THE U.S. ZEPPELIN.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15979, 6 May 1924, Page 8

THE U.S. ZEPPELIN.

DIMENSIONS AND POWER. BERLIN, March 16. According: to an announcement by the Zeppelin Company at Friedrichshafen, the voyage of the Zeppelin ail-ship Z.R.3 to Lakchurst, New Jersey, which was originally planned for November of last year and was subsequently fixed to take place at the end of April or the beginning of May. has again been postponed. The five new 400 h.p. 12-cylinder Maybach engines have not been sufficiently tested for reliability, and it is thought desirable lo make a number of lest (lights over the interior of Germany before they are finally passed. The Atlantic voyage will in no ease take place before the end of May. The route is still uncertain and will depend upon conditions to he established later on. but at present the projected land route from Fricdrichshafen is via Switzerland and France to the southern end of the Bay of Biscay, whence the trans-Atlantic crossing will be made. The airship, which has a capacity of 70,000 cubic metres (2,472,000 cubic feet), was filled with gas a few days ago, and it is hoped to make the first test ascent over the Lake of Constance during the coming week. The principal characteristics of the construction of the frame and envelope have been the outcome of the long experience of airship building at Friedrichshafen, the Z.R.3 being the 126th to be designed and 116th to he built by the Zeppelin Company. By the terms of the agreement the airship embodies the sum of all the discoveries made in the company’s 25 years of airship construction. The engines, however, are of a completely new type, those hitherto used even in the largest war-time Zeppelins having been 260 li-p. Maybach engines. With the new higherpowered fype it is hoped to render the airship safe and controllable in any storm likely to be encountered over the Atlantic. The five motors are carried each. in a separate gondola, the sixth being divided into two parts, flie fore part to accommodate the personnel, and the after part, 15 to 20 passengers. The crew will be mainly German, and the voyage will be under the control of the leading Zeppelin airship pilots, Herr Eckener, who has made over 800 voyages. A full description of the airship, with numerous plans, photographs, and measurements, was recently contributed by a German engineer, Herr E Foerstcr, to a German periodical, "Werfl, ■Rccdcrei Hafen,” devoted to the shipbuilding interests, lie pointed out that the dimensions were governed by an agreement between the Allies and the United States, under which Germany was to be allowed to build for reparation account and for delivery to the United States an airship larger than the largest Zeppelin built by Germany during the war —l.c., 70,000 cubic metres. This restriction naturally governed the other dimensions, and the result was a vessel 200 metres long (65GfL), with maximum diameter 27.64 metres (00ft), and maximum height 31 metres (101 ft). Otherwise there was no reason why something much bigger should not have been attempted. The six gondolas arc attached to the ship by wire cables, 'flic gondola designed for the officers, crew-, and passengers, is larger than the others. 11, contains the commanding officer's cabin wilh one' berth, two-berth cabins, and a messrooni for the assistant officers, and six two-berth cabins and two messrooms for the crew. These rooms communicate by a side gangway. The section for passengers is divided into five compartments, and the berths so arranged that by day the lower berth forms a sofa and tlie upper berth the back of it, as in flu; more modern kind of sleeping car. An electric kitchen with aluminium fittings is built in on the starboard side. The passenger seo lion has much the same appearance as a Pullman car. The highest speed attainable according to this estimate is 112 kilometres (75.8 miles) per hour, and the normal speed is expected to be about 108 kilometres (67 miles). This allows for a load of ten tons, eight passengers, and their baggage, crew, one postal official, and a reserve of 30 per cent of fuel in the event of contrary winds being met over a radius of 5,300 kilometres, or about 3,301) miles.