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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 0368.PDF
MORE UNDER-CARRIAGES AT OLYMPIA. THE accompanying illustrations form an interesting addition to those already published in FLIGHT accompanying our recent articles on undercarriages at Olympia. These further sketches illustrate some details in undercarriage construction of a kind that is in a class apart from anything we discussed in the article aforementioned. In the comparisons already made we dealt with undercarriages of more or less stereotyped varieties, and although marked differences in over which it is travelling the sleeve slides up the column and extends the springs. It will be observed that a steel tie is intro duced diagonally in the extension of the frame in order to assist the beams in taking the load of the springs. Another very interesting axle arrangement is that on the Martin- Handasyde machine. Here there is a central column projecting vertically beneath the body, and near the base and head of the " Flight "' Copyright. Under-carriage of the Kny aeroplane, built by Mulliner's, of Long Acre and Northampton. principle between the kinds described, nevertheless they all possessed• in common an absence of anything in the nature of a complicated "I mechanism for the suspension. The Farman type wheel and skid combination with which most of the machines under review were equipped is cer tainly the essence of simplicity, and if effective enough is at any rate crude. By com parison, therefore, the accompanying illus trations of under carriages of what may be described as essentially a mechanical type are worthy of a classi fication on their own account. Of these the most familiar is the well- known B 1 e r i o t, characterised now as hitherto by the absence of any sort of skid. Beneath the front of the machine is a rect angular timber frame consisting of two fl a t beams separated by two vertical struts. The beams extend beyond the struts and carry between their extremities two tubular steel columns upon which the suspension mechanism is mounted. This consists of a tri- angular bracket arranged somewhat like the back forks and stays of a bicycle. The fork, which forms a radius-rod, is swivelled to the base of the steel column and the stay-rods are hinged to a sleeve that rides upon the upper part of the column. This sleeve is anchored to the lower beam of the frame by elastic springs. When the wheel rises under the inequalities of the ground "Flight" Copyright. Swivelling fore part of the under-carriage on the Breguet biplane. column are two sliding sleeves connected by steel distance pieces, and pulled down together towards the lower end of the column by- four elastic springs anchored to the base of the column and to the uppermost sleeve. The axle, on the extremities of which are the wheels, is divided, and each half is hinged separately to the lower sliding sleeve. Diagonal telescopic struts, in which volute springs are introduced, similarly connect the axle to the upper sliding sleeve. With this arrangement the axle can rise bodily and either wheel can ride independently. The other illustrations show two examples of what may be termed toe skids, one being that fitted to the Kny monoplane built by Mulliner's, of Northampton and Long Acre, and the other being the Breguet. The Kny design includes a very massive piece of timber hinged in a rather light manner to the axle, that carries the wheels on a coil-spring suspension, as shown in the sketch. The toe skid is also trussed to the body of the machine by a telescopic strut, hinged to the skid at its lower end and mounted on a sliding shackle " Flight " Copyright. The well-known Bl^riot under carriage. " Flight " Copyright. Under-carriage of the Martin-Handasyde monoplane. above. In the Breguet undercarriage the toe skid is hinged to a triangular frame, and carries by a rearward extension one of the three wheels on which the machine rides on the ground. This wheel is inter-connected with the rudder, and the machine can therefore be steered on the ground, the toe skid.being thereby kept, always in line with the machine's motion. 370
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