Aeroplanes Part 14

Above the cross arms is a loose collar F to which the fore and aft cords are attached that go to the elevators, or horizontal planes. The upper end of the stem has a wheel G, which may also be equipped with the throttle and spark levers.

AUTOMATIC STABILIZING WINGS.--Unquestionably, the best stabilizer is one which will act on its own initiative. The difficulty with automatic devices is, that they act too late, as a general thing, to be effective. The device represented in Fig. 70 is very simple, and in practice is found to be most efficient.

In this Fig. 70 A and B represent the upper and the lower planes, respectively. Near the end vertical standards a, D, are narrow wings E E, F F, hinged on a fore and aft line close below each of the planes, the wings being at such distances from the standards C D that when they swing outwardly they will touch the standards, and when in that position will be at an angle of about 35 degrees from the planes A B.

_Fig. 70. Automatic Stabilizing Wings._

_Fig. 71. Action of Stabilizing Wings._

Inwardly they are permitted to swing up and lie parallel with the planes, as shown in Fig. 71 where the planes are at an angle. In turning, all machines skid,--that is they travel obliquely across the field, and this is also true when the ship is sailing at right angles to the course of the wind.

This will be made clear by reference to Fig.

72, in which the dart A represents the direction of the movement of the aeroplane, and B the direction of the wind, the vertical rudder a being almost at right angles to the course of the wind.

_Fig. 72. Into the Wind at an Angle._

In turning a circle the same thing takes place as shown in Fig. 73, with the tail at a different angle, so as to give a turning movement to the plane. It will be seen that in the circling movement the tendency of the aeroplane is to fly out at a tangent, shown by the line D, so that the planes of the machine are not radially-disposed with reference to the center of the circle, the line E showing the true radial line.

Referring now to Fig. 71, it will be seen that this skidding motion of the machine swings the wings E F inwardly, so that they offer no resistance to the oblique movement, but the wings E E, at the other end of the planes are swung outwardly, to provide an angle, which tends to raise up the inner end of the planes, and thereby seek to keep the planes horizontal.

_Fig. 73. Turning a Circle._

BAROMETERS.--These instruments are used for registering heights. A barometer is a device for measuring the weight or pressure of the air.

The air is supposed to extend to a height of 40 miles from the surface of the sea. A column of air one inch square, and forty miles high, weighs the same as a column of mercury one inch square and 30 inches high.

Such a column of air, or of mercury, weighs 14 3/4 pounds. If the air column should be weighed at the top of the mountain, that part above would weigh less than if measured at the sea level, hence, as we ascend or descend the pressure becomes less or more, dependent on the alt.i.tude.

Mercury is also used to indicate temperature, but this is brought about by the expansive quality of the mercury, and not by its weight.

_Fig. 74. Aneroid Barometer._

ANEROID BAROMETER.--The term Aneroid barometer is frequently used in connection with air- ship experiments. The word aneroid means not wet, or not a fluid, like mercury, so that, while aneroid barometers are being made which do use mercury, they are generally made without.

One such form is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 74, which represents a cylindrical sh.e.l.l A, which has at each end a head of concentrically formed corrugations.

These heads are securely fixed to the ends of the sh.e.l.l A. Within, one of the disk heads has a short stem C, which is attached to the short end of a lever D, this lever being pivoted at E. The outer end of this lever is hinged to the short end of another lever F, and so by compounding the levers, it will be seen that a very slight movement of the head B will cause a considerable movement in the long end of the lever F.

This end of the lever F connects with one limb of a bell-crank lever G, and its other limb has a toothed rack connection with a gear H, which turns the shaft to which the pointer I is attached.

Air is withdrawn from the interior of the sh.e.l.l, so that any change in the pressure, or weight of the atmosphere, is at once felt by the disk heads, and the finger turns to indicate the amount of pressure.

HYDROPLANES.--Hydro means water, hence the term hydroplane has been given to machines which have suitable pontoons or boats, so they may alight or initiate flight from water.

There is no particular form which has been adopted to attach to aeroplanes, the object generally being to so make them that they will sustain the greatest amount of weight with the least submergence, and also offer the least resistance while the motor is drawing the machine along the surface of the water, preparatory to launching it.

SUSTAINING WEIGHT OF PONTOONS.--A pontoon having within nothing but air, is merely a measuring device which determines the difference between the weight of water and the amount placed on the pontoon. Water weighs 62 1/2 pounds per cubic foot. Ordinary wood, an average of 32 pounds, and steel 500 pounds.

It is, therefore, an easy matter to determine how much of solid matter will be sustained by a pontoon of a given size, or what the dimensions of a pontoon should be to hold up an aeroplane which weighs, with the pilot, say, 1100 pounds.

