BALLOONS: THE DIRIGIBLE.
Elongation of
gas-bag--Brisson--Meusnier--Air-ballonnets--Scott--Giffard--Haenlein--Tissandier--Renard
and Krebs--Schwartz--Santos-Dumont--Von
Zeppelin--Roze--Severo--Bradsky-Leboun--The Lebaudy
dirigible--Zeppelin II--Parseval I--Unequal wind
pressures--Zeppelin III--Nulli Secundus--La
Patrie--Ville-de-Paris--Zeppelin IV--Gross I--Parseval
II--Clement-Bayard I--Ricardoni’s airship--Gross II--The
new Zeppelin II--La Republique--The German fleet of
dirigibles--Parseval V--The Deutschland--The Erbslöh--Gross
III--Zeppelin VI--The America--Clement-Bayard III--The Capazza
lenticular dirigible.
The dirigible balloon, or airship, is built on the same general
principles as the ordinary balloon--that is, with the envelope to
contain the lifting gas, the car to carry the load, and the suspending
cordage--but to this is added some form of propelling power to enable
it to make headway against the wind, and a rudder for steering it.
Almost from the very beginning of ballooning, some method of directing
the balloon to a pre-determined goal had been sought by inventors.
Drifting at the fickle pleasure of the prevailing wind did not accord
with man’s desire for authority and control.
The first step in this direction was the change from the spherical
form of the gas-bag to an elongated shape, the round form having an
inclination to turn round and round in the air while floating, and
having no bow-and-stern structure upon which steering devices could
operate. The first known proposal in this direction was made by
Brisson, a French scientist, who suggested building the gas-bag in the
shape of a horizontal cylinder with conical ends, its length to be
five or six times its diameter. His idea for its propulsion was the
employment of large-bladed oars, but he rightly doubted whether human
strength would prove sufficient to work these rapidly enough to give
independent motion to the airship.
About the same time another French inventor had actually built a
balloon with a gas-bag shaped like an egg and placed horizontally with
the blunt end foremost. The reduction in the resistance of the air to
this form was so marked that the elongated gas-bag quickly displaced
the former spherical shape. This balloon was held back from travelling
at the full speed of the wind by the clever device of a rope dragging
on the ground; and by a sail rigged so as to act on the wind which
blew past the retarded balloon, the navigator was able to steer it
within certain limits. It was the first dirigible balloon.
In the same year the brothers Robert, of Paris, built an airship for
the Duke of Chartres, under the direction of General Meusnier, a French
officer of engineers. It was cylindrical, with hemispherical ends, 52
feet long and 32 feet in diameter, and contained 30,000 cubic feet of
gas. The gas-bag was made double to prevent the escape of the hydrogen,
which had proved very troublesome in previous balloons, and it was
provided with a spherical air balloon inside of the gas-bag, which
device was expected to preserve the form of the balloon unchanged by
expanding or contracting, according to the rising or falling of the
airship. When the ascension was made on July 6, 1784, the air-balloon
stuck fast in the neck of the gas-bag, and so prevented the escape of
gas as the hydrogen expanded in the increasing altitude. The gas-bag
would have burst had not the Duke drawn his sword and slashed a vent
for the imprisoned gas. The airship came safely to earth.
It was General Meusnier who first suggested the interior ballonnet of
air to preserve the tense outline of the form of the airship, and the
elliptical form for the gas-bag was another of his inventions. In the
building of the airship of the Duke de Chartres he made the further
suggestion that the space between the two envelopes be filled with
air, and so connected with the air-pumps that it could be inflated
or deflated at will. For the motive power he designed three screw
propellers of one blade each, to be turned unceasingly by a crew of
eighty men.
Meusnier was killed in battle in 1793, and aeronautics lost its most
able developer at that era.
[Illustration: The Scott airship, showing the forward “pocket”
partially drawn in.]
In 1789, Baron Scott, an officer in the French army, devised a
fish-shaped airship with two outside balloon-shaped “pockets” which
could be forcibly drawn into the body of the airship to increase its
density, and thus cause its descent.
