Quotables
"Rail travel at high speeds is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia."
Dionysius Lardner, Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy at University College, London ; 1830
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7568656 | System for controlling the lift of aircraft A system for controlling lift of an aircraft comprises an inflatable compartment for containing a gas which is lighter than air. A receiver receives and stores the gas in a compressed condition. Means are provided for compressing the gas and transferring it from the... | 08/04/2009 |
| 7380750 | Method for lighter-than-air aircraft An apparatus and associated method for launching and recovering a lighter-than-air aircraft are provided. The aircraft includes an envelope that is substantially filled before launch with a lift gas and a second gas. The lift gas and second gas are substantially sep... | 06/03/2008 |
| 7341223 | Hybrid unmanned vehicle for high altitude operations A hybrid aerial vehicle is optimized, for example, and not by way of limitation, to operate above 100,000 feet in altitude and provide persistent and maneuverable flight while carrying a wide array of communications and sensing payloads. The hybrid vehicle may use t... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7341224 | Miniature expendable surveillance balloon system A miniature surveillance balloon system is described that can be used in military and public safety situations for real-time observations. They are as small as feasibly possible, low-cost and expendable, and typically are deployed in clusters. Balloons may act indiv... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7334757 | Airship retrieval system An airship retrieval system comprises a plurality of aerodynamic pods releasably mounted in suitable locations about the external surface of the airship. Within the pod is a handling or a tether line that is attached at one end to the airship and at the other end to... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7317261 | Power generating apparatus Power generating apparatus (10) including a cable (12) which rotatably mounts a plurality of power units (14). The power units (14) include wind power turbines (46) for producing power from the wind as the power units (14) f... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7303166 | Highly maneuverable powered airship A highly maneuverable powered airship is disclosed. The powered airship may include an exterior shell having a front portion, a rear portion and a main axis; the exterior shell may be configured with an aspect ratio greater than or equal to 9:1. The powered airship ... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7287723 | Tethered or free flight blimp with collapsible tail fins A lighter than air blimp which has either an aerodynamically shaped or a round envelope of flexible sheet material, and a plurality of stabilizing fins mounted in a circumferentially spaced apart arrangement about the tail end portion of the envelope. The tail fins ... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7264202 | Tri-cycloidal airship An unmanned, lighter-than-air airship includes three omnidirectional thrust generating units. One unit is mounted at the fore-end of the airship to generate thrust in a plane that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the airship. This unit controls pitch and... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7263939 | Simplified elevated sailing apparatus An elevated sailing apparatus that extracts traction power from the wind. It operates without the heeling moment (typical of conventional sailboats), which constrains the design and limits the power that can be used. A wing or sail is attached beneath a streamlined ... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7249733 | Lighter-than-air aircraft including a closed loop combustion generating system and related methods for powering the same A lighter-than-air aircraft includes a gas envelope for containing a buoyant gas, and a propulsion system is carried by the gas envelope. A solar panel is carried by the gas envelope for powering the propulsion system when generating sufficient power. A closed loop ... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7173649 | Video airship The video airship is a lighter-than-air airship, preferably spherical, including a video display disposed with substantially all of the craft's outer surface, a nearly invisible computerized electric propulsion-control system, speakers, microphones, video cameras, c... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7156203 | Device and method for evacuating persons, for example from a multi-storey building on fire Device for evacuating persons, for example from a multi-storey building on fire, from an evacuating location to a secure location, comprising: a balloon provided to be filled with a gas lighter than air for moving the balloon between the secure location and the evac... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7147184 | Aerodynamic fairing system for airship An aerodynamic fairing system for an airship having a substantially spherical balloon portion includes an inflatable fairing that is attachable to the balloon portion, and a fairing actuation mechanism that selectively inflates and deploys the fairing after lift-off... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7129596 | Hovering wind turbine A hovering wind turbine (1) whose blades (2) lie on the surface of an imaginary horizontal cylinder and have their pitch angle changing as a function of the rotational angle, allowing them to gather wind energy mainly in the upwind and downwind sectors... | 10/31/2006 |
| 7093789 | Delta-winged hybrid airship In one aspect, a hybrid airship including an outer shell, a plurality of helium filled gas envelopes, and an all-electric propulsion system may have the shape of a delta-wing. In some embodiments, the hybrid airship may be launched using buoyancy lift alone and aero... | 08/22/2006 |
| 7055778 | Apparatus and method for lighter-than-air aircraft An apparatus and associated method for launching and recovering a lighter-than-air aircraft are provided. The aircraft includes an envelope that is substantially filled before launch with a lift gas and a second gas. The lift gas and second gas are substantially sep... | 06/06/2006 |
| 7046934 | Optical communication system using a high altitude tethered balloon An optical communication system using a high altitude tethered balloon 10 that operates above most clouds and atmospheric turbulence. An optical communication system includes a balloon 10 with an optical communication payload 30, a fiber optic c... | 05/16/2006 |
| 7040572 | Lighter-than-air aircraft with air cushion landing gear means A lighter-than-air aircraft (1) having a gas-filled hull (2) and a pair of spaced apart landing gear units (11, 12) on the underside of the hull arranged on opposite sides of a longitudinally extending central vertical plane of the hull. Each la... | 05/09/2006 |
