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

8 !: 3: = :" :.
- IN the land, formally chriStened the
~ IS. U. S. S. Akron, worlds largest air.
ia IA ship, in the great zeppelin dock on
W~S Akron municipal airport, Saturday
X&&2HF afternoon, August s.
XXI Added to the throngs in the
u a building who actually witnessed
- the ceremonies millions of listen
ers tuned in on radio sets all over the world,
to hear the wife of the President of the United
States formally name the largest military air.
craft ever built, and to hear the futter of wings
as 4S homing pigeons raced out of a hatchway,
near the nose of the ship.
On the platform with Mrs Hoover were David
Sinton Ingalls,, assistant secretary of the navy,
In charge of aeronautics, Rear Admiral William
Adger Moffett, chief Of the navy bureau of aero
nautics, Paul w. Litchfeld, president Of the
Goodyear Zeppelin corporation, builders Of the
ship, and other noted figures of official and pri-
vate life. Standing at attention in front of the
control car Of the aerial dreadnaught were
Lieut.. Com Charles e. Rosendahl and his crew
of nine officers and 81 enlisted men.
President Litchfield of Goodyear introduced
Admiral Moffett to the crowds, and the admiral,
long an enthusiastic supporter of lghter-than-
air craft, predicted that the second navy airsbip
would be greater than the Akron in size
and cruising ability.
Long before the christening the USS Akron
was officially designated on Navy department
blueprints as the "ZRS-4" These letters stand
for zeppelin rigid scout number four" The
ZRS-4, or USS Akron, far surpasses the famous
Graf Zeppelin or the British RICO in size speed,
strength and ability to cover long distances.
In 1924, President Litchfield of Goodyear
brought over from Germany DR.. Karl Arnstein
and ID other engineers and designers from the
German Zeppelin works at Friederichshafen on
Lake Constance. Activities of the German con-
Germ had been brought to a halt by the allies,
and there was strong possibility that the
talent and experience gained by years of close
association with the huge rigid airships might
become scattered to the four corners of the
earth.
On arrival in this country Doctor Arnstein.
who designed and supervised construction of
10 Of Germanys war zeppelins, went to work
on designs for large commercial ships The
United States navy then announced a design
competition. the concern submitting the best de-
sign to be awarded contract to build the
worlds largest airship.
Goodyear Zeppelin submitted three designs.
and designs were also entered in the COMPETE
ton by 81 other firms. The three designs of the
Akron concern, however, took first, second and
third place, and in the autumn of 1923, the con-
tract was formally awarded
Then the zeppelin dock, the worlds largest
building without interior supports, was erected
on Akron municipal airport, and with completion
Of this huge structure late in 1929 work on the
ZRS-4 was started.
First it was necessary to make Orders out
Of the sheet duralumin that came into the Yep
pelin plant. These Orders were made according
to specific plan, and each was numbered before
being transported to the dock. At the dock, they
were assembled into huge main frame" or
ring girder, whose diameter was 133 feet. This
huge main frame was assembled on the floor Of
the dock, and later hoisted into its vertical
position.
The first rivet to be driven into the frame
was of gold and was squeezed into place by Ad-
miral Mofett before crowd of 10000 persons.
In all, there are more than 100000 rivets in
the framework of the ship and each was
squeezed into place by hand, workmen using
tools especially designed for the purpose
All Of the main frames, which are Of unusual
construction, were assembled on the floor, and
then hoisted into place, in the same manner as
the first one, and connected by longitudinal
orders
Now, with the fabric covering Of the ship all
In place, the maze of duralumin Orders and
main frames are not visible to spectators, who
are thus unable to gain an idea of the immense
amount Of work that went into building this
leviathan Of the air.
The ship has a length Of 1856 feet-only
feet longer than the famous Graf Zeppelin that
has done so much to bring home to the public
the practicabihty Of lighter-than-air travel
but its diameter, 1873 feet, is "a feet greater
than the Graf accounting for the fact the Akron
will have nearly twice the gas capacity of it's
German sister.
Total gas capacity of the new ship is 6,500OO0
cubic feet, as compared with 100000 cubic
feet for the Graf. Instead of being contained
In one huge envelope, gas in the Akron will
be confined In IL separate cells, in effect, II
separate balloons. Each of these cells was
more carefully tailored than any human gar
ment, and was built to fit the particular section
Of the ship in which it is located.
To build the cells, more than II acres of spe-
cially woven Gotten cloth was required. Half
of tie cells are Of rubberparrafine construction
while the remainder of geatine-latex con-
struction, new development during the past
year so.
An additional seven acres Of fabric were re-
quired to make the outer cover for the Akron.
The cloth was cut into panels averaging IA
feet in length. and ranging in width from IL to
"a feet The panels were first laced to the
framework as tightly possible and then a
single coat OF clear dope, similar to that used
on airplane wings. applied with brush Ap-
plication by brush insured that the dope soaked
into every pore Of the fabric, and when It dried.
stretched the cover taut as a drum Following