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Early-type Airship

Early-type Airship.jpg Grahame-White Military Biplane - front viewThumbnailsDunne inherently stable BiplaneGrahame-White Military Biplane - front viewThumbnailsDunne inherently stable BiplaneGrahame-White Military Biplane - front viewThumbnailsDunne inherently stable BiplaneGrahame-White Military Biplane - front viewThumbnailsDunne inherently stable BiplaneGrahame-White Military Biplane - front viewThumbnailsDunne inherently stable BiplaneGrahame-White Military Biplane - front viewThumbnailsDunne inherently stable Biplane
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A typical craft, representing the first of those navigated with any certainty, is shown in Figure. A gas-containing envelope, made of a light, strong, varnished fabric, is kept taut by the pressure of the gas within; the car, constructed of wood or metal tubing, is suspended by ropes from the envelope, and contains engine and crew, with a two-bladed propeller revolving astern. Such a machine, in its control, had an elevating-plane and rudder, upon the same principle as those of the aeroplane. One of the difficulties to be overcome was the expansion and contraction of gas in the envelope owing to differences in altitude and temperature. When the craft ascended, its envelope completely inflated, the gas began to dilate owing to the outer air becoming less dense; and some had to be allowed to escape through automatic valves. Then, should the machine descend to a lower level, there was not sufficient gas in the envelope to keep it tightly stretched, and it tended to sag at the bow as it was driven through the air.

A. Gas envelope
B. Car suspended below envelope
C. Motor, which drives propeller (D) through a shaft
E. Small horizontal plane for rising or descending
F. Fixed fin, or keel plane, to give stability
G. Rudder.

Author
The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Aeroplane, by Claude Grahame-White and Harry Harper
Published 1914
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1200*538
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