airship

airship

  • Submitted By: mshd
  • Date Submitted: 09/07/2016 8:30 AM
  • Category: Technology
  • Words: 1895
  • Page: 8

What is the airship?
Is it improved?
Airship is one of famous vehicle that made for transport and everyday it improves. An airship is a large lighter-than-air gas balloon that can be navigated by using engine-driven propellers. There are three types of airships: rigid (has an internal metal frame to maintain the envelope's shape); semi-rigid (rigid keels run the length of the envelope to maintain its shape); and non-rigid (internal pressure of the lifting gas, usually helium, maintains the envelope's shape). This essay focuses on non-rigid airships (commonly called blimps) because they are the primary type of airship in general use today.
The history of airships begins, like the history of hot air balloons, in France. After the invention of the hot air balloon in 1783, a French officer named Meusnier envisioned an airship that utilized the design of the hot air balloon, but was able to be navigated. In 1784, he designed an airship that had an elongated envelope, propellers, and a rudder, not unlike today's blimp. Although he documented his idea with extensive drawings, Meusnier's airship was never built. In 1852, another Frenchman, an engineer named Henri Giffard, built the first practical airship. Filled with hydrogen gas, it was driven by a 3 hp steam engine weighing 350 lb. (160 kg), and it flew at 6 mi/hr. (9 km/hr.). Even though Giffard's airship did achieve liftoff, it could not be completely controlled.The first successfully navigated airship, La France, was built in 1884 by two more Frenchman, Reynard and Krebs. Propelled by a 9 HP electrically-driven airscrew, La France was under its pilots' complete control. It flew at 15 mi/hr. (24 km/hr.).In 1895, the first distinctly rigid airship was built by German David Schwarz. His design led to the successful development of the zeppelin, a rigid airship built by Count zeppelin. The zeppelin utilized two 15 hp engines and flew at a speed of 25 mi/hr. (42 km/hr.). Their development and the subsequent...

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