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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 0183.PDF
FEBRUARY 15, 1913. them will soon convey to the observer that they are designed by practical men. Of the two, the hydro, is the more interesting since it is the more original. The 90-h.p. Sopwith Hydro-biplane.—As the silhouette [/OGHT placed 12 ft. from the stem post. The lottom of the hull UnnS shaped i" this manner, the float is rendered all the more seaworthy for it will not " hammer " to the extent that is noticeable with a flat-bottomed or concave -bottomed hull when "planing" mn choppy water. Supplementary wheeled rhiissis.—So that the machine may I* capable of alighting on land as well as on the water, two wheels are provided, one on either side of the float. They are supported from a common axle member, passing through the hull, by short, hollow struts, beaten and welded up from 14 gauge mild steel. The wheels employed are 24 ins. in diameter, and, apart from the resiliency 01 " Flight " Copyright. The 90-b.p. Sopwith hydro-biplane. sketch that accompanies this description shows, it has a biplane unit somewhat of Farman type, mounted on a stepped hydroplane hull. The hull, constructed by the well-known yacht builders, Messrs. unders, of East Cowes, I.W., is, roughly, 21 ft. in length, and is "Flight" Copyright. Diagrammatic sketch of the float of the Sopwith hydro-biplane. " Might" Copyright. The tail of the Sopwith hydro-biplane. sufficiently wide in the beam—4 ft., to be accurate—to seat pilot and passenger side-by-side. Its light framework is covered with two layers of cedar, laced together, and to the skeleton of the hull, by copper wire, a system of construction that Messrs. Saunders have protected by letters patent, and which they employ in building racing motor-craft. Although the hull is of a considerable size, the writer, when he was privileged to see the machine in course of construction, had no difficulty in lifting it; it only weighed 180 lbs. One of our sketches shows the section of the hull in the neighbourhood of the step, which is between 3 ins. and 4 ins. in depth, and which is the large 4-in. tyres used to shod them, no shock-absorbing devices are fitted. The wheeled chassis may be raised above the level of the bottom of the float, when the machine is being used for over seas work only by rotating the axle which supports it in the manner indicated by one of the sketches. The plane construction. — Both upper and lower planes of the machine are of the same span, 41 ft., and are placed at a slight dihedral angle. They are separ ated by 12 struts and cross-braced by stranded steel cable in those bays on the same vertical plane ^V'll— . - Jrt*. " Flight " Copyright. Front view of the Sopwith hydroplane hull. " Flight" Copyright. Rear view of the Sopwith hydro plane hull. " Flight" Copyright. Section of the Sop with float. " Flight" Copyright. Diagram showing how the landing wheels of the Sopwith hydro- biplane may be drawn up clear of the water. The Sopwith hydro-biplane in course of construction at the firm's Kingston-on-Thames works. 187
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