A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 1900s. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on March 14, 1899. Given the outstanding success of the Zeppelin design, the term Zeppelin in casual use came to refer to all rigid airships.
Zeppelins were operated by the Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-AG (DELAG). DELAG, the first commercial airline, served scheduled flights before WWI. After the outbreak of war, the German military made extensive use of Zeppelins as bombers and scouts.
The WWI defeat of Germany in 1918 halted the airship business temporarily. But under the guidance of Hugo Eckener, the deceased Count's successor, civilian Zeppelins became popular in the 1920s. Their heyday was during the 1930s when the airships LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin and LZ 129 Hindenburg operated regular transatlantic flights from Germany to North America and Brazil. The Art Deco spire of the Empire State Building was originally designed to serve as a dirigible terminal for Zeppelins and other airships to dock. The Hindenburg disaster in 1937, along with political and economic issues, hastened the demise of the Zeppelin airships.
The term Zeppelin is a generalized trademark that originally referred to airships manufactured by the German Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH, which pioneered dirigible design in the early years of the twentieth century. The word Luftschiff, German for "airship", usually prefixed their crafts' names.
In modern common usage, the terms Zeppelin, dirigible and airship are used interchangeably for any type of rigid (physical frame) airship, with the term blimp alone used to describe non-rigid (no physical frame) airships. Although the blimp also qualifies as a "dirigible", the term is seldom used with blimps. In modern technical usage, airship is the term used for all aircraft of this type, with Zeppelin referring only to aircraft of that manufacture, and blimp referring only to non-rigid airships.
This pressed steel pull toy Zeppelin with the name of LITTLE GIANT ZEPPELIN was manufactured by BAER & STRASBURGER, New York in the late 1920s. The original box for the Zeppelin has some great looking pictorial drawings with a Manhattan scene that includes the Statue of Liberty.
The BAER & STRASBURGER Zeppelins were made of 28 gauge steel sheets that were stamped out in two sections, upper and lower. The sections had long stamping lines that ran front to back. The two sections were crimped together along the seam lines and formed the body and also the horizontal fins. A sheet metal gondola was attached to the lower section with tabs locked into place with cutouts in the lower section. Inside the gondola area were several parts that included two pressed steel wheels and axle attached to the gondola. There was a metal strip that was bent and formed to support two shafts with propeller assemblies. The metal strip also had a spring steel strip that rubbed against a gear on the axle to make a clicking sound when the Zeppelin was moving. On the propeller shafts were wooden dowels that rubbed against the wheels that made the propellers turn when the Zeppelin was also moving as well.
The top vertical fin was made of sheet metal and riveted to the body. The lower vertical fin assembly was made to accommodate a pressed steel wheel and axle. The fin and wheel assembly was attached to the lower body section with rivets. The top vertical fin is often broken off because it was able to be bent back and forth easily. The horizontal fins are always in place because they were double thick steel formed from the upper and lower body sections crimped together.
The BAER & STRASBURGER Zeppelin was about 26 inches (660mm) in length and was painted in a very nice silver color. The colorful LITTLE GIANT ZEPPELIN decal was applied to the upper section above the gondola. There was also two large, round six pointed red, blue and white stars applied to the top of the upper section. The only markings indicating the manufacturer of BAER & STRASBURGER was printed on the original box.
Along the seams in the front of the body section was a hole to attach a string for pulling the Zeppelin along the sidewalk or street. It was also advertised that the Zeppelin could be sat upon supporting a 100 pound boy and pushed along as well. The original cost was less than 2 dollars for these BAER & STRASBURGER Zeppelins toys. Because of their steel construction, many have survived over the years but most are found in a rusty, dented condition and usually missing the vertical fins, wheels, propellers and gondola parts.
Just to note: GOTHAM PRESSED STEEL CORPORATION, 144th Street & Wales Avenue, New York City also produced a steel ZEPPELIN toy that also used the LITTLE GIANT ZEPPELIN decal set as well.
