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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 0022.PDF
TfiiQHT JANUARY 14, 1911. THE ADVISORY ONE of the latest Parliamentary papers issued and presented to both Houses is the Interim Report of the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, full details of which we give elsewhere. It is, as may there be judged, an in teresting document in itself, and still more so if regarded— as we think in fairness it should be—as an earnest of the invaluable results that may be expected later. Criticism of Government Departments is a national privilege, and besides official work does seem to have a habit of lending itself thereto on the score of slowness ; but it remains to be seen whether or not that undertaken by the authorities at Bushey House, at the instance of the Advisory Com mittee, is to prove a further confirmation of the general rule, for whatever may be thought of the present rate of progress, it must at least be remembered that the full swing of work is only just getting under way down there, and that unduly to hurry the initial stages of experimental work is to court inaccuracy from the start. So far as can be seen from this Interim Report, various tests are at present being carried out that should provide a good deal of practical information. A fair indication of their nature and of the results is to be found in it, as for instance, where the striking advantages of proofed silk over rubber fabric in the matter of permeability to the leakage of hydrogen gas are dealt with, though little in the way of numerical data are included. Another interesting statement on the same subject is to the effect that the capacity for holding hydrogen on the part of rubbered fabric seems to be generally dependent on the weight of the rubber in the fabric. Proofed paper has also been tried but found useless, which result is incidentally a confirmation of the early observations of Cavendish, Cavallo and the ingenious Dr. Black, who many years ago had in mind the construction of a hydrogen balloon for demonstration before a class of his chemistry students, but seemed always to be deterred from making the experiment because he could never get his butcher to provide the allantois of a calf at the precise time that he happened to be giving a lecture on the subject of gases. AH these early workers found that hydrogen passed through paper like a sieve; had they not done so the hydrogen balloon might have been un fait accompli before even Montgolfier made his famous discovery of a new " gas " in smoke, which turned out to be nothing but hot air after all. But most of these matters relate essentially to dirigible balloons and we have still to await developments in any directions that may serve a useful purpose in aeroplane design. There exists, however, at Bushey House a wind tunnel from the use of which many missing links in the science of aerodynamics ought to be forthcoming within a reasonable period. And there is also a whirling table whereon small model propellers can be tested in flight. At Barrow, Messrs. Vickers Sons and Maxim have an enormous plant of the same description whereon full-sized propellers may be tested in flight; and the authorities in the two places have agreed to co-operate in their work as far as possible, particularly with a view to evolving a coefficient necessary to equate the results obtained from models with those derived from full-sized propellers of which the models are small- scale replicas. The firm in question, although a private concern, depend so largely upon Government patronage that in a sense it is impossible to regard many of their undertakings as other than of a national character. OR] It is at any rate satisfactory to find that the only two experimental plants in this country capable of dealing with propellers in this way are to be operated more or less in conjunction with one another. Some not very far- seeing people have been inclined to ridicule the whirling table at Bushey House and affect to despise the results of small-scale work altogether. But that is little more than sheer folly. Small-scale work may or may not be of vital utility; if it is, it would be ridiculous to ignore it on the grounds of its miniature proportions. Lord Roberts argues that it would be possible for this country to make herself into a nation of sharpshooters by regular practice with a miniature rifle. By an attentive study of the action of models it is certainly possible to learn something of the science of flight that might not be readily within reach on a full scale any more than it is feasible for every would-be marksman to practise shooting at a real live gentleman in khaki in his back yard. Preconceived notions are, of course, open to the abuse of being held as convictions without confirmation, but a preconceived notion is for all that a thoroughly useful asset in any practical work provided that the investigator holds an open mind for the reception of further developments and has in the first instance obtained his notions from some plausible evidence such as that obtained from the investigation of models. For the striking work that it is hoped to obtain from the National Physical Laboratory it is, however, necessary for the moment to wait patiently. Another department of activity referred to in the report that is particularly strong, mainly owing to the very able work of Dr. Stanton and Mr. Dines, is that assuciated with meteorology and the investigation of atmospheric disturbances. The latest development in this depart ment is the erection of a new observation station at Pyrton Hill, in Oxfordshire, where Mr. Dines is investi gating the relative conditions of the upper and lower air strata. Work there has hardly settled down as yet, however, and about the only practical result so far deduced is one that has already been appreciated by aviators to the effect that gustiness of the wind decreases with altitude. The fact that what may be described as- academic research should happen to provide its first piece of knowledge in the form of somewhat stale news- should not, however, in any way be regarded as a reflection upon the useful work that can be— and doubt less will be—accomplished. But, the above references are one and all to a section of the Interim Report that is obviously of minor impor tance for the time being inasmuch as the great bulk of the publication in question is devoted to the official results of the Alexander Prize Competition for flight engines. It will be remembered that Mr. Patrick Y. Alexander offered a prize of ,£1,000 to encourage the development of motors suitable for aeroplanes, and it is indeed regrettable that his most praiseworthy intention should have miscarried to the extent that it has. On this subject, however, we have more to say in our introduction to the Interim Report itself on a later page this week. But it is perhaps well to draw attention here to the fact that the full results of the trial as set out in this official Blue-book now make their first appearance, although the tests themselves were made and the bare net upshot was announced some little time ago. 22
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