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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0408.PDF
International, 13 February 1964 255 INDUSTRY International . . . Honeywell's New Division To meet in- creasing demands for avionic systems and military products in the United Kingdom, Honeywell Controls Ltd have set up a joint Aero and Ordnance Division. Based at their Greenford headquarters, it replaces the original Aero Division managed by Col E. T. Bradley, who recently retired. Manager of the new division is Sqn Ldr R. C. Rogers, responsible to Mr R. E. Clifford (managing director, Honeywell Intertech, in Paris). Appointed chief engineer is Mr Arthur Rodd, who will be assisted by Mr Eric Nicholson as senior engineer. Aero products handled by the division nclude aerospace systems, instruments and jisplays; airborne computers; precision components like gyros, transducers, acceler- ometers; integrated avionic and armament systems; and the automatic test equipment designed and developed at Honeywell's Hemel Hempstead plant. Ordnance pro- ducts include solid-state timers and magnetic oscillators; solar simulation; safety arming and fuzing; fire control systems; trainers and simulators; radar; lasers; and under- water ordnance. Sqn Ldr Rogers joined Honeywell in 1962 direct from the RAF, where he had worked on research and development with the Ministry of Aviation. Mr Rodd also joined the company on leaving the RAF with the rank of squadron leader; he spent seven With posts in Honey- well's new division (news item above): I to r, Messrs R. C. Rogers, Arthur Rodd and Eric Nicholson years on Mo A work, being closely assoc- iated with the development of integrated flight instrument and control systems and automatic test systems. As a major in R£ME, Mr Nicholson was closely con- cerned with the development of radar, computers and servo equipment. Before ioining Honeywell he was associated with Blue Streak trials. As recorded in these pages on January 23, Qantas are negotiating for four Concord and six American supersonic transports. Recently a team from the Australian airline visited Bristol Siddeley, who in collaboration with Snecma are developing the Concord's powerplant. Seen here with a display-model Olympus are, I to r, Capt A. Ritchie, Qantas deputy chief executive; Dr E. J. Warlow-Davies, BS managing director; and Mr B. D. Blackwell, BS technical sales director the Ranger series. In addition to its "real time" space application, the system will respond to hypothetical situations, making it a versatile research tool as well as an operational simulator. The system consists, essentially, of four elements: spacecraft model, gimbals and drives, computer and console, hemisphere and sensors. USA Two Kollsman Developments A space- vehicle simulator is being developed by Kollsman Instrument Corp under contract to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of Cali- fornia Institute of Technology for NASA. For the first time," says Mr David B. Nichinson, Kollsman Instrument president, 11 will permit simultaneous viewing by ground controllers of celestial reference bodies, spacecraft manoeuvres, and the direction and aiming of various sensors during space missions.'" While the system is capable of accepting a variety of spacecraft models, its initial requtrement will be to perform analysis for Another current Kollsman Instrument development is a two-wavelength laser for delivery to the US Army Ballistic Labora- tory at Aberdeen, Md. Designed for inter- ferometric studies of plasma, wind tunnel and other shock phenomena, it will be capable of emitting light at either one of two fundamental optical frequencies. The re- quirement calls for essentially square 20 micro-second pulses having a very high degree of uniformity across each beam. Lycoming's New Actuator An all-mech- anical flight control servo-actuator for high- temperature applications has been devel- oped by Avco Corporation's Lycoming Division, Stratford, Conn. Designed for operation in supersonic aircraft and space vehicles at temperatures in excess of 600°F, it is an outcome of Lycoming's work since 1955 on mechanical constant speed drives. The initial CSDs developed during these studies displayed high-temperature capa- bilities, and the company was subsequently selected by North American Aviation to provide a 600°F drive for the US Air Force "Hotelec" programme. The actuator used for the primary control on the "Hotelec" drive is the forerunner of the new flight control actuator. The first experimental unit has been fabricated and is now under- going development testing to evaluate control response. The servo unit consists of a variable-ratio friction-type trans- mission coupled to a mechanical differen- tial. The output shaft revolves in either direction, or stops, as a function of the transmission input speed and adjusted transmission ratio. Speeds are thus changed by varying the friction transmission. Control force required to change the ratio is extremely low. In addition to flight- control applications, the mechanical servo is also adaptable for use in industrial machine-tool drives and controls. Inflatable fabric structures—including radomes of the kind illustrated, up to 100ft in diameter —are the subject of an exclusive British agency agreement between Ultra Electronics Ltd, of Western Avenue, London W3, and Burr Electronics Inc of USA. Inflation is by low- pressure air between two layers of fabric, and provision is made for pressure maintenance by automatic switching-on of the pumps
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