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
Continual experiments with different forms of burner, illustrated
in Plate 12, occupied the time, with delays and imperfect results,
which were trying to the investigator, but are omitted as of little
interest to the reader. They had, however, the incidental result
of proving the practical superiority of gasoline over alcohol, and
culminated in the evolution of the burner that was finally used
successfully. It consisted of a tank for the gasoline, from which
compressed air delivered the liquid to a small coil surrounded by
asbestos, in which it was vaporized. At the rear end of this coil
three pipes were led off, one of which was a small “bleeder,” which
fed the burner for heating the gasoline, the other two leading to the
main burners. After the generation of gas in the small coil had been
started, the heat from the small burner was expected to continue the
vaporization, so that nothing but gas would be able to reach the main
burners. A device was also introduced, which had greatly increased
the amount and uniformity of the draft and consequently made the
burners and boilers more efficient than before. This consisted simply
in passing the exhaust steam from the engines into the smoke-stack,
and it is remarkable that it was not thought of earlier.
By the middle of September, 1894, both aerodromes were completed and
ready for another test. On September 27 the condition of Aerodrome
No. 4 was as follows: The general type of construction, namely, that
of a single midrod, to which all the steam generating apparatus was
attached, and which supported also the cross-frame and the wings, was
the same as in the construction of 1893. On account of the increased
weight of the model, and the substitution of an inferior piece of
tubing in place of the former midrod, it was found necessary to
stiffen it by the use of temporary trusses. Permanent bearing points
for holding the aerodrome securely to the newly devised launching
apparatus were also attached to this midrod. [p068]
The engines in use at this time were the small steel cylinders
described above, which were mounted on the cross-frame, and drove the
propellers directly. These engines were capable of delivering to the
propellers, as had been proved by repeated tests, at least 0.66 brake
horse-power.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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