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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0402.PDF
flJGHf MAY II. 1916. flywheel is in the nose of the machine. This adaptability for conversion into direct drive should be of importance in that it enables the engine to be used on ordinary tractor machines, thus considerably widening the scope of its usefulness. On the front end of the crankshaft—regarding the engine as fitted up for the chain drive—is the spur wheel driving the half time shaft and the mag neto and water pump. The two latter are, as will be seen from the illustrations, mounted on a plat form on one side of the crankcase, and are driven by a shaft running on ball bearings from the spur wheel on the crankshaft through an intermediate wheel as seen in the end view of the engine. The oil pump, which is of the plunger type, is driven from the crankshaft by means of an eccentric. Running as it does at crankshaft speed, the pump delivers oil at a highly satisfactory rate, in fact on one occasion, when a piece of the gauze in the sump got clogged up, the pump sucked it into one of the oil leads. The oil is drawn from the sump and passed through a tube running along one side internally in the crankcase. Holes are drilled in this tube at certain intervals in line with each connecting rod, and a constant stream of oil is always being played on the big ends. The lubrication of the small ends and cylinder walls is by splash, which method has been found satisfactory for the engine in question. The pistons are of the three ringed type, and are stiffened by internal webs under the piston head. Like the cylinders, they are made of cast iron. Instead of the tubular connecting rods employed in the earlier model, these are in the latest engine made of H section high ten sile steel. The big ends are fitted with white metal die cast bearings, while the small ends have phosphor Sectional view of the plunger type oil pump on the Beatty engine. bronze bushes keyed in. The whole engine is supported on four tubes screwed into four arms cast integral with the upper half of the crankcase, thus facilitating align ment. Although the engine shown in the photographs has separate cylinders, the latest type, which is now on test, has bloc castings, and we understand that this type comes out about 5 lbs. lighter than that with separate cylinders. Also the monobloc engine will be even more compact than the present one, since the water leads now projecting some distance above the top of the cylinders will disappear, thus reducing the overall height considerably. As it is, the separate cylinder type has an overall length of 29 ins. only, which is quite short for a 4-cylinder engine. A good idea of the monobloc engine can be formed from an inspection of the accompanying line drawing, which shows the compactness of the design very well. A feature which should add very considerably to the usefulness of these engines is that all parts are absolutely interchangeable, as all the machining has been done to jigs and gauges, Mr. W. F. Claxton, who is responsible for the detail work of the design, having made a special point of going round to the various firms manu facturing the parts to check everything during the course of manufacture to make assurance doubly sure. Altogether Mr. Beatty is to be congratulated upon having produced a reliable engine eminently suitable for school work. The power developed is 50 h.p. at 1,600 r.p.m., and the bore and stroke are 4$ ins. and 4% ins. respectively. The fuel consumption is 4*28 gallons per hour, and the weight of the engine complete but without radiator is 248 lbs. ® ® ® ® PERSONALS. UNDER the above heading will be published weekly particulars of a personal character relating to those who have fallen or have been wounded in the country's service, announcements of marriages and other items concerning numbers of the Flying Services and others well known in the world of aviation. We shall be pleased to receive for publication properly authenticated particulars suitable for this column. Casualties. Major V. A. BARRINGTON-KENNETT, of the Royal Flying Corps, who was reported mi-sing in March last, is now unofficially reported killed. He obtained his pilot's certificate in March, 1912, and was gazetted Flight-Commander in June, 1915. He was shot down by a German aeroplane during a fight in the air. He was flying alone when he met his death. He was educated at Ludgrove School, Eton, and Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated with honours. He was recommended in despatches " for gallant and distinguished s-rvice in the field." He is the third son of Lieutenant-Colonel B. H. Harrington-Kennett, H.M. Body Guard, to fall in the war. Brevet-Major Basil H. Barrington-Kennett, Grenadier Guards, was killed on May 18th, 1915, aged 30, when leading his company under a heavy fire, and Second Lieutenant Aubrey Hampden Barrington- Kennctt, of the Oxford and Backs Light Infantry, fell at the battle of the Aisne, aged 25. Colonel Barrington-Kennett's only surviving son, Godwin Austen, is serving in East Africa. Lieutenant J. HUTTON FREEMAN, of the Royal Flying Corps, has been killed in a flying accident in Flanders. Lieutenant Freeman had a marvellous escape on March 27th last. He expe rienced engine trouble when attempting to fly from Farnborough to France, and dropped from a height of 3,000 ft. near Walton-on- Thames. The biplane was smashed, but Lieutenant Freeman was practically uninjured. Lieutenant Freeman rowed for Radley College at the last Henley Regatta. Lieutenant JAMES MITCHELL, R.F.C., whose death is officially reported, was formerly in the Canadian Infantry. He was killed on April a6th. Sub-Lieutenant CYRIL J. A. MULLENS, R.N.V.R., one of the officers reported by the Admiralty as missing after the air fight off the coast of Flanders on May 5th, is now officially reported to have been drowned. He was 19 years of age, and the only son of Mr. John Ashley Mullens, partner in Messrs. Mullens, Marshall and Co., of 13, George Street, E.C., the Government brokers, and of Mrs. Mullens, 31, Lowndes Square, and Barrow Hills, Longcross. Educated at Eton, he had just entered at Cambridge before he joined the Royal Naval Air Service, and for some little while recently had been doing successful work as an Observer. He was the nephew of Brigadier-General R. L. Mullens, who some months ago was incapacitated by German asphyxiating gas. Lieutenant CHARLES WALTER PALMER, R.F.C., who was wounded and taken prisoner in an air fight on March 2nd, died of blood poisoning in an internment camp in Germany on March 29th at the age of 24. He was the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. George A. Palmer, of Wykin, Hinckley, and obtained a commission in tha Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry at the out break cf the war, being subsequently gazetted to the Royal Flying Corps. Lieutenant Palmer was with Lieutenant H. F. Birdwood when the latter was killed. Lieutenant Palmer wrote a cheery letter home on March 18th, the day after he had his foot amputated, to say that he hoped soon to be well and exchanged. His superior officer writes of him as "a splendid pilot, whose loss is a great blow to the squadron." Wounded. Second Lieutenant ROBERT L. DUNVIILE, Grenadier Guards, who has been wounded in Ireland, is tbe eldest son of Mr. John Dunviile, Redburn, Holywood, and Sion, Co Meath. He received his commission in the Grenadier Guards last December. His father is well known in aeronautical circles, being a member of the Royal Aero Club Committee and of the Irish Aero Club, and is at present serving in the Royal Naval Air Service. Lieutenant Dunville's second brother—Second Lieutenant John S. Dunviile—is in the Inniskilling Dragoons. 402
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