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Aviation History
1910
1910 - 0601.PDF
JULY 30, 1910. TANKS. Tanks of stream line form are constructed by the Phoenix Radial Rotary Motor Co. and also by the Spiral Tube and Components Co. The Phpenix fit an adjustable safety valve to all their tanks in order to relieve excessive pressure. A special type of stream line form tank having a section corre sponding to the camber of an aeroplane is constructed by the Aerial Manufacturing Co. The aeroplane action of this tank in passing through the air is stated to be sufficient to lift the weight of the tank and part of the fuel it contains. Welded steel tanks, having no joints or rivets whatsoever, are constructed by John Thompson and Co. Tanks, having separate compartments for oil and fuel, are con structed by the Spiral Tube and Components Co. TIMBER. Woods of all kinds are supplied by W. Mallinson and Son, who hold a large stock of silver spruce for spars and struts, and also mahogany and walnut, which are frequently used in the construction of laminated propellers. (/OGHT TOOLS. Tools of every description, whether for wood or metal working, are supplied by R. Melhuish, Ltd. TYRES. Tyres suitable for the wheels of aeroplanes are supplied by the Aeroplane Supply Co. and the North British Rubber Co. WHEELS. A very light and strong type of wheel for aeroplanes is being put upon the market by Harris and Samuels (Eyquem's I'atents). These wheels are made in several sizes, from 14 ins. in diameter upwards. One of the larger sizes, shown in the illustration, is 28 ins. in diameter, and weighs 11 lbs. WIRE. Steel wire of various qualities and gauges can be obtained from Brown Bros., Melhuish, Ltd., the Motor Accessories Co., Ruber)', Owen, and Co., and Handley Page, Ltd. Silver and nickel-plated wire can be obtained from the-latter firm. ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON AERONAUTICS. REPLYING to a question put in the House of Commons by Mr. Fell on Monday last, Mr. Asquith said the Advisory Committee on Aeronautics was still sitting and would continue to sit next year. He referred to the interim report already issued and published in FLIGHT, and said that Capt. Murray Sueter, R.N., representing the Admiralty, and Mr. Mervyn O'Gorman, superintendent of the balloon factory, had been appointed additional members of the Committee. Up to the present, the total approximate cost amounted to^lo,ooo, and experiments in aerial navigation, of a practical nature, were still being conducted at the National Physical Laboratory. DEVELOPMENTS WITH THE DUNNE MACHINE. PROGRESS continues to be made by Mr. J. W. Dunne with his biplane at Eastchurch, and recently a series of short flights in winds of gradually increasing strength have been made. The automatic stability of the machine is still maintained, and no alterations have had to be made in the trim of the machine. The machine turns well on the dual flap control, the relative proportion of banking to turn seems correct, and neither in wide nor sharp turns is there any centrifugal or centripetal action. Capt. A. D. Carden, who designed the propellers, and Mr. D. W. Barton, are learning to fly the machine. •'COUNSELS OF COWARDICE" AND A CONTRAST. IT would, perhaps, be difficult more concisely to show—by contrast with the manly views of the lover of progress—the unlovely emana tions of the retrogressive human mind than by the following juxta posed letters, culled by us from the Daily Chronicle and from the Glasgow Recotd lately. . Nothing could well confirm more fully the line which we took in last week's leader. More readers of FLIGHT than one will be grateful to Sir Martin Conway for his particularly straightforward and reasonable statement:— "Development's SteadyCourse," Flying Machines. SIR,—If you look back over the I don't know what Members of history of any sport or practical Parliament are doing that they invention applied to popular use don't pass a Bill to stop people and involving danger, you will find from risking their lives in these that public opinion passes through life-destroyers. It's terrible the same silly round of stages. when you read of the number First the public opens its mouth of people killed in the short and gapes with wonder. Presently space of two years, it says, " This is very dangerous." God gave the earth for man- A little later it cries, " This new kind and the air for the birds, thing interferes with my habits." Can these people who fly not put Finally, when some prominent their money to better use ? I see person is killed, it shouts aloud, they are stopping the Johnson and Jeffries moving pictures. But it is twenty times worse than even a real prize fight to see a man being killed before your eyes. Glasgow. A WISE MAN. Aviation Dabblers. Alas ! aviation is in the money- " Stop ! stop ! Prohibit these people. Shut them up. Make the sport illegal." Naturally no one in authority pays any attention at any stage of this fool's progress. Development follows its steady course. Experience diminishes danger. The public learns new habits and adjusts itself to new grabbers' hands. With few ex- conditions, and before long comes ceptions flying men are risking to believe that in some way the their necks for money, not for the credit of the new accomplishment further progress or development belongs to it. It was so with motor of science. "Praise where cars. It will be so with flying praise is due." There are excep- machines. Brave men sacrifice tions, but the greater majority of their lives to win new powers which flying men are merely buying unworthy humanity in the mass machines and risking their lives presently inherits. All honour to for money, the brave—but none to humanity ! A. Fox. Maidstone. MARTIN CONWAY. Photo by Dr. W. J. S. Lockytr. Hurlingham Grounds, as seen from " Le Nephtys" balloon, May 30th, 1908. Note the starting mat from which the balloon has just been despatched. 599
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