GB1191321A - Airship - Google Patents

Abstract

1,191,321. Airships. H. PAPST. 7 April, 1967 [9 April, 1966; 24 Dec., 1966], No. 16122/67. Headings B7G and B7W. A non-rigid airship has a collapsible envelope rendered buoyant by steam, the envelope being double-walled to reduce heat losses outwardly of the wall wherein the two skins 10a, 10b, 10c and 13a, 13b, 13c of the walls are joined by tensile connecting elements 11 and bridged by zig-zag formation foil elements 14 which reduce convection losses. The envelope 2 is connected by cables 6 to an intermediate supporting frame 5 attached by structural members to a keel frame 1. The envelope is subdivided into compartments by flexible dividing panels 27 which may, by relative pressures, take up either the concave or convex profiles shown in Fig. 1 and propulsion units 4 and 3 are carried by the envelope at the bow and stern. The bow unit, Fig. 6, may form also a control cabin and gas is delivered from a generator through a duct 18 for discharge from ducts 19 which with the cabin may be swivelled for directional control. The rear unit is similarly constructed (Fig. 7, not shown) though it would not normally have a cabin. The keel 1 is made of tubular elements, which may store fuel, bridged by a bottom panel formed with a tubular section flexible seal to form a space that may be evacuated to anchor the airship to a ground surface. Alternatively, individual suction pads 32, Fig. 1, may be provided. The inner and outer surfaces of the envelope are coated with a hydrophobic layer to reduce, respectively, the absorbsion of condensed steam and the absorbsion of rain water and the reduction of surface resistance.