The Zeppelin ''LZ 1'' was the first successful experimental rigid
airship
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
. It was first flown from a floating hangar on
Lake Constance
Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...
, near
Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a city on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance (the ''Bodensee'') in Southern Germany, near the borders of both Switzerland and Austria. It is the district capital (''Kre ...
in southern Germany, on 2 July 1900.
[Lueger, Otto: Lexikon der gesamten Technik und ihrer Hilfswissenschaften, Bd. 1 Stuttgart, Leipzig 1920., S. 404–412]
Luftschiff
/ref> "LZ" stood for ''Luftschiff Zeppelin'', or "Airship Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...
".
Design and development
Count Zeppelin
Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (german: Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin; 8 July 1838 – 8 March 1917) was a German general and later inventor of the Zeppelin rigid airships. His name soon became synonymous with airships a ...
had been devoting his energies to the design of large rigid-framed airships since his retirement from the army in 1890. In 1898 he established the Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Luftschifffahrt. The company had a subscribed capital of 800,000 Deutschmarks, of which Zeppelin contributed 300,000 Deutschmarks: the remainder was provided by various industrialists, including 100,000 Deutschmarks contributed by Carl Berg, whose company provided the aluminium
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
framework of the airship. The company first constructed a large floating shed to contain the airship. This arrangement was decided on firstly because Zeppelin believed that landing the ship over water would be safer and secondly because the floating shed, moored only at one end, would turn so that it was always facing into the wind.[Robinson 1973 p. 23]
The ''LZ 1'' was constructed using a cylindrical framework with 16 wire-braced polygonal transverse frames and 24 longitudinal members covered with smooth surfaced cotton cloth. Inside was a row of 17 gas cells made from rubberized cotton. The airship was steered by forward and aft rudders and propulsion was provided by two Daimler NL-1
Daimler is a German surname. It may refer to:
People
* Gottlieb Daimler (1834–1900), German inventor, industrialist and namesake of a series of automobile companies
* Adolf Daimler (1871–1913), engineer and son of Gottlieb Daimler
* Paul Dai ...
internal-combustion engine
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combust ...
s, each driving two propellers mounted on the envelope. Pitch control was by use of a weight suspended beneath the hull which could be winched forward or aft to control its attitude. Passengers and crew were carried in two long aluminium gondola
The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull ...
s suspended forward and aft.
Construction of the airship began on 17 June 1898, when the first sections of the framework were delivered from Berg's factory and was completed by 27 January 1900. Inflation of the gasbags took place during June and the airship was first taken out of the shed on the evening of 2 July, with Hauptmann Hans Bartsch von Sigsfeld of the Prussian Airship Battalion at the controls.
The first flight revealed serious structural deficiencies in the framework, and an attempt to remedy this was made by incorporating the walkway between the gondolas into a rigid keel structure. At the same time the moveable weight was increased to 150 kg (330 lb), the aft rudders moved from either side of the envelope to below it, and an elevator
An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...
fitted below the nose.[Robinson 1973, pp. 27–28]
Operational history
At its first trial the ''LZ 1'' carried five people, reached an altitude of and flew a distance of in 17 minutes, but by then the moveable weight had jammed and one of the engines had failed: the wind then forced an emergency landing. After repairs and alterations, the ship flew two more times, on 17 and 24 October. It showed its potential by beating the speed record of then held by the French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...
's electric-powered non-rigid airship ''La France'', but this did not convince any potential investors. Because funding was exhausted, Graf von Zeppelin had to dismantle the airship, sell the scrap and tools and liquidate the company.
Specifications
See also
Notes
References
*Robinson, Douglas H. (1973) ''Giants in the Sky'' Henley-on-Thames, Foulis.
*
Further reading
*Brooks, Peter W. ''Zeppelin: Rigid Airships 1893–1940'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institute Press, 1992
{{Zeppelin aircraft
1900s German experimental aircraft
Zeppelins
Hydrogen airships
1900 in Germany
Aircraft first flown in 1900
Twin-engined piston aircraft
Aircraft with counter-rotating propellers