Steam and coal smoke in the sky
| January 22, 2010 10:17AM |
|
During the 1800s; there were several attempts to build working aircraft. Prior to the 1890s, the internal combustion engine was not mature enough to consider using on an aircraft, so most of these designs utilized steam engines; many of them probably coal fired.
Taking a look over my steam themed cubicle at work:
William Henson designed this 20 passenger aircraft in 1843; the first passenger plane every designed. He formed a company, the Aerial Steam Navigation Company, to raise funds for it's construction; but aside from some paintings, it was never built. John Stringfellow builds a 20-foot steam model airplane, based on William Henson's Aerial Steam Carriage, in 1848, and flies it inside a textile mill in Chard, Somerset, England. It is the first recorded flight by a powered airplane. (The engine and a model are enshrined there today.) Had it built the full size plane, it would have had the wingspan of a 737, but only a 5 HP steam engine! Engravings released by the ASNC show it spewing coal smoke from it's twin stacks; my model does now as well, thanks to the black and white spider web stuff you find around Halloween.
Felix du Temple de la Croix (usually simply called Felix du Temple) was a French naval officer and an inventor. He patented designs for an aerial machine in 1857, which incorporated a retractable wheel landing gear, a propeller, a 6 hp engine and a dihedral wing design, under the title "Locomotion aöéenne par imitation du vol des oiseaux" ("Aerial locomotion by imitation of the flight of birds"). He built several large models together with his brother Luis. One of them, weighing 700 grams, was able to fly, first using a clockwork mechanism as an engine, and then using a miniature steam engine. The two brothers managed to make the models take off under their their own power, fly a short distance and land safely. n 1874, the two brothers built the Monoplane, a large plane made of aluminium in Brest, France, with a wingspan of 13 meters and a weight of only 80 kilograms (160 pounds) without the pilot. Several trials were made with the plane, and it is generally recognized that it achieved lift off under its own power after a ski-jump run, glided for a short time and returned safely to the ground, possibly making it the first successful powered flight in history, depending on the definition ? since the flight was only a short distance and a short time. The boiler used on the du Temple Monoplane was the first recorded flash boiler ever built; the Monoplane's steam powerplant was later commercialized by him from a company he established in Cherbourg, "Gõmrateur Du Temple S.A." and became highly successful. The design was adopted by the French Navy for the propulsion of the first French torpedo boats.
Aleksandr F. Mozhaiski was an Imperial Russian Naval officer who as a young man studied bird flight and the wings of birds, and contemplated the requirements for a heavier-than-air flying machine. He applied for and received funds from the Ministry of the Military in the 1870's to pursue his aerial research. When, in 1878, he sought additional funding to study designs for aerial propellers, he was denied. Within two years he was using his own resources, building large kites, and about 1880 he was lifted off the ground by an array of such kites. In mid-1880, he applied for a patent on his design for a large steam powered monoplane, which was granted in November of 1881. Apparently his design was seen as having merit for he was given a grant of 2,500 Imperial Russian rubles (a considerable sum of money) with which he was to build his steam powered monoplane. The construction of the machine took approximately a year. He purchased three steam engines from England, two of 20 h.p. and one of 10 h.p. His flying machine had three four-bladed propellers, one mounted as a tractor driven by the 10 h.p. steam engine, and two inset in slots in the surfaces of the wings as pusher propellers driven by a single 20 h.p. steam engine through chains and gears. A large horizontal tail surface and a large vertical rudder comprised the flight controls. It appears that Mozhaiski had also planned to use a differential in power to the two inset propellers as a method of turning. The Mozhaiski monoplane was a very large machine, having an overall length of 75 feet 6 inches and a wing span of 74 feet 9 inches. The extreme chord (width) of the wing, 46 feet 6 inches, in relation to the span (the "aspect ratio"), would have limited the lift which the large surface area could generate. Another lift limiting factor would have been the fact that the wings were constructed as literal "aeroplanes" (flat wings), having no camber (curve). In 1884, Mozhaiski's machine apparently made the second hop by a manned powered aircraft (the first being duTemple), covering between 65 and 100 feet after rolling down an incline under power at Krasnoye Selo, then just outside St. Petersburg, Russia, with the volunteer I.N. Golubev at the controls. Upon landing, the large machine hit a wing and was seriously damaged. (While I downloaded the other paper models from the web; this one is my own design; the original prototype is in the background.)
While the smokestacks on the previous planes indicate they burned coal, Clement Ader's two machines he built burned alcohol for fuel. This is his first design, named the Eole, and built in 1894. It's folding bat-like wings are an amazing example of bionic engineering; and it makes a flight of 160 feet at altitude of eight inches; the first takeoff by a manned aircraft. But, it's controls were nothing like what you find in a plane today (just a row of pulleys manipulating the twisting of the surfaces), and it was uncontrollable; a later twin propeller design named the Avion faired even worse. Notice the condensor on top of the wing.
