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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0074.PDF
52 FLIGHT, 12 January 1950 one to the north-west is for turbines or complete turbojets. The southern pair, somewhat smaller, are intended for combustion chambers or may take complete units. Often overlooked is the fact that a great deal more power is produced in a gas turbine unit than is delivered as thrust or shaft horse-power. As high a proportion as two-thirds of the power developed by the turbine is absorbed in driving the compressor. For this reason the testing of the two main components is usually a more complicated busi- ness than the testing of the complete unit. A great saving in cost has been effected by adapting sur- plus naval equipment to suit the power requirements of the laboratory. Four new cruiser boilers redeemed from the scrap yard have been installed—three for regular use and one to be held in reserve—and these feed four turbo- generators taken from Lease-Lend destroyers. Men who served in H.M.S. Bentinck, Fitzroy, Braithwaite, Tyler or Rowley will be interested to hear of the new use for com- ponents of these ships. In the compressor test-cell, 21,500 s.h.p. (at 15,000 r.p.m.) will be available. Atmospheric conditions equivalent to those at 40,000 ft with a tempera- ture of minus 70 degrees C are to be reproduced. Two principal requirements of a test laboratory such as this are great quantities of fuel and an almost unlimited water supply. The Connecticut River provides both—the water directly and the fuel, economically, by barge from the river-mouth. In fact, up to 120,000 gallons of water per minute can be pumped through for cooling purposes, and the dock for tankers and the tank-farm near the laboratory have a fuel capacity sufficient for the whole Pratt and Whitney plant. In the test chambers themselves, particularly the main one for compressor testing, many refinements are apparent. The main concrete supporting bed is of massive propor- tions and has separate foundations independent of those for the surrounding building. All ducts and supply lines are carried below floor level in "catacombs" and .the grid s£*l| adjustable for height over a wide range. Between the main test chambers is a large central section from which A new shape on the former fields of shade-grown broadleaf tobacco. The vast compressor test chamber (north-east) nears completion. FOR TURBINE RESEARCH Pratt and Whitney Willgoos Laboratory on the Banks of the Connecticut River A FITTING memorial to any engineer, the lavish newresearch building erected by Pratt and Whitney Air-craft, and now nearing completion at "Hartford, is named the Andrew Willgoos Turbine laboratory. From the time the company was formed twenty-three years ago, until his death last March, Willgoos bad been chief engineer. * - Reflections from the river, the photographer's art, and the setting itself, lend a cold beauty to the accompanying picture of what is in fact a vast, square, forbidding build- ing, dull green, slab-sided, windowless and functional to a degree. Not only will this laboratory be the finest of its kind in private ownership in America, but it will be con- siderably more elaborate than anything to be found in this country either in private or national ownership. It has cost about -£4,000,000 at present rates. Four main test-cells are contained in the laboratory. That to the north-east is for compressor testing, while the
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