Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, Parts I and II: Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Volume 27 Number 3, Publication 1948, 1911Langley, S. P. (Samuel Pierpont)
History
Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, Parts I and II: Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Volume 27 Number 3, Publication 1948, 1911
Langley, S. P. (Samuel Pierpont)
Aeronautics; Flight
These weights are those determined in December, 1896, when some
slight changes had been made from the conditions existing at the time
of the flight by this aerodrome on May 6. Previous to that time, with
a pressure of 130 pounds, between 1.1 and 1.25 horse-power was given
on the Prony brake. At the actual time of flight the pressure was
about 115 pounds, and the actual power very near 1 horse-power.
The valve stem was pivoted to the center of the valve partly because
this was the lightest connection that could be made, and partly to
allow the valve perfect freedom of adjustment upon the seat. Many
parts, such as guides, braces, crank-pins, wrist-pin and shafts are
hollow. The steam is taken in at the front end of the steam chest,
and the exhaust taken out of the center, whence it is led back to
the stack and by means of a forked exhaust pipe discharged in such
a way as to assist the draught of each coil of the boilers. Like
the cylinder the steam chest is made of a piece of steel tubing, 20
mm. diameter on the outside, with an inside diameter of 19 mm., and
is fitted with a cast-iron bushing 0.5 mm. thick, making the inside
diameter of the steam chest 18 mm. It, too, has flanges brazed to the
ends, to which the heads are held by small machine screws.
The shaft for conveying the power to the propeller shafts extends
across the machine from side to side; it is hollow, being 8 mm.
outside diameter, with a hole 5 mm. diameter through the center.
It is formed of five sections: the middle section, containing the
crank, has a length of 110 mm. and is connected at either end,
by flanged couplings, to lengths 320 mm. long, which are in turn
extended by the end sections having a length of 230 mm. In addition
to the four main bearings that are bolted to the pressed-steel
bed-plate already mentioned, there are two bearings on the outer
framework on each side. At the outer end of each shaft there is keyed
thereto a bevel gear with an outside diameter of 27 mm. and having 28
teeth. This gear meshes with one of 35 teeth upon a shaft at right
angles to the main shaft and parallel to the axis of the aerodrome.
These two shafts, one on either arm, serve to carry and transmit the
power to the propellers. They are 192 mm. long, 8 mm. in diameter,
and are provided with three bearings that are brazed to a corrugated
steel plate forming the end of the outrigger portion of the frame.
These shafts are also hollow, having an axial hole 4 mm. in diameter
drilled through them. The propeller seat has a length of 43 mm. and
the propeller is held in position by a collar 25 mm. in diameter at
the front end, from which there project two dowel-pins that fit into
corresponding holes in the hubs of the propellers, which are held up
against the collar by a smaller one screwed into the back end of the
shaft. The thrust of the collar is taken up by a pin screwed into
the end of the forward box and acting as a step against which the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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