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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0344.PDF
130 FLIGHT. FEBRUARY g, 1939 AERODROME EQUIPMENT ON SHOW (CONTINUED) (Left) Simple but effective—the wall panel at the back of the Desoutter Stand. (Right) This G.E.C. floodlight is designed for mounting as a mobile unit. Two 2,000-watt lamps are installed. SOMEHOW, to sit on the stand of BUTLER'S, LIMITED, was to conjure up childhood memories—the pride in owning our first electric torch. Here one could experiment with all types of searchlight and signalling spotlights. One, the Mark II Spotlight, is both, light and handy and incorporates a sighting tube and a quick-action shutter device. The lamp is quickly detachable from its mounting and can be used away from its mounting, for- inside the back of the lamp is a spool round which 20ft. of heavy rubber-covered cable is wound. There were also two lamps of an en tirely different type, for use in aircraft as landing lamps. They are fitted with a remote control for adjusting the angle of the beam. Given good atmospheric conditions, it is claimed that this type of lamp has an effective beam of over 1,000ft. * * # S ET in the centre of the CALLENDER'S CABLE AND CONSTRUCTION CO. stand was a superb model in wire, of one of the Callender-Harnilton unit construction hangars. This type of hangar is assem-. bled in box girder units^many of which are interchangeable—without any special gear being necessary. In fact, com paratively unskilled labour can deal with the erection in a remarkably short space of time. The hangars are of steel construction, covered with corrugated sheeting. They are designed to stand upward pressures of over 22 lb. sq. ft. on the roof. A protective coating of zinc is applied to all parts. Also on the stand was a display of Kalbitum anti-corrosive paint. This material has a bituminous base designed to protect iron and steelwork. #. # * T HE business of designing boundary lights to comply with the present somewhat stringent requirements is not an easy one. Not only must the equip ment be entirely watertight, but the lights must be arranged so that, in the event of accidental collision, there is no risk of fire. The CARDIFF FOUNDRY COMPANY'S " Pillar of Fire" lights con sist of two main parts—the beacon proper and base-piece on which the former stands in a cone seating. The beacon is held in the upright position by three spring-loaded guys, each having a- weak link, consisting of a strand of copper wire, which breaks under the force of any blow exceeding a certain load. Normally the load is fixed at ten pounds, so that immediately the beacon is touched by the undercarriage or wing of a machine the contact is broken. In actual practice, because of the position of the guys, the beacon will always fall before it has been touched. This boundary light has another feature which should be of assistance to pilots in gauging height and position during an approach. Apart from the protected orange globe, at the top; another lamp, with the help of a re flector, lights up an area on the ground some eleven feet in diameter. This area, of course, covers the usual nine-foot whitened base. » » • DOPES from the Cellon factory are known the world over, but on the stand of CELLON, LTD., we learnt of a hew Cerrux de-oxidising primer which is used to prevent further rust corrosion where metalwork has already been at* tacked. Its function is a chemical one and when applied to .buried rust or corro sion, it converts by chemical reaction the '' live'' rust particles into an inert com pound or stable salts. Other constituents in the primer hold these salts in a film which has a slightly acid nature. Entry oflthoisture is prevented and any further reaction is inhibited. In view of its function, this Cerrux Primer should only be used where there remains any corro sion or embedded rust. THE .new idea in night-lighting for aerodromes is that of runway markers or contact lights, and an example of one of these was shown by CHANCE BROTHERS. Interestingly enough, neither the design nor the manufacture of these flush lights is as simple as' it might first appear. Not only must the lights be completely weatherproof, but the glass must be able to withstand' both the considerable loads imposed by machines and the stresses resulting from differences in temperature. In fact, the manufacture of the lens has been the major problem involved in their develop ment. ' - - Briefly, the runway marker scheme involves a line or lines of these flush- mounted lights, each of which has its lens designed so that the illuminated area is mushroom-shaped ; in the ordinary way the full strength of the light can only be seen at approach angles of less than ten degrees above the horizontal. In order to mark the particular direc tion of approach, a coloured sector can be fitted on one side of the bulb so that from one direction the colour is red, while from the other it is white or yellow. The development of the contact system also involves the possible use of threshold lights to guide the pilot on to the start of the runway in conditions of bad visibility. In other words, at the moment when the pilot ceases to make use of bearings from the D/F station or of the signals from an ultra-short wave beacon, the visual guidance is imme diately clear and unmistakable. * • Chance Brothers have also developed a new type of wind indicator, the direc tional position of which can be more easily seen from ground level. Tins in dicator is normally available in two forms—either with auxiliary wind vane control or for direct operation in the ordinary way. * # * V ISITORS to the previous Airports Exhibition may recall that Mr. Charles Desoutter attracted undoubtedly the biggest crowd in the show to DESOUTTER BROTHERS' stand by demon strating his ingenious pneumatic and electric tools—not to mention an en tirely unofficial exhibit in the shape'of a 1 c.c. two-stroke engine which he had built by way of a hobby. This year there was the comparatively new pneumatic nibbler as a piece de resistance. We were allowed to play with it, and now we are not completely sure that these incredibly efficient weapons from the Desoutter armoury are good for the morals of those who use them \ by which we mean that they give the user an altogether inflated idea bi the power,of his own mind over matter When one's previous experience of cut ting sheet metal has been confined (and painfully confined) to tinsnips, it rathei goes to the head to find one's self cutting jig-saw puzzles out of 18-gauge duralu min, with the cutter head of the little
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