US1630726A - Lighter-tham-air aircraft - Google Patents

Description

May 31,1921.

. 1,630,726 B. N. WALLIS LIGHTERTHAN'AIR AIRCRAFT Patented May F WESTMINSTER, LONDON,

ANY, LIMITED, 013 WESTMKNSTEB, ENGLAND.

BARNES NEVILLE \VIALLIS, 0

SHIP GU Application filed December 16, 1925, Serial No.

This invention aircratt.

AHANTEE COMP Parana." orricn.

LETEQ'GLAND, ASSIGNOR TO AIR- LIGHTLllR-THAN-AIIE ATERCRAFT.

relates to lighter-than-air At the present time the outer cover'or envelope oi an airship is usually maintained taut by the combined use oi dope and a sys= tem of lacing. is impossible by certain degree of ping or increased occurs, during continued use, owing terioration in the Apart from the tact that it this method to prevent a sagging at any ti1ne,"['lap sagging of the outer cover to dedope or to slackening oi the lacing, thereby distortingthe contour or outer surface oi the airslnp and reducing its speed and sensitiveness to control.

According to the present invention outer cover of an by result may between the outer communication inflating or distending the same.

be obtained by placing the space with means of air scoops or openings,

the airship is maintained taut This cover and the gas bags in the atn'iosphere by usually located in the neighbourhood of the nose of the airship, so that the outer cover is distended by air pressure.

Alternatively, a

mechanical blowing engine may be develcontent, may any or all of ployed. even at moderate else the exhaust either betore or their water oped for the purpose, or

speeds the pressure of the air at the nose of the airship will be adequate to secure the desired result, and, when the ship is moored, the cover will main tight if the ever, there is not cover taut and it taut or prevent moored, a. mechanical blowing also rere is any wind. It, howsufiicient wind to keep the should it be desired to. keep sagging when the ship is engine may be provided on the airship, or on, or adjacent to, the moo these conditions.

where provision is made for using ring mast for use under Alternatively, and in cases the exhaust gases of the engines the same result may be attained 5 either by running s faster with the clutches out.

method or methods of maintaining when the ship is moored the engines slowly or The aforesaid the outer cover taut may also be employed in conjuno tron with any of the usual methods by which attempts have been made in the past to maintain the outer cover taut, e. g., or the use of dopes.

between the gas lacing If desired, the space bags and the outer cover 75.884, and in Great Britain January 21, 1925.

may be divided into independent sections each of which placed in communication with the atmosphere by'an air scoop or aperture at the nose of the airship. In the case of a rigid airship o'l polygonal cross section, the outer cover need the longitudinal frames. As there will be a slight leakage of the high pressure air through various openings in the outer cover to the atmosphere which will cause a certain amount of air to circulate in the space between the gas bags and the outer cover the use of the present invention also has the advantage that it cools the gas bags and ventilates the space between the gas bags and the outer cover, so that the usual ventilators or air scoops can dispensed with. The usual air scoops are in themselves objectionable,,as they formprotuberances Wl1lCl1-l11 tcrtere with the streamline flow around and along the hull or body, and, as the present invention enables these protuberaiices' to be dispensed with, the speed of the airship and its sensitiveness to control is increased.

Furthermore, although attempts have been made to construct an airship havii'ig one of the most approved streamline forms, the advantages derived from the adopt-ion of such streamline form are detracted from owing to sagging of the outer cover which results from the usual methods of maintaining the outer cover taut. On the other hand, the present method of maintaining the outer cover taut also has the advantage that it allows an airship to be constructed having the most approved streamline form, and to allow such streamline form to be maintained at all times when the airship is in flight. For example, it is known that a body having a ratio of overall length to maximum diameter of l or 5 to 1 will otter a very low resistance to propulsion through the air provided the followingproportions are generally maintained (a) The head or front portion is approximately only be attached along the outer cover tautthe aforesaid streamline shape can be produced and maintained during flight by connecting the outer cover tofixed portions of the airship,such as the longitudinal frames, such connecting means being oi such a length or character, and bc- 111g so arranged that under the influence of the air pressure in the space between the has bags and the outer cover the latter will take up and maintain during flight the desired. streamline shape. i

The aforesaid method of maintaining the outer cover of an airship taut can advantageously he used in combination with the i invention described in ourro-pending apthe airship where there exists high relative velocity and zero ornegative pressure. Instead of a single opening as shown two or more openings may be provided at the ex treme nose of the airship so as to place the space A between the outer cover B and the gas bags G in connnunication with the at mosphere. In the example illustrated in the drawing a number of separate air compartments are provided along the length of the 7 ments G, G, alone; the length ol' the ship, '15 the compartn'ients G being; formed by dividing up the air space A at suitable distances apart into separate chambers by .lurants of fabric bulkheads H, H. i l

What I claim and desire to secure by l'ict' 4511 tors Patent of the United fi trates isz I. A method of n'iainfizainiug taut the outer cover of an airship which consists in prr" riding a space completely sari-minding the gas bags and located between the outer cover and the gas bags, said space being); placed in couununiczuion with the fiikfliielllltrl' by air admission means situated at theextrehic nose of the airship in the region of unrximuim pressure and zero relocityso that the oilhiir cover is distended by the air pressure at the nose of the ship. a a p 2. A method of niaintaiilinp" taut the outta cover of an airship which consists in pro viding a space completely e1irrouiidiun the gas bags and located hetwecuthc outer, and the gas bags, said space being:divu into independent sections mich oi" which it placed in communication with thcjfl'itimis phere by air admission means situated at the extreme nose of the airship in the ri-p'ion pi. maximum pressure and zero rehiicity so th it the outer cover is distended by the air prs sure at the nose of the ship. a r

BARNES NEVILLE mm;

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