France's New Airship.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 17 April 1914, Page 2

France's New Airship.

The first rigid airship built for the French army, the Spiess, has been undergoing trials, and. so far, the experiments are declared to have been successful. Spiess, after whom the new air-vessel is named, w*as a Frenchman who invented a rigid type of airship as far back as 1873, and prepared plans and specifications as carefully as those produced to-day in patenting an invention. But so little attention was .paid to his work that it was completely overlooked, and until quite recently it was believed that the rigid airship was a German innovation. This Spiess airship differs from the Zeppelins by the fact that its rigidity is obtained, not by means of aluminium, but by hollow wood frame-work covered with canvas. It consists of eleven compartments, with a total length of 340.ft., and a maximum diameter of 45ft. Each compartment is filled by a balloonet, which adapts itself to the rigid frame as soon as it is ' inflated. A sort of triangular keel extends nearly the entire length of the airship,-with a slight depression fore and aft, where the motors are situated. There are two Chenu motors of six cylinders and 1,800----,-h.p... each of which operates two wooden propellers ISf't. in diameter. These propellers are attached aft high up on each side of the rigid i'rame, which constitutes one of the original features of the new airship, i The transmission is effected by'j oblique shafts 2Hft. in length, with cardan joints and three supports. The steering is ejected by vertical biplanes fixed aft, and the stabilitators consist of four horizontal lplanes, also attached at the rear, i A series of cables stretched across , the eleven compartments terminates forward, and by being joined offers a solid hold, which permits of an■clmring- the airship with the n&ee to t hi.- wind.