US1191077A - Airship. - Google Patents

Description

0. HERMANSON.

AIRSHIP.

APPLICATION FILED Aue.20. I9I5.

Patented July 11, 1916.

Fig.1.

v WITNESSES.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OSCAR HERMAN'SON, OF NEW YORK, N". Y.

AIRSHIP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 11,1916.

Application filed August 20, 1915. Serial No. 46,551.

To all whom it may concern Y Be it known that I, OSCAR HERMANSON, a citizen of the United States, and resldent of the borough of Manhattan, in the city, the

county, and the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements on Airships, of which the following is a spec1- fication.

airship that at considerably smaller cost can be fast built with a reduced weight and if so desired, shall be so built that it can be taken apart for transportation and an bereassembled for service with'small trouble in a short time, and I attain this object by means of a peculiar construction I have contrived, that comprises a skeleton of a small number'of compression members, heldtogether with steel rope of which the tensile strength can be'fully utilized in, producing a compact and powerful body.

In the accompanying drawlng Figure shows the frame of the airship and'Figs. 2',

3, and 4 details of construction. Fig. 5 is the outer appearance of the ship and Fig'. 6

a cross section of the same, While'Fig. 7 refers to a special detail.

As shown in Fig. 1, the frame consists of a number of similar octagonal transverse,

frames, like that shown in Fig. 2, each consisting of two horizontal beams AD and HE,

and two vertical beams BG and CF, which arejoined at the"crossings, I, K, L, and M, and at their ends tied with steel rope in the circumference ABODEFGrI-I.v The size and number of these similar octagonal transverse frames varies according to the size and outer shape of the airship which will depend on the Weight it 7 the speed with which. it shall travel.- Of course, I do not confine myself to this peculiar octagonal shape of transverse frames,

but may use some other attern if there is special occasion for, butprefer the afore defined octagon because I have foundthat shall carry, and onthereby the material in the compression members is reduced to a minimum.

The several transverse frames are joined in the center by the longitudinal beams II, KK, LL, and MM, and at the circumference by steel'cable AA,BB, CC, DD, EE, FF,

GG and HH. Thus the whole frame consists mostly of steel rope with a small complement of rigid members, and since the high tensile strength of the steel wire can be taxed to its limit, this construction affords a large saving of material, compared with other designs, and renders the structure lighter and cheaper. Another advantage of this peculiar frame is that strains and stresses 1n all of its members can be calculated exactly as in a bridge truss when the lifting power of the gas to be used becomes Estimating the strains and stresses for all the members of the frame in it's normal posiknown and the load to be carried has been located.

tion, we find for every transverse frame the maxima stresses in its 12 compression rhe'mbers and the maxima strains in its 8 tension members; andso we find the maxima stresses in the 4 compression members II,

KK, LL, and MM, between any two adjacent transverse frames and the maxima strains-in the-8 tensionmembers AA, BB,

C C, DD, EE, FF, GG, and HHQ Considering now that in a tempest'the ship is liable tofroll over sidewise and even to turn upside down, whereby the .afore said stresses and strains in the single members are shifting around ina circle, we see that all of the homologous members must receive the same maximum strength. This means, in every transverse frame its 8 peripheral struts AI,

BI, CK, DK, EL, FL,'GM, and -HM, must be of equal strength, and the4 central struts IK, KL, LM, and MIL-again 'must be of equal strength, and so' the 8- tension members', AB, BC, GD, DE, EF, FG,and GIT, must receive the same strength. Similarly we find for each space between two adjacent transverse frames that the i' longitudinal struts II, KK, LL and MM, must be of the same strength, andrthe 8 tension memhers AA, BB, CC, DD, EE, FF, GG, and

HH, also must.be of equal stren h.

' It is apparent that 1n any ot er, kind of frame the strains and stresses of all the members under the considered variations cannotbe calculated with 'thesame exactii above indicated manner for larger airships the future might demand, structural steel for all the struts, for sake of convenience.

of the proper shape and fsizewill be avail"- able, but for lighterships demanded by present belligerents, I preferto'use steel tubing Using commercial tubing,-.I merely order out lengths, and have rigging pins for the end struts made, such as shown in Fig. 3. This pin 1 fits into the tube 2, to which it is secured by the bolt 3, and provides hold for cables around its neck 4. The central connection of the struts, of which .6 meet. in every one of the L joints I, K, L, and M, is

' obtained by means ofa six armed cross,

In Fig. 5 the airship is shown as it will I of sheet metal o1 of sail cloth that has been.

to prevent twisting of the ship gasbags are placed, and if thespace.

shown. in Fig. 4. These crosses 'may be forged or may be cast in one piece and then turned on a lathe, so as to olier an exact fit to each of the joiningfitubes which will be secured to the cross by means of bolts as in the former case. If these bolts are'screwed, they readily can be removed and the whole frame taken apart, and if the crosses and.

the tubes are properly marked to indicate where every piece belongs, the dismounted structure may be shipped: anywhere and reassembled withoutconfusiom In Fig. 1 also has been'shown the horizontal rudder 5, and the vertical rudder 6, rigged in position to the frame.

