Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Zeppelin's machines - LZ1 , LZ 2 , LZ 3 , LZ 4 , amazing for its time...

  Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin began construction of his first airship, LZ-1, in June, 1898 in a floating hangar on the Bodensee (Lake Constance) at Manzell  in Southern Germany.  The  floating shed allowed the ship to be positioned into the wind to enter a leave the hangar.


Zeppelin's  -  LZ1


 Zeppelin LZ 1

                                                                    Zeppelin LZ 1

The ship was completed in the winter of 1899 but von Zeppelin decided to wait until the summer of 1900 before attempting to fly his invention.  The ship was inflated with hydrogen gas in June and made its maiden flight on July 2, 1900.  The first flight lasted about 18 minutes and covered about 3-1/2 miles over the lake.

LZ-1 , (Luftschiff Zeppelin 1) , LZ-1 Zeppelin 1

                                                         LZ-1 (Luftschiff Zeppelin 1)

LZ-1 (Luftschiff Zeppelin 1) was 420 feet long, 38-1/2 feet in diameter .It is contained approximately 399,000 cubic feet of hydrogen in 17 gas cells made of rubberized cotton fabric.  Two metal gondolas were suspended under the ship - one forward and one after it .Each gondola housed a 4-cylinder water-cooled Daimler gasoline .The one engine producing about 14 horsepower.  Each engine was connected by long shafts to two outrigger propellers mounted on either side of the hull.  Pitch was controlled by a sliding weight suspended under the hull which could be shifted fore and aft; there were no elevators for pitch control, or fins for stability.

  LZ-1 Zeppelin 1,  technical  LZ-1 Zeppelin 1 technical


                                                    LZ-1 Zeppelin 1 , technical schema

The first flight of LZ-1 was the culmination of years of planning by Count Zeppelin, but as a first attempt the ship had understandable weaknesses:  LZ-1 was overweight, and a severe lack of engine power and speed made it difficult to control in even slight winds; the engines themselves were unreliable, and one failed during the short maiden flight; the ship suffered from poor controllability due to its lack of horizontal or vertical stabilizing fins and control surfaces, and the sliding weight system jammed, eliminating pitch control; and most importantly, the structure itself lacked rigidity due to its weak tubular frame, which hogged during flight, with its center portion rising high above its drooping bow and stern.


LZ-2

Count Zeppelin’s second ship, LZ-2, was not built until five years later, with funds raised partly from a lottery approved as a favor by the King of Württemberg, and partly by the mortgage of Countess Zeppelin’s family estates.

Airship Zeppelin LZ-2 ,Airship Zeppelin

                                                     Zepelin's  LZ-2 , Lake Constance

The stronger, more rigid frame provided by Ludwig Dürr's triangular girders can be seen, but the ship still lacked fins for stability or control.
While an improvement over LZ-1, Count Zeppelin’s second ship still did not incorporate basic design elements which would later be recognized as essential to flight stability and control, such as vertical and horizontal stabilizers and control surfaces. But LZ-2 did represent a significant technical advance due largely to engineer Ludwig Dürr; the weak tubular girders of LZ-1 were replaced by triangular girders (visible in photo above), which provided dramatically improved rigidity and strength. Triangular girders similar to those used on LZ-2 would be used on every subsequent zeppelin airship, and Ludwig Dürr would remain as chief engineer, designing every ship built by the Zeppelin Company after LZ-2.



                                   Airship Zeppelin LZ-2  , moving  out from hangar

LZ-2 made its only flight on January 17, 1906.  Zeppelin had replaced the 14 hp engines used on LZ-1 with 80 hp Daimler engines, which gave LZ-2 sufficient speed to maneuver in light winds, but engine failure forced an emergency landing during the ship’s very first flight, and it was destroyed on the ground by a storm that evening.


LZ-3 and  LZ-4

The next two ships, LZ-3 and LZ-4, were even greater advances in technology, with huge increases in controllability, power, speed, range, and payload.  Large horizontal fins and elevators finally provided greater pitch control and stability, and the ships were capable of producing aerodynamic lift.  Longer and more reliable flights became possible; in 1907, LZ-3 made a flight of 8 hours, and on July 1, 1908, LZ-4 made a flight of 12 hours over Switzerland.


