Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.9797
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Airship design
Date
1885
Creator
Adolf Runge (German) , Inventor
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (drawing): 218mm
width (drawing): 299mm
width (drawing): 299mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Engineering design for a “manageable air-balloon” or dirigible, sent to the Royal Society with a covering letter from its inventor and supplementary descriptive information. The drawing contains four figures: a side elevation (figure 1); front and rear elevations (figures 2-3); and a transverse section through the balloon (figure 4). The airship has a twin-bladed propeller sited at the front, driven by pulleys and ropes from an engine (unspecified type) slung beneath the mid-point of the balloon. Steering is by rudder at the rear of the machine.
The specification is in the manner of a patent: “I Adolf Runge of the City of Berlin, German Empire have invented new and useful “Improvements in the construction of vessels or apparatus for aerial navigation...” The covering letter is dated 20 May 1885 at which time Runge was residing at Bedford Place London and intending to “expose a model of the same air-balloon in the Aeronautical Exhibition opened on the 15th of June in Alexandra Palace”. The letter is on paper headed: “A.Runge, Architekt. Kalverstraat 121. Amsterdam”.
The specification is in the manner of a patent: “I Adolf Runge of the City of Berlin, German Empire have invented new and useful “Improvements in the construction of vessels or apparatus for aerial navigation...” The covering letter is dated 20 May 1885 at which time Runge was residing at Bedford Place London and intending to “expose a model of the same air-balloon in the Aeronautical Exhibition opened on the 15th of June in Alexandra Palace”. The letter is on paper headed: “A.Runge, Architekt. Kalverstraat 121. Amsterdam”.
Associated place