It began to be realized that no adequate power existed by which
balloons could be propelled against even light winds to such a degree
that they were really controllable, and balloon ascensions came to
be merely an adjunct of the exhibit of the travelling showman. For
this reason the early part of the nineteenth century seems barren of
aeronautical incident as compared with the latter part of the preceding
century.
In 1848, Hugh Bell, an Englishman, built a cylindrical airship with
convex pointed ends. It was 55 feet long and 21 feet in diameter. It
had a keel-shaped framework of tubes to which the long narrow car was
attached, and there was a screw propeller on each side, to be worked by
hand, and a rudder to steer with. It failed to work.
In 1852, however, a new era opened for the airship. Henry Giffard, of
Paris, the inventor of the world-famed injector for steam boilers,
built an elliptical gas-bag with cigar-shaped ends, 144 feet long,
and 40 feet in diameter, having a cubic content of 88,000 cubic feet.
The car was suspended from a rod 66 feet long which hung from the
net covering the gas-bag. It was equipped with a 3-horse-power steam
engine which turned a two-bladed screw propeller 11 feet in diameter,
at the rate of 110 revolutions per minute. Coke was used for fuel.
The steering was done with a triangular rudder-sail. Upon trial on
September 24, 1852, the airship proved a success, travelling at the
rate of nearly 6 miles an hour.
[Illustration: The first Giffard dirigible.]
Giffard built a second airship in 1855, of a much more elongated
shape--235 feet long and 33 feet in diameter. He used the same engine
which propelled his first ship. After a successful trial trip, when
about to land, the gas-bag unaccountably turned up on end, allowing
the net and car to slide off, and, rising slightly in the air, burst.
Giffard and his companion escaped unhurt.
Giffard afterward built the large captive balloon for the London
Exhibition in 1868, and the still larger one for the Paris Exposition
in 1878. He designed a large airship to be fitted with two boilers and
a powerful steam-engine, but became blind, and died in 1882.
[Illustration: The Haenlein airship inflated with coal gas and driven
by a gas-engine.]
In 1865, Paul Haenlein devised a cigar-shaped airship to be inflated
with coal gas. It was to be propelled by a screw at the front to be
driven by a gas-engine drawing its fuel from the gas in the body of the
ship. An interior air-bag was to be expanded as the gas was consumed,
to keep the shape intact. A second propeller revolving horizontally was
intended to raise or lower the ship in the air.
It was not until 1872 that he finally secured the building of an
airship, at Vienna, after his plans. It was 164 feet long, and 30
feet in diameter. The form of the gas-bag was that described by the
keel of a ship rotated around the centre line of its deck as an axis.
The engine was of the Lenoir type, with four horizontal cylinders,
developing about 6 horse-power, and turned a propeller about 15 feet
in diameter at the rate of 40 revolutions per minute. The low lifting
power of the coal gas with which it was inflated caused it to float
quite near the ground. With a consumption of 250 cubic feet of gas per
hour, it travelled at a speed of ten miles an hour. The lack of funds
seems to have prevented further experiments with an invention which was
at least very promising.
[Illustration: Sketch of the De Lome airship.]
In the same year a dirigible balloon built by Dupuy de Lome for use by
the French Government during the siege of Paris, was given a trial. It
was driven by a screw propeller turned by eight men, and although it
was 118 feet long, and 49 feet in diameter, it made as good a speed
record as Giffard’s steam-driven airship--six miles an hour.
[Illustration: Car of the Tissandier dirigible; driven by electricity.]
In 1881, the brothers Albert and Gaston Tissandier exhibited at the
Electrical Exhibition in Paris a model of an electrically driven
airship, originally designed to establish communication with Paris
during the siege of the Franco-Prussian War. In 1883, the airship
built after this model was tried. It was 92 feet long, and 30 feet at
its largest diameter. The motive power was a Siemens motor run by 24
bichromate cells of 17 lbs. each. At full speed the motor made 180
revolutions per minute, developing 1½ horse-power. The pull was 26 lbs.
The propeller was 9 feet in diameter, and a speed of a little more than
6 miles an hour was attained.
[Illustration: Sketch of the Renard and Krebs airship _La France_,
driven by a storage battery.]
