Landing gear

“ Float: That portion of the landing gear of an aircraft which provides buoyancy when it is resting on the surface of the water.
Fuselage: The elongated structure to which are attached the landing gear, wings and tail. A fuselage is rarely used with pushers; and in general it is designed to hold the passengers. ”

“ These are inclined slightly upward toward the direction of travel, and their rapid motion through the air, due to the pull of the propeller driven by the motor, causes them to rise from the earth, carrying the fuselage or body of the airplane. In the fuselage are carried the pilot, observer, and any other load. Wheels below the fuselage forming the under-carriage or landing gear serve to support the body when running along the ground in taking off or landing. ”

“ The captain placed his hand on the landing gear control lever, moved it slightly, and the horn ceased to sound, so the landing was continued in the routine manner. When wheel contact was established, the crew noted on unusual response as if the nose of the airplane were in a lower attitude than normal. Captain Lloyd immediately opened the throttles, at which time he had the impression that the propeller blades struck the ground. A take-off was made, and the landing gear retracting mechanism was checked as the airplane circled the field. ”

“ Running Gear. Three wheels are provided—one in front under the outrigger and two under the main cell for starting and landing. Two beams extend from the front wheel to the engine bed and serve to carry the pilot's seat, as will be seen from the elevator, Fig. 12. A third beam runs back horizontally from the front wheel and on rough ground acts as a skid. The rest of the running gear is made of steel tubing, the pieces being joined simply by flattening the ends, drilling and clamping with bolts ”

“ The propeller is of steel, two-bladed, 6 feet in diameter, and revolves at the same speed as the shaft on which it is mounted. The high position of the engine permits a low running gear. There are two wheels under the rear edges of the main planes, and another is placed half-way between the main planes and the forward rudder, or elevator. A brake, operated by the pilot’s foot, acts upon this forward wheel to check the speed at the moment of landing.
Another type of Curtiss machine has the ailerons set in the rear of the main planes, instead of between them. ”

“ A. Propeller; B. Motor, partly hidden by shield; C.C. Main-planes; D. Pilot’s seat; E. Observer’s seat; F. Outlook windows in side of hull; G. Rudder; H. Elevating-plane; I. Landing gear.
A machine that has achieved success, owing to its power of varying speed, is the Sopwith military biplane, as shown in Fig. 63. Adopting a practice that has become general, its wings are fitted upon what is practically a monoplane body. Tail-planes and rudder are the same as in a monoplane. The top main-plane, as will be seen, is set slightly in advance of the lower. The system is called “staggering” ”

“ The danger and difficulty of removing the ship from its shed, and returning it safely thereto after a journey, restricts the number of actual flying days in the year to those on which such operations can be performed without risk of damage, although a modern rigid airship may be in the air with efficiency and perfect safety in practically any state of the weather. The Patent Mooring Gear renders the landing independent of the weather, while calling for the attendance of only six men to actuate the various mechanical devices employed. ”

“ If the length was infinitely great the tendency to pitch would be infinitely small. I have shown a steering gear consisting of a lever with a handle n, arranged in such a manner that it moves both the vertical rudder c, and the horizontal rudder d, so that the man who steers the machine has nothing to think of except to point the lever n, p, in the direction that he wishes the machine to go. This lever is mounted on a universal joint at h, and is connected with suitable wires to the two rudders. ”

“ The other pilots followed suit, engine after engine picking up the chorus and filling the air with deafening and yet harmonious sound. A man stood just clear of the wing-tips to either side of each machine holding a cord fast to the wood blocks chocked under the wheels; another man or two clung to each tail, holding it down against the pull of the propeller, their sleeves, jacket tails, and trouser legs fluttering wildly in the gales which poured aft from the whirling screws and sent twigs and leaves and dust flying and dancing back in a rushing stream. ”

“ There is a long rudder for ordinary steering, and four horizontal ones or planes which are placed abreast the horizontal screws and which, I imagine, act automatically in conjunction with them, as they seem to gear up with the shafts for these propellers. There is a big safety detachable weight which fits loosely into a recess amidships, and four broad wheels with ball bearings which do not fold up as in the 'Lake' boats, but always protrude nearly half their diameter. ”

“ The small flexible wooden paddles on the lower rear ends of the wing tanks slide over the water and exert a great lifting effect, thus rigidly preserving the balance on the water at slow speeds or standing, and also preventing damage to wings in case a bad landing is made whereby one wing strikes the water first. In such a case, instead of the wing digging into the water, the paddles cause a glancing blow which levels the machine automatically. ”

“ In other words, the machine will carry what sailors term a port helm where the left side of the machine is lighter than the right, and vice versa, and it will be necessary to keep the rudder over to that side slightly during the entire flight to counteract this tendency. ”

“ There were two sets of rudders, though one, as has been explained, was more like a big box-kite than a rudder. This controlled the depression or elevation of the ship. The other, shaped like a fish-tail, sent it to right or left.
The planes on either side of the gas bag were intended to better balance the motor ship, to render it less liable to be sent out of its course by contrary winds, and to support it in case of accidents. The planes were on the same principle as a bird’s wings [92] when it is gliding or swooping down from a great height. ”

“ The aerial vehicles were of light substances, not the least resembling our balloons, but rather our boats and pleasure- vessels, with helm and rudder, with large wings as paddles, and a central machine worked by vril. All the vehicles both for land or air were indeed worked by that potent and mysterious agency. ”

“ For example, if the tail plane or flat, finlike surface that projects from the sides of the tail of the body, or fuselage, has too much “incidence,” or, in other words, is slanted at too sharp an angle downward, it has a tendency in flight to lift the rear of the machine and to make it dive. A seaplane, when properly constructed, is so evenly balanced that, when the crane that lifts it off the mother ship holds it suspended in the air, the machine is equipoised like a bird with wings spread in flight. ”

