The Zeppelin Toy

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

The Zeppelin Toy

     When you think of the dramatic changes in the world from the late 19th to the first third of the 20th century, you realize how anything unique and new would have people infatuated and in awe. Inventions such as Marconi's wireless communication, the telephone, electricity, cars, and flight all heralded change in the world.

     The Zeppelin was invented by a German engineer named Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin. It was invented towards the end of the 1890's and saw rapid development at the beginning of the 20th century. It was a metal-framed airship filled with hydrogen gas (highly explosive) to life it off the ground. Power was from engines,and ballast (to maintain its parallel and vertical orientation to the ground was with liquid gasses.

You Can See How Large These Airships Were

 Popularity of the Zeppelin was also found in postage from Around the World

Even Today, the Zeppelin has over 2,000,000 sites on Google

The earlier toy versions were "pull toys", whereby a child would pull the toy with a cord alone the road.  The Chicago & Los Angeles  models by the Strauss company were different. They would be tied to the ceiling with a strong cord . THe staple-shaped black item on the top-centre of the toy is where the cord was attached. The wind-up mechanism turned the twin propellers at the back of the toy, and it "flew" around the room.

The above toy was also a sting ceiling-tied toy. This one certainly has the propellers to  turn around the room fast!

There was even an A.C.Gilbert Erector set made as a Zeppelin.

For those who don't know the Erector set from the Gilbert company was the American version of the famous British invention of the Meccano set.

The 1920's "heavyweight" versions of the Zeppelin Toy.

These are cast-iron toys and were pulled along the road.

A Well-Played With Zeppelin

      The Zeppelins were used for trans-Atlantic travel, and national travel. Sadly, when WWI arose, they were used as offensive weapons to drop bombs on England (from Germany).  The demise in popularity of the Zeppelin came about with the terrible disaster in Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937. The  Zeppelin was at the U.S. Naval Station when something happened to ignite the massive airship. Lots of people died, and the disaster was captured on movie film. There are some conspiracy theorists who maintain that the U.S. government sabotaged the airship as the world was coming to grips with the rise of the Nazis in Germany.

    There are currently some projects on the table and in model form, with regard to the redevelopment of the airships or Zeppelins. Using safer-type gasses (e.g. helium), the idea is for the  their use in remote areas such as logging in mountainous areas that are difficult for traditional trucks and logging machines. 

Thanks for dropping by, 

and have a great day, wherever you are.

Stacey