In 1884, two French army engineers, Renard and Krebs, built an airship,
the now historic _La France_, with the shape of a submarine torpedo. It
was 165 feet long and about 27 feet in diameter at the largest part. It
had a gas content of 66,000 cubic feet. A 9 horse-power Gramme electric
motor was installed, driven by a storage battery. This operated the
screw propeller 20 feet in diameter, which was placed at the forward
end of the long car. The trial was made on the 9th of August, and was
a complete success. The ship was sailed with the wind for about 2½
miles, and then turned about and made its way back against the wind
till it stood directly over its starting point, and was drawn down to
the ground by its anchor ropes. The trip of about 5 miles was made in
23 minutes. In seven voyages undertaken the airship was steered back
safely to its starting point five times.
This first airship which really deserved the name marked an era in the
development of this type of aircraft. In view of its complete success
it is astonishing that nothing further was done in this line in France
for fifteen years, when Santos-Dumont began his series of record-making
flights. Within this period, however, the gasoline motor had been
adapted to the needs of the automobile, and thus a new and light-weight
engine, suitable in every respect, had been placed within the reach of
aeronauts.
In the meantime, a new idea had been brought to the stage of actual
trial. In 1893, in St. Petersburg, David Schwartz built a rigid
airship, the gas receptacle of which was sheet aluminum. It was braced
by aluminum tubes, but while being inflated the interior work was so
badly broken that it was abandoned.
Schwartz made a second attempt in Berlin in 1897. The airship was
safely inflated, and managed to hold its position against a wind
blowing 17 miles an hour, but could not make headway against it. After
the gas had been withdrawn, and before it could be put under shelter,
a severe windstorm damaged it, and the mob of spectators speedily
demolished it in the craze for souvenirs of the occasion.
[Illustration: Wreck of the Schwartz aluminum airship, at Berlin, in
1897.]
[Illustration:
The type of the earlier Santos-Dumont dirigibles. This shape
showed a tendency to “buckle,” or double up in the middle like a
jackknife. To avoid this the later Santos-Dumonts were of much
larger proportional diameter amidships.]
In 1898, the young Brazilian, Santos-Dumont, came to Paris imbued with
aeronautic zeal, and determined to build a dirigible balloon that
would surpass the former achievements of Giffard and Renard, which he
felt confident were but hints of what might be accomplished by that
type of airship. He began the construction of the series of dirigible
balloons which eventually numbered 12, each successive one being an
improvement on the preceding. He made use of the air-bag suggested
by Meusnier for the balloon of the Duke of Chartres in 1784, although
in an original way, at first using a pneumatic pump to inflate it, and
later a rotatory fan. Neither prevented the gas-bag from “buckling” and
coming down with consequences more or less serious to the airship--but
Santos-Dumont himself always escaped injury. His own record of his
voyages in his book, _My Air-Ships_, gives a more detailed account
of his contrivances and inventions than can be permitted here. If
Santos-Dumont did not greatly surpass his predecessors, he is at least
to be credited with an enthusiasm which aroused the interest of the
whole world in the problems of aeronautics; and his later achievements
in the building and flying of aeroplanes give him a unique place in the
history of man’s conquest of the air.
[Illustration: Type of the later Santos-Dumont’s dirigibles.]
In 1900, Count von Zeppelin’s great airship, which had been building
for nearly two years, was ready for trial. It had the form of a prism
of 24 sides, with the ends arching to a blunt point. It was 420 feet
long, and 38 feet in diameter. The structure was rigid, of aluminum
lattice work, divided into 17 compartments, each of which had a
separate gas-bag shaped to fit its compartment. Over all was an outer
envelope of linen and silk treated with pegamoid. A triangular keel of
aluminum lattice strengthened the whole, and there were two cars of
aluminum attached to the keel. Each car held a 16 horse-power Daimler
gasoline motor, operating two four-bladed screw propellers which were
rigidly connected with the frame of the ship a little below the level
of its axis. A sliding weight was run to either end of the keel as
might be required to depress the head or tail, in order to rise or fall
in the air. The cars were in the shape of boats, and the ship was built
in a floating shed on the Lake of Constance near Friedrichshafen.
