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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0897.PDF
APRIL 17TH, 1941. ELECTRIC PETROL INJECTION A Successful Car System which Might Be Applied to Aero Engines General arrangement ofCaproni-Fuscaldo injection system in an Alfa-Romeoracing car. Main components ofCaproni - Fuscaldo injection system showndiagrammatically. !#!•!—* w'E are indebted to Mr. E. J. Appleby, Editor of ourassociated journal The Autocar, for reminding usof a system of direct petrol injection which was used with success in an Italian racing car some time ago.The car was a %\ litres Alfa-Romeo, which took part in the 1940 Mille Miglia and finished well up after an abso-lutely trouble-free run. This system is known as the Caproni-Fuscaldo, the basicprinciple being the very simple one of an external tube containing a very small and light valve operated electric-ally. The system can, apparently, be operated in two distinct ways: either the injection valve can be placed inthe branch of the induction pipe, immediately before the inlet valve, or a small pipe can be led direct to the cylinderwall, somewhere in the combustion chamber. In the Alfa- Romeo car the former arrangement was used, and thisis obviously the simpler of the two, but possibly not the most efficient for aircraft work. When the injector isplaced in the induction pipe, the valve opens during the induction stroke and the petrol mixes with the incomingair, being admitted to the cylinder through the inlet valve. If the direct injection system is adopted, the injector canbe made to deliver the petrol during the compression stroke, the action being then more comparable with diesel prac-tice, although the compression pressure against which the fuel is injected is, of course, a good deal lower (a compres-sion ratio of 6 or 7 to 1 as against about 16 to 1), and spark ignition is used. The fundamental advantage of the Caproni-Fuscaldo scheme seems to reside in the use of the small electricallyoperated valve of the injector. No valve dimensions are available, but it is known that in the injectors used inthe Alfa-Romeo car the valve lift was only 0.2 mm., and as the valve was very light, operating speeds were notlimited by inertia forces. Briefly explained, the Fuscaldo injector valve is housedin a small tube, and above it is a small elector magnet. Electric current (from any existing source on the car oraircraft) is passed to the magnet via a distributor, which can be run off the camshaft. When current passes, thevalve is lifted instantly, and as soon as the current is cut off by the distributor aim leaving the segment, the valvecloses under the pressure of a spring, and the fuel is cut off. Obviously, the timing of the injection can be controlled bythe distributor, and the amount of fuel admitted can be governed by controlling the amount of valve lift, eitherautomatically or by hand. It is claimed that accurate con- trol of fuel admission has been obtained down to periodsas short as 1/1,000th of a second. For direct injection into the combustion space, a morepowerful pump is evidently needed to deliver fuel to the injector valves, but, as mentioned above, the compressionpressures in aero engines are not as high as those encoun- tered in diesel engines, and there should be no difficultieson that score. It does appear that the Fuscaldo electrically operated injector valve would be worth serious study witha view to applying it to aero engines. As previously men- tioned in Flight, there is much to be said for direct injection. British Airways' Coat-of-Arms v "DRITISH Airways now has a coat-of-arms and this consists-D of two winged lions supporting a shield which carries a helmet. One is a "land" lion and the other—well, sea-lionis hardly the word as this conjures up a vision of a black smelly thing which eats fish, grunts, and at the end of itslife produces an expensive coat. Actually the animal is an amphibian—but it would be best to let the heraldic explanationtell the story. . The supporters are two winged lions, one standing on theground and the other on the sea, representing our land and sea Services respectively. These two winged lions are wearingcollars, denoting control; that is, controlled flying as well as .some form of official control. The shield is composed of a winged lion's face wearing anastral crown (This, by the way, should not be described as a winged lion's head, as that, according to the rules ofheraldry, would have to be in profile the same as the sup- porters.) The astral crown, recently designed for use inheraldry, symbolises achievement in the realm of the air. It has four stars, each between wings conjoined at the base.The helmet resting on the shield is that used in heraldry by corporations and public utility companies. The helmet mustalways remain in profile, even if the design is changed. The crest is placed on a wreath of the corporation's "livery"colours, which are gold and blue. The clouds above the crest are represented in the conventional heraldic manner. Themantling below the wreath is a decorative adjunct to the achievement and has no special significance. C.P.R. Entering Air Transput Field VISIONS of a single company flyinj^Canada's northlandfrom Atlantic to Pacific and using jHis territory as a base for flights by way of Alaska to Asiajftre seen in the reportedpurchase by the Canadian Pacific Railway of six of the largest northern Canadian air transponjr operators, whose servicesrange from Quebec to the Yukojr The Canadian Pacific Rail- way is reported to have bou^K controlling interest in YukonSouther*-, ^Air j Transport, Edmont<bn*"Dy jvay of noiYukon t"erritoiV; *Gtr couver Iiland; Mackdnton along the Mafckerj rating" from Vancouver and...B^tiah Columbia to DawsQn, e Airways, operating ©n Va»-irvice, op^atin* |rom Edmo,p- River to Aklavik ajid other posts FAtr north of the Arctic Circle; and to be negotiating for the pur-chase of Wings, Ltd: ; Starratt Airways andfAirways, Ltd., all-operating in northern Ontario and northern Manitoba. The Canadian Pacific already has control of Canadian Air-ways, Ltd., a Mmpany operating northern services from Quebec to the-SfMackenzie River. The Canadian PacificRailway has had an eye on aviation for a number of years, but the decision of the Canadian Government that inter-cityair transport should be publicly owned, which decision led to the formation of Trans-Canada Air Lines, hrff left the Cana-dian Pacific out of air transport. With Canadian Airways, Ltd., bought over a year ago, Canadian Pacific made its mainentry into the business, and now is reported to be spending $12,000,000 to consolidate northern air services and then runan airway out of Vancouver via Alaska to Siberia, Moscow and Shanghai, as part of an international service. Such a servicewould help to put one more ring around the earth. «=», •«•.,
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