The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-08
BIRTHDAY
 OF ZEPPELIN

Germans will celebrate today the l seventy-eighth birthday of Count Fer dinand von Zeppelin, the creator of I the Kaiser's great fleet of aerial bat tleships. While these monsters of the air have not proved as formidable In warfare as the Teutons had hoped, the failure of the Zeppelins to fully 1 live up to expectations shas not dim med in the least the glory of the in ventor, who, since the war. has been one of the popular idols of the Ger
 man people.
 The Zeppelin raids on England and France, while. destructive of much life and property, have gained for the Germans no important military ad- vantage. For taking observations along the battlefront the giant air ships have few advantages and many disadvantages in comparison with aeroplanes Tn naval operations near | the shore it was believed that the Zeppelins would be of great service. ibut the latest and most reliable in formation about the great sea battles hof Skaggerraclx does not attribute an important role to the aerial fleet. Among the Germans, however, pop ular faith in the Zeppelins is undim- finished, and the menace of the. mon
 sters of the air. they firmly believe,
 is still sufficient to curdle the blood of the foe. This confidence in the lfear2essness and fright-inspiring qua1-
 ities of the Zeppelin does not seem to
 be fully Justified, as their visitations
 have seemed to arouse more curiosity
 than fear.
 Count Zeppelin's career as an in I--- ~R X ( I~r~ xxv1,a
 he brought out his first aerial ship
 Introducing the rigid form of con- struction and serving as the model foI
 his many larger and more nearly per feet dirigtbles The first Zeppelin consisted of seventeen balloons con- fined in cylindrical shell having a l1ength of 416 feet and diameter o1 Ithirty-eight feet. This shell, which
 had pointed ends, had ac apacity o1 nearly 400, ,000 cubic feet The row
 of balloons provided the lifting power,
 while large screw propellors and a rudder at each end served to drive
 and steer the craft. Two aluminium | cars, one forward and one aft. gave accommodations for passengers and crew Each car had a benzine engine of sixteen horsepower and each en- l zine operated two screw propellors l which had four blades and were 3 3-4
 feet in diameter.
 The pioneer Zeppelin airship was i given it's first trial in July, 1900, al | Lake Constance, and it travelled 3 3-4 miles in seventeen minutes ay an al. titude of 1900 feet. Count von Zep- pelin continued to work along the
 same lines. making many improve.
 ments as he discovered weaknesses 1T his invention, and while his expert
 ments were marred by many tragedies disasters and disappointments he al length produced a craft vastly larger 1 and better than the first. The Zep ] pelins of today are the largest aircraf lever constructed. Just how many o1 them are at the Kaisers command i. Ia secret which is carefully guarded
 by the German military authorities
 and estimates vary widely. Many Zeppelins have been destroyed since
 the war began, but there is every req.
 son to believe that a vast fleet of air.
 ships has been built at the order o1 T the German government.
 In his early experiments Count vor l Zeppelin had no government support
 and the military uthorities of Ger. many, in common with those of the
 rest of Europe, looked upon his aeria
 ships, as a joke. It was about ter
 years ago that the aged inventor sue
 ceeded in arousing the interest and co. operation of the Kaiser and his mili
 tary advisers, and since then Count won Zeppelin has been the recipient
 of numerous decorations and honors.