Show leviathan rae ai by HUGH ALLEN N presence of persons from all sections of the country mrs herbert hoover list lady of the land formally christened the U S S akron worlds largest air ship in the great zeppelin ln dock on akron municipal airport saturday afternoon august 8 added to the in the building who actually witnessed the ceremonies millions of listen ITS tuned in on radio sets all over the world to hear the wife of the president of the united states formally name the largest military air ever built and to hear the flutter of wings u 48 homing pigeons raced out of a hatchway near the nose of the ship on the platform w ath mrs hoover were david santon ingalls assistant secretary of the navy in charge of aeronautics rear admiral william adger moffett chief of the navy bureau of aero bantlis paul W president of the goodyear zeppelin corporation builders of the UP and other noted figures of official and arl life standing at attention in front of the car of the aerial dreadnought dread naught were beut corn charles E rosendahl and his crew of nine officers and 51 enlisted men president of goodyear introduced admiral moffett to the crowds and the admiral long an enthusiastic supporter of lighter than clr craft predicted that the second navy airship would be even greater than the akron in size ind cruising ability long before the christening the alron was officially designated on isaly deportment blueprints as the 4 these letters stand tor zeppelin ln rigid scout number four the 4 or akron far surpasses the famous craf zeppelin ln or the british R in size speed strength and ability to cover long distances in 1924 president of goodyear brought over from germany dr karl arnstein Arnst eln nd 14 other engineers and designers from the german zeppelin ln works at Friederichs hafen on late constance activities of the german con cern had been brought to a halt by the allies aad there was a strong possibility that the eilent and experience gained by years of close association with the huge rigid airships might become scattered to the four corners of the arth on arrival in this country doctor arnstein Arnst eln arto designed and supervised construction of TO of germany s war went to work w designs for large commercial ships the states navy then announced a design petition the concern submitting the best de to be awarded a contract to build the brids largest airships goodyear zeppelin submitted three designs 1 designs were also entered in the competition by 37 other firms the three designs of the ahon concern however took first second and place and in the autumn of 1928 the con tract was formally awarded then the zeppelin ln dock the worlds largest without interior supports was erected rn akron municipal airport and with completion tt huge structure late in 1929 work on the S ft as started arst it was necessary to make girders out t the sheet that came into the zepp plant these girders were made according specific plan and each was numbered before tog transported to the dock at the dock they re assembled into a huge main frame or S whose diameter was feet this lee main frame was assembled on the floor of s dock and later hoisted into its vertical position fhe first rivet to be driven into lie frame q M of gold and was squeezed into by ad iral moffett before a crowd of persons all there are more than rivets in tae framework of the ship and each was breezed iree zed into place by hand workmen using toas especially designed for the purpose au of the main frames which are of unusual instruction were assembled on the floor and en listed into place in the same manner as e first one and connected by longitudinal ow with the fabric covering of the ship all place the maze of girders and n mes are not visible to spectators who II 11 unable to gain an idea of the immense t of work that went into building this athan of the air tae IP has a length of feet only 9 wi longer than the famous graf that f v done so much to bring home to the public e e practicability of lighter than air travel M t 8 diameter feet Is 34 feet greater afaf tang tl ng for the fact the akron ui have nearly twice the gas capacity of its aan sister total gas capacity of the new ship Is F w feet aa with cubic 0 i or the graf instead of being contained one huge envelope gas in the akron will I 1 1 12 separate cells in effect 12 bor 1210 balloons facci of these cells was beb tailored than any human gar SA and was billt to fit the particular section in which it Is located ulla the cells more than 12 acres of lieu t rosendahl commander comm ander of Akron dally woven cotten cloth was required half of the cells are of rubber construction while the remainder are of gelatine latex con a new development during the past year or so an additional seven acres of fabric were required to make the outer cover for the akron the cloth was cut into panels averaging 74 feet in length and ranging in width from 12 to 24 feet the panels were first laced to the framework as tightly as possible and then a single coat of clear dope similar to that used on airplane wings applied with a brush ap by brush insured that the dope soaked into aery pore of the fabric and when it dried stretched the cover taut as a drum following this another coat of clear dope was sprayed on with air brushes and later two coats of alual num dope were applied contrary to popular opinion the aluminum dope which gives the ship a beautiful silvery appearance as it flies through the air Is not for beauty alone it has been discovered that this type of dope Is best for reflection of sun light and its attendant heat lifting gas when heated expands and changes weight calculi alons of the airship s captain it Is best then to maintain as near an even temperature as pos elble tn sewing together the panels a tolerance of only one thirty second of an inch was al lowed on the seams this Is easily understood when it Is pointed out that miles and miles of seams were necessary and had the tolerance been one fourth of an inch instead of one thirty second an extra weight of many pounds might have been entailed A feature of the akron s construction not found in any airship heretofore built Is the installation stal lation of the motors in roomy compartments inside the hull instead of in gondolas suspended outside the ship this refinement Is made pos elble by use of helium the non inflammable oon explosive lifting aas of which this country