At the trial the airship was floated out on the lake, the car-boats
resting on the water. Several accidents happened, so that though the
ship got up into the air it could not be managed, and was brought down
to the water again without injury. In a second attempt a speed of 20
miles an hour was attained. The construction was found to be not strong
enough for the great length of the body, the envelope of the balloon
was not sufficiently gas tight, and the engines were not powerful
enough. But few trips were made in it, and they were short. The Count
set himself to work to raise money to build another ship, which he did
five years later.
[Illustration: View of the Zeppelin I, with portion of the aluminum
shell and external fabric removed to show the internal framing and
separate balloons. In the distance is shown the great balloon shed.]
In 1901, an inventor named Roze built an airship in Colombo, having two
gas envelopes with the engines and car placed between them. He expected
to do away with the rolling and pitching of single airships by the
double form, but the ship did not work satisfactorily, ascending to
barely 50 feet.
In 1902, Augusto Severo, a Brazilian, arranged an airship with the
propelling screws at the axis of the gas-bag, one at each end of the
ship. Instead of a rudder, he provided two small propellers to work in
a vertical plane and swing the ship sideways. Soon after ascending
it was noticed that the propellers were not working properly, and a
few minutes later the car was seen to be in flames and the balloon
exploded. Severo and his companion Sache were killed, falling 1,300
feet.
[Illustration: Sketch of the Severo airship, showing arrangement of
the driving propellers on the axis of the gas-bag, and the steering
propellers.]
[Illustration:
End view of Severo’s airship, showing the longitudinal division
of the gas-bag to allow the driving shaft of the propellers to be
placed at the axis of the balloon.]
In the same year Baron Bradsky-Leboun built an airship with partitions
in the gas-bag which was just large enough to counterbalance the weight
of the ship and its operators. It was lifted or lowered by a propeller
working horizontally. Another propeller drove the ship forward. Through
some lack of stability the car turned over, throwing out the two
aeronauts, who fell 300 feet and were instantly killed.
[Illustration: The first Lebaudy airship.]
In 1902, a dirigible balloon was built for the brothers Lebaudy by the
engineer Juillot and the aeronaut Surcouf. The gas envelope was made
cigar-shaped and fastened rigidly to a rigid elliptical keel-shaped
floor 70 feet long and 19 feet wide, made of steel tubes--the object
being to prevent rolling and pitching. It was provided with both
horizontal and vertical rudders. A 35 horse-power Daimler-Mercedes
motor was used to turn two twin-bladed screws, each of 9 feet in
diameter. Between the 25th of October, 1902, and the 21st of November,
1903, 33 experimental voyages were made, the longest being 61 miles in
2 hours and 46 minutes; 38.7 miles in 1 hour and 41 minutes; 23 miles
in 1 hour and 36 minutes.
[Illustration: Framing of the floor and keel of the Lebaudy airship.]
In 1904 this ship was rebuilt. It was lengthened to 190 feet and the
rear end rounded off. Its capacity was increased to 94,000 cubic feet,
and a new covering of the yellow calico which had worked so well on the
first model was used on the new one. It was coated with rubber both on
the outside and inside. The interior air-bag was increased in size to
17,650 cubic feet, and partitioned into three compartments. During 1904
and 1905 30 voyages were made, carrying in all 195 passengers.
[Illustration: The car and propellers of the Lebaudy airship.]
The success of this airship led to a series of trials under the
direction of the French army, and in all of these trials it proved
satisfactory. After the 76th successful voyage it was retired for the
winter of 1905-6.
In November, 1905, the rebuilt Zeppelin airship was put upon trial.
While superior to the first one, it met with serious accident, and was
completely wrecked by a windstorm in January, 1906.
In May, 1906, Major von Parseval’s non-rigid airship passed through
its first trials successfully. This airship may be packed into small
compass for transportation, and is especially adapted for military
use. In plan it is slightly different from previous types, having
two air-bags, one in each end of the envelope, and the front end is
hemispherical instead of pointed.
As the airship is designed to force its way through the air, instead
of floating placidly in it, it is evident that it must have a certain
tenseness of outline in order to retain its shape, and resist being
doubled up by the resistance it encounters. It is estimated that the
average velocity of the wind at the elevation at which the airship
sails is 18 miles per hour. If the speed of the ship is to be 20
miles per hour, as related to stations on the ground, and if it is
obliged to sail against the wind, it is plain that the wind pressure
which it is compelled to meet is 38 miles per hour--a gale of no mean
proportions. When the large expanse of the great gas-bags is taken into
consideration, it is evident that ordinary balloon construction is not
sufficient.
