tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post2218669315085810000..comments2024-03-28T10:08:38.560-04:00Comments on The Adventures of Roberta X: Is It Weirdsday Already?Roberta Xhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09956807794520627885noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-56748887140045683722010-03-28T17:13:30.622-04:002010-03-28T17:13:30.622-04:00Not so much speculation as you seem to think, Robe...Not so much speculation as you seem to think, Roberta; try <a href="http://www.cowanauctions.com/past_sales_view_item.asp?itemid=10086" rel="nofollow">1863</a>. Given the ~35 years between the two occasions, I don't think the second in 1896/7 all that unreasonable an assertion. None of the technology required would have been original in the 1890's at least. Unique, challenging and expensive certainly, but still refinement of previous invention, I believe.<br /><br />Use Jim's example of the logistics of hydrogen storage for example. Take (read: build) the equivelant of several (many?) olympic-size swimming pools. Secure several bags equivelant to those in the dirigable to the bottom of each pool, each bag's fill neck having an air-dam similar in design to that in the bottom of a modern toilet bowl. Half-fill each pool with water and pump hydrogen into each bag. Cut-off of pressure into the bag collapses the fill neck preventing any fuel/air mixture, while the covering layer of water prevents (easy) ignition of the stored gas. No supporting industry required, other than for transport of the components and the money. :)<br /><br />Just because something isn't done the way we would doesn't make it un-do-able, especially for what would have been essentially a one-off effort (apparently - certainly there's no record of attempts to industrialise <i>this</i> effort AFAIK).<br /><br />A fun discussion, thanks Roberta.Will Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13454533450309633627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-57859808501754543672010-03-28T15:16:01.348-04:002010-03-28T15:16:01.348-04:00Gentlemen, gentlemen...! Given electricity, you c...Gentlemen, gentlemen...! Given electricity, you can get hydrogen.<br /><br /> The trick is not so much keeping it, as it is keeping it from going up in flame.<br /><br /> Hot air's safer but comes with its own issues.<br /><br /> Given the known record of LTA flight, it is difficult to avoid speculation that a large handful of folks may have got machines in the air much earlier, even steerable vehicles capable of prolonged flight...and came to grief. We're not wired up to navigate in three dimensions and there's no walking home if something goes amiss. What's to find years later if the airship wrecks unheralded?Roberta Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09956807794520627885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-16931454110708125162010-03-28T14:39:52.784-04:002010-03-28T14:39:52.784-04:00Will: I agree they knew how to do it, what I want...Will: I agree they knew how to do it, what I want to know is if there was sufficient industrial capacity to make it possible, never mind economical.<br /><br />JimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-68105068973962273232010-03-28T14:12:18.378-04:002010-03-28T14:12:18.378-04:00If you find this general catagory of topic interes...If you find this general catagory of topic interesting, you shoulf consider <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Solving-Airship-Mystery-Michael-Busby/dp/1589801253/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t" rel="nofollow">this book</a> as well (assuming you haven't already - you make no mention I noticed). A reasonably well-written look at the recorded evidence and some insightful speculation as to means, but with some curious opaque spots (one example; a witness reports seeing wings extending from the sides of a blimp/dirigable "flapping like a bird" - an artful if non-technical description of wing warping as a source of motive force but a possible explanation not mentioned by the author). A number of other open questions are left so as well. <br /><br />An interesting read I recommend, have you funds and shelf space to spare.<br /><br />@ reflectoscope<br /><br /><i>Where would they get enough hydrogen for an airship, given the state of industry then?</i><br /><br />If you're building an X-craft, the lack of commercial availability of some critical component of the build is resolved in the time honored fashion familiar to government contractors all/when: more money. Hydrogen is usually not a cost effective solution, but the chemistry of it's manufacture has been reasonably well worked out for several centuries now (in the Western Canon, at least).Will Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13454533450309633627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-70015991008632205412010-03-28T12:31:47.960-04:002010-03-28T12:31:47.960-04:00Adventure! Intrigue! Wit! Now you see why we ke...Adventure! Intrigue! Wit! Now you see why we keep coming back here.<br /><br />A point of logistical interest: Where would they get enough hydrogen for an airship, given the state of industry then?<br /><br />JimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com