STANDING STILL AT 80 MILES P.H

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 48, 19 October 1931, Page 5

STANDING STILL AT 80 MILES P.H

a Correspondent.)

SCIENCE WINS air and ocean trips in a' tbndoln'"' '* .SCIENCE BEHIND SCHNEfDER .CUP

(From

LONDON, Aug. 23. The race f or the Schneider Trophy was more than a miracjte of speed and human skill. It yras a victory for scientists "as much as for pilots. The engines which roared like sky lions overhead were the final oufccome of years of patient and slow' reskareh. The pilots" Had 'staked their lives on the absolute scientific accuracy of : the men who designed and tested and built the machines, The seeds of victory were sown in the- laboratory. Many engineers and draftsmen and mechanics conspired together to produce the colossally powerful machines which flew the solent course. Among them were the officers Of the National Physical Laboratory, the big-research centre at Teddington, just outside London, belonging to the British Government's Deprirtmerit of Scientific and Industrial Research. Here you may see miniature Schneider Cup 'planes racing through the air without moving a yard from their position. The expjanation is that' the research workers have reVersed the Order' of things. Instead of the machines moving through the air, the air moves past the machines. Typhoons in a Tunnel. They have arranged for this by. means of air-tunnels. I was shown an enormous hall, empty have for a giant wooden chute, closed in on all : four sides, running right across the room. It was well over '100 feet long with a mouth at one end, as large as a garage door, and it tapered towards a narrow tail. Down it gales of 75 or 80 miles ari Iiour can be iriacle to rage. Model aeroplanes, 7 or 8 feet in span,

are secured inside. The artiflcial gale is theri turned 'on and the 'p'lane is subjected to stresses and strairis corresponding to those a full-size machine would meet in the air at high speeds. Its behaviour provides the data for research on the mechanics of flight and in this way improvements in design may suggest themselves. The Schneider ,Cup 'planes were tested in the wind tunnel and their actual behaviour was cofrectly predicted. ' There are air tunnels of all sizes at Teddington,- from babies a few feet long upwards, and the latest addition is a compressed air tunnel. The outer shell weighs 250 tons, "and actual flights can be so closely imitated in it that results can be a'ppliecl direct to practice. Every sort: of aerodynairiic problem, such as Stability, control, "flutter"' and spirining can be carefully Studied under these cdnditions and the results used by'designers of aircraft to build saf er and more economical machines." — These laboratory researches, in conjunction with full scale work at the Air Ministry's station at Farnborough, and else where, have for'med the basiS of the rapid development of aeronautics in this Country in the iast 20 years," the official in charge told me. Royal Laboratory. The aerodynamic department only ocdupies one small corner of the National Physical Laboratory, the largest scientific oresearch laboratory in Eurrope. There is a staff Of 600, and the buildings cover so much space that the officers go about from one lab. to another on bicycles. The laboratory is on the fringe of Bushy Park, " one of' the b'eaufiful parks just out of London, where Royalty used to live. There are so many buildings that a visitor would get lost as soon as he got through the gate, into a maze of flower-bordere'd paths, if he were not guided by a uniformed messenger. And in the middle oi these severe, square-built modern laboratories is a little gem of a Queen Ann houSe, Bushy House, Which was lived in by William IV. Now the upper parts are occupied by the*Director, Sir Joseph Petavel, and the- lower rooms belong to the electrical engineers. The house has been chariged as little as possible. The little chapel, whose ceiling bears the Royal Garter ArmS, is now ari electrical ' standard testing room. Downstairs in William IV's wine cellars, is the clock testing department, where the "Kew tests" are conducted. All good watchmakefs enter for these and the man who gets the highest marks is a Derby winner among watchmalcers. The tests are- Carried out in the vaulted stone cellars because watches and wine have the same requirements— even of temperature, '' A Lab.-Locked Sea. But that is b'y the way. The Teddington experts have helped the Schneider Cup t'eam in other ways besides testing the 'planes in ' wirid-thnnels. The machines are, of course, seaplanes. When they have to land on the sea at speeds of well over 10.0 m.p.h., the design of their hull is naturajly a matter of first importance. The "N.P.L." Can imitate conditions of the sea as well as of the air. They own a tank nearly two hundred yards long, where the Empire's ships and seri-planes" cari' be tested in riiiniature and the intricate problems of hull design worked out on a trial scale. There there are the "seaworthy" tests and for this purpose large artiflcial waves are turned on, and the ship is made to pitch violently. Savings for Empire Fleet. Very small modifi'catioris in design may lead to big savings in running costs. Alterations in the hull design of one recently tested ship, for iristanee, resulted in a 25 per cent. reduction in horse power required to run at the same speed* This meant a saving of £1570 d year in fuel costk. Over £8000 per" afinrim iias b'eeri saved by the "N.P.L." in the fuel costs of nine vessels tested last year. The cost of the test is paid back in a few months, Work is done for ships built for the Doriimioris^ 'A! big Sydriey shippirig firm, for instance, has all its vessels tested there, and, a Canadian destroyer recently built was first "tried out in the tank* The newest' expeririierits are ori rediicirig th© air resistance of the upper parts of ships. Designs for stream-lining the super-structure are being tried out.