“ The sparking gears are driven by means of a gear formed on a sleeve which telescopes over the hub of the starboard drum, and has a bearing thereon, the end of the sleeve terminating in a ring which is fastened to the crank shaft. ”

“ A flying—machine comprising superposed connected aeroplanes, means or moving the opposite lateral portions of said aeroplanes to different angles to the normal planes thereof, a vertical rudder, means for moving said vertical rudder toward-that side of the machine presenting the smaller angle of incidence and the least resistance to the atmosphere, and a horizontal rudder provided with means for, presenting its upper or under surface to the resistance of the atmosphere, substantially as described. ”

“ They have been known to penetrate a soldier's steel helmet, to pass through his body and that of the horse he bestrode, and bury themselves in the earth. In the airplane they are carried in boxes of one hundred each, placed over an orifice in the floor. A touch of the aviator's foot and all are discharged. The speed of the machine causes them to fall at first in a somewhat confused fashion, with the result that before all have finally assumed their perpendicular position they have been scattered over a very considerable extent of air. ”

“ The landing chassis is made of rattan strips. See those reinforced skids, and that four cylindered aerial motor? The owners said she ought to have a muffler, for she spouts like a blast furnace when she starts. ”

“ For those days, the landing demands were rather exacting; the machine should be able to rise without damage from long grass, clover, or harrowed land, in 100 yards in a calm, and should be able to land without damage on any cultivated ground, including rough ploughed land, and, when landing on smooth turf in a calm, be able to pull up within 75 yards of the point of first touching the ground. It was required that pilot and observer should have as open a view as possible to front and flanks, and they should be so shielded from the wind as to be able to communicate with each other. ”

“ The task of looking after the machinery was divided up among the young aviators, and, as the craft was swayed this way and that by the gale, eager and anxious eyes watched every revolution of the gear wheels, pistons were minutely inspected in the light of electric torches, and valves adjusted when they showed the least sign of going wrong. ”

“ Two new types of aeroplane have been alluded to in the last, preceding paragraph; the fast-flying, quick-climbing racer and the slow-going, heavy-weight carrier. We are of opinion that there should be three types in all for military purposes. Of greatest importance and in greatest numbers we should have the middle-class machines; those capable of staying in the air for at least three hours of continuous flight, while carrying two men and one hundred and fifty pounds extra, of either wireless apparatus or machine gun and ammunition. ”

“ As has often been said, a ship is like a lady's watch, always out of repair. When first leaving port, studding-sail gear is to be rove, all the running rigging to be examined, that which is unfit for use to be got down, and new rigging rove in its place; then the standing rigging is to be overhauled, replaced, and repaired in a thousand different ways; and wherever any of the numberless ropes or the yards are chafing or wearing upon it, there ``chafing gear,'' as it is called, must be put on. ”

“ If a man cruise, and cruise without assistance, the first important thing is that his craft be one that he can handle without excessive muscular strain. Therefore she must not be heavy for her size, and her gear must be of such weight as will readily permit of his working it. The gear must be simple and of strength; the rig one that needs the least attention. This is exactly what the typical single-hander is not.
The typical single-hander is a coarse-lined, heavily built craft, with complicated gear and divided canvas. She is generally very full-bodied and badly overloaded with ballast. ”

“ The use of detachable wheels—which fall off into the sea after they have served their purpose in giving the preliminary run—has made launching from the deck practicable and comparatively safe, but the problem of landing even a wheeled machine on deck has not yet been satisfactorily solved. ”

“ Before he could fly his machine on the battle-front the French flier had to know how to loop, to fall or dive at such a steep angle that his machine actually dropped through the air for several hundred feet before it flattened out—a tremendous strain on the wings of a machine—to side slip or round a curve with his machine banked at such an angle that it gradually slid toward the centre of the circle, to climb or tail dive at such a pitch that the aircraft actually slips backward tail foremost. ”

“ Either the machine must be capable of alighting on, and rising from, the water, and of riding in safety on the surface of the sea or ocean under ordinary weather conditions, and so be able to accompany and act as an auxiliary to a warship or squadron at sea; or some kind of sea-going pontoon vessel must be devised from which machines can be launched and on whose deck they may alight. ”

“ The pilot room was located at the bow on the second deck. In appearance it largely resembled the wheel-house of the ordinary ocean liner. The [42] compass box, with its compensating magnetic mechanism beneath, stood just in front of the steering wheel, below and parallel with which, but not connected with it, was a wheel for elevating or depressing the planes. Both of these wheels operated indirectly, utilizing compressed air cylinders to move the big rudder and wing surfaces. ”

“ For instance, from the steering levers (or lever) two wires connect with opposite sides of the rudder. As a lever is moved so as to draw in the right-hand wire the rudder is drawn to the right and vice versa. The operation is exactly the same as in steering a boat. It is the same way in changing the position of the balancing planes. A movement of the hands or feet and the machine has changed its course, or, if the equilibrium is threatened, is back on an even keel. ”

“ On the other hand, the airship, being provided with engines to propel it through the air, and with rudders and elevators to control it for direction and height, can be steered in whatever direction is desired, and voyages can be made from one place to another--always provided that the force of the wind is not sufficiently strong to overcome the power of the engines. ”

“ A side movement pulls the rear end of the wing opposite to the side to which the pilot leans. The balancing of the whole apparatus, is, therefore, in a manner, automatic. The pilot has but to bend over to one side in order to balance the machine. Springs are introduced on the wires which control the rudders of some of the machines so as to bring the rudder back to its normal position without effort on the part of the operator. The seat is a piece of canvas or leather stretched across the two lower bamboo rods just behind the wheels. ”