Why Zeppelins Are Frightful 



How a Zeppelin is built, how it 

 navigates, and how it drops bombs 



By Carl Dienstbach 



THERE are three ways of building a 

 dirigible airship. The first and the 

 oldest consists simply in suspending 

 from a cigar-shaped gas-bag a car in w lich 

 the motor is carried. Such an airship (the 

 non-rigid type), made famous in our time 

 by Santos-Dumont, is apt to "buckle" — 

 in other words, to break or bend in the 

 middle. It can never be made very long 

 for that reason. To prevent buckling the 

 "semi-rigid" type of airship was invented — 

 a type in which a stiff keel is attached to 

 the under side of the long gas-bag, from 

 which keel the car is suspended. The 

 French built many semi-rigid ships of large 

 size and proved conclusively that the idea 

 is fundamentally sound. Then came old 

 Count von Zeppelin, with his rigid type. 

 Zeppelin had been an attache in our Civil 

 War and watched with great interest our 

 attempts of over fifty years ago to use 

 captive balloons for reconnoitering. 



An Airship Must Preserve Its Shape 

 at All Altitudes 



Von Zeppelin had a good deal more in 

 view than the building of a long airship 

 which would not buckle or break in two. 

 When a balloon or an airship of any kind 

 rises, the gas within the envelope expands. 

 At great heights it becomes necessary to 

 let out some of the gas to prevent the burst- 

 ing of the envelope. When the aeronaut 

 drops later to a lower altitude the gas 

 contracts, with the result that the envelope 

 is only partly filled. That condition is 

 dangerous because the strains are no longer 

 distributed properly. What is more, the 

 shape of the gas-bag is not the best for 

 speedy propulsion. Therefore, all airships, 

 with the exception of those of Count von 

 Zeppelin, use what are known as "ballon- 

 ets" — small air-bags within the big gas-bag. 

 As soon as the airship drops, a blower 

 connected with the air-bag by a pipe is 

 started up in the car, and the air-bag is 

 inflated to such a degree that the gas-bag 

 in turn is distended to the full. 



Count von Zeppelin wanted an airship 

 that would preserve its shape at all alti- 

 tudes, something that would not buckle. 

 So he conceived an airship which consists of 



a very light but strong frame several 

 hundred feet long. Within the frame he 

 disposed a dozen and a half separate gas- 

 bags. The outside of the frame was 

 covered with a tightly stretched fabric. 

 From the frame two cars were suspended 

 in the earliest models. The cars were con- 

 nected by a gangway and they contained 

 the motors. 



The Art of Building a Zeppelin Is Not 

 Acquired Over Night 



Now it is immediately evident that a 

 Zeppelin thus constructed will always have 

 the same shape no matter at what altitude 

 it may be navigated. What is more, 

 only a rigid Zeppelin can be made large 

 enough to travel at very high speed. 

 Everything depends on speed in a Zeppelin. 

 Moreover, several gas-bags can be punc- 

 tured without endangering the lives of 

 the navigators. 



It is doubtful if any country could start 

 in at once and build Zeppelins. Indeed, 

 England has tried it and failed. Knowledge 

 of the kind that Count von Zeppelin 

 acquired only after the loss of his entire 

 personal fortune in experimenting and only 

 after much financial assistance from the 

 German people and from the German 

 government is not gained over night. A 

 nation cannot merely copy fallen Zeppelins 

 and hope to succeed. It must do original 

 thinking. 



Is the Zeppelin the Surviving Type? 



It is still much too early to write the 

 aeronautic history of the present war. This 

 much, however, is certain: With the ex- 

 ception of very small British motor bal- 

 loons, called "convertible aeroplanes," and 

 suitable only for short patroling journeys 

 in fair weather, the Zeppelin is the only 

 dirigible type that has survived the test 

 of warfare. It seems to have totally eclipsed 

 even the German non-rigid and semi-rigid 

 airships. The war has apparently proved 

 that speed is the life and soul of a dirigible, 

 and speed the Zeppelins certainly have 

 when it is considered that they are capable 

 of making as much as sixty miles an hour 

 against a twenty-mile wind and are on the 



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