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Aviation History
1914
1914 - 0108.PDF
[/ycHf JANUARY 31, 1914. SOME EXPERIMENTS WITH DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OF LATERAL CONTROL. Mr. W. E. SOMERVILLE, of Coal City, Illinois, U.S.A., sends us the following interesting account of some experiments with different systems of lateral control, THE SOMERVILLE BIPLANE.—Type 1 Aileron fitted on 1910 eiperl mental biplane, and also used In 1911, which he has carried out during the years 1910, 1911, 1912 and 1913, in order to determine the best form of ailerons:— " Machines Nos. r, 2 and 3, as shown in the accom panying photographs, all had shutters, which were not interconnected, and which were operated by opening the shutters on the higher wing, thereby partly reducing the area and consequently the lift, whilst the added resistance caused a drag, which retarded the speed of the higher wing tip. ailerons also proved to be quite good as a rudder, in fact while the experiments were being carried out the rudder was very seldom used. However, as the shutters were kept closed by means of a heavy spring the action of opening them against the pull of the spring entailed some rather hard work, so this system was discarded. " System No. 3 was fairly good, but not so effective as No. 2. It was used, however, on the 1912 machines by the aviators E. Korn and E. S. Daugherty. On my 1913 biplane a new design (No. 4) was tried. This system is practically the same as the Farman, but operates exactly the opposite way. In order to correct a bank the aileron on the higher side is raised, thus causing a downward pressure as well as a drag on the higher wing. This, of course, acceler ates the speed of the lower wing, and consequently increases the lift so that the machine rights itself without the use of the rudder. Then another system was tried in which the ailerons were interconnected, as in the modern Farman and Curtiss machines, but with the exception that when in their normal position the ailerons pre sented a negative angle of incidence to the line of flight. The ailerons were so adjusted that when the controls were moved to their full limit the aileron on the lower wing was in line with the trailing edge, whilst that on the higher wing presented the neces sary resistance and downward pressure to right the machine. I consider this system the best because it is easy to operate, and produces practically no resistance on the lower side. It also appears to add considerably to the general stability of the machine. My object in testing so many systems was to produce a design which would be effective, efficient and safe, without causing any drag THE SOMERVILLE BIPLANE.—Type 2 Aileron used in 1910 experimental biplane. "System No. 1 was found to be inefficient when the machine was near the ground, and so was discarded in favour of No 2 This was quite good, and the machine would right itself almost immediately, while this form of on the lower wing, and one which would at the same time work independently of the rudder. Nos. 2 and 4 are particularly suitable, since either ailerons or rudder may be used for both purposes.
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