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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1825.PDF
948 FLIGHT, 23 December 1955 THE INDUSTRY Potentiometer Production CINCE Kelvin and Hughes, Ltd., began making their instru-^ ment components available to a general market a few months ago, their production of sine/cosine potentiometers has beendoubled. Orders have been received from companies manufac- turing equipment such as ground and airborne radar, aircraftnavigational aids and computing instruments. The shop in which the potentiometers are built has been movedfrom one of the company's factories at Barkingside, Essex to another Kelvin Hughes factory at Basingstoke, Hants. There,more than double the floor space has been made available and special equipment installed. These new facilities now enablethe company to handle large numbers of precision windings in very fine, precious-metal wires. Of the three main types of Kelvin and Hughes sine/cosinepotentiometers one is believed by them to have the longest life and to be the most accurate for its size of any manufactured inthis country. An accuracy of 0.3 per cent is guaranteed, and a life at this accuracy in excess of five million revolutions has beenattained in laboratory tests. Another type, probably the smallest sine/cosine potentiometerin the world, has an accuracy of 0.5 per cent and is only Ifin in diameter. The third type is a double-card pattern which givessine and cosine outputs independently for two input signals. Formers for the potentiometers are made from glass in the com-pany's glass shop where, mainly, precision optical work is under- taken. Other types of formers are made from "Mycalex" andfrom a new tough, synthetic ceramic, "Hylumina," developed by an associated company. . ; A New Floor-covering IRE resistance is one of the characteristics of a new carpetingmaterial known as Harduraloop. It is made in two grades, having either (a) a looped pile of Ajrdil and wool, or (b) Ardil andviscose rayon, in each case with a rot-proof backing of polyvinyl chloride. Ardil is a synthetic fibre developed by Imperial ChemicalIndustries and is very similar to wool in appearance. The new material is claimed to give at least three times the wear of cut-piletype of carpeting and the loops are so firmly embedded in the p.v.c. backing that they cannot be dragged out even with a pairof pliers. Other advantages claimed are that the material does not stretch, that it is equally amenable to sweeping, vacuum cleaningand dry or wet cleaning, and that it can be easily cut to shape without the need for binding the edges. It is available in a rangeof ten colours including several mixtures. A.R.B. approval has been obtained for Harduraloop as an air-craft furnishing material. The manufacturers of the new carpeting are S. and J. Walsh, Ltd., St. Lawrence Street, Great Harwood,Blackburn. This Trojan crew car was recently built for British European Airways by Trojan, Ltd., Pur ley Way, Croydon, Surrey. Powered by a Perkins P3(V) diesel engine developing 41 b.h.p. at 2,400 r.p.m., it has seating for 12, including the driver, and a heater is fitted. A fuel consumption of 40-45 m.p.g. is claimed. \ New Pack for Aircraft Components A PACKING material claimed to offer the advantages of hair**• or fibre packing at greatly reduced cost has been developed by the 20th Century Packing Company of Thames Ditton, Surrey, who specialize inaircraft packaging. Known as Nylon-pac, the new material consists ofvegetable fibre bonded with nylon,and provides safe, efficient "bedding"for fragile articles such as radios, elec-trical components and instruments. Itavailable An instrument is bedded in Nylonpac. is available in arange of densities, in blocks up to 4ftby 2ft by lOin thick, and insmaller sheets down to ljin thick. Itcan also be supplied spray-coated withplastic, to provide a smooth protectivesurface for articles with a delicatefinish. Nylonpac is pro-duced by immersing the fibre in a nylon solution, then heat treating it to drive offthe solvent and cure the nylon. This treatment coats the indi- vidual strands for bonding and also, to a degree, impregnates thematerial with nylon. As a result, Nylonpac possesses a high strength factor and is capable of rapid recovery from dynamicor static loading. It also has a high resistance to perishing, in any climate. IN BRIEF Following the resignation of Mr. A. Hessell Tiltman, B.Sc,F.R.Ae.S., from the chairmanship and from the board of Tiltman Langley, Ltd., his place as chairman has been taken by Mr. W. R.Tomkinson, T.D., F.C.A., who has been a member of the board for a number of years. * * * Among the aircraft components which Dunlop are showing at the Indian Industries Exhibition in Delhi are a thermal de-icing system and a Maxaret anti-skid control. * * * Saunders Valve Co., Ltd., announce that Mr. Jack Furzey, from Rotax, Ltd., has joined the aircraft division of the company, where he will be in charge of development. * * * Two new appointments in the development and researchdepartments of the Mond Nickel Co., Ltd., are announced. Dr. G. L. J. Bailey becomes superintendent of the platinummetals research laboratory at Acton, in succession to Dr. E. C. Rhodes; and Mr. E. J. Bradbury has been appointed assistantsuperintendent in Birmingham. * * * A newly-formed company, High Precision Engineering, Ltd.,has recently taken over the business of Weir Precision Engineer- ing, Ltd. The intention of the new company is to carry out themanufacture of special purpose machine tools, gauges, press tools, jigs and fixtures. The directors are Sir Alliott Verdon Roe (chair-man), Mr. Geoffrey Verdon Roe (managing director) and Messrs. Lawrence Leech, C. K. Dowman and Royce Verdon Roe. * * * . - " The Minister of Fuel and Power has appointed Mr. A. N. Irens, of the Bristol Aeroplane Co., Ltd., to be chairman of the,South Western Electricity Board. Mr. Irens joined Bristols in 1939 as assistant electrical engineer and in 1943 was appointedchief electrical engineer, later becoming chief electrical and general services engineer. In this last post he was responsible for super-vising the company's engineering services and for the setting up of power stations in various parts of the works. He has been apart-time member of the South Western Electricity Board since its formation in 1948.
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