Engineering topics

Bacon, David L

Publications and source records attributed to Bacon, David L.

4 records

NASA NTRS1924

The Distribution of Lift Over Wing Tips and Ailerons

This investigation was carried out in the 5-foot wind tunnel of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory for the purpose of obtaining more complete information on the distribution of lift between the ends of wing spars, the stresses in ailerons, and the general subject of airflow near the tip of a wing. It includes one series of tests on four models without ailerons, having square, elliptical, and raked tips respectively, and a second series of positively and negatively raked wings with ailerons adjusted to different settings. The results show that negatively raked tips give a more uniform distribution of air pressure than any of the other three arrangements, because the tip vortex does not disturb the flow at the trailing edge. Aileron loads are found to be less severe on wings with negative application to the calculation of aileron and wing stresses and also to facilitate the proper distribution of load in sand testing. Contour charts show in great detail the complex distribution lift over the wing.

Bacon, David L↗

NASA NTRS1923

Model supports and their effects on the results of wind tunnel tests

The airflow about a model while being tested is often sufficiently affected by the model support to lead to erroneous conclusions unless appropriate corrections are used. In this paper some new material on the subject is presented, together with a review of the airfoil support corrections used in several other laboratories.

Bacon, David L↗

NASA NTRS1922

The "Universal" Adjustable and Reversible Propeller Built by Paragon Engineers, Inc., Baltimore, Md

A device which does for the aircraft what change speed gears do for the automobile is the invention of Spencer Heath. It comprises a system of special blades and a mechanism for varying the pitch of the blades from zero to 360 degrees, while in flight or otherwise.

PROPELLERS - PARAGON (UNIVERSAL) CONTROLLABLE - RE↗

NASA NTRS1922

The "Universal propeller": built by Paragon Engineers, Inc., Baltimore, Md

At the request of the N.A.C.A. the "Universal Propeller" was operated and explained by the inventor, Mr. Spencer Heath, for the purpose of demonstrating the following features of design: 1) Elimination of continuously running gears, collars or bearings in the pitch control mechanism; 2) The use of engine power in place of manual labor in changing blade angle; 3) The absence of any structural limitation to the range of blade angles available and the possibility of limiting the blade travel between any two predetermined extreme positions; 4) Continuous indication on the instrument board of the blade position; 5) Automatic throttling of the engine while the propeller is passing through the position of neutral pitch.

PROPELLERS, CONTROLLABLE - PITCH↗