7 The 100 Most Influential Inventors of All Time 7The airship Schwaben landing at Potsdam, Ger., September 1911.
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Minn., while acting as a military observer (1863) for the
Union Army during the American Civil War. He saw
military action in 1866 during the Seven Weeks’ War and
in 1870–71 during the Franco-German War, serving suc-
cessively in the armies of Württemberg, Prussia, and
imperial Germany. He retired in 1890 and devoted the
rest of his life to the creation of the rigid airship for which
he is known.
Zeppelin struggled for 10 years to produce his lighter-
than-air craft. In previous experimentation on dirigibles,
hydrogen and illuminating gas were substituted for hot air
to provide buoyancy, and a motor was mounted on a gas
bag fi tted with propellers and rudders. Small steam engines
were tried, but as progress took place fi rst electric motors