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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 2298.PDF
NOVEMBER 1951 FLIGHT 21 And no Doodling THE fuels used in gas turbine-engined aircraft consistalmost entirely of hydrocarbons—that is, of com- pounds of hydrogen and carbon. Five or six of carbon to one of hydrogen, or thereabouts. Now some of the patterns formed by these atoms of ' H' and ' C' are extremely pretty and decorative, but they're not exactly the result of doodling. Modern aircraft are dietetically very choosy : their intake of fuel must be exactly right, perfectly blended and balanced, with no roughage. '-; Otherwise there's trouble. If the ' H 's and ' C 's don't add up satisfactorily the fuel will not burn cleanly and efficiently, and free carbon will be formed. Dirty, self-advertising smoke will emerge from the exhaust (the R.A.F. take a poor view of this phenomenon) and ruinous deposits may appear in the engine combustion system. So no doodling : the pattern must be precise, the regimen exact. All crude oils contain sulphur, and sulphurous fumes are no good for an aircraft's digestion. They corrode the works. So fuel manufacturers take infinite pains to eliminate excess ' S.' The crude oils imported from the Middle East are exceptionally rich in sulphur—yes, rich : you see, the sulphur extraction plant at ESSO's new giant refinery at Fawley (near Southampton) is so efficient that ' S,' once an unmitigated nuisance, has become a valuable by-product and a prop to the national economy. And another thing—aircraft engines like their fuel volatile, more volatile in fact than can normally be handled by the aircraft's tankage and pumping system (there's such a thing as " vapour-lock "). The fuel is helped to vaporise, to mix with air ana to burn steadily by being injected into the engine's combustion chambers under high pressure. Fuels that " go steady " are the common objective of the men who design ESSO products, and aircraft engines : they want their fuels to burn quietly, stably and effectively under all conditions—particularly those encountered at great heights where pressure and temperature are not. High-climbing aircraft must be able to " idle " steadily when on the roof so that they can be brought down without gathering too much speed. That's important. Once again it's the pattern that matters, the arrange- ment of the fuel components, the ' H 's, the ' C 's and the etceteras. So there's no doodling in the ESSO laboratories—or did we say that before ? Improvements in aircraft performance must be pre- ceded by improvements in fuel performance, which, in turn, must be preceded by unremitting research and experiment. All of which can be followed, in turn, by the categorical statement that— ffpays fo say FOR ALL PETROLEUM PRODUCTS ESSO PETROLEUM COMPANY, LIMITED, 36 QUEEN ANNE'S GATE, LONDON, S.W.I
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