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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0073.PDF
JANUARY IITH, 1945 FLIGHT 39 BELL HELICOPTER.—(Left) (A) Head of mast ; (B) Inner gimbal ring ; (C) Outergimbal ring ; (D) Stabilising bar ; (E) Stabilising bar pivots on this shaft. (Right) Main Rotor : (A) Main rotor blades ; (B) Hub is a gimballed universal joint ;(C) Underside of hub; (D) Weight; (E) Stabilising bar; (F) Feathering controls pass through linkage in stabilising bar ; (G) Link to blade horn for pitch control. fuls who are vieing foj; superior sales appeal in the civilian market of to-morroware Bell Aircraft Corporation, Aero- nautical Products, Inc., and Higgins Industries, Inc., each of whom is pioneering a two-seater coupe design. Frank N. Piasecki, of the P. and V. Engineering Forum, and Stanley Hiller, of California, have been flying promising single-seat sporting models. Other Projects Still other designs are weathering their birth pangs.One, under the Fleetwings Division of the Kaiser-Cargo Corporation, enjoys the sponsorship of Henry J. Kaiser,who has predicted that the helicopter when further de- veloped will occasion tremendous industrial and engineeringactivity. Kellett Aircraft Corp., of Philadelphia; Land- graf Helicopter Co.; G. and A. Aircraft Co., a division ofFirestone; Bendix Helicopter, Inc., and many other for- ward-looking organisations, are also spawning helicopters^which they will send forth to try their whirling wings in the post-war world. It would be a mistake to infer that the Bell AircraftCorp. helicopter is ready to go into production. The two Bell helicopters are housed at the Gafdenville plantnear Buffalo, N.Y., and are being used for continuous experimentation and modification—but the day of theirmaturity is not too far Off. The design which originated on Bell's drawing boardssucceeded in overcoming to a great extent the instability, excessive vibration and difficulty of control which havelong been serious obstacles to satisfactory helicopter opera- tion. Arthur M. Young, Bell designer, wrestled with hproblems for fifteen years. His solution embodies a two- bladed rotor whose position in space is governed not bythe position of the mast to which it is attached but by a stabilising bar which acts as an artificial ho'rizon andrenders the rotor independent of the fuselage. Because of this feature, the machine evidences stability in flight andease of control. The blades are rigidly connected to the hub, which ismounted on the mast by a cardan universal joint, so that one can feather the blades by rocking the entire hub unitabout the longitudinal axis of the blades without the neces- sity of twisting each blade individually in itsjjfcarings. Using a single main.rotor, the Bell helicopters have aconventional auxiliary anti-torque airscrew on the tail, and the particular model just described has a 140 b.p.Franklin six-cylinder engine. Pilot and passenger sit side- by-side and are afforded an excellent view on all sides bytransparent plastic panels. The machine will cruise effi- ciently at 80-90 m.p.h. and achieve a maximum speed ofat least 100 m.p.h. Weight is 1,550 lb., including pilot. It will rise vertically and hover with an additional load BELL HELICOPTER.—(A) Push-pull rodsgovern blade pitch ; (B) Cyclic pitch control levers ; (C) Collective pitch control; (D) Outermast raised and lowered at this point; (E) Trans- mission cover ; (F) Tachometer ; (G) Cam ;(H) Bottom of wobble plate does not rotate, but tilts in any direction ; (I) Top part of wobbleplate rotates with mast; (J) Transmission oil. A front view of theBell helicopter with the rotor at rest.
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