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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0890.PDF
AUGUST 30, 1917. and the crank lever d. The cranks b are hollowed out at e to provide clearance for the rear spar. The top plane has slots cut in it for the cranks b. The pull rods c are connected to the crank lever d by ball joints. The hand lever and xudder pedal are of the most varying types. Those shown in the drawing are the most usual. The top of the rear portion of the body is generally covered with curved plywood. The tail skid is supported on a structure of three-ply, g, projecting down from the framework of the body. The machine gun is rigidly mounted over the centre of the body directly in front of the pilot. On the right there is a drum on which the belt with the loaded cartridges is wound. The empty belt is wound on. a drum, h, on the left, the drum being provided with a spring to keep the belt taut. The empty cartridges are conducted out of the machine through a tube in the usual way. ;V::W- ••• >- • •• ; ••••»•••--;••-»•• % Type.Characteristics Motor .. Span— - '•- Top Bottom \-J.~Chord— Top .V <• Bottom Total area Nieuport No. II.One-seater, square body. 80' h.p. Le Rhone. 7.5.2O .;,. .7,400 ~.SL, 1,200, 7OO 13.65 sq. m. Angle of incidence— Top Bottom i°4o' 3° . • ij plane. No. 12. Two-seater, Vee struts slope outwardsno h.p. Cler- get. • 9.200 7,460 1,820 . • 900 22.2 sq. m. 20 30' . 3° jo' No. 17.One-seater, Body round in front.110 h.p. Le Rhone. 8,300 , - 7^800, . . V* •*' • ' • . "—* •'_••:' I,23O 73O 15.6 sq. m. 20 30' 2° . AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING NOTES. The Supply of Aluminium. THE enormous increase in the amount of aluminiujn which is being used for motors in one way or another, is such that it may be necessary to produce this metal from kaolin instead of from bauxite as at present, according to Dr. F. C. Weber, a Chicago industrial chemist. Since their supply of bauxite has been cut off Germany has had to utilise the deposits of kaolin in Saxony and Thuringia to obtain her necessary supply ol aluminium. Bauxite—a mineral composed of impure aluminium hydroxide—is obtained from Baux, near Aries, in France, but it is also found in Ireland and in fhe United States in Arkansas, Georgia and Alabama. Kaolin is a hydrated aluminium silicate, and is better known as china clay or fire clay. It is found in Cornwall, Limoges in France, in China, the East Indies and the United States. According to Dr.v Weber the supply in the last-mentioned country—the largest deposits are in Illinois—are practically inexhaustible. At his suggestion the U.S. Council of National Defence is to consider the^question of developing the industry in this direction. A method has been patented in the U.S. for obtaining aluminium from aluminium carbide. The latter is mixed with 10 to 20 per cent.—by weight—of oxide, chloride, or sulphide of Al, and the charge is then reduced in a vertical electric furnace at 2100 to 2200° C. under a pressure of 10 to 15 lbs. per sq. in. above atmospheric. Whe'n alloys are required, oxide, chloride or sulphide of the respective metal is added in such proportion as to obtain a eutectic alloy. In the case of copper, for instance, the proportions would be Cu 5 • 8 per cent, and Al 94 • 2 per cent. Novelties in Fuels, and their Use. Excellent as are the carburettors of to-day, the cry goes up for something still better. Developed from an apparatus which was nothing more or less than a measuring device, the Carburettor of to-day retains that characteristic. When it was first introduced motor spirit was so volatile that all that was needed was to measure off the proper quantity of spirit and the requisite amount of air and they could be left to form the necessary gas. As far as aviation is concerned at the present time, the position is little changed, as the aeromotor has the best spirit reserved for it. The time is, coming, however—who knows how soon—when the enormous increase in the number of internal-combustion engines in use for an indescribable variety of purposes will necessitate serious attention being given to the question of providing new fuels and improved methods of utilising existing ones. It may well be that in place of the present measuring device, the carburettor may develop into a gas-maker, after all what is usually termed a petrol engine is nothing more or less than a gas engine. In this connection it is interesting to uotice a novel method for starting and running internal-^combustion engines— which is the patent of Mr. F. E. Smith and Vickers, Ltd.— even although at the moment the aeromotor is outside the range of its application. The fuel is a composition of various ingredients, one mixture being 41 parts potassium nitrate, 41 parts charcoal and 18 parts sulphur, with sufficient moisture to make it .plastic. Not the least important feature of the scheme is that by which only partial combustion is secured in the first cylinder, the residue of energy being utilised in the second cylinder by the addition of air or oxygen, the pro- cess being repeated continuously. For starting purposes, by igniting a cartridge of the fuel a reservoir can be immediately charged with gas at high pressure, which can be used, for the engine. * . Some Carburettor Problems. IN an address on the subject of " Aero Engines " before the American Association of Mechanical Engineers, Prof. Charles E. Lucke, who has carried out a great deal of research work in connection with fuels, emphasised the fact that carburettors are not yet satisfactory, and as soon as satis- factory carburettors were secured from the point of view of proportionality of the mixture a reduction in fuel consumption, , as well as more reliable operation, might be looked for. He also laid stress upon the importance of obtaining dry mixtures. When mixtures are wet, that is, not completely vaporised, the air and fuel cannot be uniformly distributed, and the use of pressure gauges will show it is rarely that two cylinders will show the same maximum pressures. Drying of the mixture will not only cure that fault, but will also obviate carbonisation troubles. A third important factor, he said, was that of homogeneity. However accurately the mixture might be adjusted as to fuel and air ratio, however carefully" * the mixture might be distributed, the fact remained, that in order to produce economical results the charge in any one cylinder must be uniform in every cubic inch of it. It is not sufficient to get the right amount of air and the right amount of fuel in the cylinder if the latter is all in one corner. From questions of mixture quality Prof. Lucke went on to speak of plane propagation, and spoke of the advanfeges of having the sparking plug in the centre of the head, a location which it will be remembered is strongly advocated by Mr. Louis Coatalen. Dealing with the question of valve-setting, Prof. Lucke said that most people had played with cams and adjusted them backward and forward by guesses ; he strongly urged the use of the air meter, which was the only positive means of arriving at best cam forms and valve timing for sustained mean effective pressure at high speeds. All-Steel Aero Engines. NOT the least interesting part of Prof. Lucke's paper came right at the end, when he expressed the opinion that the aeronautical engine was emerging from the stage of inven- tion to the stage of design, as a light, high-tensioned steel structure, consisting of seamless tubing and forged or welded steel parts, possibly formed in drop-forged dies. In addition to the steel-stress structure, certain members such as the piston, exhaust valve and guide, would have to be designed primarily for heat-flow conditions and not for stresses, while certain closing members such as the inlet and exhaust ports could be cast in aluminium. ' A pertinent thing which Prof. Lucke had to say on the sub- ject of pistons was that he felt convinced, after seeing any number of broken and burnt pistons, that it was about time designers stopped cutting the metal out of the pistens and began putting in considerably more metaL The adcitional weight was not going to injure the motor at all, but would permanently have the effect of enabling it to run longer periods of time. . .. :• A New Cross-Country Record. -* _l; , , CAPT. GIULIO LAUREATI has broken the world's flight record by flying, from Turin to Naples and back without descending, reported the Times correspondent at Milan on August 26th. Capt. Laureati, who piloted a new model Sia with a Fiat motor, left Turin at 10.7 ajm. on that date, arrived at Naples at 2.30 p.m., and after circling over that city returned to Turin, where he arrived at 8.40 p.m. The distance from Milan to Naples is 460 miles, so Capt. Laureati must have covered 920 miles. 89O
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