As we must calculate for a sufficient excess to prevent the pontoons from being too much immersed, and also allow a sufficient difference in weight so that they will keep on the surface when the aeroplane strikes the surface in alighting, we will take the figure of 1500 pounds to make the calculations from.

If this figure is divided by 62 1/2 we shall find the cubical contents of the pontoons, not considering, of course, the weight of the material of which they are composed. This calculation shows that we must have 24 cubic feet in the pontoons.

As there should be two main pontoons, and a smaller one for the rear, each of the main ones might have ten cubic feet, and the smaller one four cubic feet.

SHAPES OF THE PONTOONS.--We are now ready to design the shapes. Fig. 75 shows three general types, A being made rectangular in form, with a tapering forward end, so constructed as to ride up on the water.

The type B has a rounded under body, the forward end being also skiff-shaped to decrease as much as possible the resistance of the water impact.

_Fig. 75. Hydroplane Floats._

The third type C is made in the form of a closed boat, with both ends pointed, and the bottom rounded, or provided with a keel. Or, as in some cases the body may be made triangular in cross section so that as it is submerged its sustaining weight will increase at a greater degree as it is pressed down than its vertical measurement indicates.

All this, however, is a matter left to the judgment of the designer, and is, in a great degree, dependent on the character of the craft to which it is to be applied.

CHAPTER XII

EXPERIMENTAL WORK IN FLYING

THE novice about to take his first trial trip in an automobile will soon learn that the great task in his mind is to properly start the machine. He is conscious of one thing, that it will be an easy matter to stop it by cutting off the fuel supply and applying the brakes.

CERTAIN CONDITIONS IN FLYING.--In an aeroplane conditions are reversed. Shutting off the fuel supply and applying the brakes only bring on the main difficulty. He must learn to stop the machine after all this is done, and this is the great test of flying. It is not the launching,-- the ability to get into the air, but the landing, that gives the pupil his first shock.

Man is so accustomed to the little swirls of air all about him, that he does not appreciate what they mean to a machine which is once free to glide along in the little currents which are so unnoticeable to him as a pedestrian.

The contour of the earth, the fences, trees, little elevations and other natural surroundings, all have their effect on a slight moving air current, and these inequalities affect the air and disturb it to a still greater extent as the wind increases.

Even in a still air, with the sun shining, there are air eddies, caused by the uneven heating of the air in s.p.a.ce.

HEAT IN AIR.--Heat is transmitted through the air by what is called convection, that is, the particles of the air transmit it from one point to the next. If a room is closed up tight, and a little aperture provided so as to let in a streak of sunlight, it will give some idea of the unrest of the atmosphere. This may be exhibited by smoke along the line of the sun's rays, which indicates that the particles of air are constantly in motion, although there may be absolutely nothing in the room to disturb it.

MOTION WHEN IN FLIGHT.--If you can imagine a small airship floating in that s.p.a.ce, you can readily conceive that it will be hurled hither and thither by the motion which is thus apparent to the eye.

This motion is greatly accentuated by the surface of the earth, independently of its uneven contour.

If a ball is thrown through the air, its dynamic force is measured by its impact. So with light, and heat. In the s.p.a.ce between the planets it is very cold. The sunlight, or the rays from the sun are there, just the same as on the earth.

Unless the rays come into contact with something, they produce no effect. When the beams from the sun come into contact with the atmosphere a dynamic force is exerted, just the same as when the ball struck an object. When the rays reach the earth, reflection takes place, and these reflected beams act on the air under different conditions.

CHANGING ATMOSPHERE.--If the air is full of moisture, as it may be at some places, while comparatively dry at other points, the reflection throughout the moist area is much greater than in the dry places, hence evaporation will take place and whenever a liquid vaporizes it means heat.

On the other hand, when the vapor is turning to a liquid, condensation takes place, and that means cooling. If the air should be of the same degree of saturation throughout,--that is, have the same amount of moisture everywhere, there would be few winds. These remarks apply to conditions which exist over low alt.i.tudes all over the earth.

But at high alt.i.tudes the conditions are entirely different. As we ascend the air becomes rarer.

It has less moisture, because a wet atmosphere, being heavier, lies nearer the surface of the earth.

Being rarer the action of sunlight on the particles is less intense. Reflection and refraction of the rays acting on the light atmosphere do not produce such a powerful effect as on the air near the ground.

All these conditions--the contour of the earth; the uneven character of the moisture in the air; the inequalities of the convection currents; and the unstable, tenuous, elastic nature of the atmosphere, make the trials of the aviator a hazardous one, and it has brought out numerous theories connected with bird flight. One of these a.s.sumes that the bird, by means of its finely organized sense, is able to detect rising air currents, and it selects them in its flight, and by that means is enabled to continue in flight indefinitely, by soaring, or by flapping its wings.