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
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.
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
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
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 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.
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 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.
Gaston Tissandier
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.
Dr. Frederich Wolfert
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
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 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
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 !!!
