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
I then tried the same coil with two 1.25-inch drums in the inside
and with five longitudinal water tubes at the bottom, beneath which
were the same two forked burners used in the previous experiment. The
coils were covered with a sheet of asbestos, and two round burners
were added. This boiler would hold a steam pressure of about 15
pounds and run the engine slowly; but if the pressure were allowed
to rise to 60 pounds, the engine would drive a 2-foot propeller of
18-inch pitch at the rate of about 650 turns per minute for from 80
to 90 seconds, while the steam ran down to 10 pounds, showing that
this boiler, at least, was too small. This was further shown in a
trial of the plain coil made in October, 1891; 6 pounds of water were
evaporated in 32 minutes under a pressure of 60 pounds. This was at
the rate of 11.25 pounds per hour, or, taking the U. S. Centennial
standard of 30 pounds of evaporation per horse-power, gave an
available output of less than 1/3 horse-power.
With these results before me, I decided to make a trial of the
“beehive” principle upon a smaller scale than in the boiler designed
for Aerodrome No. 0. I used a small boiler of which the inner coil
consisted of 8 turns of 3/8-inch copper tube about 28 gauge thick,
and the outer coil of 11 turns of 1/4-inch copper pipe. This gave 12
feet of 3/8-inch, and 16 feet of 1/4-inch tubing. The drum was of No.
27 gauge, hard planished copper. With this boiler consuming 6 oz. of
fuel, 80.3 oz. of water were evaporated in 28 minutes, or at the rate
of about 10.75 pounds per hour. As these coils contained but 2.22
square feet of heating surface, and as the three to be built would
contain 3.7 square feet each, it was estimated the [p036] 10 square
feet afforded by them could safely be depended upon to provide steam
for a 1 horse-power engine. As far as fuel consumption was concerned,
the rate of evaporation was about 15.6 pounds of water per pound of
gasoline, all of which was satisfactory.
The burner originally designed for use in connection with the
“beehive” boilers, consisted of a small tank in which a quantity of
gasoline was placed, the space above being filled with compressed
air. Rising from the bottom of this tank was a small pipe coiling
back and down and ending in an upturned jet from which the gas
generated in the coil would issue. The burner thus served to generate
its own gas and act as a heater for the boilers at the same time.
In the construction of Aerodrome No. 0, four of the “beehive” coils
were placed in a line fore and aft. The fuel tank was located
immediately back of the rear coil and consisted of a copper
cylinder 11 cm. in diameter and 9 cm. long. The engines were placed
immediately in front of the coils, all the apparatus being enclosed
in a light framing, as shown in the photograph (Plate 10).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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