around its longitudinal axis, diagonal rigging with light rope will be added between adjacent transverse frames, whiclr'I have omitted in the drawing for the sake of transparency.

look from the'outside after the frameoi Fig. 1 has been covered. The cover may be made water proofed and fire proofcd, which can be accomplished by the same process, and it may be made in one piece, or in removable sections, laced to one another, frame. Vithin the cover, between every couple of transverse adjacent frames, lifting we prefer a single bag for every interstice, itmay be made of octagonal shape, exactly fitting in to fill The material for these bags must be gas proof and the four tubes I, K, L, and M, perforating each bag, must be ,cemented or mechanically secured tothe bag in a gas tight seal.- H

In order to providefor the expansion of the gas, only so much gas is blown into each bag as will inflate it completely at its fullest expansion. mallywill not fill the whole space between In order.

or to the r In this manner the bags northe transverse frames, but lifted. by the lighter gas, they"will cling tightly to the outer protecting cover on top and at-the,

sides, while at the bottom the inflated bag will floaton air, sinking and rising as the difference of pressures changes.

Accommodations for crew and passengers,

for machinery,armament, fuel and other as not to interfere withthe functions of the ship. l i

V In order to ridthe airshipcf errrbarraslsment resulting from the varying buoyancy of the lifting gas I prefer to load the ship so that it always remains a'little heavier than the air it displaces and-consequently will. sink and stick to the ground when not moving. When in motion its propelling power will easily raise the ship to any level, S1I1CB no power is required to support the movingislnp. The lifting effect of its propolling power may be increased by provid ing the ship with wings, which in Fig. are suggested inthe shape of biplanes 7, laterally protruding from its body. Asshc'wn in cross section by the diagram Fig. 6, these biplanes are obt ined by an extension of the horizontal beams in one or more of the transverse frames, which extension furnishes on each side two parallel wings that are trussed in the manner ci. a biplane and pm vide operating platforms, on which the propelling machinery may be mounted, asindicated by the diagram.

This airship ,m'ay be mounted ,on wheel. or may alight on water. If such an airship is to do service abovethe ocean where it might be compelled to alight 01- turbulent water, it will be damaged without efficient protection, but this protection I obtain by means of an inflated bottom. The line EH in Fig. 5 marks the upper rim of the lower section of the shell. If this portion of the bottom is airtightand water tight, we may cover the bottom with-another air tight and water tig'ht skin that is free from the original bottom and only at the border HH, EE is air tight joined to it, forming with a sealed envelop that coversthe bottom of the ship. If we whats this envelop with air, it will somewhat expand and form an aircushion around the bottom, while the other side, formingthe original cover of the bottom, will bulge out inward in segments in a manner suggested by 7, where the shaded portion is a cross section through the safely can alight on waves and rise again, .so that such an airship will'be most valuable in the life saving'service for; approaching sinking ships.

In order to protect the propellers of such a'ship, that are shown in Fig. 6, I provide the operating-platform 8 with floats 9 un- I drawn by means of a pump, they will fold in touching the outer cups as a lining. The

spherical buckets 10, provided with pliable air-tight hemispherical lids 11 that -will' stand out as shown in the diagram when inflated with air, but when the air is w th purpose of this device is to serve either as lifting air-cushion, when inflated, or as a mooring weight, when deflated and filling with water; These floats are only to be used on the'water;'when in the air they shall not increase the resistanceto'the moving ship andthcre'fore, are pulled up with the stan- ,chions 12 that hinge at'the platform 8 and turn in as shown in Fig."5.-

Having described in the 1. 'An airsh' skeleton consisting of a number of si ilar octagonal transverse ,frames, each formedof two pairs of crossed beams, that at the four crossings are braced by four longitudinal beams joining adja- I cent transverse frames; and of wire connectforegoing my in Vention, what I claim asnew and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

ingperipherally'the corners of each frame, and longitudinally the corners of-adja'cen frames. c a

2. In askeleton frame-built of tubes, connections thereforv at their meeting points comprising an easily removable cross carrying a plurality of arms, fitting into thejoining tubes andprovided at their bases withfacets for the'jtubesgto rest upon.

3. In .-a skeleton frame,- built of tubes,

easily removable rigging pins at the free .ends of-these tubes, that fit in the tubes and carry heads for fastening the rigging cables, and facets for the tubes to rest upon.

4. A protecting float of which the shell consists of one less and one more pliable half, so that when inflated with air, the shell acts as a-fioat, but; when the air filling the shell is withdrawn by means of a pump, the

- more pliable half of the shell folds in, form .ing a lining for the other half, andihp whole filling with Water acts as a niooringf-" bucket. V v

5. Around the bottomof a floating ship an airtight and watertight pliable envelop, at its rim tightly fastened to the bottom of the ship, so that when this envelop is inflated with air, it forms a protecting ai'r- 1 lcushion around the bottom of the ship.

' In testimony whereof I have signed my. nameto this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses. v

OSCAR HERMANSON.

Witnesses: I

-GERTRUD (l. Wnssnn,

THEO. A. Hnm'zme.

Copies of this'patent inaw be obtained Iqr fl've cents each, by'addressing. the Commissioner of I'atenta,

Washington, D. G, 1

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