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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0086.PDF
88 FLIGHT. 17 January 1958 Two versions of the Hymatic Hydrorane com- pressor will be supplied with the Canberras (one of which, a T.4, is seen here) ordered by the Indian Air Force. On the left is a 23P100 petrol- driven compressor; the other is the 18E100 elec- trically powered type. THE INDUSTRY English Electric PrizegivingA T the English Electric Company's annual prizegiving at their- aircraft division at Warton, Lancashire, prizes were presented to apprentices by Mr. P. Lord, chief education officer of theLancashire County Council. The main presentation, of the Harwood Apprenticeship Award,for the best all-round graduate apprentice who has completed two years of his five-year course, was to D. W. Altham, aged 21. Summing up the year's activities, Mr. W. C. Dickson, chiefpersonnel and training officer, said that there were now over 100 apprentices at Warton, more than twice the corresponding figurefor last year. One apprentice was on the NATO wind-tunnel course at Brussels. Mr. F. W. Page, English Electric's chief engineer, reassuredhis audience about the company's future. Manned fighters would continue to be required for various duties in conjunction withmissiles of different forms and, because of this, considerable development of the P.I aircraft was planned. The company'spresent position was extremely strong, and the current investment programme was intended further to improve this condition. Research Resistance Welder A NEW welding machine, Model UAM.150, designed primarily•*•*• for research work into spot, seam, roll spot or projection welding, has been produced by Sciaky Electric Welding Machines,L td., of Slough, Bucks. In order to make the machine suitable for a wide variety ofmaterials the pressure head is pneumatically controlled and pro- vision made for one, two or three pressure cycles. A frictionlessroller-bearing diaphragm head is fitted. The electronic Sciaky control panel allows for accurate timing control from T cycleupwards; phase-shift stepless heat control; slope control; and pre-heat and/or post-heat. Three Sciaky Dekatron timers, plusmotor control, give an almost infinite combination of machine settings. The control circuit and time-control equipment are housed ina separate cabinet to eliminate any inaccuracies caused by vibra- tion or interaction from the welding transformer fringing fluxes. For Cable Testing TPESTING of cable-forms and cable looms is, even nowadays,•*• often an extremely laborious process. To provide a degree of automation in this sphere an automatic cable-form test set is beingproduced by Gate Electronics, Ltd., Tudor Grove, London, E.9. Their ATC-25 test set is operable either automatically or manu-ally, selection being made by a simple change-over switch. In automatic use the machine operates continuously after being startedby a push button on the front of the test bench; it will stop only on the discovery of a fault, or at the end of a test sequence. Thetest consists of a comparison of continuity between the adaptor boxes and a master circuit plugged into the front panel. Anydiscrepancy causes the machine to stop, the reason for stoppage being indicated by lamps on the front panel. After the fault hasbeen noted the test can be continued by again operating the start button. Each wire is tested with regard to all other wires, the time takenfor a test being about 16 seconds for a simple 25-way cable-form. When a smaller number of wires than 25 is involved, an auto-matic "homing" switch can be set for 6, 12, 18 or 25 ways. The machine will then test up to the number selected and imme-diately "home" to its normal reset position. The comparator effect of the machine can also be used to deter-mine the wiring of an unknown cable form since, by running without a master circuit in position the machine will seek, stopat, and indicate (as a connection fault) all the connections made in the unknown form. Selection of the manual position of the change-over switch willcause the machine to stop not only at faults but also at correct connections. A cable-form can thus be tested one wire at a time when investigating intermittent conditions. Test voltage appliedon both auto and manual is 6V, and the current does not exceed 70mA. The standard equipment includes 25-way "Unitor" sockets intowhich adaptor boxes for any type of termination may be plugged. For testing cable looms spring connections are provided on thewiring board and are connected to the test equipment. The "master" cable-forms used can be actual cables or special "pro-gramme" plugs. Direct-reading Tachometer ONE of the newer products ofRacal Engineering, Ltd., is their MA.38 tachometer. Usedin conjunction with Racal digital frequency meters, types SA.20or SA.21, it may be employed for direct reading of shaft-speedmeasurements, in the range 100/20,000 r.p.m.The MA.38 consists of a rotor with 60 teeth rotating in a mag-netic field, so that an output of 60 pulses is obtained for eachcomplete revolution. This out- put is fed to the frequency meterwhich (if so required) can sample the input for one second, in orderto give a direct indication of the shaft speed in r.p.m. Other types of measurement may be made with this tachometer by transform-ing linear or other movement to rotary action, and it may also be used in conjunction with other digital frequency meters usinga one-second time base. The headquarters of Racal, Ltd., are at Western Road, Bracknell,Berks. Racal MA.38 tachometer. IN BRIEF The London office of Permali, Ltd.—and of the associatedcompanies of Hordern Richmond, Ltd., and Hydulignum-Jabroc (Tools), Ltd.—is now at 39, Victoria Street, London, S.W.I. Thetelephone number, ABBey 6494, remains unchanged. * * * The John Bull Rubber Group has acquired pan of the JohnRichardson factory, at Evington Valley Road, Leicester. The premises will be used primarily to increase accommodation forthe C.P. Engineering Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the group. * * * After three months in Canada studying trade conditions andprospects, Mr. K. J. Palmer of Birlec, Ltd., is back in England. Mr. Palmer, who is the company's London Office manager, hasestablished an office in Toronto and it is possible that the company may not only sell its furnaces in Canada but may also manufacturethem there. * * * Thin-wall PTFE tubing is one of the products of the newlyformed Polypenco Co., Ltd., Welwyn Garden City, Hens, sub- sidiary of the Polymer Corporation of Reading, Pa, U.S.A. Thetubing is available with internal diameters ranging from |in to lin, with wall thicknesses of from .030in to .050in, and in ten colours.The makers state that the dielectric properties of the tubing make it particularly suitable for wire bundling and sleeving insulation. * * * Mr. J. A. C. Williams, M.Sc, A.M.I.Mech.E., A.F.R.Ae.S.,A.B.Ps.S., has been appointed principal of the College of Aero- nautical and Automobile Engineering, Chelsea. Previously headof the engineering section of the National Coal Board's industrial training branch, Mr. Williams has been concerned with techno-logical education since 1939. In 1939 he was a lecturer at the de Havilland Technical School, and during the war was with theinitial design team for the D.H. Mosquito. He also worked with the Airscrew Co. and Jicwood, Ltd. In 1954, Mr. Williams wasmade a Research Fellow at the College of Aeronautics, Cranfield.
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