Letter from Paul Haenlein to Hermann Moedebeck, 1903-11-10
This letter is from engineer Paul Haenlein, to Hermann Moedebeck. The Lilienthal museum shared a transcription, in German, online. We don't see the original, which was handwritten. Below is a translation of the transcription by Deepl, with slight simplifications by user:econterms:
Forsterstraße 1 Mainz 10 November 1903
Dear Major, I haven't been in touch for a long time. I've been very busy reorganizing my life, and today I am pleased to inform you that, thanks to the sale of my patent, I am now in the fortunate position of being able to live modestly off the interest from my assets. I am now one of the lucky ones whom my family call a “Käs & Bratrentier” (cheese and roast rabbit). In the near future, I will take on some private work to improve my finances somewhat, but for the time being, I will devote myself to the noble art of aeronautics in order to realize an idea I have had for a long time, namely to write a brochure about the new airship. For this purpose, I am still missing some data on the strength of balloon fabrics, which I cannot find in your pocket book (1895). I would like to know how many kilograms of prepared, finished balloon fabric can be loaded onto a strip until it breaks, if the strip is 1 cm wide, namely 1 cm for Ponghei [Pongeé] silk and 2 cm for percale.
How much do these fabrics weigh per square meter at the seams? If I am not mistaken, Riedinger uses percale. As you certainly have the relevant data at your disposal, I would be grateful if you would kindly provide me with this information – if I can ever be of service to you with engines, I would be happy to do so. Thank God, things finally seem to be moving forward with the steerable airship; Lebaudy's latest experiments are quite surprising, and now we can only hope that something will happen on the German side as well.
In anticipation of your kind letter, I hope that you are well and that we will finally see a decisive moment in the history of ballooning. With kind regards and best wishes, Paul Haenlein
Sources
- Archive record of this letter on Lilienthal museum site
- Transcript of the letter by Lilienthal museum site, with our thanks
- translated in Deepl and text simplified above
| Sender | Paul Haenlein |
|---|---|
| Recipient | Hermann Moedebeck |
| Date sent | 1903-11-10 |
| From location | Mainz |
| To location | |
| Communication type | letter |
| Language | de |
| Refers to flight? | 1 |
| Tech fields | percale, pongee |
| Length (in words) | 3 |
| Full text available | 1 |
