Light and Strong

Light enough to be towed by a bicycle

      Airstream manufacturing borrowed much of its processes from aircraft design which gave the trailers a very high strength weight ratio.  The interior rib is built out of aluminum as a support frame for the exterior skin, a technique still used today.  

 Airstream's framing system

      The trailers also use monocoque construction, where the shell of the vehicle carries most of the weight and stress.  From Greek mono for one and French coque meaning shell, monocoque construction is one in that the structural load of the object is supported by the external material rather than the internal frame. For example, a typical automobile is not a perfect monocoque construction and uses a series of tubes and bulkheads to provide support while the external body adds little strength or support. In monocoque construction, the body and chassis form a single unit.

Airstream's exterior aluminium shell

Strong but load bearing

      The ridgid yet light weight aluminum skin is then riveted onto the interior frame to create the shell of the Airstream trailer.  The details and number of panels has changed over the years but the basic design has not changed much from the original 1936 Airstream Clipper.

Sources:

"Airstream Style Through the Years." Boston Globe. Boston Globe, n.d. Web. 14 Nov 2012. <http://www.boston
      .com/yourlife/gallery/071207_airstream/>

Table 1. The production of aluminum in capitalist countries

Table 1. The production of aluminum in capitalist countries (thousands of tons)1
Country	1900	1913	1939	1943	1946	1950	1960	1966
1 From data of the periodical Revue de I’aluminium, 1967, no. 355
2 All of Germany up to 1943
USA .....................	2.3	21.4	148.4	834.8	371.9	651.8	1,827.2	2,693.6
Canada ..................	—	6.4	75.0	449.1	176.1	360.0	690.6	807.9
France ...................	0.9	15.5	52.5	46.5	47.8	60.7	235.2	363.5
Japan ...................	—	—	32.8	149.7	3.2	24.8	131.2	335.1
Norway ..................	—	1.5	31.1	23.5	16.7	47.1	165.4	330.9
West Germany2............	0.7	1.4	195.1	242.0	0.7	27.8	168.9	243.9
Italy .....................	—	0.8	34.2	47.2	10.9	36.8	83.6	127.8
Australia .................	—	—	—	—	—	—	12.0	92.0
India ....................	—	—	—	1.3	3.3	3.7	18.2	83.6
Austria...................	0.5	2.3	4.3	68.2	1.0	18.0	68.0	78.9
Switzerland ..............	0.7	9.0	27.0	19.0	13.1	19.0	39.7	68.7
Spain ....................	—	—	1.0	0.8	1.0	2.5	28.9	62.0
Cameroon ...............	—	—	—	—	—	—	43.9	48.2
England..................	0.6	7.6	25.0	56.6	32.1	29.9	29.4	37.1
Greece ..................	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	36.2
Sweden ..................	—	—	2.6	3.7	3.9	4.0	16.0	28.8

Aluminum production became active during the second world war, and again after 1960.

Sources:

"Aluminum Industry." The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition. 1970-1979. The Gale Group, Inc. 5 Nov 2012. 
      <http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Aluminum+Industry>.

Table 2: Aluminum production and its relation to Airstream Clipper

From this spreadsheet, it shows that the airstream clipper (1936) was manufactured when the aluminum production was doubled from the previous year. Also, the low unit value of aluminum in the late 1930's and 1940's may have contributed to the choice in material of the airstream clipper.

Sources:

"Aluminum Statistics." USGS. N.p., 2005. Web. 5 Nov 2012. <http://minerals.usgs.gov/ds/2005/140/aluminum.pdf>.