GB304889A - Improvements in or relating to lighter-than-air aircraft - Google Patents

Abstract

304,889. Airship Guarantee Co., Ltd., and Burney, C. D. Dec. 19, 1927. Propelling; steering and balancing. - An airship has its propelling machinery arranged close to the tail portion aft of the fins for driving propellers outside the envelope or in or close to one or more of the tail fins for driving propellers at the sides of the fins. One or more engines may be arranged within the tail compartment or the fin and drive propellers indirectly, or a separate engine may be direct-coupled to each propeller and mounted so that it can be swung inboard when required. Fig. 2 shows one of a series of engines 3 and propellers arranged in a ring about the tail of the airship. Each engine is mounted on a frame 4 normally connected to the axial girder of the airship but adapted to swing about pivots on the outer frame when it is required, to attend to the engine. The frames 4 may be constructed to rotate about their own axes so as to adjust the line of thrust of the propellers. Propellers 7 on opposite sides of a keel fin 2 also are shown driven through bevel gear and transverse shafts from engines 5 within the fin. Access to the engines from a passage 9 is obtained by ladders 8. The propellers are rotatable about the transverse shafts to vary their line of thrust, particularly for varying the trim of the airship at a mooring mast. Specifications 250,330 and 259,264 are referred to.