Inventions of the Great WarBond, A. Russell (Alexander Russell)
History
Inventions of the Great War
Bond, A. Russell (Alexander Russell)
Inventions; World War, 1914-1918 -- Technology
In the Zeppelin balloon, however, the gas was contained in separate
bags which were placed in a framework of aluminum covered over with
fabric. Count Zeppelin did not believe in placing all his eggs in one
basket. If one of these balloons burst or was injured in any way,
there was enough buoyancy in the rest of the gas-bags to hold up the
airship. As the Zeppelins were enormous structures, the framework had
to be made strong and light, and it was built up of a latticework of
aluminum alloy. Aluminum itself was not strong enough for the purpose,
but a mixture of aluminum and zinc and later another alloy known
as duralumin, consisting of aluminum with three per cent of copper
and one per cent of nickel, provided a very rigid framework that
was exceedingly light. Duralumin is four or five times as strong as
aluminum and yet weighs but little more.
[Illustration: Photograph by International Film Service
Crew of the C-5 (American Coastal Dirigible) starting for Newfoundland
to make a Transatlantic Flight]
The body of the Zeppelin is not a perfect circle in section, but is
made up in the form of a polygon with sixteen sides, and the largest of
the Zeppelins used during the war contained sixteen compartments, in
each of which was placed a large hydrogen gas-bag. A super-Zeppelin,
as the latest type is called, was about seventy-five feet in diameter
and seven hundred and sixty feet long, or almost as long as three New
York street blocks. In its gas-bags it carried two million cubic feet
of hydrogen and although the whole machine with its fuel, stores, and
passengers weighed close to fifty tons, it was so much lighter than the
air it displaced that it had a reserve buoyancy of over ten tons.
KEEPING ENGINES CLEAR OF THE INFLAMMABLE HYDROGEN
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