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by Sergei Mikhail Tolstoi (Compiled by)
The airship should solve the problems of speed (it is significantly faster than a tractor and trailer combination); capacity (it could easily be designed to carry a high-density load equivalent to the capacity of several freight cars); economy (its fuel consumption is negligible as compared to that of conventional aircraft); and flexibility (it could allow cargo to be loaded and unloaded in undeveloped areas that are served by nothing more than the equivalent of a pack-trail or logging road). What we are talking about, of course, is the dirigible, or airship. This collection of relatively recent airship patents provides a great deal of inspiration to the designer and inventor. Patents are organized by issue date, which gives a quick chronological view of technical developments in airships.
