October 15, 1918

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British Advisory Committee Report for 1917-8

Following is an excerpt from the 1917-18 report of the British Advisory Committee for Aeronautics : There has been no diminution in the number and complexity of the problems with which the Committee has been required to deal. Owing to the war the technical development of aeronautics has been extraordinarily rapid.

362

Production Problems of Aircraft Bolts, Screws and Nuts

The successful manufacture of small parts required by the ever-growing aeronautical industry is one attended by much difficulty. One of the most exacting lines, known as small metal parts, requiring special equipment throughout in order to comply with the minute specified tolerances of the airplane builders who are constructing under Government inspectors, is the manufacture of the enormous quantities of machine screws, bolts, studs and castellated, as well as plain, nuts.

By W. H. Sheahan14 min

356

The 300 Horsepower Maybach Engine*

During the past few months several of the latest type of Rumpler C. machines have been captured fitted with the new 300 hp. Maybach engines. The general layout of this engine follows the usual German vertical, six-cylinder type. The compression ratio is exceptionally high, viz., 5.94:1, which and have been only slightly modified; as shown in Figs.

364

Some New Enemy Airplanes

Interplane Braciny—The interplane bracing is clearly imitated from the 1914-16 Bréguet bomber, and consists of three cabanes—one, amidwings, on the body, and one, on each side, for the engines—and of three pairs of interplane struts.

372

News of the Fortnight

Several important changes affecting the organization of the Control Board and the personnel of the Division of Military Aeronautics, Air Service, which had been pending for a number of days and which were known generally in an unofficial way, went into effect on Sept. 30, when at the direction of Major-Gen. W. L. Kenly, Director of Military Aeronautics, a memorandum was made by Lieuf.-Col. G. H. Shields, acting as executive in the absence of Col. F. R. Kenney, in which the former Control Board was dissolved and another Control Board, differently constituted, was created.

372

Digest of the Foreign Aeronautical Press

Problems in Design and Construction. By Sidney Camm— The paramount problem of the airplane is essentially a question of increasing efficiency, and this to a certain extent means increasing the speed range to much greater limits than are at present possible.

360

The Sopwith-Clerget ”Camel”*

This machine, built by the Sopwith Aviation Co., Ltd., or Kingston-on-Thames, carries the designation F.l.B. 6290. It is a single-strutter machine and is a development of the Sopwith “Pup,” from which, however, it differs in many details, apart from the greater power of its engine.

370

New Duesenberg Engine Test House

The new test house of the Duesenberg Motors Corp. at Elizabeth, N. J., has just been completed. As can be seen in the accompanying illustrations, it is a permanent institution designed with a view to affording facilities for the accurate and expeditious testing of a production run of engines.

362

Aeronautical Patents

1,274,5O1–To Sherman S. Benson, York, Nebr. Aerial bomb dropper. 1,274,679–To Everhard Richard Calthrop, London, England. Parachuce launching device. l,274,745–Harvey C. Mummert, Buffalo, N. Y. Airplane. l,274,767–To Joseph Petit, New York. Hydroplane.

370

Book Review

KNIGHTS OF THE AIR. By Lieut. Bennet A. Molter. (D. Appleton & Co. $1.50. 244 pp., 8 full-page ill.) Lieutenant Molter's book will prove of particular interest to those who have followed with pride and admiration the exploits of that gallant band of Americans who volunteered their services to France at the time when the United States was still neutral; at least officially so.

October 11918

NOVEMBER 11918

October 15, 1918

October 15, 1918

British Advisory Committee Report for 1917-8