Dirigible airship
OwnerFrederick D. Fergusoninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An airship in the form of a self-powered, elongated dirigible which comprises at least three sections connected together by joints. The sections including a front section with propulsion devices and control surfaces, at least one intermediate section designed to carry a payload and a rear section with control surfaces. The joints allow limited articulation between sections under gust conditions and tend to return the sections to aligned condition in calm air. A cover may provide a streamline exterior shape for the airship; alternatively the sections may have rims which mate together when there is no articulation to provide a smooth exterior shape.
Claims21
An airship in the form of a self-powered, elongated dirigible, which comprises at least four buoyant gas containing sections connected end to end, each section having a fore-and-aft central axis, the sections being connected by articulated joints allowing limited articulation in any plane between adjacent sections up to at least 10.degree. from the co-axial state, under gust conditions,;
- the sections including front and rear tapered sections and at least two identical cylindrical intermediate sections allowing modular construction of the airship, the front section having propulsion means and the intermediate sections having load carrying means but no propulsion means, said load carrying means being independent of any load carrying means of adjacent sections;
- said articulated joints including compression parts surrounding the ends of the adjacent sections and suitable for resisting primarily axially directed compression forces between said sections, and tension elements in the from of extensible means joining the peripheries of the adjacent sections, so that, on relative bending of the adjacent sections, tension forces in the extensible means are counteracted by compression forces between said compression parts, said extensible means being pre-tensioned to prevent any articulation of the sections until a predetermined bending force is exceeded;
- said articulated joints also including means for maintaining an intersecting relationship between the axes of said adjacent sections during bending and for preventing relative rotation between sections.
An airship in the form of a self-powered, elongated dirigible, which comprises at least four buoyant gas containing sections, each section having a fore-and-aft central axis, the sections being connected by articulated joints including extensible means joining the peripheries of adjacent sections and allowing limited articulation in any plane between adjacent sections up to at least 10.degree. from the co-axial state, under gust conditions;
- the sections including front and rear tapered sections and at least two intermediate cylindrical sections, the ends of adjacent sections having reinforcing rim elements which resist primarily axial compression forces between said sections and which prevent substantial relative rotation between sections, said rim elements being such as to mate together to provide a generally streamline transition between the two sections when the sections are co-axial;
- said extensible means being pretensioned to prevent any articulation of the sections until a predetermined bending force is exceeded.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.