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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 0326.PDF
170533 MAY 7, 1915, Edited by V. E. A Gear-Controlled Tractor Monoplane. By II. SIBLEY. TUB following particulars and accompanying sketches refer to a small model I have recently constructed, and which I think may prove of interest to your readers. Briefly put, it is a tractor mono plane, fitted with a form of gear control, by which the elevator, rudder and ailerons may be operated automatically during flight. This method of automatic control was to my knowledge first thought of by Mr. W. (i. Aston, and given by him in the form of an article, in the first issue of the Aero as a monthly paper, as far as I can remember, in 1911. At that time one of the difficulties of model flying was to get a machine to rise from the ground under its own power, and in the alxjve-mentioned article Mr. Aston gave a method by which he considered this might be accomplished by the use of a gear control, There is no need for me to refer to this more in detail, as the problem of the r.o.g. model has been solved. I do not know if anyone actually constructed an automatically controlled model at that time; if so, I have never seen any account of such, and do not know whether such was a success or not. Personally, I was chiefly concerned in getting all the power (not very much) out of the rubber motors of my models without putting extra weight and resistance in the form of a gear control, &c. J at that time rubber lubricant had not been invented. JOHNSON. M.A. It was only quite recently that I decided to build a model of this description, and using a form of control as described by Mr. Aston. The good points about this type of control are these : Simple to make, cannot get out of order, easy to adjust, minimum of resistance. I do not think any lengthy description is necessary as I have made the sketches as clear as possible. Fig. 1 shows side and front elevation of control gear drawn to half actual size. The worm gear is made by coiling a piece of mild steel wire round propeller shaft and soldering to the same. [Copper wire answers equally well.—V.EJ.J The wire used for this purpose should be of a suitable gauge to fit in with the teeth of the large gear wheel. The " worm gear," if necessary, may be carefully filed to ensure a good working fit when in mesh with the large gear. On the model herein described there are fifty-six teeth on the large gear wheel (100 would be more suitable), so that for every 56 revolutions of propeller spindle the large gear wheel makes one revolution. The wire levers, .to which are attached the control wires, are operated by small wire arms soldered to each side of gear wheel. It will l>e apparent that the more teeth on gear wheel the longer the time that will elapse before the lever controls come into operation. i_f/V£7 H Top wiu^ Cab a ne p»aiutoo Central vr/ires PiarvoVC |6&.V&lt;/<S, 6IBLEY Automatic Control Tractor Mono '•*• 6irvs. / < Fine Cacfiur 0 coil strands of -L- strlfc rubber Double Surface Wing ^Underside Camber \'\ Top Carrvbejr i ; Greatest dentin, of Camber from lead vn£ edge 15 ''• A ngle. of InCt * device 3° ~ vSmall dihedral An§U '£ Loading 4kozs to \ s<y.ft '.Bamboo 7 z I* A. I0"d\am 16 Ribs 1 V'TviVevcood K— hk - — >C— 3"-•? abbei in tern ! ar Front sp&f £"h*lf round p S~""'l"- otuce "so/ 1/ "T*\ *• 1 ! / Sam 1 j$ rouncL THE SIBLEY MODEL-Partlculars and weights t-Fuselage, gear control, chassis, tractor screw 2i ozs.: tall and rudder, £ oz.; main plane, H oz.; rubber. 1 oz.j total weight, 6i ozs. With 6 strAndTnf r.,M^ .,«««»«.« 1.080 r.p.m.. 450 turns - •gj.fcB 7 strands of rubbfr serenes^SS^wbtSSJKJS 1 be number of turns was obtained with a moderate wind. 326
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