LZ -4 above Lake Bodensee,

                                            Zeppelin's LZ -4 above Lake Bodensee



Zeppelin LZ -4

                                                      Zeppelin LZ -4 ,with stabilizers

The record-breaking Switzerland flight of LZ-4 brought national attention to the success of Count Zeppelin and his machine, and the public began to look on the airship as a practical innovation. On July 3, 1908, King Wilhelm II of Württemberg and his wife, Queen Charlotte, were passengers on the fifth flight of LZ-4.


LZ -4

                                                                           LZ - 4 


The German government promised financial support for Count Zeppelin’s efforts if his ship could make an endurance flight of 24 hours, and confidant in his ship’s ability, Zeppelin agreed to the challenge.  LZ-4 departed the Bodensee on August 4, 1908, for a 24-hour trial.

Just as it seemed that Count Zeppelin and his team had mastered the basics of airship design and operation, LZ-4 was forced to make an emergency landing in a field at the town of Echterdingen on August 5, 1908, during the 24-hour endurance flight.  Pulled by a sudden storm from its temporary mooring, the ship crashed and was soon destroyed by a fiery explosion of hydrogen.


LZ-4

                                                                   Crash of  LZ-4

In response to the crash, rather than lose faith in Count Zeppelin’s work, the German public rallied behind Zeppelin’s efforts; in what became known as the “Miracle at Echterdingen,” Germans contributed 6 million marks for the construction of a new airship and gave new life to the zeppelin enterprise.

The fervent financial and political support of the German public and government following the crash at Echterdingen allowed the Count to establish the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin (Zeppelin Construction Company) in September, 1908.  Alfred Colsman was the Zeppelin Company’s business manager, and in 1909, journalist Hugo Eckener joined as the company’s director of public relations; within 2 years, Eckener would be an airship commander.



                                      Keep The Passion  and God Bless You !!!






Saturday, January 4, 2014

The appearance of the zeppelins - the beginning by inventions of early pioneers

 
    A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. Zeppelin's ideas were first outlined in 1874 and formulated in detail in 1893. They were patented in Germany in 1895 and in the United States in 1899. After the outstanding success of the Zeppelin design, the term zeppelin in casual use came to refer to all rigid airships. Zeppelins were first flown commercially in 1910 by Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-AG (DELAG), the world's first airline in revenue service. By mid-1914, DELAG had carried over 34,000 passengers on over 1,500 flights. After the outbreak of World War I, the German military made extensive use of Zeppelins as bombers and scouts.



Early pioneers

Francesco Lana de Terzi ( 1631 – 22 February 1687 Brescia, Lombardy) was an Italian Jesuit. He also was a mathematician, naturalist and aeronautics pioneer. Having been professor of physics and mathematics at Brescia. The first  conception  for a vacuum airship was maded by him and he has been referred to as the Father of Aeronautics for his pioneering efforts.In 1670  he published a description of an "Aerial Ship" supported by four copper spheres from which the air was evacuated .He turning the aeronautics field into a science by establishing "a theory of aerial navigation verified by mathematical accuracy" Although unrealisable since external air pressure would cause the spheres to collapse unless their thickness was such as to make them too heavy to be buoyant, the basic principle was found.

 Jesuit Father Francesco Lana de Terzi , The Father Of Aeronautics , First conceptualist of zeppelins

                                               Jesuit Father Francesco Lana de Terzi


Francesco Lana de Terzi's Flying boat , First dirigable idea , First conception for Zepplin

                                         Father  Francesco Lana de Terzi's Flying boat

A more practical dirigible airship was described by Lieutenant Jean Baptiste Marie Meusnier in a paper entitled "Mémoire sur l’équilibre des machines aérostatiques" (Memorandu  quilibrium of aerostatic machines) presented to the French Academy on 3 December 1783. The 16 water-color drawings published the following year depict a 260-foot-long (79 m) streamlined envelope with internal ballonnets that could be used for regulating lift: this was attached to a long carriage that could be used as a boat if the vehicle was forced to land in water. The airship was designed to be driven by three propellers and steered with a sail-like aft rudder. In 1784, Jean-Pierre Blanchard fitted a hand-powered propeller to a balloon, the first recorded means of propulsion carried aloft. In 1785 he crossed the English Channel in a balloon equipped with flapping wings for propulsion and a birdlike tail for steering.


