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'AKY 24, 1 9 3 8

11

SUPPLEMENT TO

FLIGHT

THE AIRCRAFT ENGINEER

mtal blades used in variable-pitch airscrews, be they made of duralumin or magnesium, are comparatively heavy. The long cylindrical blade root is of considerable volume, and lightening by boring out cannot be carried beyond certain limits. Hollow metal airscrews, using sheet steel joined by welding, have been tried, and for the first few hours gave good results. It was, however, found that eventually fatigue cracks developed, and no amount of redesigning seemed capable of curing the trouble. Dr. H. C. Watts, now technical director of the Airscrew Co., Ltd., was formerly connected with the Leitner-Watts Airscrew Co., which did a lot of development work on the welded sheet steel type of airscrew, and in the end he had to admit that he was defeated, as far as that particular line of development was concerned. This question of fatigue cracks is still of importance. For several years now there have been no cases of variablepitch airscrews breaking their blades owing to this trouble, but extremely careful manufacture, and inspection both during manufacture and in service afterwards, are necessary to avoid the trouble. Wood is a very good absorber of vibrations, and so on this score as well as on the score of weight the wooden blade has something to recommend it.

Saving Weight
How much weight can be saved will depend partly upon the extent to which the mechanical properties of wood can be improved by compression and impregnation and partly on the power of the engine. The more powerful the engine the greater, proportionally, will be the weight saving. For engines in use at present the weight of the wooden blades may be some 65 per cent, of the weight of the corresponding metal blade. Engines of 2,000 b.h.p. are now visualised as possibilities of the immediate future, and Dr. Watts estimates that for such powerful engines the variable-pitch airscrew with wooden blades might be made for approximately one half the weight. It is only necessary to realise that on a Short Empire boat, for example, the weight saving might amount possibly to 200 lb. per engine to see the effect on performance and pay load of introducing wooden blades. Such woods as beech and birch weigh about 44 lb./cu. ft. These woods, treated by the Samsonov process of compression and impregnation, have their density increased to 85 lb./cu. ft., and this does not necessarily represent the optimum. At the same time the mechanical properties have been vastly improved. For instance, a tensile strength of 40,000 Ib./sq. in. is an average figure. The strength in compression (end grain) is 25,000 lb./sq. in., and the shear along the grain 6,000 lb./sq. in. In connection with these figures it should be pointed out that the advantage of light wood blades and compressed wood blade roots is cumulative. The compressed wood is in itself much stronger than the natural, and the use of

Two of the blades of a three-bladed airscrew, with their hub. On the right may be seen the threaded blade root and its metal sleeve. natural wood for the outer two-thirds or so of the blade reduces centrifugal loads very materially. Thus not only is the wooden blade lighter than the metal blade, but the fact that its centre of gravity is situated closer to the hub means that the stresses in the iatter are reduced, and the metal hub itself can be made slightly lighter. At Weybridge the plant necessary for the manufacture of detachable wooden blades for variable-pitch airscrews has now been installed and blades for any engine can be produced.

Impregnated and compressed. On the left is a piece of the natural beechwood ; on the right, the same wood after impregnation and compression. Below, an " edgeon '' view of the compressed laminations. A piece of wood of the original thick-