Zeppelin
Count Ferdinand van, a distinguished German aeronaut. He was born at Constance, Baden, in 1838. He studied in the polytechnic school at Stuttgart and at a military school in Ludwigsburg. He was an officer of cavalry in the Franco-German war and became interested in the balloon as a military device. The extensive use of balloons by the French, particularly in escaping from Paris after the city had been invested by the German troops, led him to study the subject of flying machines and the navigation of the air. In 1892 he rose in a dirigible balloon at Bern and made the trip to Lucerne in safety. While others, notably the Americans and French, experimented with aeroplanes, both monoplanes and biplanes, Zeppelin devoted his inventive genius to the development of the balloon. The story of his experiments is a long one. He is indebted to other inventors for ideas, of course. Starting with the balloon, he made three improvements. First he changed the shape to that of a horizontal cylinder pointed at each end; this in order that the ship might move through the air with less resistance. He provided a motor and propeller that he might travel independent of the wind, and he added a rudder that he might guide his balloon in the desired direction. A balloon to hold the raft afloat, a propeller to give speed, and a rudder to determine direction are the essential features of the Zeppelin airship. The type developed by Zeppelin is therefore a dirigible balloon propelled by a motor.
Count Zeppelin has built several airships, known as Zeppelin I, Zeppelin II, etc. There were in 1909 a number of dirigible balloons afloat. The French army had five of these elongated gas bubbles, each 200 feet in length and capable of lifting 3,000 pounds. The German officers, particularly a Major Pareval, developed a military dirigible balloon 190 feet long which proved capable of maintaining flight for thirteen hours, but the Zeppelin airship surpassed all others in size, efficiency, and safety.
Zeppelin II cost $250,000. This balloon consists of seventeen gas bubbles in seventeen separate sacks, shaped like cheeses except that the two end sacks are conical to give point to the whole. The seventeen sections, each some thirty feet in diameter, are separated by thin sheets of aluminum, the lightest metal known. The gas bags as described are all enclosed in a single rigid aluminum frame composed of rings encircling the gas bags and ribs, or strips of aluminum running from end to end. The whole is covered with rubber canvas. In case one or even several of the compartments suffer injury, the machine may still retain enough buoyancy to get home. In fact, this is just what happened on one occasion when the airship sailed into a tree and tore a huge rent, "yet had gas enough left to limp home."
As to the fixings of the car, Waldemar, writing for The Saturday Evening Post, states:
The Zeppelins, which have electrified Germany, are by far the largest aerial cruisers ever built. In size they outrank many an ocean steamer. The cylindrical frames in which the gas-envelopes are held vary in length from 420 to 450 feet. From this long, overhead cylinder two cars are suspended, connected by a long, canvas-covered saloon, which is as luxuriously appointed as that of any yacht. It has celluloid windows at the side and celluloid windows in the floor, through which the constantly shifting panorama below may be seen. Both ends are closed by revolving celluloid doors against cold blasts. At night the interior can be electrically lighted and heated. On either side are upholstered seats and collapsible dining and writing tables. Between watches the crew sleep in hammocks as on board ship.
As stated, the Zeppelin ship cost a fortune. The aluminum frame which encloses the gas bag is 440 or 450 feet in length. The gas bags contain 536,773 cubic feet of gas. The lifting capacity is 32,000 pounds, sixteen tons; the two engines are of 115 horse-power each. The speed, not taking wind into account, is thirty-three miles an hour. A keel serves to steady the ship. A wing out at each side serves to balance the rig. Triple rudders are provided to steer up or down, to right or to left.
The Count built Zeppelin II at Friedrichshafen, on Lake Constance. On May 29, 1909, he rose from his boathouse and sailed for thirty-seven hours, covering 850 miles. July 31, 1909, he sailed to Frankfurt-on-the-Main, 220 miles. A few days later he visited Cologne, 110 miles down the Rhine, and encircled the spire of Cologne Cathedral. When the count and his ship appeared at Berlin, Halle, and elsewhere, the populace turned out to see. Travel in an airship is without jolt or jar. Passengers say that they lose all sense of fear, and that the gliding of the airship is the very poetry of motion. Ascents have been made in rain and in snow. The length of flight is conditioned upon the capacity for carrying gasolene. The problem before the airships is the development of power sufficent to stem a wind. In these respects the aeroplane of lighter skeleton make has an advantage. In April, 1910, one of the Count's large airships broke from its moorings and was wrecked.