FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1914
1914 - 1131.PDF
NOVEMBER 20, 1914. 1 THE PARSEVAL-SIGSFELD KITE BALLOON. A TYPE of aircraft which is being used extensively by the Germans in the present war, and has caused considerable amusement among the Allies' troops on account of its rather peculiar shape, is the Parseval-Sigsfeld kite balloon. Although it is a number of years since the device was introduced, it had not attracted a great deal of interest outside of Germany. In the British Army, previous to the A Patseval-Sigsfeld kite balloon In the air. introduction of" the aeroplane, aerial reconnaissance was largely confined to that made from captive balloons of the ordinary spherical design or from a car elevated in the air by a train of man-lifting kites on the system developed by the late Col. S. F. Cody. Briefly, the Parseval-Sigsfeld kite balloon may be said to combine the qualities of the ordinary spherical captive balloon THE PARSEVAL-SIGSFELD KITE BALLOON.-On the left It Is seen In section. F, opening for filling balloon; G, gas chamber; B, ballonnet; 0, air inlet of baJlonnet; d, flap valve 5 A, air outlet from ballonnet to rudder; 0, gas outlet valve: L, inner valve c^rd; M, valve cord to basket; C, rudder; W, trailers; KK, anchor cable; KR, cable drum; J, basket; c, air inlet to rudder; c\ air outlet from rudder. with those of the man-lifting kite. The advantage of this combination is that they are able to ascend in a calm, when the kite, which depends for its sustenance in the air on a relative wind, would be useless, and that in a high wind they may be kept from rotating and oscillating as does the ordinary captive balloon. The P.-S. kite balloon consists essentially of a cylindrical gas chamber or envelope with hemispherical ends so arranged that it points into the wind and forms an angle of about 30 with the horizontal. This cylindrical envelope is divided by a horizontal partition situated near the lower end in such a manner as to form two separate compartments, of H m £-» 11 -^ W?MFM~ ' * iixaa^A. Portable gas generating plant, which has a capacity of 2,100 cu. ft. per hour. which the upper and greater one is the gas chamber, whilst the lower smaller one forms the ballonnet or air chamber. The latter is filled with air automatically through an opening facing the wind and fitted with a flap valve. The air entering the ballonnet through this opening creates a pressure inside the ballonnet equal to that exerted on the nose of the envelope by the wind. This pressure is transmitted to the gas chamber through the horizontal wall of the ballonnet. It will thus be seen that an equilibrium is established between the outer air pressure and that inside the gas chamber. As however, the gas itself exerts a pressure on the inside of the en velope, the addition of this static gas pressure and the air pressure produces a higher pressure than that of the outside of the balloon, thereby preventing indentions, which would adversely affect the stability of the balloon. Loss of gas is also compensated for by the ballonnet, Horse-drawn motor-driven winch. which is always kept automatically filled with air, thereby maintaining a constant pressure inside the gas chamber. When the balloon rises the gas expands and by its pressure forces the ballonnet wal! back towards the rear 1131
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