This shows the relative sizes of the above planes. Also in the sky is Gustave Whitehead's No.21 of 1901 (which may or may not have been steam powered, he changed motors during development) which it was claimed also few in 1901. The bird looking thing sitting on the cubicle is Goupil's "Duck" from 1883 - 1884; it was never built due to the lack of a good steam engine; but Glen Curtiss ended up building it and powering it with a 100hp Curtiss OXX-6; and mounting it on floats as part of a patent fight with the Wright Bros.
Besides the paper models, I also made computer models for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Here is the Eole, Mozhaski Monoplane, and the duTemple Monoplane sitting at my local airport; once again showing their relative size.
If the above seem crazy; then imagine hanging a coal fired steam engine under a gasbag filled with hydrogen! That is what Henri Giffard did in 1852; his Giffard dirigible was actually more successful than all the above craft; Giffard flew the airship from the Paris Hippodrome to Trappes, covering the 27 km (17 miles) in around 3 hours, demonstrating maneuvering along the way. The 400 lb 3 HP engine, however, was not sufficiently powerful to allow Giffard to fly against the wind to make a return journey.
Here is a contemporary illustration; notice that Giffard pointed the exhaust stack downward; he also surrounded the boiler's stoke hole with wire gauze. Giffard was not a crazy individual by any means; also being the inventor of the steam injector.
After the Besler steam airplane flew in 1933; there were claimed to be more designs for a coal fired steam aeroplane. Two are from World War II; one on each side.
The English supposively built the Halifax 1V; powered by a pair of Sentinal steam engines (yes, the ones of steam shunter and steam waggon fame), the inboard propellers driven directly, the outboard props via extension shafts. The completed airplane could supposively fly far higher than even the German jet interceptors; you can read more about it at:
[www.airmuseum.ca]
[www.pprune.org]
On the other side, the Germans built a prototype of the Messerschmitt Me 264 "Amerika Bomber" in 1943. Intended to cross the Atlantic and bomb targets in America (perhaps a single nuclear bomb?); it's original DB603 engines were too complex, and conventional engines too underpowered. Several alternative powerplants were considered, including the following, from Messerschmitt Me 26 Amerika Bomber - The Luftwaffe's Lost Transatlantic Bomber:
The actual plane was beyond the technical ability of German aircraft industry at the time (it was close to the B-29 in size and capacity, but only had half the engine horsepower); and after a total flying time of 32 hours and 50 minutes from December 1942 to mid April 1944, the single prototype (Me 264 V1) was damaged beyond repair in a US bombing raid over Lechfeld.
Still reading out there? As long as we are mixing steam in flight with music, how about throwing in art as well?
Viktor Hartmann originally painted this painting of his proposal for a city gate in Kiev, Russia. The gate was never built; but the painting, along with other paintings by Hartmann were immortalized by Modest Mussorgsky's piano piece Pictures at an Exhibition; written in 1874, first published in 1884, and later scored for orchestra by Maurice Ravel in 1922. Aleksandr Mozhaiski's steam powered monoplane only flew 70-100 feet on it's one brief hop in 1886. But, by adding a photo of my paper model of Mozhaiski's monoplane to Hartmann's painting, we now have a scene that is more appropiate to Raval's soaring rendition, as it flies triumphantly overhead, with the bells of the gate ringing in celebration, and the horses bolting in the confusion. The composite image is by me.
-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a
Surviving World Steam Project- New Address!
International Stationary Steam Engine Society
Taking a look over my steam themed cubicle at work:
William Henson designed this 20 passenger aircraft in 1843; the first passenger plane every designed. He formed a company, the Aerial Steam Navigation Company, to raise funds for it's construction; but aside from some paintings, it was never built. John Stringfellow builds a 20-foot steam model airplane, based on William Henson's Aerial Steam Carriage, in 1848, and flies it inside a textile mill in Chard, Somerset, England. It is the first recorded flight by a powered airplane. (The engine and a model are enshrined there today.) Had it built the full size plane, it would have had the wingspan of a 737, but only a 5 HP steam engine! Engravings released by the ASNC show it spewing coal smoke from it's twin stacks; my model does now as well, thanks to the black and white spider web stuff you find around Halloween.