Lieutenant Jean - Baptiste Marie  Charles Meusnier de La Place

                         Jean - Baptiste Marie Charles  Meusnier de La Place ,  full name 


First dirigable  , earle dirigable

                      Airship designed by Jean-Baptiste Charles Marie Meusnier de La Place

The 19th century saw continued attempts to add methods of propulsion to balloons. The Australian Dr William Bland  sent designs for his "Atmotic Airship" to the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851, where a model was displayed. This was an elongated balloon with a steam engine driving twin propellers suspended underneath. The lift of the balloon was estimated at 5 tons and the car with the fuel to weigh 3.5 tons, giving a payload of 1.5 tons. Bland believed that the machine could be driven at 80 km/h (50 mph) and could fly from Sydney to London in less than a week.

In 1852,on 24 September  Henri Giffard became the first person to  made an engine-powered flight   and controlled flight travelling 27 km from Paris to Trappes.Airships would develop considerably over the next two decades.Henri Jacques Giffard was born in Paris in 1825. He invented the injector and the Giffard dirigible  (then known as a dirigible), an airship powered with a steam engine, and weighing over 180 kg (400 lb); it was the world's first passenger-carrying airship. Both practical and steerable, the hydrogen-filled airship was equipped with a 3 hp steam engine that drove a propeller. The engine was fitted with a downward-pointing funnel. The exhaust steam was mixed in with the combustion gases and it was hoped by these means to stop sparks rising up to the gas bag; he also installed a vertical rudder.


Henri Jacques Giffard and his dirigable , earliest dirigables ,earliest controled flight

                                              Henri Jacques Giffard and his dirigable

 In 1872, the French naval architect Dupuy de Lome launched a large limited navigable balloon, which was driven by a large propeller and the power of eight people. It was developed during the Franco-Prussian war, as an improvement to the balloons used for communications between Paris and the countryside during the siege of Paris, but was completed only after the end of the war.

Stanislas Charles Henri Dupuy de Lome , early flights with dirigables, dirigables

                                             Stanislas Charles Henri Dupuy de Lome

In 1870 Dupuy de Lome devoted a large amount of time to perfecting a practical navigable balloon, and the French Government gave him great assistance in carrying out the experiments. For carrying out the project, he was given a credit of 40,000 francs. These experiments led to the development of one of the first navigable balloons, named the Dupuy de Lome.The Dupuy de Lome airship was 36 meters in length, 14.84 meters in diameter, 29 meters wide, and had a total volume of 3,454 cubic meters. It was powered by a 2 horsepower (1.5 kW) engine, providing a speed of between 9 to 11 km/h. The basket under the balloon could carry eight, several operating the balloon and others observing. She was the first operational airship.


Henri Dupuy de Lome dirigable ,early dirigables , navigable baloons , earliest navigable baloons, earliest dirigable flights , fthe first air pioneers

                                   Henri Dupuy de Lome navigable baloon - dirigable

Paul Haenlein flew an airship with an internal combustion engine running on the coal gas used to inflate the envelope over Vienna, the first use of such an engine to power an aircraft in 1872. Charles F. Ritchel made a public demonstration flight in 1878 of his hand-powered one-man rigid airship, and went on to build and sell five of his aircraft.
Paul Haenlein (17 October 1835 in Cologne — 27 January 1905 in Mainz) was a German engineer and flight pioneer. He flew in a semi-rigid-frame dirigible. His family belonged to the citizen society,  who led the economy, administration and culture of Mainz.

Paul Haenlein's dirigable , controlled flights, first dirigable with semi - hard frame , framed baloons , the dirigable pioneers

                                                                    Paul Haenlein

Haenlein received an education as a mechanical engineer and pattern maker. He studied at the Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe. Subsequently he worked as graduated civil engineer for different factories. He was the first to create a dirigible airship which was powered by an internal combustion engine. This Lenoir-type motor obtained its fuel from the gas in the balloon. It had four horizontal cylinders, which delivered about 6 horsepower (4.5 kW) with a consumption of approximately 250 cubic feet (7.1 m3) of gas per hour. With a mass of 233 kg and an engine displacement of 19.2 l it delivered a continuous power of 2.7 kW. The gas was sucked from the envelope of the balloon, which was kept fully inflated by pumping in compensating air to the air bags inside the main envelope. Due to the consumption of gas, the lifting force decreased, so the range of the airship had been limited.In 1872 Haenlein obtained a U.S. patent (No. 130 915) to use the otherwise wasted gas in the dirigible's engines. On 13 December, Paul Haenlein tested the first airship with a gas engine in Brünn, achieving 19 km/h. This airship was a direct forerunner of the Lebaudy type, 164 feet (50 m) in length, 30 feet (9.1 m) greatest diameter, and with a cubic capacity of 85,000 feet (26,000 m). The airship achieved 19 km/h. The tests were stopped later, because of a shortage of money.A propeller of 15 feet (4.6 m) in diameter was driven by the Lenoir engine with 40 revolutions per minute. This was the first instance of the use of an internal combustion engine in connection with aeronautical experiments.


