel, is liquid hydrogen peroxide, and also mixtures of hydrogen, calcium carbide, water, and manganese oxide. The latter two are not as powerful as the nitrous oxide-carbon disulfide mixture, but are cheap, easy to handle, and may be used as auxiliary power sources. The author believes that interplanetary flight will have to wait for the development of atomic sources. Chemical fuels are not practical—and no matter how much one wants something. If it is not efficient, practical, and relatively safe, it will not be used. Mr. Gardner has a long technical article on the thermodynamics of rocket mixtures being considered by INDUSTRIAL &, ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY. Other articles have appeared elsewhere on various phases of Chem.
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Page Six SPECIAL FEATURE SECTION FANTASY NEWS THE DAWN OF ROCKETRY Cont'd: book, "Rockets Through Space", or even David Lasser's "Conquest Of Space", which may be obtained at any large public library. It is sufficient to say that their most promising fuel lacked the elements that make any fuel mixture practical. They lacked the element of safety. It is impossible to keep oxygen liquid at ordinary temperatures at a̲n̲y̲ pressure! Therefore the rocket plane would have to have a complete liquid oxygen refrigerating plant or fill up with liquid oxygen in giant vacuum bottles called Dewar flasks and used it while it is evaporating away, Now liquid oxygen if mixed with any combustible material such as cotton, charcoal, the dust from hair, etc., becomes such a good burning agent that it explodes violently. Also since it cannot be kept except at a low temperature , giant forces exerted on any container that literally blows it to pieces if closed tight. The engineering difficulties actually forbid and prevent such a fuel mixture from being practical. Thus any motor that is liable to blow up in your face, and has a greater chance of blowing up than not, is not going to be used, in spite of all the enthusiasts in the world. Liquid hydrogen is even worse than liquid oxygen so that could not be considered seriously at all. Therefore it looked as if rocket propulsion was a failure. Rocket engineers Insisted on using rockets as the sole or primary means of propulsion; The truth of the matter is,we need data on rockets far more than we need rocket ships that blow up. The only logical thing is to use the rocket as a secondary or auxiliary motor in conjunction with the gasoline motor on planes. That is the coming step in rocketry. But it has not solved the fuel problem. The author was somewhat discouraged in 1938 due to the fuel problem in rocketry. The rocket investigators held on to the impractical liquid oxygen-gasoline system. However, in 1940 (next Col,) an announcement; from a University in the East of a new rocket mixture. New? The materials have been known for a hundred years or more. No one had the idea of putting them together before, What do you think of them? A fuel mixture composed of a gas that can be kept liquid at ordinary temperatures by the application of pressure in a steel cylinder alone (the same gas is shipped every day in the liquid form), and the use of a liquid that is quite stable, —-the gas, nitrous oxide; the liquid, carbon disulfide. And to cap it all, calculations of the heat involved in the reaction, gases released, and temperature of the burning mixture show that it is as efficient as the famous liquid oxygen-gasoline mixture. There you have it. — a practical, safe fuel that in not too expensive and is manufactured in huge quantities every day for other industrial purposes. The feed valves that can be used are used all the time in oil burning furnaces and several ether devices. This fuel is being investigated seriously, and I am sorry to say that the "rocket engineers" missed it. We may expect now practical rockets on planes along with gasoline motors within five years. Another mixture that shows promise as a safe, low power fuel, is liquid hydrogen peroxide, and also mixtures of hydrogen, calcium carbide, water, and manganese oxide. The latter two are not as powerful as the nitrous oxide-carbon disulfide mixture, but are cheap, easy to handle, and may be used as auxiliary power sources. The author believes that interplanetary flight will have to wait for the development of atomic sources. Chemical fuels are not practical—and no matter how much one wants something. If it is not efficient, practical, and relatively safe, it will not be used. Mr. Gardner has a long technical article on the thermodynamics of rocket mixtures being considered by INDUSTRIAL &, ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY. Other articles have appeared elsewhere on various phases of Chem.
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