US1120981A - Airship. - Google Patents

Description

H. SCHRDER.

AIRSHIP.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 27,1909l Patented Dec. 15, l1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

H. SCHRDER.

AIRSHIP.

APPLICATION FILED sEPT.21,1909.

Patented Dec. 15, 1914.

. 3 SHEETS-SHBBT 2.

H. SCHRDER.

AIRSHXP.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 2r. 1909.

Patented Dec. 15, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INVENTOR WITNESSES w AHAUS SGHBDE Ol YORK, N- Y- Liedern.A

specimen if, man renne.

Patented Dec. 15., 19,14-

Arplieation tiled, Senti-#inner 27.- 1998 Serial No 519,652-

To all whom t muy concern:

'Be it knonn that I, HERMANN Sonnonrn, e subject .of the Emperor of Germany, anda resident of New York city, county and State of New York, have invented cerf tnin new and useful Improvements in Airships, 'of which the following is e speeifieetion, referenee being lied. to. tlie eeeornpenying drawings., forming a part thereof.

Air ships nre Sometimes divided roughly into two classesf-one known as the heavier-.then-nir in which. the vessel is moin.- tained in dthe air exclusively by means of lneehenieolly operated deviees,`and the other known is the -ligl1te1.'tlinnei1" type in which the vessel is sensed to rise end ineintan in the air from its own buoyancy, due to the friet that it disnlnees o qnnntity of air greater in weight lthan its own entire weight- My present invention relates to a form of air ship which is in effect a combination of the At\,\ ',,in that it depends partly upon its own bnoynney, ond partly noon nieolinnif eolly operated devices,I for liting it and maintaining it in'tlie ein In general, the air ship includes a rigid body inclosix'rg a large oir or gos space, rand propelling meehnnisni including vertienlly orrenged propelling means for inducing vertical air currents which tend' directly to lift the machine, and

also horizontal propelling means which roduce horizontal currents for longitudinal propulsive purposes and which may also be employed in combination with tilting horizontal rudders for raising and lowering the vessel while it is being Piopelled- YMy invention eonsists 1n many novel fee-A tnres in nd'dition to the ineens by which the vessel isrnised nndinnintained in the oir, inelnding n' Peenlinr forni, eonstrnetion, and nrrangernent of the Propellers, the oombinntion with. the Propellers of e oonieel chamber inelosing thern, n'novel form of steering rneelienism, Comprising horizontally arranged laterally disposed propelling means, a novel arrangement of auxiliary sails, the provision of means forNreeharging the body with buoyant gas,and many other novel details of construction and combinations of parts, such as will be fully pointed out hereinafter.

In order that `In invention may be thoroughly understoo I will now proceed to describe an embodiment thereof, having reference to the accompanying drawings illusside elevation 1 o trnting the serine, and will 'then point ont the novel feotnres in eloirns- .In the drawings: Figure 1 is. n view in y an' air ship embodying my inyention. Fig. 2 isa v iew in central longitudinal section through the lower part of the Central portion thereof, showing perticularly the propelling mechanism. 1i4`ifg.v 3 is a top `View of the air ship, with a portion of theP main body shown cross section. Fig. 4 is an underside view upon a. reduced scale. Fig. 5 is a detail view.' of the lateral steering n.rolf-sellers Fi 6 is n transverse sectional View through t e'air shin Fig 7 is e detail top View 'showing the drive and clutch 'connection betweenl 011e 0f the Inotors and the driven shaft.

Themain body 10 of the oir ship is pref. erably a rigid structure comprising a framework' l1 whieli rnoy Conveniently be oom- Posed of ongle or T irons, ande nietiillie shell 1,2 which Inity be eornposed of thin n icl el steel plates or other material of therequired lightness and strength. The framework end the lshell ere intended to be so formed, constructed and secured together,

.and so braced as to be rigidv throughout,

ond n Plnrelity of transverse bnlk heads 1.3 are provided both for the purpose of transversely bracing the Structure and for the purpose of dividing the body, as a whole, into a plurality of compartments. The gen-y eral form of the body in cross section is somewhat in the nature of an ellipse, ex-

erably join each other angularly on medial lines. lIn the construction shown in the drawings the opper ond lower Wells ere ig'ormed on the arcs of two circles Whose centers are eXleiOr (See particularly. Fig. 6) of the space inicios/ed thereby. This general form is advantageous because of the fact that it oiers a proportionately ysmall lateral resistance toy the wind, such resistance being very much smaller than if the body were cylindrical, as is quite common in this type of air ship.

