FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1916
1916 - 1135.PDF
DECEMBER 14, 1916. FLIGHT. and vice versa when going backwards. The machine is then a quadroplane. At this stage, no doubt, it will, perhaps dawn upon our readers, that to fulfill these -requirements the engines must be capable of reversal. Such anticipation will be correct and we will show how this is accomplished when we come to deal with the power plant. To move in a sidewav direction the nacellages are set parallel to one another with both Murines on the same side, so that we have a life-like representation of a twin-/«se/a^-biplane. Again, setting the nactUaees parallel, but with the engines on opposite sides, ami erne of them reversed, the thrusts being diametrically opposed will cause the machine to rotate horizontally about its centre. VoiM ! We hover ! ! [It will be noticed that this machine can thus be made to spin when required, unlike a certain type of machine one knows of.—A.Y.Z.J The number of turns thus made, of course, vary according to circumstances; for instance, by setting the planes for climbing, when it spins, the higher it goes the fewer One can'easily see that one can, with varying positions of the nacellages, reversals of the engines, &c, obtain as many evolutions and variations of control as one desires Thus, rudders are not employed for steering in a horizontal plane. this being accomplished merely by setting one, or both, of the nacellages in the direction it is desired to go. Although ascent and descent can be effected by altering the angle of the main planes, elevators are also provided for this purpose, a pair being mounted on the tail of each nacellage. These elevators are made of the flippers of the Wright Whale, being rendered stiff by means of Greenland Feldspars. Perhaps the most interesting feature of this machine is the manner in which these movements are carried out. All are electrically controlled by the pilot from his conning tower, which is disposed immediately in the centre of the machine on the underframe. Each nacellage is turned by means of an eccentric epileptic gearing between the engine shaft and the underframe pivot-support. The conning tower itself is also connected to the engines by means of this epileptic gearing, so that when the machine is spinning, the conning tower is rotated in the reverse direction. It is thus kept stationary in relation to the earth in order not to interfere with the pilot's powers of observation, and internal stresses. The details of its working are clearly disclosed in the diagram, so it only remains to explain that to rotate the nacellages, the band brake, B, is made to grip the bevel wheel, E, whilst the engine gear wheel, 2, is slid into mesh with the pinion, c, which, being held stationary, causes the engine gear wheel to planet, taking the nacellage with it. When the desired position is reached, the gear wheel, 2, is either solenoided Out of mesh, or, in the case of hovering, the band brake is released, thereby allowing the full train of gears to pursue the t The engine ire controlled utilised i. intended hlev wind are 111 turn controlled by (lie pilot through the medium ot wireli Undoubtedly : Ouadrobiplaiic is its eonstnn is built up on a tusk longerons, hollowed on: Mil streamline shape by engine bearers are made from I straight to shape. Ovei tbj three-pl) coveting oi teal-skin and been employed for the pur| whilst this same mate] 11 I I main planes, only in this warmth in order that disturb interfere with the aerodynamical These latter, which constitute bj feature, are of the reversible doubj of incidence type, tested in the wind turn Tower Laboratory. [It is B -nisi tunnels are mil set up by (he GovenUneSl fa ihe use 1 | constructors. Surely the Underground lulu our Law Courts, could be adapted tor this purpose • Km there, it is not surprising—AY.7. ] The section ami .• are perspicuously delineated in one ol our illustrations. spars are made from specially selected Greenland palm, ami are delicately fluted in order to insure the maintenance us the whole wing-structure in perfect tin possessing not a remote degree of the faculty of observation and being a constant reader of aeronautical journals, did not fail to notice that it was general practice to bold aeroplanes together by wires. These, therefore, |prm an iroportaol feature in the construction of the 1 .T.I'. Onadrobiplanc. Barbed wire has been employed for bracing the main pi thus effectively complying with the laws of skin friction. The ptopters (propellers or tractors, as the case may be) are built up of laminated whale's (hikes, thoroughly pit and set in spermaceti. The chassis hav< b .alls designed by the inventor •>( the "Tanks. sy 1« seen, are eminently suitable for negotiating We now come to the power plant, which may be said to possess an interest of a magnitude far m advance of any obtaining throughout the entire apparatus. .[The engines titted to this epoch making machine ha<. many wonderful details (hat 111 order to ensure justice being done to them, we have entrusted their description to our eminent contributor, Mr, Gerald de LettgO WOOde, « soul-stirring, graphu word pictures of " Engines i have seen and known " are so widely appreciated 111 all Cornell >>l the world.—A.Y.Z.] I THE SEIDLITZ FIVE-STROKE ENGINE. By GERALD DE LETTGO WOODE. HOSE of you who went to a decent school, and have not forgotten Ovid, will recall the story of Capaneus, the noble but pluckv Argive, son of Hipponous and Astinome, and husband to Evadne. When he went to the war he had the temerity to declare that he would take Thebes even in spite of Jupiter. Such impiety could only be rewarded by a thunderbolt; but we are told that the body of Capiuieus was burned separatelv from the others, and his wife throw herself on the burning pile to mingle her ashes with his. As to whether Popaufkwik, the eminent Greenland municipal engineer, ever studied Latin we do not know, nor does it greatly matter, but that some such idea as that with which the above story ends was present to his mind is evident. Confronted by the problem of designing an engine for the unique machine by which his dear friend I>r. Chef intended to reach the Pole, he at once saw that for so noble a work it was essential that he should start ah initio and, throwing all accepted principles to the winds, conceive something entirely original. As one of the three men in the world who had "solved the unsurmountable difficulties of using quicksilver for drop-forgings, he decided that the engine must have bearings of this type, rabbit lined. Nihil ad rem. Having proceeded thus far, it became apparent that he should think of the fuel which should be used, and at once, in view of the coldness of the atmosphere in which the engmes wrould have to work, he discarded any and every* form of heat engine. Petrol and steam were, of course, not to 1«- thought of, as they had been used before. How he solved the problem is a story which should be entrusted to an alifet pen than that Photographs, upside down, back, jj side, inside, &c, of the Seidlitz engine, clearly showing all details, taken in the experimental workshop in Greenland. Note specially the icicles on the exhaust pipe. an epic in 1 of such a humble scribe as the writer, for One fine afternoon, while indulging m his < 11 ••• after his matutinal meal • from the 1 1 dome of heaven to the snowy mantle which 1 whole landscape A- he strolled be found him-- 5^^ •JrZZk&r
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