Felix du Temple de la Croix (usually simply called Felix du Temple) was a French naval officer and an inventor. He patented designs for an aerial machine in 1857, which incorporated a retractable wheel landing gear, a propeller, a 6 hp engine and a dihedral wing design, under the title "Locomotion aöéenne par imitation du vol des oiseaux" ("Aerial locomotion by imitation of the flight of birds"). He built several large models together with his brother Luis. One of them, weighing 700 grams, was able to fly, first using a clockwork mechanism as an engine, and then using a miniature steam engine. The two brothers managed to make the models take off under their their own power, fly a short distance and land safely. n 1874, the two brothers built the Monoplane, a large plane made of aluminium in Brest, France, with a wingspan of 13 meters and a weight of only 80 kilograms (160 pounds) without the pilot. Several trials were made with the plane, and it is generally recognized that it achieved lift off under its own power after a ski-jump run, glided for a short time and returned safely to the ground, possibly making it the first successful powered flight in history, depending on the definition ? since the flight was only a short distance and a short time. The boiler used on the du Temple Monoplane was the first recorded flash boiler ever built; the Monoplane's steam powerplant was later commercialized by him from a company he established in Cherbourg, "Gõmrateur Du Temple S.A." and became highly successful. The design was adopted by the French Navy for the propulsion of the first French torpedo boats.
Aleksandr F. Mozhaiski was an Imperial Russian Naval officer who as a young man studied bird flight and the wings of birds, and contemplated the requirements for a heavier-than-air flying machine. He applied for and received funds from the Ministry of the Military in the 1870's to pursue his aerial research. When, in 1878, he sought additional funding to study designs for aerial propellers, he was denied. Within two years he was using his own resources, building large kites, and about 1880 he was lifted off the ground by an array of such kites. In mid-1880, he applied for a patent on his design for a large steam powered monoplane, which was granted in November of 1881. Apparently his design was seen as having merit for he was given a grant of 2,500 Imperial Russian rubles (a considerable sum of money) with which he was to build his steam powered monoplane. The construction of the machine took approximately a year. He purchased three steam engines from England, two of 20 h.p. and one of 10 h.p. His flying machine had three four-bladed propellers, one mounted as a tractor driven by the 10 h.p. steam engine, and two inset in slots in the surfaces of the wings as pusher propellers driven by a single 20 h.p. steam engine through chains and gears. A large horizontal tail surface and a large vertical rudder comprised the flight controls. It appears that Mozhaiski had also planned to use a differential in power to the two inset propellers as a method of turning. The Mozhaiski monoplane was a very large machine, having an overall length of 75 feet 6 inches and a wing span of 74 feet 9 inches. The extreme chord (width) of the wing, 46 feet 6 inches, in relation to the span (the "aspect ratio"), would have limited the lift which the large surface area could generate. Another lift limiting factor would have been the fact that the wings were constructed as literal "aeroplanes" (flat wings), having no camber (curve). In 1884, Mozhaiski's machine apparently made the second hop by a manned powered aircraft (the first being duTemple), covering between 65 and 100 feet after rolling down an incline under power at Krasnoye Selo, then just outside St. Petersburg, Russia, with the volunteer I.N. Golubev at the controls. Upon landing, the large machine hit a wing and was seriously damaged. (While I downloaded the other paper models from the web; this one is my own design; the original prototype is in the background.)
While the smokestacks on the previous planes indicate they burned coal, Clement Ader's two machines he built burned alcohol for fuel. This is his first design, named the Eole, and built in 1894. It's folding bat-like wings are an amazing example of bionic engineering; and it makes a flight of 160 feet at altitude of eight inches; the first takeoff by a manned aircraft. But, it's controls were nothing like what you find in a plane today (just a row of pulleys manipulating the twisting of the surfaces), and it was uncontrollable; a later twin propeller design named the Avion faired even worse. Notice the condensor on top of the wing.
This shows the relative sizes of the above planes. Also in the sky is Gustave Whitehead's No.21 of 1901 (which may or may not have been steam powered, he changed motors during development) which it was claimed also few in 1901. The bird looking thing sitting on the cubicle is Goupil's "Duck" from 1883 - 1884; it was never built due to the lack of a good steam engine; but Glen Curtiss ended up building it and powering it with a 100hp Curtiss OXX-6; and mounting it on floats as part of a patent fight with the Wright Bros.
Besides the paper models, I also made computer models for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Here is the Eole, Mozhaski Monoplane, and the duTemple Monoplane sitting at my local airport; once again showing their relative size.
If the above seem crazy; then imagine hanging a coal fired steam engine under a gasbag filled with hydrogen! That is what Henri Giffard did in 1852; his Giffard dirigible was actually more successful than all the above craft; Giffard flew the airship from the Paris Hippodrome to Trappes, covering the 27 km (17 miles) in around 3 hours, demonstrating maneuvering along the way. The 400 lb 3 HP engine, however, was not sufficiently powerful to allow Giffard to fly against the wind to make a return journey.
Here is a contemporary illustration; notice that Giffard pointed the exhaust stack downward; he also surrounded the boiler's stoke hole with wire gauze. Giffard was not a crazy individual by any means; also being the inventor of the steam injector.
After the Besler steam airplane flew in 1933; there were claimed to be more designs for a coal fired steam aeroplane. Two are from World War II; one on each side.
