[p. 2]
AN AEROPLANE-MOTOR CAR
Rene Tampier’s aeroplane-motor car marks a new epoch in the history of aviation
as it attempts to solve important problems which may be summed up as follows:
1° Fog problem.
In case of a fog, the pilot who frequently finds that he has lost his
bearing, cannot descend where he likes; the fastest solution is for him to
try and find a high point, the nearest to his point of landing, which is
not shrouded by fog, and to land there? Up to now, the aeroplane in such
case had to stop there, but now it can get back to its landing point. [p. 3]
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In flight at Buc.
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In Paris, place de l’Etoile.
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[p. 4] 2° Garage problem.
The possibility of leaving the house in an aeroplane, reaching a starting
ground, returning to the said place, bringing the aeroplane back and garaging
it by the side of the motor car, opens new vistas to every one, the cost of
hangar, mechanics, etc. being eliminated.
3° Problem of returning in case of
a breakdown.
The very high cost of labour for dismantling, placing on truck and transporting
the aeroplane in case of a breakdown, is now replaced by the low cost of
returning by road.
4° Problem of starting.
The auxiliary petrol engine makes it possible to start at once the large engine.
It does away with the necessity of employing a mechanic for starting the
propeller; it avoids moreover the use of carbonic acid or compressed air
car buoys or of accumulator batteries difficult to keep charged in a hangar. [p. 5] |
At the
moment of starting from the ground.
[p. 6] 5° Problem of control of the inner parts of the aeroplane.
a) In large aeroplanes, a greater force than that of a man will be useful
for keeping the aeroplane in its direction, and it will be supplied by the
small engine.
b) In the latest aeroplanes, the lighting is supplied by a dynamo driven by
the large engine. The small engine avoids the necessity of using for that
purpose part of that power of the large engine.
c) For operating certain apparatus intended for wireless telegraphy, photography,
etc. propellers controlling the differences of speed of the aeroplane, are
something used which produce resistance to the advance. The auxiliary engine
allows a more mechanical control.
d) In case of control in the air of an aeroplane without a pilot by another,
the small engine will be supply the necessary power.
e) In case of the use of stabilisers of any type, the small engine could be
used for operating them. [p.
7] |
Avenue
des Champs Elysées.
[p. 8] f) The forced feed of the engines could be effected by means of
a turbine driven by the small engine, the power of which will then increased.
When flying at high altitudes, the use of a source of power independent of
that of the engines of the aeroplane, from the point of heating, ventilation,
etc. is of great value.
6° Military problem.
a) The aeroplane-motor car can accompany cavalry or artillery.
This aeroplane with folding wings is more particularly valuable for the navy
when it is desired to carry on board ship aeroplane ready to fly. The starting
of the large engine by an auxiliary petrol engine is a useful on water as
it is on land.
b) Squadron could be formed, capable of moving in case of fog for instance
and changing several times a day the landing point, without it being necessary
to dismantle the apparatus. Their camouflage becomes easy, they can be concealed
in the first line in ruins. [p.
9] |
Before
starting.
[p. 10] c) An ordinary aeroplane of the size of that of Mr. Rene Tampier,
requires several hours for erecting and adjusting it ; a squadron provided
with Tampier machines is ready to fight in less than an hour. Moreover, ten
aeroplanes-motor cars cab be stored where formerly there was room only for
two or three ordinary aeroplanes.
d) The Tampier machine is easier to manage on the road than a lorry ; it runs
faster, it can start on any ploughed ground, provided that the wheels do
not skid ; it can climb any hills. It does with hand labour, tractors, etc.
required in the case of long journeys. Machines of 10 and 15 tons can easily
be moved with an auxiliary engine.
e) In large machines, the manipulation of bombs, torpedoes, etc. can be facilitated
by the use of the auxiliary engine.
f) The controls of machine guns, guns, etc. could depend on the small engine,
and will continue then work even in case of a breakdown of the large engine.
g) Either in the colonies or on long journeys, the starting engine will be
a more reliable means of starting [p.12] the large engine than
any other device. In case of a reconnaissance in uninhabited countries, of
a breakdown or failure of fuel required for supplying the engines which consume
20 gallons per hour, the small engine with 2 gallons will sometimes enable
the lost pilot to find human beings. [p. 11] |
In front
of the Grand Palais.
[p. 12] h) The folding cell has the advantage of not requiring a specialist
for its re-erecting. A squadron without a specialist fitter of cell, could
fly after the wings have been examined by its chief, any want of adjustment
being clearly noticeable when they are folded.
i) A whole new organization of squadron could be provided with Rene Tampier’s
machines: transport of tents, preparation of landing ground, hangars, etc.
are simplified. The chances of destruction are reduced owing to the facility
of movement of the machine, equal to that of a car.
j) The folding Rene Tampier cell, of excellent efficiency, can used with various
bodies, even with different engines forming families of aeroplanes that can
get into a shed or travel on road. [p. 13] |
After
the flight.
