Improvements in Supplying Electrical Energy to Electrically Propelled Aerial Machines and Balloons.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Mar., 1897-Accepted, 22nd May, 1897
Improvements in Supplying Electrical Energy to Electrically
Propelled Aerial Machines and Balloons.
I, RUDOLF DIESEL, of Giselastrasse 14 Munich, Bavaria, Engineer, 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 following
statement:-
It has been frequently proposed to propel aerial machines and balloons by means
of electrical energy, by electrically connecting the same to a contact truck running
upon insulated rails or conductors receiving current from a central station. Two
arrangements have been proposed for this purpose, namely, firstly, by providing a
motor vehicle fed by the said conductor, and which was to tow the balloon along,
the latter having no propelling apparatus: and secondly, by providing the
balloon with an electromotor and propelling devices fed by a conducting cable
connected to a contact truck running upon a conductor supplied with current, so
that the motor on the balloon, being actuated by the current, effected the pro-
pulsion of the balloon which dragged the truck after it.
The first arrangement did not give a self-propelling balloon, but a captive
balloon that was towed along. With the second arrangement, all the forces
exercised by the winds, the buoyancy of the balloon and the reaction of the pro-
pelling mechanisms, are transferred by the conducting cable to the conductor
supported on the ground; the cable therefore requires to be strong and heavy and
must consequently be short; the ground conductor and its supports must also be
very strong to resist the pull of the balloon, and will consequently be very
expensive, and in all probability the violent jerks to which the balloon would be
subjected would render any sojourn of passengers in the balloon impracticable.
The possibility of being able, within narrow limits, to lengthen and shorten the
connecting cable, either from the balloon or from the ground will alter nothing in
the essential feature of the arrangement, which consists in the chaining of the
balloon to the contact truck and consequently preventing any independent motion
thereof.
According to my present invention, I provide for the perfectly free and indepen-
dent motion of an aerial machine or balloon, this being connected with the
current conductor on the ground solely by means of light electric conducting wires,
which are in themselves unable to resist any material pull and cannot themselves
exercise any material restraining action, and only serve to convey the electrical
energy from the ground conductor to the balloon, and back again.
In consequence hereof the ground conductor can be made comparatively light,
as it does not require to resist any pull exerted by the balloon; also, the wires
between the contact device and balloon can be very light, and consequently long,
so that the balloon, as above stated can move and be steered independently between
the very wide limits determined only by the great length of the cable.
For carrying out this arrangement it is necessary that the conducting wire
between the ground contact truck and the balloon shall permit of every free
motion thereof; it must be capable of automatic extension and shortening,
according to the requirements of the balloon, without having to resist or to exercise
any appreciable forces, and without hanging in loops; it must constitute a perfectly

page_text: loose connection between the ground and the aerial machine or balloon in contra-
distinction to the arrangements previously proposed, which always constituted a
strong, chaining attachment of the balloon.
Figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawing shew arrangements of apparatus for
carrying out my said invention.
a is a barrel provided on the aerial machine or balloon, on which the insulated
wire conductor is wound on and off; the latter consists of two wires insulated from
each other, whose ends are connected to the screw terminals and wires 6 1 6 2 by
which the electrical energy is conveyed to and from the propelling apparatus of
the aerial machine or balloon.
The shaft d of the barrel is acted upon by devices which always tend to turn it
in the direction of the arrow, that is to say, which always tend to coil up the wire
conductor K, but without appreciably resisting the unwinding thereof.
For this purpose the shaft may be acted upon by a coiled blade spring, or by a
weighted cord coiled thereon in the contrary direction to the wires; these arrange-
ments would however greatly limit the action and would otherwise be impracticable
so that they would only be resorted to on exceptional occasions. Practically
available arrangements for the purpose are shewn at Figs. 1 and 2.
In Fig. 1 the barrel shaft d carries the armature of a small electromotor e to
which electrical energy is supplied by wires f'f' in such manner that it always
tends to turn the shaft in the direction of the arrow. Consequently as soon as in
consequence of the motion of the balloon, the wire conductor tends to slacken, it
will be automatically wound up, while if the balloon tends to rise or move farther
away from its point of attachment, the small amount of power exerted by the
armature will be overcome by the pull and the shaft and barrel a will turn in
the direction for unwinding.
In the arrangement at Figure 2 the same action is obtained by different means;
here the wire conductor K slides through a sleeve g which grips it with slight
pressure, and which is connected by a rod h and lever i with a clutch device l.
The sliding part of the latter is mounted on the shaft d which is driven in the
direction of the arrow by any suitable means, such as by a pulley and belt m while
the other part of the clutch is connected to the barrel a, which is loose upon or
separate from the shaft d. The lever is connected to a spring n which tends to
move it so as to bring the clutch l in gear and thus to rotate the barrel for winding
up the conductor K.
When a pull is exerted on the conductor so as to draw it off the barrel, it will
carry the sleeve g along with it, and the resulting pull upon lever i in overcoming
the spring n will cause the clutch / to be disengaged, thereby allowing the barrel
to rotate freely for paying out the conductor.
If on the other hand the conductor becomes slack, the spring n will draw the
lever i upward, thereby engaging the clutch and causing the barrel a to be rotated
so as to wind up the conductor.
The sleeve g can be replaced by friction rollers; also, the mode of transmitting
the motion to shaft d, the clutch, and the spring n can all be replaced by equiva-
lent known devices having in combination the same effect.
The variable weight of the unwound wire conductor can be compensated for by
any known means.
The above described devices can be applied either to the balloon or it may be
arranged on the ground, or both together.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
Supplying electrical energy to electrically propelled ariel machines or balloons,
by providing either on the ariel machine or balloon or at the ground contact device
or at both, a winding appliance on which the wire conductors leading to the ariel
machine or balloon are coiled, and which is so arranged as to always tend to wind

page_text: up the said conductors, while offering no material resistance to the unwinding
thereof, whereby the said wire conductors are prevented from exercising any
material restriction to the motion of the ariel machine or balloon, substantially
as described.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.