From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Visit to the Eclipse Aviation Division of Bendix, discussing generators, starters, and accessory drives.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 27\3\ Scan226 | |
| Date | 15th May 1939 guessed | |
| 20. of pick up points and bulkhead would be of great value. Accessories A visit was paid to the new plant of the Eclipse Aviation Division of the Bendix Corporation, which is situated at Bendix, New Jersey. The plant itself is upto date in layout, but much of the machinery is old. The Pioneer Instrument Company is housed in the same building, and instruments are assembled in air-controlled shops with translucent brick walls. Eclipse have a new 1500 watt generator weighing only 34 lbs. and if American practice had been to run it at our speeds instead of over the range 2600-4500 RPM the weight could be reduced still further. As it is, there is a trend towards higher generator speeds. The armature shaft is now being balanced dynamically on a Gisholt Dynectric machine, as are the rotors of starter motors. The views of Eclipse on the starter question have been given separately, but a point which may be mentioned here is the drive which has been developed for the hydromatic airscrew booster pump taken off the hand turning attachment of the E.160 starter. Motor and cable weight are thus saved, but the disadvantage is that hand turning cannot be employed. There is a definite feeling that more power will be required in the near future for ancillary services, but no clear idea exsists as to the form which this will take. It was pleasing to find, however, that there was a strong feeling on the part of the Eclipse engineers that the solution probably lies along the lines indicated in the Chaplin-Nixon Paper, and that not only had the Navy placed an order on Eclipse for the development of a constant speed 5 KW generator driven directly from the engine, but that Eclipse themselves were concentrating on the problem of a constant speed hydraulic drive. Modern American engines are provided - at Army and Navy insistence - with a so-called 'accessory drive', which must be capable of transmitting 60 HP. No one was clear as to | ||