Show A aa merica fie ay le Leviathan flathan 0 the al AI anniese an Siese 7 alif g W 7 TO the akron and dock cleared and beadil for c az by HUGH ALLEN THE lire preM sence nce of 1 ank i Z from roin all sections of tile country sirs herbert hoover first lady of tile llie land formally christened the U S S akron largest airship in the great zeppelin duck dock on akron municipal nir port saturday afternoon august 8 added to the throngs in the building who actually witnessed e the ceremonies mill millions jolls or of listeners tuned in on radio sets all over tile llie world orld to hear bear the ife of the president of the united states formally name tile largest military aircraft AA ever built and to hear the flutter of wings I 1 as 48 homing pigeons raced out of a hatchway P W L beld pre S near the nose of the ship coad rosendahl Pos endahl Good ilear irL corp ort on the platform with mrs hoover were david of akron sinton ID ingalzi Ingal hi assistant secretary of the alie navy in charge of aeronautics rear admiral william adger moffett chief of the navy bureau of aeronautics Dauti cs paul W litchfield president of the goodyear zeppelin corporation builders of the ship and other noted figures of official and private tate life standing at attention in front of the control car of the aerial dreadnought dread naught were corn coni charles B E rosendahl and his crew of nine off officers leers and 51 enlisted men president litchfield of goodyear introduced admiral moffett to the crowds and the admiral long an enthusiastic supporter of lighter than air craft predicted that the second navy airship would be even greater than the akron in size and cruising ability long before the christening the akron was officially designated on navy de department demartin partin ent blueprints as tile ZUS 4 these letters stand for zeppelin zepp zep eliu rigid scout number four the or akron far surpasses the famous graf zeppelin or the n R in size speed strength and ability to cover long distances in 1924 4 president litchfield of goodyear brought over from germany dr karl arnstein Arnst eln and 14 other engl engineers Deers and designers from the german zeppelin works at on oil lake constance activities of the german concern had bad been brought to a halt by the allies and there was a strong possibility that the talent and experience gained by years of close association with the huge rigid airships might become scattered to the four corners of the earth on arrival in this country doctor arnstein Arnst eln who designed and supervised construction of 70 of germanys germanas Germ anys war ar zeppelins zeppelina zepp elins went to work on designs for large commercial ships the united states navy then announced a design competition the concern submitting the best design to be awarded a contract to build the worlds largest airship goodyear zeppelin submitted three designs and designs were also entered in the competition by 37 other firms the three designs of the akron concern however took first second and third place and in the autumn of 1928 the contract was fort formally nally awarded then the zeppelin ln dock the worlds largest building without interior supports was erected on akron municipal airport and with completion of this huge structure late in 1929 29 work on the 4 was started first it was necessary to make girders out of the sheet that came into the zep bellu plant these girders were made madd according to specific plan and each was numbered before being transported to tile the dock at the dock they were assembled into a huge main maid frame or ring girder whose diameter was feet this huge main frame was assembled on the floor of the dock and later hoisted into its vertical position the first rivet to be driven into the alie fra frame me was of gold and N was as squeezed into place by admiral hollett before a crowd of persons in all there are more than rivets la in the framework of the ship and each was squeezed into place by hand workmen using tools especially designed for the purpose all of the main frames which are of unusual construction were assembled on tile the floor and then hoisted into place in tile the same manner as the first one and connected by longitudinal dal girders Bir ders now I 1 with the fabric covering of tile the all in place the maze of girders and main to spectators w who ho frames are not visible are thus unable to gain eala an idea of the imme immense nse amount into building t this his of work that went leviathan of the air the ship has a length of TK feet only 9 feet longer than the famous grof graf zeppelin that has hag done so much to bring home to the public tle the practicability of lighter than alir travel but bit its diameter feet Is 34 feet greater than the graf craf accounting for the fact cheak the akron ron will have nearly twice the gas capacity of us its german sister bister total gas calin capacity city of the new ship is 0 nn OW nm table cubic feet as compared with iab 3 00 cubic feet for the grat graf instead of being contained co in 10 one huge envelope gas in the akron will be confined in 12 separate eel cells Is in effect 12 1 separate balloons each of these cells was wa nore more carefully tailored tal lorel than any human garion sect section ment and was built to fit the particular of t tile the ship in which it Is 18 located to build the cells more than 12 acres of dally chilly woven cotton cotten cloth was required half of the cells are of 0 rubber marrafino construction while the remainder are or of gelatine latex construction st a new development during the past ye year r or so an additional seven acres of fabric were required to make the outer cover tor for the akron the cloth was cut into panels averaging 74 feet in length and ranging lo IV width from 12 to 24 feet feel 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 application catlon by brush insured that the dope soaked into eiery e ery 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 aluminum num dope were nere 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 tor reflection of sunlight and its attendant