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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 1340.PDF
NOVEMBER 28, 1918 The general arrangement of thisaeroplane, together with the prin- cipal dimensions, is given in theaccompanying drawings (Figs. 42, 43, 44 and 45).In contradistinction to the two- engined machine, there is con-siderably more steel in the con- struction, and this material is usedin place of wood for the rear por- tion of the fuselage.The principal point of interest is the mounting of the four engines,all of which are of the 260 h.p. Maybach type, six cylinders in aline; the horse-power has been forced up to 300, giving 1,200 h.p.in all. They axe placed end to end, as shown in Fig. 46, and eachdrives a separate screw. In order to bring the centre ofgravity of the machine sufficiently far forward, the weight of the twoengines is massed towards the leading edge of the main plane ; bydriving the screws through shafts and reduction gears, the necessityof cutting away large sections from the planes to give room for the rearpropellers has been avoided. The arrangement of the engineunit on each side of the fuselage is diagrammatically shown in Fig. 46,from which it will be seen that the two engines are placed close to-gether, and that the rear motor is some little distance away from itsscrew. The forward engine is, however, mounted close up to thetractor screw. The employment of shafts andreduction gears necessitates fly wheels on the engines. These are• 4 metre in diameter, and made of cast iron. The tubular drivingshafts between the fly wheel and the gear box are furnished with flexible leathercouplings. These are of a novel type, and consist of a male and female drum, each furnished withcircumferential notches, between which are in- terposed a series of flat leather strips. Thefemale drum forms part of the fly wheel. The gear box consists of a casing of aluminium,provided with cooling fins, which may be seen in Figs. 47 and 48.Beneath each gear case is a small radiator for cooling the lubricating oil circulated through theengine. This radiator can be seen in Fig. 47, and consists apparently of a flat semicircular tank,fitted with numerous transverse tubes of fairly as •oci •3)g uI •3 In o 9 o A 3
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