Attempts have been made to meet the outside pressure from the wind and
air-resistance by producing mechanically a counter-pressure from the
inside. Air-bags are placed inside the cavity of the gas-bag, usually
one near each end of the airship, and these are inflated by pumping
air into them under pressure. In this way an outward pressure of as
much as 7 lbs. to the square foot may be produced, equivalent to the
resistance of air at a speed (either of the wind, or of the airship, or
of both combined) of 48 miles per hour. It is evident, however, that
the pressure upon the front end of an airship making headway against a
strong wind will be much greater than the pressure at the rear end, or
even than that amidships. It was this uneven pressure upon the outside
of the gas-bag that doubled up the first two airships of Santos-Dumont,
and led him to increase the proportional girth at the amidship section
in his later dirigibles. The great difficulty of adjusting these
varying pressures warrants the adherence of Count von Zeppelin to his
design with the rigid structure and metallic sheathing.
The loss of the second Zeppelin airship so discouraged its designer
that he decided to withdraw from further aeronautical work. But the
German Government prevailed on him to continue, and by October, 1906,
he had the Zeppelin III in the air. This airship was larger than
Zeppelin II in both length and diameter, and held 135,000 cubic feet
more of gas. The motive power was supplied by two gasoline motors,
each of 85 horse-power. The gas envelope had 16 sides, instead of 24,
as in the earlier ship. At its trial the Zeppelin III proved highly
successful. It made a trip of 69 miles, with 11 passengers, in 2¼
hours--a speed of about 30 miles an hour.
[Illustration: The Zeppelin III backing out of the floating shed at
Friedrichshafen. The illustration shows the added fin at the top, the
rudders, dipping planes, and balancing planes.]
The German Government now made an offer of $500,000 for an airship
which would remain continuously in the air for 24 hours, and be able to
land safely. Count von Zeppelin immediately began work upon his No. IV,
in the effort to meet these requirements, in the meantime continuing
trips with No. III. The most remarkable of these trips was made in
September, 1907, a journey of 211 miles in 8 hours.
In October, 1907, the English airship “Nulli Secundus” was given its
first trial. The gas envelope had been made of goldbeater’s skins,
which are considered impermeable to the contained gas, but are very
expensive. This airship was of the non-rigid type. It made the trip
from Aldershot to London, a distance of 50 miles, in 3½ hours--an
apparent speed of 14 miles per hour, lacking information as to the aid
or hindrance of the prevailing wind. Several other trials were made,
but with small success.
The offer of the German Government had stimulated other German builders
besides Count von Zeppelin, and on October 28, 1907, the Parseval I,
which had been improved, and the new Gross dirigible, competed for the
government prize, at Berlin. The Parseval kept afloat for 6½ hours, and
the Gross for 8¼ hours.
Meanwhile, in France, the Lebaudys had been building a new airship
which was named “La Patrie.” It was 197 feet long and 34 feet in
diameter. In a trial for altitude it was driven to an elevation of
4,300 feet. On November 23, 1907, the “Patrie” set out from Paris for
Verdun, a distance of 146 miles. The journey was made in 6¾ hours,
at an average speed of 25 miles per hour, and the fuel carried was
sufficient to have continued the journey 50 miles further. Soon after
reaching Verdun a severe gale tore the airship away from the regiment
of soldiers detailed to assist the anchors in holding it down, and it
disappeared into the clouds. It is known to have passed over England,
for parts of its machinery were picked up at several points, and some
days later the gas-bag was seen floating in the North Sea.
[Illustration: The “Ville-de-Paris” of M. de la Meurthe.]
