US1488336A - Landing apparatus for airships - Google Patents

Description

' March 25, 1924. 1,488,336

F. GENTZCKE LANDING APPARATUS FOR AIRSHIPS Filed 0613s, 1923 Patented Mar. 25, 1924.

UNITED STATES 1 3% P ENT. .O MEI FRITZ GENTZCKE, OF ZEES EN, NEAR KONIGSWUSTIEJRHAUSEN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO LUFTFAHRZEUGBAU SGHUETTE-LANZ, 0F MANNHEIM-RHEINAU, GERMANY.

LANDING APPARATUS FOR AIRSHI PS.

Application flied October a, 1923. Serial in. 7,323.

To all whom it may concern: H Be it known that I, FRITZ Zeesen, near Konigsw-usterhausen, Germany, have invented certa n new and useful Improvements in Landing Apparatus for Airships (for which I have filed applications; for patents in Germany August 26th, 1922) ,f I

position at a distance from the ship the of which the following is a specification.

It is known to employ a running vehicle, such as a truck, a travelling carriage or the like, for mooring an airship thereto and at the same time anchoring the ship at a stationary point in a manner that said vehicle'will be free and adapted to follow the, turning movements of the ship by runn ng, around said stationary anchoring po1nt..

Further it is known to connect the front end or point of the. ship by means of ropes or cables with a point lying in the d1rect1on of the course of the incoming ship. and with two lateral points of symmetrical location, whereby the ship will be moored or anchored in a manner to' be free to turn around the first named point.

Both methods of thus movably anchoring an airship require a large number of hands for catching the ship, leading her to the mooring points on the ground and securing her in a properly moored condition. The object of my invention is to remedy this defect.

With this object in view I rov de an apparatus or device by means 0 which the incoming airship can be brought to a smooth landing and mooring at the anchorage without requiring a lot of towing hands.

In the accompanying drawings Figures 1 to 5 illustrate a few embodiments of the invention by way of example. The landing ropes 1, 10 and 11 thrown down from the ship are connected with ropes wound on winches or windlasses- 3 mounted on vehicles 4, such as trucks, travelling carriages or the like, adapted to run round about the stationary point 2 on concentrically located circular tracks or railways 5, and there is also a winch mounted at the stationary point 2 which is the centre of the said tracks or railways 5.

The main mooring rope or cable 1 connects the stationary turning point or centre 2 with the front point 6of the ship and serves the purpose of overcoming the air resistance in case of contrary wind, lower- GE'NTZCKE, citizen of the German Republi residing at' i ing the front end of the ship and recover-J ing her to a point for attaining the desired 4 final distance from the turning centre 2.

The vehicles 4 are constructed and mount ed to run easilyflon the tracks but they are lockedto be incapable of displacement in vertical direction. By hauling the ropes 10 the said vehicles are caused to assume a thus be moored as regards her position in.

vertical direction. After the ship has been brought down to the trucks it may, be moored or connected with the vehicles with the aid of any suitable means so that the landing rope 1 can be untied and withdrawn into the ship. I

Yawing of the airship, that is to say, drifting laterally from the course towards the stationary (point 2 during the described lai1ding procee ings is prevented by means of two ropes 11 which likewise are attached to the foremost point 6 of the airship, whilst their lower, ends are fixed to two points 9, see Figure 1, which are, situated on the outer track 5 diametrically with respect to the course or direction of the arriving airship. The said two mooring points 9 are likewise constituted by vehicles which, however, are either braked and locked to be stationary or ri 'dly connected with each other so as to be a apted to follow the turning movements of the landing airship without changing the distance between themselves.

Before the ship has been brought down to the trucks, the point 6 of the landing airship will be the point about which'the airship will be free to turn laterally, whilst when it has been brought down to the trucks the stationary point 2 will be the turning e. g., by means of ropes or cables guided and supported on the circular track at intervals, that is to say, so as to constitute a polygonal structure. In order to ensure a high reliability and simplicity of handling the windlasses or winches the improvements shown in Figure 3 may be employed. As will be seen in Figure 3 the vehicles I and 9 have no winches. or windlasses, but only guiding members for the ropes or cables 10 and 11 running to a common Windlass-.12 or windlasses at the stationary turning point 2. In order to preventthe cables or ropes from sliding or dragging they are carried by rollers on travelling carriages, in particular where they cross the circular tracks, and the tracks preferably are given an elevation sufficient to allow the cable or rope to sag, as will be readily understood on inspection of Figure For the purpose of accelerating the landing it will be advisable to shoot off the landrig ropes by means of a suitable shooting deice.- In this way it will be more readily possible to drop the ropes in closer vicinity 1 f the turning point 2 for ready connection with the ropes or cables of the windlasses or Winches. v

The vehicles 4 may, if required, be constructed to be of suflicient length to afford an efficient mooring of the airship laterally y means of ropes or cables 7; For the same purpose also auxiliary vehicles 15 carrying the windlasses 3 may be employed and these auxiliary vehicles may be mounted to run on the same track 5 or on a parallel bytrack of their own. In either case the vehicles 15 are rigidly connected with the vehicle 4 by means of members 16 serving as an intermediate means for mooring the airship thereto.

The vehicles may be of the type of the so-called travelling carriages or trucks running on rails or they may be vessels floating in water channels of circular form. Instead of water, however, any other liquid may be used, preferably a liquor of a low freezing point.

It is to be noted from Fig. 1 that the rope 1 in oblique position will exercise a power or force acting vertically on the point of attachment. In order to avoid this, the rope may be given, as shown in Figure 5, a horizontal position and to this end be guided over a tower or turret provided on the point 2. IVhen' a tower is used to constitute the stationary point 2 it may be so constructed that the nose of the airship may come in contact therewith.

\Vhat I claim is 1. A landing station for airships comprising a tower, a track concentric therewith, a plurality of vehicles movable on said track, a pair of said vehicles being maintained in relatively fixed relation, and another of said vehicles being freely movable therebetween, said vehicles adapted to receivelines from the airship. V

2. A landing station for airships comprising a tower, a pair of tracks of different radii concentric with the tower, a pair of vehicles movable on the larger track and maintained a fixed distance apart, another vehicle on the larger track and freely movable betweensaid vehicles and an additional vehicle on the smaller track, all of. said vehicles adapted to receive lines from the airship.

A landing station for airships comprising a center anchorage point, a track concentric with said-point, a pair of vehicles movable on said track and maintained a fixed distance apart, another vehicle on said track and freely movable between said vehicles, all of said vehicles and said anchorage point adapted to receive lines from the airship.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto sub scribed my name in presence of two witnesses.

FRITZ GEN'IZOKE.

\Vitnesses: ENNO Bnoosna, O'r'ro BARCHFEDT.

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