Karl Arnstein

Background

Karl Arnstein was born on 24 March in 1887 in Prague, Czech Republic.

Education

Karl obtained the degree of doctor of engineering at the University of Prague.

Career

His early work in stress analysis in Strasbourg won the attention of the Zeppelin company in Friedrichshafen, Germany, with which he worked from 1915 to 1924, leaving as chief engineer to join the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in the United States.

He was a director and vice-president in charge of engineering of the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation from 1924 to 1939; from 1939 to 1957 he served as a director, vice-president, and chief engineer of the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation.

He designed about 70 airships, and his designs for two large rigid airships won competitions held by the United States Navy. He directed the construction of the Akron and the Macon, begun in 1926 for the navy. His techniques of stress analysis, which were first applied to bridges and to the cathedral at Strasbourg and later to rigid airships, have been applied to airplane materials and structures. Arnstein died in Akron, Ohio, on Dec. 12, 1974.

Achievements

• He developed stress analysis methods that have been incorporated into airships and airplane materials. Before his involvement in airships he was one of the main engineers in building the Swiss Langwieser Viaduct. Arnstein was the chief designer of the U. S. Navy airships, USS Akron and USS Macon.

Works

• book

  • THE DEVELOPMENT OF LARGE COMMERCIAL RIGID AIRSHIPS DIRIGIBLES

References

• When Giants Roamed the Sky: Karl Arnstein and the Rise of Airships from Zeppelin to Goodyear
• The Golden Age of the Great Passenger Airships: Graf Zeppelin and Hindenburg