Following close upon the ill-fated “Patrie” came the “Ville-de-Paris,”
a dirigible which had been built by Surcouf for M. Henri Deutsch de
la Meurthe, an eminent patron of aeronautic experiments. In size this
airship was almost identical with the lost “Patrie,” but it was quite
different in appearance. It did not have the flat framework at the
bottom of the gas envelope, but was entirely round in section, and the
long car was suspended below. At the rear the gas-bag was contracted
to a cylindrical form, and four groups of two ballonnets each were
attached to act as stabilizers. It was offered by M. de la Meurthe to
the French Government to take the place of the “Patrie” in the army
manœuvres at Verdun, and on January 15, 1908, made the trip thither
from Paris in about 7 hours. It was found that the ballonnets exerted
considerable drag upon the ship.
In June, 1908, the great “Zeppelin IV” was completed and given its
preliminary trials, and on July 1 it started on its first long journey.
Leaving Friedrichshafen, its route was along the northerly shore of
Lake Constance nearly to Schaffhausen, then southward to and around
Lake Lucerne, thence northward to Zurich, thence eastward to Lake
Constance, and to its shed at Friedrichshafen. The distance traversed
was 236 miles, and the time consumed 12 hours. This voyage without a
single mishap aroused the greatest enthusiasm among the German people.
After several short flights, during which the King of Württemberg, the
Queen, and some of the royal princes were passengers, the Zeppelin IV
set out on August 4 to win the Government reward by making the 24-hour
flight. Sailing eastward from Friedrichshafen it passed over Basle,
then turning northward it followed the valley of the Rhine, passing
over Strasburg and Mannheim, and had nearly reached Mayence when a
slight accident necessitated a landing. Repairs were made, and the
journey resumed after nightfall. Mayence was reached at 11 P. M., and
the return trip begun. When passing over Stuttgart, at 6 A. M., a leak
was discovered, and a landing was made at Echterdingen, a few miles
farther on. Here, while repairs were being made, a squall struck the
airship and bumped it heavily on the ground. Some gasoline was spilled,
in some unknown way, which caught fire, and in a few moments the great
balloon was totally destroyed. It had been in continuous flight 11
hours up to the time of the first landing, and altogether 20¾ hours,
and had travelled 258 miles.
The German people immediately started a public subscription to provide
Count von Zeppelin with the funds needed to build another airship,
and in a few days the sum of $1,500,000 was raised and turned over to
the unfortunate inventor. The “Zeppelin III” was taken in hand, and
lengthened, and more powerful engines installed.
The “Gross II” was ready to make its attempt for the Government prize
on September 11, 1908. It sailed from Tegel to Magdeburg and back to
Tegel, a distance of 176 miles, in 13 hours, without landing.
[Illustration: The Clement-Bayard dirigible entering its shed.]
Four days later the “Parseval II” made a trip between the same points
in 11½ hours, but cut the distance travelled down to 157 miles. In
October, the “Parseval II” was sent up for an altitude test, and rose
to a height of 5,000 feet above Tegel, hovering over the city for
upward of an hour.
During 1908, an airship designed by M. Clement, the noted motor-car
builder, was being constructed in France. It made its first voyage on
October 29, carrying seven passengers from Sartrouville to Paris and
back, at a speed of from 25 to 30 miles per hour. The illustration
gives a very good idea of the peculiar ballonnets attached to the rear
end of the gas envelope. These ballonnets open into the large gas-bag,
and are practically a part of it.
In Italy a remarkable dirigible has been built by Captain Ricaldoni,
for military purposes. It has the form of a fish, blunt forward, and
tapering straight away to the rear. It has a large finlike surface on
the under side of the gas-bag toward the rear. Its performances show
that its efficiency as compared with its motive power is larger than
any other dirigible in commission.
[Illustration: Engine of the Clement-Bayard dirigible; 7-cylinder; 55
horse-power; weighing only 155 pounds.]
In May, 1909, the rebuilt “Zeppelin III,” now rechristened “Zeppelin
II,” after many successful short flights was prepared for the
Government trial. On May 29, 1909, with a crew of six men, Count von
Zeppelin started from Friedrichshafen for Berlin, 360 miles away. The
great ship passed over Ulm, Nuremburg, Bayreuth, and Leipzig; and
here it encountered so strong a head wind from the north, that it was
decided to turn about at Bitterfeld and return to Friedrichshafen. The
distance travelled had been nearly 300 miles in 21 hours. The course
followed was quite irregular, and took the ship over Wurtzburg, and
by a wide detour to Heilbron and Stuttgart. The supply of gasoline
running low, it was decided to land at Goeppingen, where more could be
obtained. It was raining heavily, and through some mistake in steering,
or some sudden veering of the wind, the prow of the great dirigible
came into collision with a tree upon the hillside. The envelope was
badly torn, and a part of the aluminum inner structure wrecked.
