Early aero

Quoted message said:

Actual pedal-powered dirigible:

http://www.earlyaviator.com/archive/DS/DS438.1907.SkyCycle.Dixon.jpg

Yikes, that doesn't exactly look like something I'd want to
entrust my life to. I'll admit right here that I had to Google
this guy before I completely accepted this photo as authentic.

Even so, if this guy was able to build this a century ago more
or less on his own, then surely doing so today, given modern
advances in materials and the wide availability of bicycle
parts, wouldn't be too difficult... it almost seems like the
helium would be the most expensive part. FAA be damned, it
would be beautiful to commute to campus in my very own
Verne-esque véloblimp. So who wants to draw up some plans?

--
Mark Shroyer
http://markshroyer.com/

Mark Shroyer said:

Quoted message said:

Actual pedal-powered dirigible:

Quoted message said:

http://www.earlyaviator.com/archive/DS/DS438.1907.SkyCycle.Dixon.jpg

[snip

Quoted message said:

Even so, if this guy was able to build this a century ago more
or less on his own, then surely doing so today, given modern
advances in materials and the wide availability of bicycle
parts, wouldn't be too difficult... it almost seems like the
helium would be the most expensive part. FAA be damned, it
would be beautiful to commute to campus in my very own
Verne-esque véloblimp. So who wants to draw up some plans?

He probably made his own hydrogen, via the classic H2SO4 and Zinc
method. Both were fairly easy to get in decent purities until fairly
recently. Seventy-odd years before my highschool experience, it was
probably not an issue at all for a young person to get them.

"Mark Shroyer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Actual pedal-powered dirigible:

http://www.earlyaviator.com/archive/DS/DS438.1907.SkyCycle.Dixon.jpg

Yikes, that doesn't exactly look like something I'd want to
entrust my life to. I'll admit right here that I had to Google
this guy before I completely accepted this photo as authentic.

Even so, if this guy was able to build this a century ago more
or less on his own, then surely doing so today, given modern
advances in materials and the wide availability of bicycle
parts, wouldn't be too difficult... it almost seems like the
helium would be the most expensive part. FAA be damned, it
would be beautiful to commute to campus in my very own
Verne-esque véloblimp. So who wants to draw up some plans?

--
Mark Shroyer
http://markshroyer.com/

These guys might sell you their plans:
http://home.teleport.com/~reedg/whitedwarf.html
Kerry

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Actual pedal-powered dirigible:
http://www.earlyaviator.com/archive/DS/DS438.1907.SkyCycle.Dixon.jpg

Mark Shroyer said:

Yikes, that doesn't exactly look like something I'd want to
entrust my life to. I'll admit right here that I had to Google
this guy before I completely accepted this photo as authentic.

Even so, if this guy was able to build this a century ago more
or less on his own, then surely doing so today, given modern
advances in materials and the wide availability of bicycle
parts, wouldn't be too difficult... it almost seems like the
helium would be the most expensive part. FAA be damned, it
would be beautiful to commute to campus in my very own
Verne-esque véloblimp. So who wants to draw up some plans?

Alfred E Neumann?

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

In article
<[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

Actual pedal-powered dirigible:

http://www.earlyaviator.com/archive/DS/DS438.1907.SkyCycle.Dixon.jpg

I just flew in from Cleveland, and, boy, are my legs tired.

ba BAM!

--
Michael Press