[p. 14] Mr. Rene Tampier has utilized on his machine
a 300 H.P. Hispano-Suiza engine provided with the Rene Tampier feed by a
pump in the tank, driven by the engine, bloctube carburetor without a float.
His experience with the feeding of aeroplane engines has enabled him to do
away with the variations due to defective carburetion, and to carry out quickly
his program.
Mr. Rene Tampier has chiefly tried to produce an excellent aeroplane. He calls
an excellent aeroplane that which obeys at once and in an absolute manner
the pilot who must not have to make any effort for keeping his aeroplane in
position, bringing it back to the said position or inclining it.
In spite of the addition of parts which do not exist in other aeroplane, the
Rene Tampier two-seater has its masses very close together; its controls arranged
at the end of the wings or of a light tail, are highly efficacious.
Its load is less than 41 kilogs per square meter; its small tween plane compatible
with the small width of the upper wings, makes it possible to bring the masses
close together in the vertical direction. Its great wings spread of 13 meters
makes it a real storm bird, with long and narrow wings. Mr. Rene Tampier
who has been experimenting [p.16]
for three years, in his work and
in the air, with the same 300HP. Hispano-Suiza engine, provided it with a
slightly larger propeller than that generally utilized on this engine. He
has limited its speed to about 1.600 revolutions, instead of the 1850 which
the 300HP. engine can give. At less than 1000 revolutions the aeroplane without
descending. The throttle open, the machine exceeding 110 miles per hour,
can resist any winds. In running order it weighs 1300 kilogs. [p. 15] |
Place
de l’opéra.
| [p. 16] Mr. Rene Tampier who flies as a passenger with his pilot Meyniel,
can operate, on his right, the starting magneto, on his left, the handles
controlling the small engine, the change speed levers and the brake on the
differential, the lever throwing into gear the large engine. At his feet
are: on the right, the pedal of the brake on the wheels; on the left, the
pedal for declutching the small engine. This engine is in one block with
its clutch and change speed gear; it has 4 cylinders, is water-cooled; its
cooling is ensured by the radiator of the large engine. The clutch is of
multiple disc type. The differential is secured to the landing frame. Shafts
with universal joint drive the wheels which when the aeroplane lands, are
declutched and rotate loose on their spindles. They are provided with brakes. [p. 17] |
Folding
the wings.
[p. 18] The steering, inclined, by hand wheel,
differs from those generally used. The axle is fixed; the adjustable journals
are controlled by the connection bar, sandows forming spring, make it possible
to move them up and down. The moving parts are light. When flying a part
of the steering gear is folded under the body of the aeroplane, the other
one, comprising the wheels, can be dismantled and securely fixed in the machine.
On the ground, the aeroplane is a easily managed as in the air. Having started
from Buc, after two days flight, it passed through Versailles, Boulogne sur
Seine and got into the Grand Palais on the eve of the opening of the aeronautics
exhibition on the 11th November 1921. The day after closing, the aeroplane-motor
car climbed Montmartre, moved about then for two hours in Paris proving that
it could climb any gradients and move in the thickest traffic. Beautifully
sprung, it exceeds 15 miles per hour.
To change from the wing spread of 13 meters in the air, to 2 meters 50 of
the machine on the ground, Mr. Rene Tampier turns each half cell about the
rear mast nearest to the fuselage, after having raised part of the lower
wing, the ailerons intersect each other; the upper wings almost touch each
other. [p. 19] |
On the
great boulevards.
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[p. 20] When the machine which has been running on the ground, is transformed
in order to fly, the steering gear can be simply folded under the fuselage,
without dismantling it; the time required for complete transformation, including
the unfolding of the wings, is then about twenty minutes.
The machine was built in Mr. Rene Tampier’s workshop, 1 , rue de Bellevue,
Boulogne sur Seine; where the following parts were machined on this machine
tools: cylinder, gear cases, differential, landing frames, etc. A work shop
has built for the first time the motor car part and the aeroplane part of
a machine.
The quick getting ready of the machine is due to the fact it is the outcome
of several years of study and of practical work placed at the disposal of
a high conscience which has carried out its idea with devotion and all the
time required.
Mr. Rene Tampier had collaborators of great value, and all their combined
efforts have produced one of the finest works ever realized in aviation. [p. 21]
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At Montmartre,
after having climbed the rue Lepic.
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[p. 22] On the 9th October 1890 a mechanical bird ridden by a man, left
the ground for the first time; it was animated by the genius of the great
Frenchman, Ader. It took possession of the air, then it descended and
stopped. It was then no longer anything but a poor thing made of wood, of
metal and canvas, a body without soul, which was moved with difficulty, whilst
around it jumped about its master : the bird.
At present, this corpse has moved; it vibrates, its heart is heard to beat;
with the wings folded, it advance, turns, goes back…
The mechanical bird is now complete. It now knows how to use its feet.
Etampes
23rd October 1921.[p. 23]
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