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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0592.PDF
592 FLIGHT, 11 May 1956 Lycoming: TS3-L-1 (Model LTC1B-1 helicopter unit). AERO ENGINES 1956 . . . Systems Division) and earlier this year Lockheed were named as occu-piers of what will become the largest research facility in the world for nuclear-powered aircraft. The new establishment will occupy 10,000acres near Dawsonville, Georgia, and will cost between £18m and £36m. Pratt and Whitney will be principally responsible for the"engine." LYCOMING. Lycoming Division, Avco Manufacturing Corpn.,550 S. Main Street, Stratford, Conn. Since 1928 Lycoming have been famous for their small- and medium-sized piston engines, of which manythousands have been made for all types of aircraft and helicopters. In 1936 the company became a division of the Avco Corporation and it hasnow entered the small-gas-turbine business with production contracts for the U.S. Services in respect of engines of their own design whichare described below. General direction of this new departure is the responsibility of thevice-president (turbine engineering), Dr. Anselm Franz, a pioneer of gas-turbine development in Germany where he was largely responsiblefor the design of the Jumo 004 turbojet. The two turbines listed below, the T53 and T55, are now being intensively developed at Stratfordagainst joint U.S.A.F./Army contracts. Both are free-turbine engines in Lycoming T53-L-1. Free-turbine, shaft-drive engine. Compressor with five axial stages and one centrifugal stage, annular combustion chamber and two mechanic- ally independent turbine stages. Overall diameter, 23.5in; length, as shown with "fixed-wing" reduction gear, M.Sin; dry weight, 549 1b; mass flow, 10.8lb/sec; pressure ratio, 5:1; maximum rating, 808 s.h.p. at 22,400 power-turbine r.p.m. (output, 1,575 r.p.m.) with s.f.c. of 0.72. (Note: the helicopter unit weighs 460 Ib and provides SIS s.h.p. at 6,000 r.p.m. output-shaft speed with s.f.c. of 0.71.) which power can be held constant at varying r.p.m. and vice versa. Theyare to be cleared for use on any normal aviation fuel, and industrial, automotive and marine versions are also being developed. T53. Now under intensive development against a joint U.S.A.F./Army contract, the T53 is likely to be very widely accepted both in aviation and industrial fields. A singularly compact, accessible and well-engineered unit, it is designed to have long life and to be relatively simple to maintain. Particular points of interest are the axial-centrifugal compressor,the unusual design of combustion chamber and the manner in which shaft-power may be extracted from either end. For helicopter applica-tions the reduction box has a ratio of 3.22:1, giving an output speed of up to 6,000 r.p.m. and an engine weight of 460 lb. The fixed-wingturboprop unit (illustrated) has an additional gearbox and drive for a 10ft 6in airscrew.Considerable bench-time has already been run and a Kaman HOK utility helicopter is being prepared to conduct flight-development. Apartfrom later HOK developments the T53 will power the Army Bell Marquardt MA-20C (company designation). Supersonic ramjet. Straight-sided conical spike of 50-deg included angle, double-wall diffuser, ram-air turbo-pump governed by "packaged" fuel-control unit sliding into centre-body on rails, two concentric fuel manifolds, flameholder comprising vee-gutter ring and eight radial struts and con-di nozzle. Diameter, 28in; length, about 200in; dry weight, about 497 Ib; thrust of the order of 10,000 Ib at Mach 2.5 to 3 (officially referred to as "equivalent to 50,000 h.p,"). This type of ramjet is shown in production below. XH-40, together with the civil Bell 204, the Doman H-31 developmentand, possibly, the Frye F-l Safari fixed-wing transport. T55. Also the subject of a joint U.S.A.F./Army contract, the T55is virtually a scaled-up T53, with more-advanced design points; in par- ticular the mass flow and top temperatures have been raised. Theoutput has thus started life at around 1,550-1,650 h.p., and production T55s will be in the 1,800-2,000 h.p. range. Piston Engines. Since 1954 two new units have gone into produc-tion. The first is the 160 h.p. O-340 flat-four; the other is a new flat- six designated VO-435, of 260 h.p., a vertical-crankshaft, direct-drivehelicopter engine based on an established fixed-wing unit. The com- pany recently received a £570,000 contract for the latter unit, deratedto 220 h.p., for the new Bell HUL-1 Navy helicopter. For the Aero Commander 680 Super the GSO-480-A1A is being delivered in quantity,this being a supercharged and geared flat-six providing 340 h.p. and with a maximum continuous rating only 20 h.p. less. A less-powerfulversion of the same engine, delivering 295 h.p., is used in the latest (D.50) Twin Bonanza, driving a three-blade, feathering airscrew. Lycoming are continuing production of the Wright R-1300 andR-1820 Cyclone single-row, radial engines. The former, a seven- cylinder, supercharged unit giving 800 h.p., is used principally inSikorsky S-55s, mounted diagonally, and in the new Vertol HUP-4. The latest R-1820s are the most refined developments of the classicnine-cylinder Cyclone, and the models at present in production are rated at 1,425 to 1,525 h.p. The engine is used in Vertol H-21 twin-rotor helicopters, North American T-28C trainers, Grumman S2F anti- submarine aircraft, Sikorsky S-58s and (C9HD commercial engines)recent Learstars. All responsibility for the development and produc- tion of these engines in the U.S.A. is now vested in Lycoming. MARQUARDT. Marquardt Aircraft Company, 16555 SaticoyStreet, Van Nuys, Cal. The success story of Roy E. Marquardt is that his company, founded in November 1944 with a capital of £357,is now selling at the rate of over £7m per year. More than any other company, Marquardt have specialized in ramjets, but they are alsoheavily engaged in the development and production of turbojet after- burners, variable-area nozzles, reverse-thrust units, ram-air turbinesand emergency powerpacks of all kinds for supporting accessories, pumps and control systems.In November 1954 substantial interest in Marquardt was acquired by Olin Mathieson (q.v.) through an arrangement with Laurence S.Rockefeller and Associates, a principal Marquardt stockholder. Today Marquardt, Olin Mathieson and Reaction Motors are all affiliated inthe general development of ramjets and rockets. It was reported that last year Marquardt were approached by United Aircraft with a viewto amalgamation, but no formal negotiation is thought to have taken place along these lines.In conformity with U.S.A.F. proposals for dispersing defence indus- tries, it is probable that a new ramjet-production plant will be estab-lished in the neighbourhood of Salt Lake City. Substantial contracts are expected for production studies, tool design and tool manufacturefor pilot production of supersonic ramjets, of which several models are about to go into quantity production. Marquardt have also conductedresearch into solid propellants for ramjets. Subsonic Ramjets. In the late 1940s some 600 C-28-85F 20in-diameter ramjets were delivered for Navy drones, and one of these Marquardt: assembly-line of 28in supersonic ramjets for the U.S.A.F.
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