Here you go, Glenn
Steam engines and flying
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw6NFmcnW-8&feature=player_embedded
I suppose inverted flight might be a problem ;D
good question Don
Very cool and a reversible engine for those short landings.
I noticed that was a compound steam engine having a large secondary expansion cylinder and a small primary expansion cylinder. The same steam works twice as it is exhausted from the primary into the secondary expansion cylinder.
Looks like a condensor too so they wouldn't have to carry extra water
I was wondering about that though I thought I saw steam spewing out the side. It would make sense to reuse it though and should be plenty of air for cooling the condenser.
I started to research it a bit today but ran out of time.
Good article. Tells lots of the details.
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/11/03/worlds-first-steam-driven-airplane/
Seems like I'm asking this a lot, but.. Why were ideas like this abandoned? I mean, I can see that freezing water and waiting for pressure buildup would be disadvantages at times, but it seems like there's still a place for them..
Technology improvements over the years sometimes take a different path leaving good ideas sitting alone by themselves. Sometimes it is a massive advance in a different technology. Sometimes it is an idea that is intentionally destroyed by big business who will buy out interfering patents and shut them down or kill the inventor if he refuses to cooperate.
Another thing is marketing. You can invent great things or have a great product that is similar to others but if you can't get people to buy it, then there is no money for continued manufacturing or research.
A dirtier way of making things successful is politics. A family or special interest group gets a group of politicians in their pockets, gets a war started, needs machines such as airplanes, guns and bombs, sets up a need for their product such as making the public think the latest bogeyman has threatened us, steers the war so it will need more product, introduces and votes on legislation to buy the product from their masters. That product will prevail over other good or maybe not as good products. Success is much more assured when your company has bought enough of the right insiders. Tax money and bodies to use the war machines are supplied by the lower and middle class who have been led to believe there is a threat by massive news media psyops so are managed by fear. That is called manufacturing consent. After that is approved by the people or at least they don't disprove loudly, the government runs the war as the industrial complex scoops up the tax money. That is of course, the bigger picture.
One thing I read about this one was that at the time the steam engine did not lend itself to going to a greater horsepower (probably to weight ratio) easily.
Small ideas can continue and become successful if they find a niche market to support sales and warrant continued manufacturing or expanded improvement of them. The market is still a requirement for success.
Part of the law of supply and demand.
Good article Glenn
They were talking about a 400 mile range for the plane
that was actually pretty good back then, the Stearman's (very close to the Travel Air) max range was about 300 miles
with modern high pressure boilers and light weight alloys for the engine and a cleaned up airframe it might still be a viable airplane
Of course this was in the start of the First Great depression too -- not a big market for airplanes of any kind until WWII started
They were using 10 gallons of water and condensing 90% of it for that range. I guess upping the water would require upping the oil - slower speed - more weight.
Possibly not enough oil burned to miles flown to generate big company interest. I'm not sure how that would work out and not so much indication that was a factor. Other technologies - I/C engines and turbines did get the interest and backing.