The two compartments 1.4 and 15 at each end of the body, viewing the same longitu-y dinally may be convenientl employed to carry water and a liquid fue such as gasolene, the same being properly piped to the motor or motors.VThe remaining compartments 16 are arranged to contain a gas lighter than air, as is common inA dirigible balloons, and for the purpose of addition 90 cept that lthe upper and lower walls prefthe said compartments. may be. lined,

throughout with oiled silk or other gasre7 tainingsubstance 17. If preferred, the Said chambers may contain air or a gas lighter than air under a pressure less than'atmos' pheric pressure, the latter being possible owing to the fact that the body is formed as ay rigid structure. In the latter event it will, of course, be necessary that the entire structure be air-tight, while in the former event the metallic structure need not be air or gas tight because of thelinings 17 employed. In order to take care of any possible leak `age through thelining 17, and hence escape of gas therethrough, I have providedretorts 18 by whichgas may be manufactured while the air ship is out of communication with the ground to supply gas to the various compartments to take the place of that lost, whereby the lifting /capacity of the body portion of the air ship may be kept substantially uniform. Y

It is not intended in the present instance that the body portion should have a lifting capacity equal to the entire weight of the vessel, but that a portion of the lifting force shall be suppliedl by mechanism carried by the airV ship.- This mechanism comprises,- first, a plurality of propellers mounted upon vertically disposed shafts whose action will -be to induce air currents directly downward whereby to exert a direct lifting force to the vessel, and second, in a plurality of ropellers arranged upon a horizontal siaft in combination with horizontal deilecting rudders by which a forward and upward movelnent may be imparted to the vessel. Inl the present.instance I have shown a group ofsix vertically arrangedpropelling elements 19 all connected together bysuitable belts 20 with themain drive shaft 21 of the machine. The horizontal driving means .comprise two groups of propellers 22-23 arranged at opposite ends of ahorizontal shaft 24, the said shaft being con- .nected with themaingshaft 21 by means of gearing 25. Thegearing 25 is controlled by means of clutchmechanism 26 and anoperating lever 27 by which the drive may be imparted in either direction, so that by the mere manipulation of thelever 27 the vessel may be propelled forward or backward at will. .Two pairs of horizontal.rudders 28 are provided, the same being centrally ivoted at, about the medial line of the bo of the vessel, and the same are connected y means ofsuitable gearii 29 with asteering wheel 30 by which of them may be moved synchronousl Y about their .central horizontal pivots. y Y this meansthe forward ends of the rudders may beraised whereby the horizontal Ypropellin mechanism, in. driving the vessel forwar will tend to lift the same alonga gradual incline,as will be well understood. Similarly the vessel may be depressed by lowering the4 front ends of the horizontal rudders.

For the urpose of steering the vessel laterally I ave provided the usual rear- 'wardlextendingrudder 31 whichiscons 'trolle throu hsuitable gearing 32 from a steering whee 33, andas an auxiliary means for laterally steering the vessel I have provided two. horizontally disposed lpropellers 34-35 which are mounted upon horizontal shafts 36- 37 disposedjtransversel of the vessel. These shafts, and the pro e 1ers carried thereby', are arranged to be riven by a suitable connection with the.. driving mech-l anism, the said connection in the present instance being across belt connection 38 with thelongitudinal shaft 24.Clutches 39 and 40 are arranged for throwing theshafts 36 and 37 into, and out of, driving relation with the driving mechanism at will, where.- by one or the other ofy the propellers may be driven, or both ofv them maybe released from driving connection. intended that both of these propeller wheels shall be out of driving relation, but that the one or the 'other shall be thrown into driving relation for steering purposes, the eect being, of course, to drive the rear end of the vessel around laterally whereb1 ve' uick v turns' may be made Awhen esire %Tnder ordinary circumstances itis impossible to steer an'air ship -except when the same is being propelled ongitudinally, but

with this form of steering mechanism it isl possible fto turn the air ship while the same is otherwise stationary in the air. Thus, the air ship may, if desired, be turned around in substantially `its own length `instead of being compelled to take a wide sweep as 1s common. l

yF or power purposes I preferably providetwol motors 41--42 each `of which may comprise a multi-cylinder v,internal combustion engine, the fuel for which is carried in the compartments in the fore and aft extremity Normally it isy of the body, as has been above explained.

