Count Zeppelin's propeller boat

Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin carried out comparative tests from 1896 to 1905 with a boat poweredby a propeller (synonym: propeller ) inorder to gain experience on the efficient use of the propellers with which the first two Zeppelin airships were powered. The tests took place in the Manzeller Bay west of Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance .

Function of the propeller boat

The propellers were mounted on the propeller boat (also propeller boat or propeller motorboat) on up to three frames, but only the propeller in the stern was powered. The propeller was driven by a shaft that rotated in the desired direction by a reversing gear directly on the motor. The noise was deafening. Using the measured speed of the boat, Zeppelin and Theodor Kober examined the effect of the wing length, the number of wings and the speed on the efficiency of the propeller for use in the Zeppelin. In a test with two 0.95 m long aluminum blades driven by a 12 hp (8.8 kW) motor at 1500 revolutions per minute, the boat reached 14 km / h.

The informative value of the results of these test series suffered from the influences of wind, waves and currents. For this reason, from LZ 3 onwards, Ludwig Prandtl's propeller test vehicle was used, which was demonstrated at the 1909 Frankfurt International Aviation Exhibition (ILA) . An in-house wind tunnel was used from 1921 . Comparative tests of the screws were also carried out on the moving airship. After 1905 the experiments with the propeller boat were stopped.

Graf Zeppelin's propeller boat

Even before 1896, Graf Zeppelin had a motorboat specially designed as a propeller boat, which was only called The Propeller Boat . Zeppelin often used this boat to demonstrate to guests how the propeller works on the journey from Friedrichshafen to Manzell. The open boat was 11.50 m long, 2 m wide and had a draft of 30 cm. With a water screw it reached 18 km / h, with the two-blade air propeller 15 km / h. The convex stern and the pointed tail set it apart from the Manzell motorboat .

It is reported that this boat took part in the first German motorboat exhibition on the Wannsee in 1902 , which was completed on the Havel with attempts at speeding at high seas. The propeller boat took second place over a distance of 25 km with a speed of 13.2 km / h. Other sources show the boat. The whereabouts of the boat are not known. Volker Geiling and Manfred A. Sauter later mention "Air screw tests with a propeller boat around 1917".

Trivia

As Graf Zeppelin himself reported in 1913, he was already experimenting with boats in the early 1960s. At that time he converted a fishing boat into a sports sailboat, making him one of the first sports sailors on Lake Constance.

Web links

A motorboat with a propeller . In: Wiener Luftschiffer-Zeitung 1902, No. 7, page 133f

Footnotes

↑ See the propeller boat of Count Zeppelin on Lake Constance, taken in 1899 or 1900 (picture © Archiv der Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH, Friedrichshafen) and the description of the experimental setup by Wilhelm Maybach in Friedrich Sass : History of German Internal Combustion Engine Construction: From 1860 to 1918 , Springer Verlag , Berlin Heidelberg 1962, ISBN 978-3-662-11842-9
↑ See [1]
↑ Some sources refer to the Württemberg (also) as a propeller boat. However, it is questionable whether this elegant motor yacht, which was equipped with a comfortable cockpit behind the steering position , was suitable for accommodating the propeller frame and engine, the measuring instruments and passengers.
^ The air screw boat in Berlin and the air screw boat in 1899 or 1900 on Lake Constance
↑ In the Kgl. Württemberg yacht club in Friedrichshafen. Source: Sailing on Lake Constance . In: Norbert Jacques (Ed.): Das Bodenseebuch 1921. Reuß & Itta, Konstanz 1920, p. 63.

[1] See the propeller boat of Count Zeppelin on Lake Constance, taken in 1899 or 1900 (picture © Archiv der Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH, Friedrichshafen) and the description of the experimental setup by Wilhelm Maybach in Friedrich Sass : History of German Internal Combustion Engine Construction: From 1860 to 1918 , Springer Verlag , Berlin Heidelberg 1962, ISBN 978-3-662-11842-9

[2] See [1]

[3] Some sources refer to the Württemberg (also) as a propeller boat. However, it is questionable whether this elegant motor yacht, which was equipped with a comfortable cockpit behind the steering position , was suitable for accommodating the propeller frame and engine, the measuring instruments and passengers.

[4] The air screw boat in Berlin and the air screw boat in 1899 or 1900 on Lake Constance

[5] In the Kgl. Württemberg yacht club in Friedrichshafen. Source: Sailing on Lake Constance . In: Norbert Jacques (Ed.): Das Bodenseebuch 1921. Reuß & Itta, Konstanz 1920, p. 63.