OK, how did we go from big words like “dirigible” and “Zeppelin” to “blimp”? We’re just lazy, I WAG?
“They’re coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time… :)” - Napoleon IV
Zeppelins and blimps are types of dirigibles. A dirigible is any lighter-than-air craft with a propulsion and steering system. A Zeppelin has a rigid frame supporting its outer bag, and is named after the person who invented it; a blimp does not have a rigid frame, but merely an inflatable bag.
Zeppelin is a company name, after its founder Count Ferdinand Von Z. Only airships made by that company are Zeppelins. Dirigibles and Airships are braoder terms but a blimp is specifically a non-rigid airship.
Well, the way I heard it was that when the Army/Air Force was classifying aircraft in WWII they came up with several types of lighter-than-air aircraft. Among them were:
Type B - Limp frame
Type D - Rigid frame
Hence BLimp and DRigid(able).
Of course, someone could have been pulling my leg too…
“Sometimes I think the web is just a big plot to keep people like me away from normal society.” — Dilbert
The word blimp got into general use without leaving a clear trail showing its origin. tanstaafl’s jest (for blimps) is actually one of the theories–that the Air Corps (or, in some versions, the RAF) labeled various inflatables A, B, etc. and the one that became our blimp was the B, Limp model.
Another theory involves a fictional British officer, the butt of many jokes, and known to be a gasbag, named Colonel Blimp who lent his name to the new gasbags.
The other common theory posits that “blimp” is the wierd sound you get when you smack the side of one with your hand.
Dirigible is simply a now less-common word for directable, (in contrast to tethered or free ballons that were either anchored in place or went where the wind took them).
Airship is descriptive. Dirigibles were as large as a Navy cruiser and some were larger.
Tom~
My dictionary gives “blimp” as being of “uncertain origin” and “dirigible” being a way to say “direct + ible.”
Oh, poop.
I go away for an hour, and I miss the chance to show off my amazing knowledge of the history of lighter-than-air flight.
Phil and tom and Padeye and tanstaafl said all the stuff I was going to say, INCLUDING the doofus stuff like the pilot plinking the side of the airship and making the BLIMP noise.
– Ukulele Ike, president, Hugo Eckener Fan Club
Just to add some rigid airship info, you’ll note that there is no single gas bag in a Zeppelin or similar airship. The main body of the craft has several gas cells, and is pierced in several places by catwalks and and ladders. This is how the Kaiser’s airship crews could man machinegun posts on top of their craft for defense against the Royal Flying Corps. The multiple gas cells also meant that a Zeppelin could be shot through in a couple of places without losing too much hydrogen. Most ammo wasn’t too likely to cause hydrogen fires, so the British developed special incendiary rounds for the job.
Blimps, as far as I know, are always constructed with a single gas bag.
Does anybody know why the nonrigids beat the rigids so handily? It can’t be the hydrogen vs. helium thing, which is a separate consideration… Maybe the problem is that, in a gale, the limp airships will bend with the thrashing winds, while the Zeppelins will break. Any ideas?
I think that’s true of the Lightship type blimps but the classic Goodyear blimps are quite complex. IIRC they have two helium bags within the outer skin but more important an air chambers called a balloonet. The balloonet chambers are open to the ouside and are inflated by snorkel like tubes behind the propellors. The balloonets allow the the blimp to maintain its shape and “fullness” as the sealed helium bags expand and contract with temperature and outside pressure changes.
I WAG that, if it can done with less material (i.e.: fancy framework), this would simplify construction and reduce costs, etc.
“They’re coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time… :)” - Napoleon IV
Back in the 1970s, there was a lot of talk about bringing airships back. Using helium as a lifting gas, natch, and mainly as cargo carriers. They would be perfect for airlifting shipments of Ping Pong balls to countries in central Africa, for example.
I realize that back in the '70s they ALSO promised us picture-phones by 1982, but I still feel kinda sorry the Zeps never came back. Anyone heard any good news on this front?
Uke
Dig up a copy of “The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed” by John McPhee for that story.
Keith
You want brilliance BEFORE I’ve had my coffee!!!
Dirigible etymology of sorts
Dirigir (soft g) is french meaning to direct
(Same in spanish but with a hard g)
Strike the hard g, it’s pronounced as an h in spanish. Yeeesh!
the g in “dirigir” in Spanish is pronounced like the Spanish J, with that gutural sound that foreigners have trouble with, like the german CH. The h in Spanish is silent.
Good time to ask a quesiton I’ve had for a while, what with all the dirigible experts here. 
Hydrogen has more lift (being lighter and all), but is dangerous because it’s flammible. Why can’t they add some percentage of hydrogen to helium, producing a gas lighter than pure helium, but with a low enough concentration of hydrogen to not sustain a flame? Have they tried this? Is the safe percentage too low to make it worthwhile?
It is too clear, and so it is hard to see.
Mostly, I believe, it’s probably not worth the effort. There are several reasons for this: helium gives a whole lot of lift in its own right*; dirigibles/blimps are so large that there would probably be ample room for the two gasses to separate, leaving a layer of explosive hydrogen sitting on top of a layer of inert helium inside the balloon; there may not be a practical way to “mix” the gasses.
- There is a real difference in the amount of lift that each can provide. There are, periodically, people who criticize the U.S. for not exporting helium to Nazi Germany, blaming the U.S. for contributing to the Hindenburg disaster. However, the German engineers who built the Hindenburg have indicated that they never considered asking for helium anyway. The payloads were so restricted on the long, over-water flights that helium was considered the only economically viable agent. The U.S. Navy blimps were designed for incredibly long loiter times with small to medium payloads that did not require economic validation. (There is no profit in depth charges.)
Tom~
“hydrogen was considered the only economically viable agent”
Nonrigids didn’t completely beat the rigid airships. While they eliminated the risk of a horrible fiery demise no blimps were ever built on the size scale of a Zeppelin or US navy ridgid airhip. A handfull of passengers to sightsee for a few hours in one thing but not in the league of a few dozen transatlantic passengers, luggage, crew, fuel, a galley and a grand piano. Not to mention the Bücker biplane for Indiana Jones and his dad to escape in. 
Dirigible means a lighter than air powered airship with a rigid frame. A blimp is a lighter than air powered airship with a non-rigid frame. A Balloon is a non-powered lighter than air airship. A zepplin is a brand name of certain German produced Dirigibles.