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Aviation History
1914
1914 - 0442.PDF
[/jjCHT APRIL 25, 1914, NAVAL AND MILITARY AEROPLANE ENGINE TESTING ARRANGEMENTS TMK engine testing plant that will be used in the forthcoming Naval and Military Aeroplane Engine Competition is well worthy of the studious attention of engine manufacturers in general and of aero nautical engine specialists in particular. Two fundamental conditions ENGINE COMPETITION. AT THE ROYAL AIRCRAFT FACTORY. height above the ground level to completely isolate one engine from another. A workshop, fitted with vice benches, a drilling machine &c., is provided in the same building so as to allow competitors to effect such small adjustments as may be required in finally fitting and Fig. 1.-Arrangement of testing bed showing the engine, fan and brake In position, but with the air ducts removed must be satisfied by any plant which is to be used for a purpose of this nature, before the results obtained from tests made with it can be accepted as giving a true indication of performances in actual practice : (a) the apparatus employed must be absolutely reliable in every respect, and (I,) the arrangement must be such that the condi tions under which the tests are carried out are analogous to those under which the engine will be subsequently engaged. The fulfil- ment of these conditions is often a difficult matter, especially where exact measurements are required to be made ; but in both of these aspects the plant at the Royal Aircraft Factory will be regarded with a con siderable amount of satisfaction, as in its design and construction, special precautions have been observed to ensure the accuracy of the measurements of the power developed, and the fuel, oil and water used, as well as the velocity of the air over the engine. Means nave also been provided whereby, if desired, the engine may be tilted (in either a lateral, or a longi tudinal direction) to any angle up to 150; and a thrust or a pull may be applied to the engine crank-shaft. I he instruments employed for mea-uring fluid flow merit careful examination, not from any novel feature in their construction, but because thry represent special applications of certain well-known devices in order to achieve a high standard of accuracy with the minimum ot complication and of care in observation. There are eight test beds, six of which are fixed to the ground, whilst two may be inclined in any direction —the framing for the latter being supported in trun nions and fifed with locking gear for holding the bed in any desired petition. The former are in one building, but each is arranged in a separate compart ment, the walls of which are carried to a sufficient tuning up their engines on the premises. The engines are received in a room adjoining, where the weights, &c, are recorded ; but the tilting beds are in a separate building. The arrangement and details of the fixed test beds are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. These drawings are amongst those which have been Fig. 2.—Arrangement of girders on fixed test beds. 442
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