The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-09-25

this another coat of clear dope was sprayed on
with air brushes, and later, two coats of alumni
mum dope were applied.
Contrary to popular opinion, the aluminium
: dope, which gives the ship beautiful silvery
appearance it flies through the air, is not
for beauty alone. 1t has been discovered that
this type of dope is best for reflection of sun
light and its attendant heat. Lifting gas, when
heated, expands, and changes weight calcula-
lions Of the airships captain 1t is best, then. to
maintain as near an even temperature as pos
sible
In sewing together the panels a tolerance
Of only one-thirty-second of an inch was al
Lowed the seams This is easily understood
when it is pointed out that miles and miles of
Seams were necessary, and had the tolerance
been one-fourth Of an inch, instead of Onethrty-
second an extra weight of many pounds might
have been entailed.
F, A feature of the AkrOn'S construction not
found in any airship heretofore built. is the in
stallation of the motors in roomy compartments
inside the hull instead of in gondolas suspended
outside the ship. This refinement is made pos
sible by use of helium, the non-inf1ammable
non-explosive lifting gas of which this country
has natural monopoly.
Installation Of the motors inside the ship
reduces the resistance set up by the suspended
gondolas, and gives the ship greater speed.
Also, the engine compartments are much larger
than possible in the old gondolas, and al
low mechanics ample space to care for the
thrObbing power plants under their supervision.
Four engines are located each side of the
ship and produce total of ALSO horsepower.
The motors, each with $50 horsepower. will
propel the ship at top speed of "a miles per
hour.
Gasoline for the motors is carried in tanks
ranging in capacity up to 365 gallons each, and
a total load of 10000 gallons of gasoline may
he tod Sc
to fly the ship over distance of 10000 miles
without stopping
AS 10000 gallons of gasoline weigh 60 tons,
lit is apparent that should this amount be
ly all used up single flight. the ship would
be nearly 60 tons lighter when it returned to
it's base than when it started, and consequent
ly much harder to handle To compensate for
this, water ballast recovery system has been
installed on the Akron, which will allow the
ship to return to its base weighing more
than when 1t started.
Above each of the motors Is a series Of
condenser panels through which the exhaust
gases from the engines are forced, after being
mixed with air. Theoretically it is possible to
recover 1876 pounds Of water for each 100 gal
Ions of gasoline used but engineers, through
tests, have satisfied themselves that more than
100 pounds of water can be recovered in actual
practice for each 100 pounds Of gasoline used.
A system Of marine telegraph indicators will
be used to convey instructions from the captain
of the ship to the engine rooms.
Power is delivered from the motors to the
propellers outside the hull by means of a rigid
shaft and bevel gear device, mounted sturdy
outriggers. The propellers may be tilted through
an arc Of 80 degrees, and can thus exert thrust
downward, to help the ship off the ground in a
take-off, as well as in the usual horizontal d.
rection necessary in flight. The motors are
reversible, and the propellers may thus be used
to pull the ship to earth If necessary, when
they tilted In vertical position
Just aft of the control cabin is another unique
feature of the Akron. 1t is airplane COM
partment that will hold five completely equipped
fighting airplanes. The planes may be lowered
through T-shaped opening through the bot
tom of the hull into the air, and then released,
to go about their assigned missions. On COM
pletion Of these missions, the planes can re-
turn and hook on to special trapeze, and be
hoisted into the huge airShip without ever hay-
ing landed.
One of the most interesting things to be
found in the Akron is its telephone system AS
the craft is more than two-and-one-half city
blocks in length. 1t is necessary that the cap
tain in the control car have immediate COM
municaton with all sections Of the ship Hence
Is telephone instruments are located at strate-
gic points, and the captain may talk to any or
all Of them when he desires.
The control car contains three rooms-the
first for actual flying of the ship, in which the
control wheels are located, the second for the
meteorologist or weather expert, and the third
for the navigator
Quarters in which the officers will live are
located above the control inside the hull
and are equipped with hunks and chairs. Quar-
tiers for the located each side of
the ship, along the gangways catwalks that
serve as passageways. and also as rigid keels
In addition to the gangways keels along
each side, there is another located in the ex-
treme top Of the Akron making a total of
three. Previous ships have had but one keel