British Airships, Past, Present, and FutureWhale, George
History
British Airships, Past, Present, and Future
Whale, George
Aircraft; Airships -- Britain -- History
In 1895 he designed a second rigid airship, which was built in Berlin
by Messrs. Weisspfennig and Watzesch. The hull framework was composed
of aluminium and was 155 feet long, elliptical in cross section, giving
a volume of 130,500 cubic feet. It was pointed in front and rounded
off aft. The car, also constructed of the same material, was rigidly
attached to the hull by a lattice framework, and the whole hull
structure was covered in with aluminium sheeting. A 12 horse-power
Daimler benzine motor was installed in the car, driving through the
medium of a belt twin aluminium screw propellers; no rudders were
supplied, the steering being arranged by means of a steering screw
placed centrally to the ship above the top of the car. Inflation took
place at the end of 1897 by a method of pressing out air-filled fabric
cells which were previously introduced into the hull. This operation
took three and a half hours. On the day of the first flight trials
there was a fresh wind of about 17 miles per hour. The airship
ascended into the air, but, apparently, could make little headway
against the wind. During the trip the driving-belt became disengaged
from the propellers and the ship drifted at the mercy of the wind, but
sustained little damage on landing. After being deflated, the hull
began to break up under the pressure of the wind and was completely
destroyed by the vandalism of the spectators.
In 1898 Graf F. von Zeppelin, inspired by the example of Schwartz, and
assisted by the engineers Kober and Kubler, conceived the idea of
constructing a rigid airship of considerable dimensions. For this
purpose a floating shed was built on Lake Constance, near to
Friedrichshafen. The hull was built of aluminium lattice-work girders,
and had the form of a prism of twenty-four surfaces with arch-shaped
ends. In length it was 420 feet, with a diameter of 38 feet 6 inches,
and its capacity was 400,000 cubic feet. The longitudinal framework
was divided by a series of rings, called transverse frames, into
seventeen compartments containing fabric gasbags. The transverse
frames were fitted with steel wire bracings, both radial and chord, and
to strengthen the whole a triangular aluminium keel of lattice work was
used. A vertical and horizontal rudder were fitted to the forward
portion of the ship, and aft another vertical rudder. The whole
exterior of the ship was fitted with a fabric outer cover.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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