The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-05-07

o
monty known as "bllmps.T familiar
TO all who have travelled by sea along
the British coast, the non-rigid type
has been quite a success.
The semi-rigid type Is compro-
mise. In which the non-rigid envelope
has below it rigid glrder, TO which
the car Is slung. so that II the en-
velope becomes habby II does not di.
rectly interfere with Che singing of
the car Nevertheless, nthis type
also, which includes the German
Gross" and the French 'Lebaudy,r 1t
Is necessary TO use ballonets to keep
up the pressure inside the envelope
so as to make it retain its shape. For
some curious reason-connected, | sup
pose, with the difficulty OF making a
long thin girder rigid enough to be re-
liable without being too heavy-the
semi-rigid type has never been as sue
cessful as either the rigid or non-rigid
types.
The rigid type differs from the 9th
ers in having its framework outside
the gas bags,
Thus, one may compare the three
types TO the invertebrates, vertebrates
and crustaceans Of the animal world.
To the world in general there is only
one rigid airship-the Zeppelin. As d
matter of fact the French 'tSpiess"
airship was invented and actually
made in model form long before the
Zeppelin, and II is, even limited In
France that Count Zeppelin, on visit
to some aeronautical meeting in Paris,
saw tho Spieas model and appropriated
Its basic ideas, Anyhow, M. Speiss man
aged to get his ship only few months
before the outbreak OF the war, and
then 1t was not huge success. What
has happened to It since, | do not
pretend to know. In any case. 1t has
not bombed Berlin as Paris and Lon
don have been bombed by Zeppelfns,
so NJ. spiess has not got his own
back" yet.
Another rigid rival OF the Zeppelin
was the schutteJLanz, a mhip which
was in some ways superior TO the Zep-
pelin, in that It was built OF wood In.
stead of aluminium. and so was han
der at any rate; but more particular
ly In that 1t was cigar-shaped and not
cylindrical. and so was better
"stream-line" shape. That Is to say,
II offered less resistance to the air,
and so 1t could move faster through
1t with the same engine power.
Three or four Schutte-Lanz ships
were built before the war and per-
formed quite well. gather, however,
that under hard service conditions the
wood skeleton came unput" and so
the good points of the Schutte-Lanz
were combined with those Of the Yep
pelin, and the Schutte-Lanz works
were turned on to build the combined
and revised Zeppelins, which appear to
be more OF the Schutte-Lanz type and
of the Zeppelin internal construction.
This story comes from a well-informed
neutral source, and as the idea Is so
eminently sensible that It is Just what
the practical Germans would be like
ly to do, 1t is quite probably true.
Moreover, one Schutte-Ianz was
wrecked by gale on the Danish coast
early in 1915. and no one seems to
have seen or heard Of any others since
then, SO the story OF the amaigama-
tion has much to support 1t.
Zeppelin Construction.
Having fixed on the readers minds
the fact that there are other airships
besides Zeppelins, may now proceed
to describe the actual structure OF the
Zeppelin itself
Viewed externally. Zeppelin con-
sists of long, narrow hull, shaped
like sixteen-slded tube, with egg
shaped ends, the nose end being blunt
er than the tail, rather as If one had
bisected an egg and had struck the
round top and pointed bottom on the
front and back OF the tubular body.
The sixteen sides of the tube are an
important feature in the structure.
Along the bottom OF the. body there
is Vtshaped keel, which In itself
forms a communication passage for
the crew from bow to stern OF the ship
besides acting as stiffening girder
against longitudinal strains to the
ship uy otu hi us
From the keel are slung two cars or
"gondels" as the Germans call them,
from the fact that they are intended
to float on the water like gondolas.
Each car is plsced about half way be-
tween the middle OF the ship and its
respective end. In the center OF the
ship the keel is bulged out to make
passenger cabin Tin peace time) or
a compartment for bombs and bomb
choppers In war.
The cars contain the engines, two
IN each car. Each engine works a
shaft, like that Of a motor car, which
again drives through bevel gearing
propeller, which is carried on a. kind
OF. outrigger of steel tubing built on
to the sides OF the tubular hull Thus
one gets two propellers forward, one
on each side OF the hull, and two aft,
likewise one on each side.
Some Have Extra Engine.
In addition, on some OF the latest
ships the aft car carries third engine,
which drives on to a fifth propeller
fixed at the stern of, the car itself,
Just like the propeller on a ''pusher"
aeroplane. Whether this is to be the
standard fitting of the future is not
known as yet, but II seems likely, as
besides providing extra power, 1t prob
ably would be an advantage in Jockey
ing the ship upward with a sudden
jump to escape from attacking air
craft or guns. This : is done by de-
pressing the tail and pointing tho nose
upward while driving full speed ahead.
The sudden change in direction must
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