von Zeppelin received a patent for his airship
On March 14, 1899, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin received a patent, #621,195 for his rigid airship design, the first Zeppelin
“To achieve this goal, we cannot use a flying machine which is obliged to land as soon as the machine stops working for whatever reason, and there is no machine to which this does not doesn’t happen from time to time. For us, this stopping would be disastrous in most cases.” von Zeppelin 1920
Today, most recognise the name Zeppelin for the tragic Hindenburg Zepplin disaster of 1937. Zeppelins take their name from their designer and innovator Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, a German pioneer in aviation.
Towards the close of the 19th century, von Zeppelin presented his revolutionary ideas about a “steerable” dirigible to the German Imperial government. His designs included a method to control the flight of a hot air balloon, rather than depending on the whims of the wind. von Zeppelin proposed a rigid ship piloted by motors. At the time, the official government response was less than kind. Some German authorities ridiculed him and dismissed his plans. The humiliation was complete when the Kaiser refered to him as the “dumbest of all South Germans” (Dümmste aller Süddeutschen). He was even nicknamed the “fool from Lake Constance”. (r/f Der Spiegel article Rivals Parseval and Zeppelin: The First Airships – Competition of the Designers – DER SPIEGEL)
Stamps:
Count Zeppelin and airship LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin
Part of the Famous Germans series
Issued by Reich Postal Ministry January 21, 1934
Airmail
Centenary of Inaugural Flight of LZ-1 (Zeppelin Airship)
for the anniversary of the first Zeppelin flight
Issued by Deutsche Post June 13, 2000
Designer: Angela Kühn
von Zeppelin’s first encounter with hot air balloons came in 1863. He had travelled to the United States to act as a military observer of the Union army. While in the US, he managed to travel around, including to St. Paul, Minnesota in time to join Union army officer John Steiner in a balloon ride:
Zeppelin’s first experience with lighter-than-air flight was an ascent in this 41,000 cubic foot balloon, inflated with coal gas, which had previously been used as an observation balloon by the Union Army. Operated by John Steiner, a German-born balloonist who had served in the Union Army, the balloon reached 600 to 700 feet in a tethered ascent; Count von Zeppelin had seen the world from the air. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin | Airships.net
This short flight was a turning point in von Zeppelin’s life. He would pursue the idea of using balloons for transportation, despite little or no interest from his military superiors.
Seven years later, he was with the Württemberg army during the Franco-Prussian war. His careful observations of the French use of balloons to get supplies in and out of Paris greatly influenced his views. By 1874, von Zeppelin was already laying down thoughts on improving balloons:
In 1874 Zeppelin made entries in his diary describing a rigid-framed, aerodynamically flown ship constructed of rings and longitudinal girders and containing individual gas cells, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin | Airships.net
After retiring from the army in 1890, von Zeppelin devoted his time and finances to developing a working rigid airship. A year after retirement, he filed his first patent, June 23, 1891, which explored the idea of a steerable airship. Although he withdrew the application, he continued working with engineers to flesh out the design further.
On July 6, 1892, according to the French magazine L’Aérophile (November 1900) von Zeppelin took a longer balloon trip through Switzerland, from Bern to Lucerne, further inspiring him to pursue a practical controlled flight balloon.
In the November 1900 L’Aérophile interview, von Zeppelin explained what his vision had been for the development of controlled flight airships:
“People suppose me to have designs that I never had. I do not pretend to create a vehicle capable of competing with railways or steamships, not even with tethered balloons which serve as scouts within a limited radius.“I strive to create a vehicle capable of going where there is a great interest in going quickly and where no other means of transport can reach, or at least not quickly enough or not reliably enough.“To achieve this goal, we cannot use a flying machine which is obliged to land as soon as the machine stops working for whatever reason, and there is no machine to which this does not doesn’t happen from time to time. For us, this stopping would be disastrous in most cases.“I believe the problem can only be solved by an airship capable of remaining in the air without the aid of any machine and having at least two independent motors of which the stopping of one cannot hinder the operation of the other.My balloon must be able to walk for several days without needing to refill gas or any supplies. Its speed must be sufficient for it to be able to provide the services I expect of it.
von Zeppelin, October 17, 1900
On December 29,1897, he filed a patent for a “Navigable Balloon”. This patent addressed all his concerns about balloon flight, their unreliability. It was this application that was granted patent No. 621,195.
Navigable Balloon patent papers
After filing the patent papers in 1897, von Zeppelin formed the Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Luftschifffahrt (Society for the Promotion of Airship Travel) to raise money to fund the building of his balloon. He sunk over 441,000 marks into the company himself, becoming the major funder.
Diagram from the Navigable Balloon patent
With money now available, von Zeppelin and his chief designer Theodor Kober, settled down at Lake Constance to build the first rigid air machine. It would be titled LZ-1 – Luftschiff Zeppelin 1 or Zeppelin Airship 1. This was the only Zeppelin Kober designed. Subsequent designs were by Ludwig Dürr.
Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin began construction of his first airship, LZ-1, in June, 1898 in a floating wooden hangar on the Bodensee (Lake Constance) at Manzell (Friedrichshafen) in Southern Germany, not far from the Swiss border. The movable, floating shed allowed the ship to be positioned into the wind to enter or leave its hangar. The First Zeppelins: LZ-1 through LZ-4 | Airships.net
A floating construction hall was built on Lake Constance. Image courtesy https://www.ardalpha.de/wissen/geschichte/historische-persoenlichkeiten/zeppelin-ferdinand-luftschiff-duemmste-100~_image-3_-7f14f0c36170bc3100407e2bbd606c6af0d868fb.html
On July 2,1900, von Zeppelin and his workers rolled out the first airship. It was 420 feet in length and 38.5 feet diameter. It encased 399,000 cubic feet of hydrogen in a rigid steel frame powered by 2 Daimler engines.
LZ-1 (Luftschiff Zeppelin 1) was 420 feet long, 38-1/2 feet in diameter, and contained approximately 399,000 cubic feet of hydrogen in 17 gas cells made of rubberized cotton fabric. Two metal gondolas were suspended below the ship (one forward and one aft) and each gondola housed a 4-cylinder water-cooled Daimler gasoline engine producing about 14 horsepower. Each engine was connected by long shafts to two outrigger propellers mounted on either side of the hull. Pitch was controlled by a sliding weight suspended under the hull which could be shifted fore and aft; there were no elevators for pitch control, or fins for stability. The First Zeppelins: LZ-1 through LZ-4 | Airships.net
The first flight was not a complete success. The LZ-1 had a number of major flaws, including the above-mentioned lack of pitch control. According to Airships.net, the ship “… was overweight, and a severe lack of engine power and speed made it difficult to control in even slight winds…” Added to the issues were problems with the engines failing during the maiden flight.
But despite these flaws, LZ-1 stayed aloft for 17 minutes. It carried 5 passengers a distance of 6 km (3.7 miles) at a height of 410 m (1,350 ft).
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin.- Jungfernflug Luftschiff “LZ 1”
Date July 2, 1900
von Zeppelin was unable to attract government investors for his airship. He had exhausted his funds and needed the money to invest in better designs. So, bit by bit, the first Zeppelin met an ignoble end, torn apart and sold off as scrap. It wasn’t until 1906 that the next Zeppelin (the LZ 2) was launched.
von Zeppelin in the gondolla of the LZ 7 U.B.: Graf Zeppelin in der Führergondel seines Luftschiffes.on the LZ 5