FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0026.PDF
26 FLIGHT, 7 January 1955 The Industry EXPANDING ELECTRONICS PARTICULARLY in modern and specialized fields of tech-nology it is still possible for a small group to start athriving privately owned company from scratch. Winston Electronics, Ltd., owes its existence largely to Mr. F. W.Reynolds, formerly technical sales manager (London and Southern England) for Standard Telephones and Cables, Ltd.He started the company in 1950, in a mews on Hampton Hill, Middlesex. Following a policy of original design and of aiming at being"first in the world" wherever possible, the company has grown until present employment approaches one hundred. WinstonElectronics have spread along the mews in which they started and into the adjoining houses and shops. Their organization,however, will shortly be made considerably easier when they move into a completely new factory at Shepperton, the 'founda-tion stone of which was laid by Mr. John Profumo, Parliamentary Secretary (Aviation) to the M.T.C.A., on December 20th. The factory, the floor and skeleton of which are already com-plete, is the first demonstration of the Cranleigh system of "tailormade" pre-fabricated permanent factory building. F. and D.Hewitt, Ltd., are erecting the shell, complete for occupation, at what is claimed to be one-third the cost and in one-third the timeof that required by other methods of building a facility of the same area. By this method, factory frames may be of any span(to the nearest inch) and not of fixed size or modules (i.e., grid dimensions for dividing plans or elevations into proportionalunits). Winstons' technical staff is arranged in four complete develop-ment teams. In addition to the equipment described below, their products include an electronic lung, or spectrographic monitor,developed in conjunction with the A.E.R.E., Harwell; a "loud-to- loud" telephone of revolutionary design for two-wire communica-tion, now being used by several leading telecommunication firms; photographic flash equipment (including what is claimed to be theworld's only guaranteed constant-colour temperature equipment); and various voltage-stabilizers and battery chargers. The itemsdescribed below, however, are the most notable developments from the aeronautical viewpoint. Sequential Image Convenor SP.2.—Hailed as "the fastestcamera in the world," this instrument provides a means of record- ing a sequence of events taking place at extremely short intervalsof time and/or a series of distinct positions of objects moving at very high speed. Typical applications might be projectile motionsor the detonation of high explosives. Although the equipment was mainly intended for observation of single transient pheno-mena, very fast repetitive actions may also be observed stroboscopically. An image convertor is basically a cathode-ray tube fitted witha photo-cathode (instead of a heated filament) upon which is focused an optical image. The light distribution of this imageis thereby converted into an exactly similar distribution of emitted electrons, which are focused and accelerated, and finally strikea luminescent screen where an exact reproduction of the original is obtained. The tube may be cut off by the action of the gridand only turned "on" for a length of time as short as 0.01 H sec by applying a suitable grid pulse. Further, the electron beam can be magnetically deflected sothat a small square picture can be deflected into several distinct positions while the grid is itself pulsed. This form of staircasedeflection results in the fluorescent screen receiving six pictures, each 2 cm square, which persist long enough for them to bephotographed. The shutter pulse speed can be varied between 0.1 p sec to 10 H sec, and the frame rates are five times as long,i.e., from 2 megacycles to 20 kilocycles; between these limits seven speeds can be selected. The field optical system consists of three separate Gregoriantelescope concave-mirror assemblies. The respective focal lengths and apertures are F = 3in at f/1.5, 6in at 2.4 and 12in at 5. Thecamera has a recording lens of F = 3.3in at f/1.2, and the film is in the form of 4in by 5in slides.The light loss is no greater than about two stops, although, of course, the object being photographed must be intensely illumi-nated or self-illuminating. At speeds faster than 1 I* sec the complete system has a resolution better than 60 lines per cm,and up to 200 lines per cm is possible at slower speeds. It is also to be noted that the equipment can "look" at any part of theelectro-magnetic spectrum, and is not restricted to visible light. It is thought that this equipment may represent the ultimatein high-speed photography for, although faster timing is possible, this could be achieved only by improving the mechanical methodby which each new negative is positioned for the succeeding six- frame exposure. This would involve a considerable increase incost. The present maximum rate of picture-taking is two million frames per second; this does not, of course, mean that 2,000,000frames can be exposed in one second. A Winston Electronics SP.2 is now awaiting shipment to theU.S.A., against a special requirement for rocket research. Spectrum Analyzer.