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+A a Sl a a Wicks: aiid i i a valved off so that the airship gains weight and loses some of its buoyancy. In order to valve off this gas, there is located on each gas chamber what they call a maneuvering valve, as well as an auto= matic valve. The automatic valve is a valve thet is more or less of a safety device and operates only as a result of pressure from within the gas chamber, as, for instance, in the event the gas cell becomes too full of hydrogen gas, this safety device will then function and enough ges will be valved off, through the automatic valve, so that the pressure of gas within the gas cell will again maintain its normal pressure. ‘The maneuvering valve is the valve that is used by the operators of the ship to cause the airship to lose altitude and that maneuvering valve is controlled by apparatus which is located in the control car. It should also be noted that the position of both the maneuvering valve and the automatic valve 1s conveniently located slong what they call the axial girder, upon which is placed what they call an axial catwalk. This axial catwalk runs the entire length of the super structure of the Hindenburg. However, due to the placing of these valves so that they are convenient to the axial catwalk, it necessarily involves the use of a gas vent or gas shaft, due to the fact that these valves are located in the very interior of the super structure. The gas shaft then is a shaft that runs from the top keel of the super structure to the very heart or axis of the structure itself. The valve then opens into this shaft towards the center of the ship and the gas is let out of the gas valve and it then hits this flue, or gas shaft, and proceeds upwards into the air through the shaft, which is covered by what they call a shaft hood. This shaft is open to the air at the top of the super structure of the Hindenburg and, naturally, there is air in the shaft itself. It is well to note, at this time, that according to Commander Rosendahl, hydrogen is a gas that, when mixed with air, 4s highly inflammable, and mixed with a sufficient quantity of air, it is highly explosive. In further explanation thereof, it should be noted that 99% hydrogen, mixed with 1% air, will cause an inflammable mixture, however, you reduce the impurity of hydrogen to 80% hydrogen, and 20% air and you have a highly explosive mixture, and also if you reduce the hydrogen to 20% gas with 80% air, you have a highly ex- plosive mixture. According to their explanation, any mixture of 80% of either air or hydrogen, mixed with 20% of the other element, will produce a highly explosive combination. They also state that if there is 1% hydrogen mixed with 99% air, you also have an inflammable mixture.