Evening star., 1935-06-30

dous ring girders. The four-motor
gondolas are as big as airplane fuse
lagos. Not one is yet attached to the
Zeppelin. A portion of the $4,000
square meters Of fabric covering was
In place.
Asked Comparisons.
More than seven years ago had
seen the Graf Zeppelin in the same
stage of construction. Eagerly ques-
toned Knut for comparisons. He told
ne they were following the general con-
struction principles of the Graf Zep-
pelin, which had proved so satisfac-
tory, but with added strength.
Seven years have brought improve
ments In all NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
for spars and girders, fabric and dope
which are more weather resisting. An
innovation is a close lacing of wire
and thread in the spaces of the metal
framework, to which the fabric can
be more firmly attached than on the
Graf.
The stern of the new Zeppelin
which, in the cases of the Akron and
the Macon, proved the weakest part
is strengthened by three extraordi-
narily strong cruciform supports up
holding the frame vertically and hori-
zontally.
Joint Took 800 Hours.
AS I was examining the last ring
girder still to be attached, Knut called
my attention to complicated joint
where the I'm enters the main struc-
ture Of the ship. 1T took 300 working
hours to assemble this joint" he re-
marked.
There will be seven or eight million
rivetS in the completed Zeppelin. The
Lzl29 will weigh 100 tons dead weight
and about 220 tons loaded The lift
ing gas capacity will be 100000 Gu
bic feet. The gas will be contained
in Is ballonets of synthetic goldbeat-
ers' skin, which proved to be more
gas-tight and considerably cheaper
than the real goldbeaters' skin first
used on the Graf Zeppelin. Sixty
metric tons of oil for the Diesel mo-
tors will be carried in Is oil tanks of
tWo-and-a-half tons capacity each.
There will be 10 tons Of water in
tanks which, in case of emergency,
can be emptied in 48 seconds.
knut explained a new scientific
navigation instrument, to replace the
echologue in the navigation room,
which might be called the "whistling
altimeter." This is an instrument that
emits a shrill whistle, the echo of
which returns from the ground or sea
over which the Zeppelin is travelling
and records the altitude in meters on
dial. 1t also operates through fog
and tells the navigator how high the
atrship is above sea or land.
Powerful Electric Plant.
An aid to night flying will be a S.
100000 candlepower searchlight,
which, directed downward, will enable
the navigator to use the drift meter
as well by night as by day. This Pep
pelln will have the most powerful elec-
trical plant Of any yet built into an
airship. It will have o long-range
wireless station for both long and short
wave transmission. Experiments also
will be made in two-way telephoning
between the airship and steamers or
land stations.
What most interested me were the
passenger accommodations. On the
Graf Zeppelin the passengers cabins
and salons are in a gondola, with the
bridge, navigation room, wireless sta
ton and kitchen underneath and
placed outside the main structure of
the bow. In the new airship the pas
senger quarters are in the interior Of
the body of the ship, we'll forward.
There are Is two-berth cabins, each
equipped with running hot and cold
water. Unlike the Graf Zeppelin. all
are inside" rooms, with no outside
view. The cabins are in the center
with a social hall and a reading and
writing room on one side and dining