However, the mechanics on board were able to make such repairs that
the ship was able to resume the voyage the next day, and made port
without further mishap. The vessel having been 38 hours in the air at
the time of the accident, so much of the Government’s stipulations
had been complied with. But it had not succeeded in landing safely.
Nevertheless it was accepted by the Government. The entire journey has
been variously estimated at from 680 to 900 miles, either figure being
a record for dirigibles.
[Illustration: Accident to the new “Zeppelin II” at Goeppingen. The
damage was repaired and the airship continued its voyage the next day.]
On August 4, the dirigible “Gross II” made a voyage from Berlin to
Apolda, and returned; a distance of 290 miles in 16 hours. This airship
also was accepted by the German Government and added to its fleet.
In August, the Zeppelin II was successfully sailed to Berlin, where
Count von Zeppelin was welcomed by an immense and enthusiastic
multitude of his countrymen, including the Emperor and the royal family.
On September 26, the new French dirigible, “La Republique,” built on
the model of the successful Lebaudy airships, met with an accident
while in the air. A blade of one of the propellers broke and slashed
into the envelope. The ship fell from a height of 6,000 feet, and its
crew of four men lost their lives.
[Illustration: View of the damaged Zeppelin from the front, showing the
tree against which it collided.]
On April 22, 1910, a fleet of German dirigibles, comprising the
“Zeppelin II,” the “Gross II,” and the “Parseval I,” sailed from
Cologne to Hamburg, where they were reviewed by Emperor William. A
strong wind having arisen, the “Gross II,” which is of the semi-rigid
type, was deflated, and shipped back to Cologne by rail. The non-rigid
“Parseval” made the return flight in safety. The rigid “Zeppelin II”
started on the return voyage, but was compelled to descend at Limburg,
where it was moored. The wind increasing, it was forced away, and
finally was driven to the ground at Weilburg and demolished.
In May, 1910, the “Parseval V,” the smallest dirigible so far
constructed, being but 90 feet in length, was put upon its trial trip.
It made a circular voyage of 80 miles in 4 hours.
For several months a great Zeppelin passenger dirigible had been
building by a stock company financed by German capital, under the
direction of the dauntless Count von Zeppelin. It was 490 feet long,
with a capacity of 666,900 cubic feet. A passenger cabin was built with
¼-inch mahogany veneer upon a framework of aluminum, the inside being
decorated with panels of rosewood inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The
seats were wicker chairs, and the window openings had no glass. It was
christened the “Deutschland.”
After many days waiting for propitious weather the first “air-liner”
set sail on June 22, 1910, from Friedrichshafen for Düsseldorf,
carrying 20 passengers who had paid $50 each for their passage. In
addition there were 13 other persons on board.
The start was made at three o’clock in the morning, and the course
laid was up the valley of the Rhine, as far as Cologne. Düsseldorf was
reached at three o’clock in the afternoon, the airline distance of 300
miles having been covered in 9 hours of actual sailing. From Mannheim
to Düsseldorf, favored by the wind, the great ship reached the speed of
50 miles per hour, for this part of the trip, outstripping the fastest
express trains which consume 6 hours in the winding track up the valley.
The next morning the “Deutschland” left Düsseldorf on an excursion
trip, carrying several ladies among its passengers. The voyage was in
every way a great success, and public enthusiasm was widespread.
On June 29, a test trip was decided upon. No passengers were taken,
but 19 newspaper correspondents were invited guests. The Count had
been warned of weather disturbances in the neighborhood, but he either
disregarded them or felt confidence in his craft. It was intended that
the voyage should last four hours, but the airship soon encountered a
storm, and after 6 hours of futile striving against it, the fuel gave
out. Caught in an upward draft, the “Deutschland” rose to an altitude
of over 5,000 feet, losing considerable gas, and then, entering a
rainstorm, was heavily laden with moisture. Suddenly, without definite
reason, it began to fall vertically, and in a few moments had crashed
into the tops of the trees of the Teutoberg forest. No one on board
received more than slight injury, and all alighted safely by means of
ladders. The “Deutschland” was a wreck, and was taken apart and shipped
back to Friedrichshafen.
