Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 17th June, 1886.
Complete Left, 15th July, 1886.
Complete Accepted, 14th June, 1887.
1, WILLIAM NELSON HUTCHINSON, General in Her Majestys Army, of Welles-
bourne near Bideford in the County of Devon do hereby declare the nature of the
said invention to be as follows:-
Long cylindrical navigable Balloons have been designed embraced by a close fitting
net, lashed in its mid-horizontal zone to a bar (often made of bamboo) that is close
around the balloon in its entire length. By the present invention a compressor,
probably tubular in form, or a circular metal bar, or a deep bar of wood rounded at
the uppermost edge, about the same length as the balloon, is kept in contact with its
bottom in its mid-longitudinal vertical plane, by uniform upward pressure furnished
by weight (possibly the weight of part of the driving engine), or by the rather less
uniform pressure of spiral springs (probably of a conical outline) of many coils of
large circumference only very slightly extended.
When coal gas is employed in a minor degree when the far less compressible
hydrogen gas is employed-by acting on rapes attached to the compressor the
aeronauts have the power of diminishing the bulk of their balloon, thereby aiding
the side planes (horizontal rudders) in the effort to suddenly sink to a lower level.
Dated this Sixteenth day of June 1886.

page_text: I WILLIAM NELSON HUTCHINSON General in Her Majesty's Army of Wellesbourne
Bideford in the county of Devon, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, in which reference is often made to
explanatory letters in the accompanying drawing :-
Long cylindrical navigable balloons have been designed embraced by a close-fitting
net lashed in its mid horizontal zone to a bar (A in all the Figs.) often made of
bamboo, that is in close contact around the balloon in its entire length.
It is essential to endurance that the skin of navigable balloons should be kept
constantly extended. It is the object of the present invention to prevent in a more
efficient manner than bas ever been designed the pleating and crumpling that under
ordinary circumstances would be caused by the pressure of the external air on a skin
not fully inflated with gas. In long voyages, from moisture on the surface, the pleats
might often become hard frozen, and on changing from a cold atmosphere to a warmer
be at times violently unfolded from sudden expansion of the gas before they were duly
thawed-thereby occasioning dangerous rents. By the present invention a com-
pressor (D in all the Figs.), a tube formed of sheets of steel rendered very thin by
hydraulic pressure, about the same length as the balloon, or a deep har of strong wood
rounded and polished at the uppermost edge, or other suitable bar, is kept in constant
contact with the bottom of the balloon on its mid-longitudinal vertical plane by uniform
pressure upwards effected by weight (W, Figs. 1 & 2), part of the weight of the
steam-engine, or of the weight of other means by which the balloon is propelled. By
this weight the compressor (D) is constantly pressed upwards with an unvarying
uniform pressure, for Wa little exceeds the aggregate weight of the compressor and
of the apparatus necessary to effect such pressure as will keep the skin at all times
extended, while giving the gas, without injuriously straining the skin, perfect liberty
to expand when affected by heat, or by rising to an atmosphere of diminished density.
As the principal strain is borne by the net embracing the balloon, a little pressure
beyond what is really requisite would be of no consequence. A steel rod (a Fig. 2)
bent into two similar curves is attached firmly to the compressor. The space of the
two a little exceeds the diameter of the balloon. This curved rod never comes in
contact with the skin of the balloon. A rod would be required with, say, every third
or fourth bracket-all depending upon the longitudinal strength of the compressor.
Each rod would be in a vertical plane close to its bracket. W is suspended from the

page_text: extremities of these curved rods by four main ropes (2 of them represented in Fig. 1),
to which ropes several parts of the compressor are connected by cords attached to the
extremities of the curved rods. These cords pass through antifriction rings or
pullies, e fixed to A, thence through antifriction rings 4, attached to the triangular
brackets (B), which brackets attached to A hold it in position. The antifriction
rings fimmediately above W are fastened to stays, not shewn, connecting the base
side of No. 6 bracket with the base side of No. 7. Or, the weight W might be made
to act upon the vertical rods M Fig. 4 (hereafter described) instead of the curved
rods.
E. Figs. 3 and are intended to shew how the compressor could be acted on by
springs instead of a weight. Spiral springs seem to be the best. It is lightness and
length that is required in them, not strength. The greater the extent to which they
could be extended the less would be the proportion of extension employed in pushing
the compressor upwards. Their circumferences might, without inconvenience, be
made so wide and the coils so numerous that the pressure would be nearly uniform for
the little extent to which they would be expanded. Springs with more coils and of
greater circumference than those just described could be employed were the platform
on which they would stand fixed horizontally below the plane of the base sides of the
brackets. See centre of Fig. 4.
When spiral springs are employed, to give the aeronauts, on an emergency, the
power to sink with unusual rapidity to a lower level by diminishing the bulk of their
balloon (readily effected when inflated with coal gas, but only to a small extent with
Hydrogen), a rod, M' Fig. 4, is attached to the lowest part of the compressor, and
travels freely vertically in a circular slot in the platform N¹ supporting the spring.
Cords, fastened to the opposite sides of the rod at its lower extremity, pass through
antifriction rings (r) on the platform, and then through other antifriction rings until
brought within reach of the aeronauts, who, by acting on the cords, can force the rod
and compressor upwards. When the balloon is on the ground the rods fold up on a
hinge.
Where a weight (W) employed, the aeronauts would only have to pull on the main
ropes that support the weight to decrease the bulk of their balloon.
As antifriction rings are so often named, it may be right to explain that the rope
passing through them meets on every side with a rotating sheave.
In diminishing the volume of the gas by a compressor, or in keeping the skin
constantly extended, as the existing counter-pressure is not lessened by increasing its.
area, the thinner it can be made, compatible with sufficient strength the better;
especially as the less would be the power necessary to so force it upwards that there
could be no pleating of the skin. On the other hand, it must have such thickness that
the delicate skin shall not be injured from a too knife-like.edge. The part in contact
with the compressor would be protected with attached strips of the skin-material. As
the skin and net are constantly stretched the mid-vertical section of the balloon rides on
the compressor without shifting, both sides of the net being laced to the horizontal
encircling bar A; but, as a further security, the net is laced in its mid vertical
longitudinal plane to the compressor. When the protecting triangular cage is on the
ground the balloon would not touch it, being held up by the compressor.
It may be as well to add that Q in the drawing is the wedge-shaped shield (described
in patent No. 1879), hung on a horizontal axle, which (the shield) always prevents
the bow from caving in however rapidly driven against a wind. While in flight it is
secured in a vertical position. When the balloon is anchored in a gale, if the shield
be inclined as represented, it would greatly aid in keeping the balloon above the
ground should it be insufficiently filled with gas. In flight, by an inclination given to
it, it could be made to assist the horizontal rudders explained in the aforesaid patent,
in altering the altitude of the aeronauts.
There is an opening it its lower part to.
R is a fixed shield in the form of a cone.
allow of the vertical movement of the compressor.

page_text: L is the stationary part of the engine that acts directly upon the shaft of the
propeller, and is connected with the moveable part (W) of the engine, in which the
steam generated by the represented telescopic tube.
G, G, are blades of the propeller.
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,
The means for preventing the pleating and crumpling of the skin of navigable
balloons when not fully extended by the gas within them, substantially as described in
this specification.