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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1252.PDF
398 FLIGHT ACCESSORY DEVELOPMENTS ... washers, lock washers and bolts. DowtyFuel Systems supply complete fuel systems for gas turbines, using spill burners and,in the latest installations, a single-circuit system. Dunlop Rubber Co., Ltd. At the timeof going to press details of the latest developments were not available. Thecompany are, however, one of the largest suppliers of aircraft tyres—now frequentlyof the tubeless variety—and also manu- facture a wide range of other equipment,including complete brake systems and Maxaret anti-skid units. Other veryimportant production items include pneu- matic-system components for aircraft,engines and guided weapons, windscreen wipers, glass-fibre air-storage bottles andvarious types of armament equipment. Flexible pipes are available catering forthe requirements of low-, medium- and high-pressure (up to 6,000 lb/sq in)systems. Electro-thermal anti-icing instal- lations, fitted with automatic control, areused on several modern aircraft, and Dunlop, with the associate firm of Xetal,Ltd., make all kinds of components in natural and synthetic (including silicone)rubber and other material. Electro-Hydraulics, Ltd. The diffi-culty of accommodating undercarriage units inside high-performance aircraft isincreasing year by year. One of the most unusual, and most elegant, solutions isseen on the English Electric P.I fighter, in which the main legs are hinged in thegeometric centre of each mainplane and fold outwards and the nose unit retractsforwards, the wheel turning to lie flat. In the much larger Victor the companynevertheless had to exercise great ingenuitv in evolving a system capable of puttingan eight-tyre bogie unit inside each wing. This year one of the systems developedprovides for the retraction of the main legs into the fuselage of a high-speedmachine. This is achieved by employing a unique geometry. Production is in full swing upon gearfor such aircraft as the Shackleton, Pem- broke and President, and for the Herald.For the latter aircraft Electro-Hydraulics also supply virtually the whole hydraulicsystem. The company make various hydraulic components such as swivel con-nections, pressure switches and hydraulic jacks; a typical example of the latter is theram which actuates camera doors on the Swift F.R.5. The English Electric Co., Ltd Em-phasis is now being laid on alternating- current aircraft electrical systems, with aview to the development of completely paralleled generation and distribution. Asa pre-requisite to the latter the company are continuing development of, and arein production with, the Sundstrand vari- able-ratio hydraulic drive. One of the most important standardratings for such drives is 40 kVA, and this is associated with the Type A.E.918alternator, of the same rating. Other new products, which have not previously beenrevealed, are a 28-kVA alternator, a trans- former/rectifier designed to provide 28-Vdirect-current from an A.C. system, a panel for the control and protection of a49-kVA alternator and a 12-kW starter/ generator which develops 10 h.p. as amotor. Production is spread over a wide range of A.C. and D.C. machines, thesmallest being lin in diameter. Among the wide range of linear androtary actuators for airborne applications are three new types. Two are "universal"linear and rotary, respectively, and the third is the type AE.237 rotary actuator Ferranti F.H.5 (Mk 4) horizon. designed for the high-speed operation offuel cocks; it is designed for an operating load of 20 Ib-in and a full-stroke time ofonly 0.2 sec. Ferranti, Ltd. Among their vast rangeof products this company produces many items of airborne equipment. Technicallysome of the most absorbing work is con- nected with "weapons systems" but littleof this has so far been made public. Simpler types of armament equipment in-clude two modern gunsight installations. The G.G.S. Mk 8 is an improvement onthe familiar gyro sight, with servo-con- trolled ranging capable of use with radar.The Light Fighter sight comprises a miniature sighting head and a switch unit,the whole installation scaling but 7 1b. It can be used for guns or rockets and anadditional control unit is available for in- corporating radar ranging. New instruments include the F.H.7(miniature) horizon, using the "pitch- bank" erection system for simple gyroverticals, and the F.H.5 (Mk 4) horizon with automatic levelling. The latter is'ised at start-up to relieve the pilot from having to use the fast-erection push andalso to remove any possibility of take off Flight Refuelling Mk 32 valve. pressure-refuelling line, and combinesthe following features: solenoid re- fuelling control for selective on-loading;sense-line control to give automatic, non-selective, off-loading action; andcontrol of the off-loading side by a remote float unit which closes the valve at a pre-determined low fuel level and thus pre- vents air from entering the fuel line. TheMk 32 refuelling valve is an electrically- operated, double shut-off unit, designedfor tank mounting and incorporating two valves in series controlled independentlyby separate float-operated solenoids. In the event of electrical failure the valveautomatically fails shut, and the double shut-off feature gives an added safety fac-tor where structural design prevents adequate venting. Owing to the size of the units involved,probe-and-drogue flight-refuelling equip- ment can best be demonstrated in the formof working models. One of the new developments in this field is an externalpod dispenser similar to that designed by the associate firm of Flight Refueling, Inc.,in the U.S.A. for the North American F-100. The unit is completely self-con-tained and is designed for mounting as a standard under-wing store. Girling, Ltd. First revealed last year,development has gone ahead rapidly on various types of hydraulic anti-oscillationdampers for aircraft flying-control sys- tems. Damping problems in such systemsare becoming progressively more im- portant as flight speeds rise and poweredcontrols are increasingly resorted to. To limit the control-system disturb-ances caused by turbulence, and hence restrict the pitching and yawing resultingfrom manual over-correction, Girling have developed a range of self-contained unitsfor location either at the surface or wherever damping may be required. Thesedamping units obviate the need for heavy and complicated operating linkages.Resistance characteristics are generally based on orifice control, a thermostatbeing incorporated to limit the effects of viscosity change over a range of ambient with the horizon on a false datum. A fur-ther development of the F.H.5 is the F.H.6 (Type C) instrument, with a boosted gyrorun-up and auto-levelling, in a sealed case. Flight Refuelling, Ltd. This companyare now able to provide a complete range of components for fitting in all parts ofaircraft fuel systems. Two new in-line components this year are the Mk 29 re-fuelling/defueliing valve and the Mk 32 double-refuelling valve illustrated. The Mk 29 is designed specifically forinstallation in a combined engine-feed and Girling aileron control damper, temperature from —60 to +80 deg C.Prototype dampers are often provided with quick manual adjustments withwhich the optimum setting for the produc- tion unit can be determined. The company have also continued de-velopment of disc brakes. Girling aircraft products in this field employ single or twindiscs floating on axial splines. When the unit is energized, the disc is gripped byfriction pads of the segmental type mounted in either a single caliper or dia-metrically opposed calipers set astride the disc. The production units incorporateprovisions for easy servicing, automatic take-up of wear, operation by a hydraulicor pneumatic system and with separate emergency operation.
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