—This is a laboratory-test unit for examin-ing the power, band-width and frequency of microwaves. It can be readily converted for use in the X, S, L and (shortly) Q bands,and is one of the most flexible and competitive equipments of its type. Vibration-test Control.—Developed to provide automatic con-trol of a vibration-test machine, this device enables any given item to be tested against die appropriate official specified vibrationrequirement. The equipment can control over a frequency range from 6 to5,000 cycles per second, over an acceleration range from zero to 20 g. The frequency can be manually set, or can sweep from10 to 2,000 cycles at a constant time per octave. The frequency- can be held at any value required. The equipment can be set, within the specified limits, to carryout any desired variation of frequency, amplitude, velocity or acceleration, according to the requirements to be met by the partunder test. A stroboscopic lamp can also be connected into the apparatus. Alternator Test Set.—This equipment combines the functionsof a number of units into a neat pack containing four independent, accessible portions. The set can test every phase of the perform-ance of a turbo-alternator set, the results being plotted graphically by a multi-pen Kelvin Hughes recorder. The circuitry can readilybe adjusted to any frequency. Rectifier Sets.—As a typical example, the "Constavolt" Type Bis an extremely versatile unit, and it contains no hot cathode or moving parts, control being effected by a transductor and magneticamplifier. It can accept single- or three-phase input power with a magnitude of a few watts or many kilowatts, and providesautomatic stability against changes in load, supply voltage and supply frequency. Little heat is generated, radio interferenceis zero and the whole equipment is compact and robust. Guided-weapon Testing.—For obvious reasons, very little canbe said of the company's work in this sphere. It can, however, be disclosed that Winston Electronics have developed, and aredelivering, complete installations capable of carrying out complete pre-launch functional testing of the most complex forms of guidedmissile. The pre-launch test equipment consists mainly of a large controldesk, housing a great deal of equipment in controlled-atmosphere cabinets. From this installation, an "umbilical cord" is led to themissile on its launching stand, and the multiple wires in the appropriately named cable carry "life" into the missile. Aftertesting the behaviour of all the individual circuits, the equipment simulates a target and checks the tracking of the missile whilethis "target" is "moved" rapidly to various ranges and bearings. Metal Flaw Detection.—Another preliminary note of a newdevelopment can be published: it concerns the use of controlled eddy currents induced in a metal specimen for the examinationof cracks or porosity at or near the surface. A probe is used to examine the nature of the induced currents, and an indication canbe provided of the number, shape and size of intrusions down to a length or width of O.OOlin. PROBLEMS OF MANAGEMENT "COR the past six years, the Engineering Department of Cam-•*• bridge University has invited senior staff of various engineer- ing firms to prepare and deliver lectures on their activities andmanagement problems. In the Michaelmas Term of 1953 seven such lectures were given by executives of the United Steel Com-panies, Ltd., and these have now been printed by the group as a special booklet. The seven papers are: The Role of the Directing Authority ina large Company, by G. Steel, J.P. (managing director, United Steel Companies); Production Management in an Integrated Ironand Steel Works, by Lt-Cdr. G. W. Wells, R.N. (Retd.), (general manager, Appleby-Frodingham Steel Company); AdministrativeControls in Management, by R. Peddie, B.A. (secretary, United Steel Companies); Duties and Problems of the Chief Engineerin a Large Works Manufacturing Special Steels, by C. M. Slocombe (chief engineer, Samuel Fox and Co.); Organizationand Application of Scientific Research in Industry, by J. H. Chesters, D.Sc. (Tech.)» (assistant director of research, UnitedSteel Companies); Planned Development: Planning a Large Steel Works, by K. Paterson, B.Sc. (Eng.), (chief mechanical and civilengineer, Appleby-Frodingham Steel Company); and Staffing a Steel Works; Problems in Training—from the Apprentice to theManager, by D. R. O. Thomas, M.A., (chief education officer. United Steel Companies).
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