The English supposively built the Halifax 1V; powered by a pair of Sentinal steam engines (yes, the ones of steam shunter and steam waggon fame), the inboard propellers driven directly, the outboard props via extension shafts. The completed airplane could supposively fly far higher than even the German jet interceptors; you can read more about it at:
[www.airmuseum.ca]
[www.pprune.org]
On the other side, the Germans built a prototype of the Messerschmitt Me 264 "Amerika Bomber" in 1943. Intended to cross the Atlantic and bomb targets in America (perhaps a single nuclear bomb?); it's original DB603 engines were too complex, and conventional engines too underpowered. Several alternative powerplants were considered, including the following, from Messerschmitt Me 26 Amerika Bomber - The Luftwaffe's Lost Transatlantic Bomber:
Quote
The actual accomplishments of the Kommando [Sonderkommando Nebel - Special Detachment Nebel] remain unclear, but n August 1944, it ispossible that it commisioned Professor Losel of the firm Osermaschinen GmbH to carry out the design and development of a steam turbine power unit which was to be rated at 6,000hp at 6,000rpm with a power to weight of 0.7 kg/hp and a consumption of 190 grams/hp/hour. An Me 264 airframe - possibly the V2 - was to have been placedat the disposal of the firm, but itwas apparently destroyed in an air raid before experiments got under way.
Two forms or propellor were envisioned; one at 5.3m diameter revolving at 400-500 rpm and the other at 1.98m diameter revolving at 6,000 rpm.
The system consisted of four capiliary tube boilers, each one metre in diameter in 1.2m high; a boiler feed waer pump and auxiliary turbine; a main turbine, 0.6m in diameter and 1.82m in length; a combustion ar draught fan, condeser, controls and auxiliaries. By the end of the war, many of these components had been manufactured and were ready for use including one of the boilers, the turbine blades and auxiliaries, such as the combustion air draught fan and condenser pump. Work had also started on the auxiliary and main turbine.
The system was designed to use 65% solid fuel (pulverised coal) and 35% liquid fuel (petrol), but it was intended to use liquid fuel only when it became available in quantity. Osermaschinen claimed that the advantages of steam turbine power were:
Constant power at varying heights
Capacity for 100 per cent overloading, even for long periods
Full steam power obtained withing 5-10 seconds
Notsensative to low temperatures
Long lif and simple servicing requirements
Simple and quick control
The system lent itself to incorporation within an airframe, since it could be broken down into separate components.
The actual plane was beyond the technical ability of German aircraft industry at the time (it was close to the B-29 in size and capacity, but only had half the engine horsepower); and after a total flying time of 32 hours and 50 minutes from December 1942 to mid April 1944, the single prototype (Me 264 V1) was damaged beyond repair in a US bombing raid over Lechfeld.
Still reading out there? As long as we are mixing steam in flight with music, how about throwing in art as well?
Viktor Hartmann originally painted this painting of his proposal for a city gate in Kiev, Russia. The gate was never built; but the painting, along with other paintings by Hartmann were immortalized by Modest Mussorgsky's piano piece Pictures at an Exhibition; written in 1874, first published in 1884, and later scored for orchestra by Maurice Ravel in 1922. Aleksandr Mozhaiski's steam powered monoplane only flew 70-100 feet on it's one brief hop in 1886. But, by adding a photo of my paper model of Mozhaiski's monoplane to Hartmann's painting, we now have a scene that is more appropiate to Raval's soaring rendition, as it flies triumphantly overhead, with the bells of the gate ringing in celebration, and the horses bolting in the confusion. The composite image is by me.
-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a
Surviving World Steam Project- New Address!
International Stationary Steam Engine Society
| Subject | Author | Posted |
|---|---|---|
|
bcp | January 19, 2010 09:48AM |
|
survivingworldsteam | January 19, 2010 06:40PM |
|
Chris Webster | January 20, 2010 04:26AM |
|
Russo Loco | January 19, 2010 07:45PM |
|
Skip | January 21, 2010 11:11AM |
|
survivingworldsteam | January 22, 2010 10:17AM |
|
Dan Markoff | January 21, 2010 08:26AM |
|
dougvv | January 21, 2010 09:12AM |
|
dougvv | January 22, 2010 11:35AM |
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
The NGDF was started by Don Richter and is currently operated in his memory by Nathan Holmes and others. Others who have contributed to the upkeep of this board are (in no particular order): Charles McCandless, Everett Lueck, Ted Wilton, Cole Adams, James Bane, John Moellmer, Jon Bentz, Linn Moedinger, lloyd lehrer, Rod Jensen, John Craft, Steven Forney, Herb Kelsey, Bill Ramaley, Russ Sperry (El Russo Loco), Josh McNeal, John West, Jim Armstrong, Bob Bergstrom, Greg Scholl, Blake Forbes Doug van Veelen and Mark Fuller.