Bad Dirigibles and Balloons from Good Thinkers: Thaddeus Lowe, Konstantin Tsiolkowsky and Dr. Seuss

JF Ptak Science Books LLC  Post 896

Tonight’s inspiration comes from one of my daughter Tess’ bedtime stories, Dr. Seuss’ Oh, the Thinks you can Think—particularly one of the fantastic illustrations, this one showing a swimming pool balloon.  I’ve seen some interesting images of balloons and dirigibles taken as serious efforts that reminded me of that double-page spread by the good Doctor.  

In July, 1931 Konstantin Zilkowsky’s sheet metal dirigible appeared in Modern Mechanics (this image from the fabulous Modern Mechanix.com website, cropped), looking a lot like the mountain and its imagined whale looked like to Herman Melville at his Arrowhead home. 

 

This may have been the Omega end of bad ideas in the career of Zilkowsky, who is better known by the other spelling of his name, Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (1857-1835), a Russian misanthrope and space pioneering genius who wrote more than 500 works on rocketry and exploration including what is arguably the first tech word ever done in the field (in 1903, The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices). Tsiolkovsky somehow lasted through purges and Stalinist tirades, while few of his colleagues did—many mysteriously disappeared, while others went to prison and disappeared there.  (Stalin’s crude and insatiable blood lust, perhaps the worst of the century, knew no bounds, not even to the scientists who could conceivably hand him reigns of rocket/missile-propelled power.)  Anyway, Tsiolkovsky’s dirigible was composed of a collapsible metal so that the aircraft could form its own hangar when “docked”.  I don’t know where to begin with this one…

The second (among many other possibilities) is the ship-balloon of Thaddeus Lowe (1832-1913) One of Lowe’s great contributions in the history of ballooning was providing aerial reconnaissance via (panoramic) photographs to the Union army on Confederate army positions—particularly the Rebel positions at Richmond (1864) and Fredericksburg (1862). (He had a wide span of professional interests and wound up living the high life in L.A. in a half-acre home.)  This 130-foot diameter monster with a steam-ship escape pod (named The City of New York and then renamed The Great Western after the city couldn’t supply enough gas to get the thing inflated) was intended to be a transatlantic traveler.  Ready to try this fantastic adventure in 1860, ready to take charge, ready to begin a very problematic trip across the Atlantic in a balloon, Lowe, seemingly ready, had his balloon ripped apart while waiting for launching by a chance and not-horrible wind.  Lucky for Lowe and the Union Army, this didn’t happen over the ocean somewhere out of reach, and the North’s important info-gatherer did not sink like a stone in the cold dark sea.  (I’m very cynical that the 100-foot-long, bulbously heavy steam-powered “life boat” would’ve landed right-side-up and softly enough to have been of any use save for providing some floaty bits that survivors from the balloon could’ve clung to for a while before being consumed by King Neptune. 

I'd vote for Dr. Seuss' work as the most logical.

Comments

[Rick]

I would go with Tsiolkovsky not only for crazy ideas but as a subject of a sci-fi story: he died 22 years before he was born! Reminds me of an old Asimov short story of a reagent so aggressive that it would react before the chemist poured it. Ah, but how did it know the chemist wasn't just faking the pour??

[John PTak]

Well, Rick, that's Stalin for you--T was lucky that Stalin allowed him to have been born/existed at all, so dying before being born is just another one of that regime's tricks. There's a pic somewhere here that shows T with a largish group of colleagues around 1925, all of whom save T were "got goned" by 1935...and that's *before* the Great Purge really began.

[aerocrat]

Why do you hate Stalin? During Stalin's era Tsiolkovsky could done many his projects including whole metal airship what was built in "Dirizhablestroy combinat" (main USSR's factory for airsips' building where Chief Designer was Umberto Nobile). Till 1935 when Tsiolkovsky died Stalin's government was getting the wide financing for whole metal airship (there were built two 15-meters flying models in Dirizhablestroy...). Enough to lie about soviet Stalin's time. You so little know trouth about it... Or did you wrote such stuff for money by order? It's so usual for modern biased and corrupt authors... Stalin's time was better for inventors and enthusists that now when quazi-democratic capitalism is destroing the world. Soviet Stalin's (and Lenin's) program of airship's development is power and police systemk of capitalism where airship's projects need only in frame military projects - is poor and evil!

[aerodd]

Tsiolkovsky wrote more than 50 percent of his works about aeronautic themes and some little about systems for flight in the space. You have bad introducing about Tsiolkovsky works during Soviet power. The author (ugly!) does not work with historical stuffs and makes fake content about real Stalin's time which he hate.

[John Ptak]

Well. I've never been called "ugly" for writing the truth about Stalin. It is astonishing to find that there are Stalinists still--my guess is that if modern Stalinistas were alive during that time period, they wouldn't've been for long. It is unnecessary to address these claims that Stalin wasn't as bad as I've lightly mentioned--it reminds me of Holocaust denyers. (Let's not forget that the Soviets abandoned the hideous old monster soon enough--Stalin was not even mentioned in the first edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, published just a year or something after the beast's death.

[John Ptak]

Another ANONYMOUS defense of Stalin. Stalin's slight appreciation of technology could bring to *him* is completely overcome by the programed murder that made room for these allowances. This impossible argument smells like another bit that I received saying that Stalin increased food exports from the USSR in the 1930's while *not* mentioning that Stalin starved millions of his own people to achieve the export end. This is just too wide and too easily documented by too many people over too many years to debate here.

[aerodd]

Crazy brainwashed propagandist of anti-communism... What mesure of japanes were in the USA's prison zones during WWII? Say you lier! Your shited USA was worst than socialism by Stalin who killed any ervant of capitalism who hate USSR and destroied socilasm. Ideal states have never been... Learn marxism, silly author... Hay, quasi-historian: study dialectical materialism.
If you read only propagandist publications about USSR & Stalin's period you shouldn't say you stupid opinion for mass readers. Such as you decided make identifing of Stalin and Hitler for the base hiding of imperialism role in the triumph of fascism in 1930s. Imperialism hats Che. Fidel, Kim Il Sung, Lenin, Stalin, Marx, Engels. The author of the primitive article above is clear imperialist with limited horizons and lack of political culture who hates Stalin, soviet system, work class, USSR.
Dear reder ignore this demagogue who was paided of bourgeoisie! Such 'writers' glorify the capitalist slavery.

[John Ptak]

Aerodd: I find it interesting that in the rants I've received from pro-Stalinists online and 10 or so offline, all have been anonymous. Also I can make no better argument to you than that which you have just provided against yourself.

[Jeff]

Yeah, John. Study some dialectical materialism, will you?

Material world.
Thesis.
Antithesis.
Synthesis.
Thesis.
Antithesis.
Synthesis.
Etc. &c.

Frankly, it sounds very Buddhist to me.

[John Ptak]

Dear Jeffsis; Thanks(is) forsis pointingisis thissis outsis, a welcomed summation after my many emails from Boratsis.