These motors 4may be independently' connected and disconnected with the drive shaft by means of individual clutches 43-44 whereby either or both may bev employed for driving purposes, at will.

The motors land the propelling mechanism are all sup orted in arigid framework 45 suspended rom, and secured to, the body of the vessel as. is shown, whereby the major poition of the wei ht ofthe vessel, as 'a whole, will be locate' below the center of the body of the vessel and stability therefore insured.Y The passenger car may be located Vabove the vessel body, as is shown at 46, the structure being as light in weight as is possible, the weight thereof when loaded with passengers being designed to be consider'- ably vless thanthe weight of the sub-structure including the motors, the sub-frame, and the propelling mechanism.

The horizontal andV vertical propelling elements may be of any suitable character, but preferably each element comprises a. plurality of propelling blades disposed spirally around the shaft carrying them. The

.blades are conveniently arranged in pairs so as to balance their action, and the pairs are arranged some little distance apart upon spiral lines, as stated. Conveniently these propellers may be progressively shorter, and the)1 may be surrounded by aconical casing 47, the object being to slightly compress the air as it passes to the successively arranged blades. This tends to compact the air and to give a better resistance to the propelling blades so as to add to their propulsive force. lt is understood, ,of course, that there will be thereby caused a certain reaction upon the inclined surfaces of the conical chambers, but this reaction is more than offset by the advantages following from the greater resistance of the blades and to the expansive action of the air at the rear of the chambers, which add to the propulsive eifect.

It will be noted that the vertically arranged propellingelements 19 are disposed h eneath the body of the air ship, this being contrary to the general practice where ver` tically disposed propellers are employed, but this' arrangement is advantageous and the lifting action thereof is not lessened, butv rather increased, from the fact that while the propeller blades collect the air in front of them in all directions, they propel theair beneath them in substantially right lines. By this arrangement the vertical thrust is direct and practically uninterrupted.

For the purpose of taking advantage of the action of the wind when the same is blowing in the direction in which the vessel is pointing, l have provided sails48 at' the forward end of the vessel, the samev being secured directly to the body of the vessel at one end and connectedtheretoby ropes 49 at the other. These sails will open out and a motor supporte fill with wind when the vessel is going with the wind,,but should the vessel e ointed toward or against the wind they wi auto# I natically close downto the side of the vessel and vwill offer ractically'no extra resistance thereto. T us, the sails will be automatically set by the wind itself when -they can give service, yand will be equally automatically disposed of when they can be of no use.

lVhat I claim is:

1. In an air ship, the combination with a buoyant body portion comprising a rigid framework, a shell whose cross-sectional contour is in the form of opposite symmetrical curves, the lateral extremities of which meet and form angles upon a. horizontal medial plane, and a plurali of transverse vertical partitions which divide the interior of the shell into a lurality of chambers, of

d) by the framework beneuth the shell, vertically and horizontally arranged propellers also supported by the framework beneath the shell, and al passenger car supported above the shell.

2.- In an air-ship, the combination with a. buoyant body portion -comprising a rigid framework, a shell whose cross sectional contour is in the form of opposite mmetrical curves the lateral extremities o which meet and form angles u on a horizontal medial planeand a plura ity of transverse' A vertical partitions which divide the interior of the shell into a lurality of chambers, of amotor supported) by theframework beneath the shell, vertically and horizontally arranged propellersalso supported by the framework beneath the shell, horizontal rudders, horizontal pivots therefor which. pr0- ject laterally from the said body portion, upon opposite sides of the same, in the said medial plane of the shell, andV a passengel car supported abovefthe shell.

. HERMANN SCHRDER. Witnesses:

Farm SoHoLz, D. HOWARD Harwoon.

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