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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 1722.PDF
750 FLIGHT, 20 June 1952 THE INDUSTRY Rapid Metallurgical Analysis AN exceedingly interesting new development in the field of metallurgical analysis has recently been introduced at the London Colney foundries of John Dale, Ltd. It is a direct-reading spectrograph. Metallurgical analysis by spectrograph has long been established as a practical laboratory method which offers some degree of time-saving, and a reduction of the "human element," by com parison with the classical "wet" method of chemical analysis. The direct-reading spectrograph, however, gives the immense advantage of making possible an analysis of, for example, a seven-element aluminium alloy in but 2| minutes. A comparable analysis by the chemical method would normally take two full working days. The equipment now in use by John Dale is of French design and manufacture (Compagnie Radio Cinema, Paris) and, apart from the electronic measuring device which makes possible the direct-reading function, is essentially conventional. The great advantage offered by the direct-reading spectrograph over all other methods of metallurgical analysis is in speed. It means that a sample can be completely analyzed whilst the metal is kept molten in the furnace, and so allows the necessary additions, if any, to be made before pouring or casting is begun. In this way, the production of scrap metal is prevented, and labour and fuel saved on re-melting and re-casting. For the first time, therefore, analytical control becomes a workable factor in the foundry. From a routine aspect, large quantities of ingot material can be analyzed in minimum time and, in addition, the tracing of impurity elements—often laborious, difficult and inaccurate by chemical methods—can be performed with equal speed. A detailed description of the equipment is to appear in the July issue of our associated journal, Aircraft Production, Gyroscopic History PI London last week, on two evenings, large gatherings of distinguished guests were entertained by the Sperry Gyroscope Co., Ltd., to showings of three films of unusual interest. The first was a tribute to Laurence Sperry, an engaging and enthusiastic inventor-aviator who, in 1914, and at the age of 21, flew the Curtiss 14 flying boat fitted with a gyroscopic "aeroplane stabiliser" to win the 50,000-franc prize offered by the organizers of Le Concours pour la Securite en Aeroplane. One of the three sons of Dr. Elmer Sperry, the founder of the company, Laurence Sperry died in 1923 when, attempting to fly from Croydon to Amsterdam, he was forced down by engine trouble off Rye, Sussex, and was presumed drowned whilst attempting to swim ashore. The second film comprised colour shots extracted from cine records made during bad-weather landings at MacArthur Field (home of the Sperry Flight Research Division), Idelwild, Newark and Areata, California. This film would have been much more valuable had the extracts of which it was composed been longer, and had the general filmic quality been higher. It was, never theless, of remarkable interest. The last film was a well-conceived colour production made for Sperry by Industrial Colour Films, Ltd., and entitled The Sperry Review of British Aviation, 1951-52. It dealt with the aircraft displayed last year at the S.B.A.C. Farnborough Show, contained some spectacular flying sequences, and concluded with a flourish on the Comet. Charles Gardner and Frank Phillips shared the commentary, and altogether it was a film we should well like to see again. SEEING HOW THE LAND LIES GjC. A. F. Bandidt, who has returned from a three-month air tour to the Far East and Austra lasia, during which he covered over 40,000 miles. Travelling as the personal representative of Sir Frederick Handley Page, he has been surveying markets for civil and military aircraft and assessing performance that will be needed for operation of aircraft into and out of airfields in many different types of country and climate. Clever Switch THE latest item produced by Dowty Equipment, Ltd., is the Dowmic sequence-switch which, it is stated, is a studied effort to eliminate every known kind of defect and incorporate features contributing to reliability and efficiency. The switch is employed to signal the completion of a function, and is also suitable for initiating the operation of one or two subsequent events on the completion of an antecedent one as, for example, undercarriage raised, signal light to pilot "UP," and control valve operated to close undercarriage doors. The switch is metal-cased and totally enclosed against ingress of dirt and moisture. The cable grommet and the button shroud are of petrol- and oil-resistant synthetic rubber, the grommet providing for the entry of six cables at one end of the case, so facilitating wiring without dismantling. A single 4 B.A. stainless steel screw locks the six terminals simultaneously. The switch rating is 8 amp per contact set (16 amp total) at 28 volts D.C., or 250 volts A.C. (0.15 Henrys inductance in each case). Con nections are six sockets taking 5H/24 type standard ferrules locked by one 4 B.A. screw. Functional tests, it is stated, have proved satisfactory at temperatures between 70 deg C and — 50 deg C, and at altitudes between sea level and 60,000ft. The weight of the unit complete and ready for installation is 44 oz (120 grammes). In the new Dowmic switch, the double-pole change-over con tacts enable two separate circuits to be switched, so enabling the Dowmic fre quently to replace two switches of earlier types. Comet Instrumentation I T is learned from Smiths Aircraft Instruments, Ltd., that, in conjunction with their associated and subsidiary companies, Kelvin and Hughes (Aviation), Ltd.; K.L.G. Sparking Plugs, Ltd., and Waymouth Gauges and Instruments, Ltd., they have supplied a comprehensive range of instruments and allied equip ment for the Series 1 Comets. Among the items of special interest is the Smiths SEP 1 electric autopilot which, in the Comet installation, is adapted for "aileron steering" instead of controlling the heading of the aircraft by actuation of the rudder. The system is installed in series with the powered flying controls, and gives excellent stability. Following intensive research into the requirements for operation at high altitudes and speeds, a Smiths-Waymouth fuel contents gauging installation has been developed which provides accurate and continuous indication of fuel contents, irrespective of aircraft attitude, movement or height. Indication is provided in the re fuelling bay as well as in the cockpit, and an additional safety factor is provided in the cross-switching of amplifiers. Flight instrumentation includes Kelvin and Smiths air-speed indicators, pressure heads, accelerometers, altimeters, Mach- meters, rate-of-climb indicators, time-of-flight clocks, and phase- failure warning-switches. An innovation is the new Kelvin Mach switch which is specially designed to give audible warning to the pilot when the critical Mach number of the aircraft is reached. Engine instrumentation includes engine speed indicator, engine speed generator, synchroscope, fuel pressure switch, compensating leads, oil temperature and pressure indicator (inductor), oil pressure transmitter (inductor), oil thermometer bulbs, jet-pipe thermometers, rear bearing thermometers. Of this group, the Kelvin engine speed indicator is specially calibrated to provide maximum accuracy over the critical range, and the new Smiths A.C. inductor system provides remote indication of oil pressure. Navigation equipment includes the Hughes periscopic sextant and mounting, A.D.F. compass indicators, and the Hughes P. 12 compass. The Hughes periscopic sextant meets the requirements of the new technique of high-speed high-altitude astro-navigation, whilst the P.12 is used as a stand-by to the transmitting compass. Smiths Aysynn A.C. transmission system is used in the Marconi A.D.F. radio compass, all the indicators of which are Smiths'. Also from Smiths comes a list of the equipment which they have supplied for the Bristol Proteus 705 turboprop, described in Flight last week; it includes engine-speed-indicator generator, standard and rapid-response thermocouples, thermocouple exten sion leads, H.T. igniter plug, and A.C. inductor oil-pressure trans mitter (under test).
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