heat lifting gas when heated expands and changes weight calculations of the airships captain it is best then to maintain as near an even temperature as possible in sewing together the panels a tolerance of only one thirty second of an inch was allowed 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 aarons construction not found in any airship heretofore built is the la in stall atlon of the motors in roomy compartments inside the hull bull instead of in gondolas suspended outside the ship this refinement Is made possible by use of helium the noninflammable inflammable non non explosive lifting gas cas 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 tile the old gondolas and atlow 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 tile 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 aach 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 60 tons it is apparent that shou should id this amount be nearly tile the still ship would all used up on a single flight be nearly GO CO tons lighter when ten it returned to its base than when hed it I 1 t started and consequently much harder to handle to compensate for this a water ater ballast r recovery system lias fins been akron which bich will allow the installed on the lie hase base weighing even more its ship to return to than when it started above each of the motors is a series of condenser panels through gli which the exhaust forced after being the engines engine s are from froin 9 gases amses with will air theoretically it Is pos possible sible to mixed of water for each gallons gallong recover pounds of gasoline aset used 1 but engineers through themselves that more than have satisfied tests recovered in actual be of water can pounds of f gasoline used for each pounds practice indicators will telegraph of marine A system instructions Instruct fons from the captain be used to convey of the ship shill to the engine rooms delivered from the motors to the power la is outside the hull bull by means of a rigid rig d propellers mounted on sturdy device and bevel pear gear short be tilted through may lany the propellers outriggers ou thrust thus exert ert and nd can 0 8 of 00 o degrees an are arc tile the ground lo in a to belp the bt phlp 1 ip off downward aff in 1 tile t usual sual horizontal direction tk as well as a I 1 to in high the motors are necessary thus be used reversible find and tile the pr propellers may if necessary noc ery when arth tl to pull the tie ship to e position tilted it in a vertical they tire are Is another unique cabin conal control rol just aft of the airplane com akron it Is an feature of the part apartment ment that will hold live bye completely equipped fighting airplanes the V aes ues may be lowered through a T shaped opening through the bottom of the hull bull into the air hm then released to go about their assigned missions on completion of these missions the planes can return and hook on to a special trapeze and be hoisted holste dInto into the huge airship without ever having baying landed one of the most interesting things to be found in the akron Is its telephone tele telen chone hone system As the craft la Is more than two and one half balf city blocks in length it Is necessary that the captain in the control car have immediate communication mun muni cation leation with all sections of the ship hence IS 18 telephone instruments are located at strategic points and the captain may talk to any or all of them when he be desires the control car contains three rooms the first for actual flying dying 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 nill live are located above the control car inside the hull and are equipped with bunks and chairs quarters 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 or 0 keels along each side there Is another located in ID the extreme top of tile the akron making a total of three previous ships have had but one keel which litch 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 fent to prepare 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 boney find 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 horizontally izon tally and the other pair vertically from the hull bull the fixed surfaces or fins give stability to the craft and each Is about the size of an average city lot ft has been estimated that four ordinary bungalows together with two one car garages could be placed on each horizontal fin with still elou enough b room left over for a few newer flower beds attached to the fixed surfaces are the movable surfaces the rudders which govern the lateral direction of the ship are attached to the rear of the two vertical fins while title the elevators governing the up and down movements are attached to the horizontal fins in the lower vertical fin Is located an emergency control room 3 feet wide and 15 fert feet long here two men will be stationed at all times to assume control of the ship should the cables lending leading froni from the fo forward rivard cabin to the fins fans become shot away in war time or disabled for any cause whatever following trial flights of the akron and her formal acceptance by the navy it Is planned to base the ship at Lake lakehurst burst naval nir air station for some timp time the akron Is primarily a navy ship and was not built for passenger work she wilt will be assigned to missions with ith tile 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 fits desk in new york on oil saturday morning arrive in london on monday morning transi transact ct business in europe until friday morning and be hack back at his desk in new york the following monday in only a few days more time than it it would take to make a one way crossing on a surface craft terminal site locations locut ions have been studied for sometime but no announcement as to where the american terminal of the atlantic line will be located has boen been made tile the pacific line it Is expected will sonic smile day operate from the vest rest const coast of the slie united states to the orient through hawaii and the philippine islands A 0 by western union 1 |