Haenlein's baloon , controlled baloon , Hanlein's flying machine

                                               Haenlein's dirigable , controlled baloon

In 1883, the first electric-powered flight was made by Gaston Tissandier, who fitted a 1.5 hp (1.1 kW) Siemens electric motor to an airship. The first fully controllable free-flight was made in a French Army airship, La France, by Charles Renard and Arthur Constantin Krebs in 1884. The 170 ft (52 m) long, 66,000 cu ft (1,900 m3) airship covered 8 km (5.0 mi) in 23 minutes with the aid of an 8.5 hp (6.3 kW) electric motor, and a 435 kilograms (960 lb) battery. In 1884 and 1885, it made seven flights.
In 1888, the Campbell Air Ship, designed by Professor Peter C. Campbell, was made by the Novelty Air Ship Company. This was lost at sea in 1889 while being flown by Professor Hogan during an exhibition flight.Also Gaston Tissandier has a great cooperation of interests and work with his brother Albert , both accepted as great French baloonists.


The creator of first electric powered baloon - dirigable

                                                                Gaston Tissandier


The pioneers of flights, French pioneers of flights , pioneers of baloons flights

         Gaston - right side and Albert - left side  Tissandier  with their flying machine


In 1888–97, Dr. Frederich Wolfert built three airships powered by Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft-built petrol engines, the last of which caught fire in flight and killed both occupants in 1897. The 1888 version used a 2 hp one cylinder Daimler engine and flew 10 km (6 mi) from Canstatt to Kornwestheim.

first petrol - engine driven dirigable

                                                          Dr. Frederich Wolfert



Dr. Frederich Wolfert airship , first airship powered by petrol motor , powered by Daimler Moto

                                 Dr. Frederich Wolfert airship powered by Daimler Motor

In 1897, an airship with an aluminium envelops was built created by the engineer David Schwarz.  He was a Hungarian-Croatian aviation pioneer of Jewish descent . It made its first flight at Tempelhof field in Berlin after Schwarz's had died. His widow, Melanie Schwarz, was paid 15,000 marks by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin for information about the airship - a claim which has been disputed .



                                                               David Schwarz



first airship with an external hull made entirely of metal ,alluminum envelope for dirigables


                                                              David Schwarz's airship
                                                       
Alberto Santos-Dumont was a wealthy Brazilian who lived in France and had a passion for flying. He designed 18 balloons and dirigibles before turning his attention to fixed-winged aircraft. In 1901, in his airship Number 6, a small blimp, he won the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize of 100,000 francs for flying from the Parc Saint Cloud to the Eiffel Tower and back in under thirty minutes.


Alberto Santos-Dumont , reaching The Eiffel Tower with dirigable , first flights with dirigables

                               Alberto Santos-Dumont and his reaching The Eiffel Tower

 Many inventors were inspired by Santos-Dumont's small airships and a veritable airship craze began worldwide. Many airship pioneers, such as the American Thomas Scott Baldwin, financed their activities through passenger flights and public demonstration flights. Stanley Spencer built the first British airship with funds from advertising baby food on the sides of the envelope. Others, such as Walter Wellman and Melvin Vaniman, set their sights on loftier goals, attempting two polar flights in 1907 and 1909, and two trans-Atlantic flights in 1910 and 1912.

In 1902, the Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo published his innovative airship design in Spain and France. With a semirigid body, it overcame the flaws of these type of aircraft both on rigid structure (zeppelin type) and flexible, providing the airships with more stability during flight, the capability of using heavier engines and a greater passenger load.


 Leonardo Torres Quevedo the pioneers of flights , avangarde conceptions for dirigables , genious dirigable conceptions

                                                          Leonardo Torres Quevedo


Leonardo Torres Quevedo's  dirigable avangards conception , avangard dirigable conceptions

                                                Leonardo Torres Quevedo's  dirigable

 In 1905, helped by Captain A. Kindelan, he built the airship "Espana" at the Guadalajara military base. Next year he patented his design without attracting official interest. In 1909 he patented an improved design which he offered to the French company Astra, who started mass-producing it in 1911. The design was widely used during the Great War by the Entente powers.




                                           Keep The Passion  and God Bless You !!!