On July 13, another giant passenger airship, designed by Oscar Erbslöh,
who won the international balloon race in 1907 by a voyage from St.
Louis to Asbury Park, met with fatal disaster. It was sailing near
Cologne at an altitude of about 2,500 feet when it burst, and Erbslöh
and his four companions were killed in the fall.
On July 28, the “Gross III” left Berlin with the object of beating
the long distance record for dirigibles. Soon after passing Gotha the
airship returned to that place, and abandoned the attempt. In 13 hours
a distance of 260 miles had been traversed.
Undismayed by the catastrophes which had destroyed his airships almost
as fast as he built them, Count von Zeppelin had his number VI ready
to sail on September 3. With a crew of seven and twelve passengers he
sailed from Baden to Heidelberg--53 miles in 65 minutes. It was put
into commission as an excursion craft, and made several successful
voyages. On September 14, as it was being placed in its shed at the
close of a journey, it took fire unaccountably, and was destroyed
together with the shed, a part of the framework only remaining.
On October 15, 1910, the Wellman dirigible “America” which had been
in preparation for many weeks, left Asbury Park in an attempt to
cross the Atlantic. Its balloon was 228 feet long, with a diameter
of 52 feet, containing 345,000 cubic feet of gas. The car was 156
feet in length, and was arranged as a tank in which 1,250 gallons of
gasoline were carried. A lifeboat was attached underneath the car.
There were two engines, each of 80 horse-power, and an auxiliary motor
of 10 horse-power. Sleeping quarters were provided for the crew of
six, and the balloon was fitted with a wireless telegraph system.
All went well until off the island of Nantucket, where strong north
winds were encountered, and the dirigible was swept southward toward
Bermuda. As an aid in keeping the airship at an elevation of about 200
feet above the sea, an enlarged trail-rope, called the equilibrator,
had been constructed of cans which were filled with gasoline. This
appendage weighed 1½ tons, and the lower part of it was expected to
float upon the sea. In practice it was found that the jarring of this
equilibrator, when the sea became rough, disarranged the machinery,
so that the propellers would not work, and the balloon was compelled
to drift with the wind. Toward evening of the second day a ship was
sighted, and the America’s crew were rescued. The airship floated away
in the gale, and was soon out of sight.
On October 16, a new Clement-Bayard dirigible, with seven men on board,
left Paris at 7.15 o’clock in the morning, and sailed for London. At
1 P. M. it circled St. Paul’s Cathedral, and landed at the hangar at
Wormwood Scrubbs a half hour later. The distance of 259 miles (airline)
was traversed at the rate of 41 miles per hour, and the journey
surpassed in speed any previous journey by any other form of conveyance.
[Illustration:
_Copyright by Pictorial News Company._
Wellman dirigible “America” starting for Europe, October 15, 1910.]
On November 5, 1910, the young Welsh aeronaut, Ernest T. Willows, who
sailed his small dirigible from Cardiff to London in August, made a
trip from London across the English Channel to Douai, France. This is
the third time within a month that the Channel had been crossed by
airships.
[Illustration:
Diagram of the Capazza dirigible from the side. _A A_,
stabilizing fins; _B_, air-ballonnet; _R_, rudder; _M M_, motors;
_FS_, forward propeller; _SS_, stern propeller.]
Toward the close of 1910, 52 dirigibles were in commission or in
process of construction. In the United States there were 7; in Belgium,
2; in England, 6; in France, 12; in Germany, 14; in Italy, 5; in
Russia, 1; in Spain, 1.
The new Capazza dirigible is a decided departure from all preceding
constructions, and may mark a new era in the navigation of the air.
Its gas envelope is shaped like a lens, or a lentil, and is arranged to
sail flatwise with the horizon, thus partaking of the aeroplane as well
as the balloon type. No definite facts concerning its achievements have
been published.
[Illustration: Capazza dirigible from the front. From above it is an
exact circle in outline.]