US1513591A - Floating plant or harbor for airships and giant flying machines - Google Patents

Description

Oat;v 28 1924. 1,513,591 V w. E. DORR ET AL FLOATII IG' PDANT OR HARBOR FOR AIRQHIIIPS AND GIANT FLYING IMG HINES Filed Dec. 21. 1928 45 of tem erature and soon.

Patented 28, 192 4.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILHELM muss: norm, or UEBEBLINGEN-ON-THE-BODENSEE,'AND mmsm A. LEI-I- MANN AND EBERHARD LEMPERTZ, or FRI'EDRICH'SHAFEN-ON-THE-IBODENSEE, GER- ASSIGNOBS 'ro LUFTSCHIFFBAU ZEPPELIN GESELLSCEAI'T MIT 31-:- sonaanx'rnn HAFTUNG, or rnmnmcnsnarnn, nonr'msnn, G RMANY, A Film.

FLOATiNG PLANT-R HARBOR FOR Amsmrs AND GIANT FLYING MACHINES.

Applicationfiled December 21, 1923. Serial! No. 682,130.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, WILHELM ERN's'r Donn, ERNST AUGUST'LEHMANN, and EBER- HARD LEMrER'rz, residing at Ueberlingen-on the-Bodensee, .and Friedrichshafen-on-the- Bodensee, Germany, respectively, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Floating Plant or Harbor for Airships and Giant Flying Machines, of which the 1 following is a specification.

The invention relates to a floating plant or harbor for airships, which diflers from the known floating sheds, carried by a multi-.-

ple of separate pontoons, by the feature that instead of these only one single ships hull is employed, forming a unitary supporting construction, which extends essentially over the total length of the base of the shed, and that the deck of the ships hull forms simultaneously the floor of the shed, designed to resist the forces acting in the horizontal direction. By such an arrangement the advantage .of diminishing the dead weight is obtained, because the ships hull carrying the shed is engaged everywhere in a nearly equal degree and furthermore all structures of the construction are compelled alternately to absorb all the arts of loads occurring here. Therefore closed circuits in the distribution of forces within the structures and an extremely great, stiffness of the construction is obtained. Y 7

According to our inventionthe structure in its cross section is not to have any. flexible joint, so that it resemblesa tube with hollow walls making it float, the upperiinner shell of the walls being taken away because of the outer shell being suflicient to 40 serve for a roof. The lower inner shell may at the same time serve for a floor. Such-a structure will work up in itself all the stresses that may result ron loads, changes of buoyancy in-its different parts, changes The feature that it as no flexible joints causes a distribution of all possible stresses over all mem-- bers of the structure, all of them contributing to its strength, and thereby allowing a very low weight of construction.

In the further pursuance of the idea of our invention itis made ossible, to dip and lift the ships hull by t e arrangement, of

flood chambers combined with pumps, for the purpose of placing'the floor of the shed according to requirement above or below the Water-level. Furthermore propellers may be provided for assisting or substituting for the action of the wind and for shifting the shed around the anchoring point into the direction of the wind. The axles of these propellers are therefore arranged transversely to the longitudinal axis of the ships hull so that the propellers when being driven effecta rotary movement of theshed around its anchoring point,

In order that the invention may be readily understood, in the following specification a floating harbor-plant will be described with reference to the annexed drawings, in which Figs. 1 and 2 showcross sections of an airship shed embodyingour invention; Figs. 3 and 4 give a plan-view of the arrangement of such sheds on t e water.

The girders of the shed shown in Figs. 1

and 2 comprise two ringlike beams 1 and 4' distanced apart. They may be connected by' plates, thus forming cross bulkheads, or by suitable stays 3. These stays 3 in the longi- 80 tudinal direction of the structure form parts vof longitudinal trusses, which in the lower part of the structure may be developed into longitudinal bulkheads. The lower parts of the outer rings l bear a' water tight shell, their upper parts are adapted to bear a roof sheeting. The lower parts of the inner rings 4 also have a water-tight cover, serving to make watery-tight compartments 10 and at the same time serving for a floor.

Propellers 11, driven by motors of any kind, in any-suitable manner are provided, for assisting the wind to turn the shed around its anchoring point 9 into the d1- rection of the air-current.

The constructions of Fig. 1 and of Fig. 2 are alike in their essential parts, the differ only in the arrangement of the ongitudinal bulkheads; furthermore in Fig. 2 the floor of the shed is shown below the water-level, so that the airship may be drawn into the shed while resting at water level.

The shed may be arranged on a pond, es-

pecially made for this purpose, in lfsuch a 105 around one of its ends or around a central point, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, or the shed I may be located on a greater expanse of members connected with the cross-members water, for instance in a sea basin, and rotatory around an anchoring-point 9. lhe lateral movements of the shed are efiected by means of the propellers 10, the axles of which are arranged transversely to the longitudinal direction of the shed.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A floating shed for airships comprising a tubular structure including a %riesof inner and outer cross members of ring-like shape, disposed in spaced-apart relation, one within the other; longitudinally-extending and constituting therewith aframework; a covering disposed upon the framework constituting a roof; a shell disposed upon the framework and constituting a hull; a covering disposed upon the interior of the frame:

work to constitute a floor, the space between the inner and outer cross members being enlarged at this portion of the shed; and an instrumentality connected with the framework and shell in proximity to this enlarged space to constitute bulkheads and form, with certain other portions of the shed, a Water-tight compartment.

In testimony whereof we a our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

v WJLLHJELM ERNST DO ERNST A. LEHMANN.

EBERHARD LEMPERTZG Witnesses:

HANS Bnnmnisrnn, E. Wmnn'mn BERG.

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