| 6925949 | Elevated sailing apparatus An elevated sailing apparatus that includes one or more wings, tethered to a conveyance, and suspended from beneath a streamlined, lighter-than-air blimp. The wings generate both propulsive and lifting forces from the wind. The propulsive force is used to propel a c... | 08/09/2005 |
| 6896222 | Hydrogen lighter-than-air ship A lighter-than-air ship using hydrogen or other gas as a lift gas with at least one hydrogen fuel cell aboard. The fuel cell can draw hydrogen fuel from the lift gas reservoir to produce electricity both for the ship's use and optionally for propulsion. The waste pr... | 05/24/2005 |
| 6834829 | Vertical lift aircraft having an enclosed rotary wing A vertical lift aircraft comprises a cabin mounted to an enclosed rotary wing which provides vertical lift for the aircraft. The rotary wing includes an annular housing and a main rotor blade rotatable within a space circumscribed by the housing. The main rotor blad... | 12/28/2004 |
| 6739549 | Dirigible balloon rigidified by helium tanks A variable-lift device using a helium to fly. The device comprises a balloon (1) composed of an outer flexible envelope (3) supported by a rigid structure. The rigid structure comprises a plurality of hollow toruses (4) of inside volume that act... | 05/25/2004 |
| 6607163 | Autonomous stratospheric airship An autonomous stratospheric airship comprising a hull which contains an equipment bay, forward and aft ballonets, forward and aft air management sub-systems, a propulsion system, and a control system is described. The airship also comprises a regenerative... | 08/19/2003 |
| 6581873 | Hybrid winged airship (dynastat) A winged hybrid airship (dynastat) combining the advantages of lighter-than-air (LTA) and heavier-than-air (HTA) aircrafts is disclosed. By combining the dynamic lift of low drag, high aspect ration airfoils (e.g., length over chord >10) with the static l... | 06/24/2003 |
| 6565037 | Hybrid aircraft and methods of flying An aircraft includes an aircraft body that retains gas that is lighter than air and rotates about a vertical axis, and a cargo carrier attached to the body so that the carrier does not rotate with the body. The aircraft includes one or more propulsion dev... | 05/20/2003 |
| 6402090 | Balloon trajectory control system A device to provide control of the trajectory of a lighter than air vehicle, such as a balloon, is provided. A lifting device, such as a wing on end, is suspended on a tether well below the balloon to take advantage of the natural variation in winds at di... | 06/11/2002 |
| 6386480 | Autonomous stratospheric airship An autonomous stratospheric airship comprising a hull which contains an equipment bay, forward and aft ballonets, forward and aft air management sub-systems, a propulsion system, and a control system is described. The airship also comprises a regenerative... | 05/14/2002 |
| 6357700 | Electrically powered spacecraft/airship An spacecraft/airship, which uses buoyancy and thrusters to ascend into space with lifting gas as propellant or fuel for thrusters, which may be conventional thrusters or electric turbojets or ion thrusters. The airship aspect has gas retaining structures... | 03/19/2002 |
| 6354535 | Autonomous stratospheric airship An autonomous stratospheric airship comprising a hull which contains an equipment bay, forward and aft ballonets, forward and aft air management sub-systems, a propulsion system, and a control system is described. The airship also comprises a regenerative... | 03/12/2002 |
| 6328257 | Cruise airship with an anchoring device and a helium tempering device In a cruise airship whose hull (S) has the form of an ellipsoid, this ellipsoid has three axes of different lengths at right angles to one another, whereby a longitudinal axis (L), which is horizontally oriented in the position for travel, a transverse ax... | 12/11/2001 |
| 6325330 | Power generation, transmission, and distribution system for an aerostat using a lightweight tether A power generation, transmission and distribution system for an aerostat using a tether, includes a ground-based power delivery system for generating a multi-phase power signal having a frequency at least greater than 400 Hz, an aerostat-based power distr... | 12/04/2001 |
| 6224015 | Aerial cableway leading to an aerostatic airborne body The cableway consists of a captive balloon (1) carrying a gondola (2) to which two transport cables (3, 4) and a mooring cable (5) are attached. The two transport cables (3, 4) bearing a cabin (10, 11) for carrying passengers end at a ground station (7) w... | 05/01/2001 |
| 6189829 | Apparatus and method utilizing cells to provide lift in lighter-than-air airships An apparatus and method for floating such apparatus in the air, such apparatus having at least one cell containing air and a fluid. The fluid in one embodiment is heated to create steam which, in turn, makes the cell lighter than the surrounding air, ther... | 02/20/2001 |
| 6119983 | Airship/spacecraft An airship/spacecraft, which, in a preferred embodiment, uses its lifting gas as fuel for thrusters, which may be of the turbo-type or rocket type, or both, to achieve transition to space flight. The airship aspect has gas retaining structures that can wi... | 09/19/2000 |
| 6010093 | High altitude airship system An inflatable airship of predetermined volume is filled with gas to lift a predetermined weight to a predetermined high altitude. An elevator module is releasably secured to a gondola attached to the airship. A cable of a length at least equal to the depl... | 01/04/2000 |
| 5906335 | Flight direction control system for blimps A method and apparatus for controlling the flight direction of a blimp. The blimp includes an elongate fuselage for containing a lighter-than-air gas, a movable rudder located toward a tail end of the fuselage, and at least one propeller mounted on a side... | 05/25/1999 |
| 5470032 | Airborne monitoring system and method An airborne monitoring system for measuring conditions in the lower atmospheric boundary layer of a tropical cyclone or other concerted atmospheric systems. The system flies on the wind. In the case of a tropical cyclone it flies over the sea, into the ey... | 11/28/1995 |
| 5090637 | Helium purification system for lighter-than-air aircraft A helium purification system for use with lighter-that-air airships has a catalytic purification stage for removing oxygen from the lift gas, and if desired, a nitrogen removal stage. Impure lift gas is passed through the catalytic purification stage whic... | 02/25/1992 |
| 5056447 | Rein-deer kite What has been created is a new form of an equipment/kite that carry weight in mid-air regardless of fuel and/or wind, which converts the wind energy into mechanical energy by acting as a sail in a multi-level formation, which is in the form of a large fla... | 10/15/1991 |
