Improvements in Navigable Balloons.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 18th July, 1899-Accepted, 10th Feb., 1900
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Navigable Balloons.
I, GUSTAV LOEPER, of 27, Metzer Strasse, Berlin, Germany, Merchant, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement:-
-
My invention relates to improvements in navigable balloons the object being
to provide such a combination of parts as will permit of the balloon being steered
in any required direction. In carrying my invention into practice I proceed in
or in about the following manner making reference to the accompanying drawings
in which Fig. 1 is a side view and Fig. 2 a plan from above, one of the wings
hereinafter mentioned being directed forwards. I provide a ball or other shaped
receptacle a filled with gas and intended for supporting and carrying a load placed
thereunder. The receptacle a is encircled by a ring b suitably fastened to its peri-
phery. To the ring bare attached, opposite to one another, two semi-circular
wings cc, the attachment being such as to permit the wings to be moved back-
wards or forwards. In the wings c and c are a number of apertures to which are
hinged flaps or valves d'arranged in such manner that they may be opened or
closed by pulling or releasing a chain attached to them.
Below the receptacle a is a round or other shaped basket or car f, having on
opposite sides of it two fixed planes or surfaces g g', similar to cc', and having in
them also a number of apertures furnished with movable flaps or valves hh¹.
The chains ii connected to these flaps or valves as well as those which are attached
to the flaps or valves h h on the wings ce are loosely guided and arranged in such
a manner that they terminate in or on the basket f, from which terminating point
they can be operated so as to open or close the flaps dd' and hh' as and when
required. If the balloon a is to be moved to the right (as shown by arrows A)
and the direction of the prevailing wind is as shown by arrows B, the flaps or
valves in right wing c¹ and in the right plane gl are opened whereby resistance
to the wind is got rid of on the right side of the balloon a and the wind pressing
against the left side drives the balloon over to the right. A reversal of the
operations causes the balloon to go to the left. To sustain the wings cc' guide
or slide bars kk are provided and suitably attached to the ring b and support the
wings without preventing them from moving backwards and forwards. In this
manner it is possible by offering or not resistance to the wind to control the
movement of the balloon and direct it in a straight or other course in a similar
manner that a ship is directed by the adjustment of its sails.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:-
Navigable balloons each consisting essentially of a gas-filled ball or other
receptacle encircled by a ring to which are attached opposite to one another
wings free to move to and fro, a basket or car being provided below the said
gas receptacle and having attached to it planes or surfaces, the said wings and

page_text: planes having apertures furnished with flaps or valves which can be opened or
closed as and when required by operating a chain or chains from the basket or
car, the whole substantially as described in the above specification and exem-
plified by the accompanying drawings.
1000
HUGHES & YOUNG,
23, Coleman Street, E.C., Agents.