has a natural monopoly installation of the motors inside the ship reduces the resistance set up by the suspended gondolas and gives the ship greater speed also the engine compartments are much larger than was possible in the old gondolas and allow mechanics ample space to care for the throbbing power plants under their supervision four engines are located on each side of the ship and produce a total of horsepower the motors each with horsepower will propel the ship at a top speed of 84 miles per hour gasoline for the motors Is carried in tanks ranging in capacity up to gallons each and a total load of gallons of gasoline may be carried this amount of fuel Is sufficient to fly the ship over a distance of miles without stopping As gallons of gasoline weigh GO tons it Is apparent eliat should this amount be near ly all used up on a single flight the ship would be nearly CO tons lighter when it returned to its base than when it started and consequent ly much harder to handle to compensate for this a water ballast recovery system has been installed on the akron which will allow the ship to return to its base weighing even more than when it started above each of the motors Is a series of condenser panels through which the exhaust gases from the engines are forced after being mixed with air theoretically it Is possible to recover pounds of water for each gal lona of gasoline used but engineers through tests have satisfied themselves that more than pounds of water can be recovered in actual practice for each pounds of gasoline used A si stem of marine telegraph indicators will be used to convey instructions from the captain of the ship to the engine rooms power Is delivered from the motors to the propellers outside the hull by means of a rigid shaft and bevel gear device mounted on sturdy outriggers the propellers may be tilted through an arc of 00 degrees and can thus exert thrust downward to help the ship off the ground in a take oft as well as in the usual horl yontal dl ne cesary in flight the motors are reversible and alie propellers may thus be used to pull the ship to earth if necessary when they are tilted IE a position just aft of the control cabin Is another unique feature of the alron it Is an airplane corn PW litchfield pres jear zeppelin corp apartment part ment that will hold five completely equipped fighting airplanes the pines may be lowered through a T shaped opening through the bottom of the hull into the air and then released to go about their assigned missions on corn of these missions the planes can return and hook on to a special trapeze and be hoisted into the huge airship without ever having landed one of the most interesting things to be found in the akron Is its telephone system As the craft Is more than two and one half city blocks in length it Is necessary that the captain in the control car have immediate corn with all sections of the ship hence 18 telephone instruments are located at strategic points and the captain may talk to any or all of them when he desires the control car contains three rooms the first for actual flying of the ship in which the control wheels are located the second for the meteorologist or weather expert and the third for the navigator quarters in which the officers will live are located above the control car inside the hull and are equipped with bunks and chairs tars for the crew are located on each side of the ship along the gangways or catwalks that serve as passageways eways and also as rigid keels in addition to the gangways 0 keels along each side there Is another located in the ex top of the akron making a total of three previous ships have had but one keel which extended along the bottom center line meals will be prepared on an especially built stove weighing but pounds the stove has eight cooking spaces and Is sufficient to pre pare warm meals for the entire crew the first breakfast prepared as a test of the stove and cooking equipment was served while the ship was still in the dock at akron and consisted of flapjacks flap jacks with butter and honey and coffee the control surfaces which are directly responsible for maneuvering the akron are located near the stern and consist of four fins and movable surfaces one pair extending hor izon tally and the other pair vertically from the hull the fixed surfaces or fins give stability to the craft and each Is about the size of an average city lot it has been estimated that four ordinary bungalows together with two one car garages could be placed on each horizontal fin with still enough room left over for a few flower beds attached to the fixed surfaces are the amov able surfaces the rudders which govern the lateral direction of the ship are attached to the rear of the two vertical fins while the elevators governing the up and down move ments are attached to the horizontal fins in the lower fin Is located an emer gency control room 3 feet wide and 15 feet long here two men will be stationed at all times to assume control of the ship should the cables leading from the forward cabin to the fins become shot away in war or disabled tor any cause whatever following trial flights of the akron and her formal acceptance by the navy it Is planned to base the ship at lakehurst naval air station for come time the akron Is primarily a navy ship and was not built for passenger work she will be as signed to missions with the fleet and will act as a scout ship ships of the same general design may easily be built for commercial work however and looking to this end the international zeppelin transport company and the pacific zeppelin transport company were organized nearly two years ago to study routes and terminal sites for atlantic and pacific passenger lines As a result of these studies it Is believed that a business man could leave his desk in new york on saturday morning arrive in london on monday morning transact business in eu rope until friday morning and be back at his desk in new york the following monday in only n few days more time than it would take to make a one way crossing on a surface craft terminal site locations have been studied for sometime but no announcement as to where the american terminal of the atlantic line will be located has been made the pacific line it Is expected will some day operate from the west coast of the united states to the orient through hawaii and the philippine islands by western newspaper mojon |