__NOTOC__ The Giffard dirigible or Giffard airship was an

airship An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying powered aircraft, under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the ...

built in France in 1852 by

Henri Giffard Baptiste Jules Henri Jacques Giffard (8 February 182514 April 1882) was a French engineer. In 1852 he invented the steam injector and the powered Giffard dirigible airship. Career Giffard was born in Paris in 1825. He invented the injector a ...

, it was the first powered and steerable airship to fly. The craft featured an elongated

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

-filled

envelope An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin, flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter (message), letter or Greeting card, card. Traditional envelopes are made from sheets of paper cut to one o ...

that tapered to a point at each end. From this was suspended a long beam with a triangular, sail-like

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

at its aft end, and beneath the beam a platform for the pilot and steam engine. Due to the highly flammable nature of the

lifting gas A lifting gas or lighter-than-air gas is a gas that has a density lower than normal atmospheric gases and rises above them as a result, making it useful in lifting lighter-than-air aircraft. Only certain lighter-than-air gases are suitable as lift ...

, special precautions were taken to minimise the potential for the envelope to be ignited by the engine beneath it. The engine's exhaust was diverted downwards to a long pipe projecting below the platform, and the area surrounding the boiler's stoke hole was surrounded by

wire gauze Wire gauze or wire mesh is a gauze woven of metal wire, or very fine, gauze-like wire netting. Wire gauze is placed on the support ring that is attached to the retort stand between a burner and glassware, or is placed on a tripod to support b ...

. On 24 September 1852, Giffard flew the airship from the

hippodrome Hippodrome is a term sometimes used for public entertainment venues of various types. A modern example is the Hippodrome which opened in London in 1900 "combining circus, hippodrome, and stage performances". The term hippodroming refers to fr ...

at Place de l'Etoile to

Élancourt Élancourt () is a communes of France, commune in the Yvelines departments of France, department, and the Île-de-France region, north central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, 30.6 km (19.0 mi) from the Kilometre Ze ...

, covering the in around 3 hours, demonstrating maneuvering along the way. The engine, however, was not sufficiently powerful to allow Giffard to fly against the wind to make a return journey.

Specifications

References

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Bibliography

Henri Giffard, « De la force dépensée pour obtenir un point d'appui dans l'air calme, au moyen de l'hélice. », ''Bulletin de la société Aérostatique et Météorologique de France'' (May 1853), Paris Gauthier-Villars 1853
in ''Collection de mémoires sur la locomotion aérienne sans ballons'' published by Gustave Ponton d'Amécourt, Gauthier-Villars, 1864, 58–62 {{Commons category 19th-century French experimental aircraft Airships of France Aviation history of France History of ballooning Steam-powered aircraft Hydrogen airships