OCR Text |
Show tipui iraTOR l VISITS SALT LIE; Dr. W. F. Buck Describes Armored Plane Ordered by United States. Dr. W. F. Buck, inventor of the armored, all-steel airplane and of the automatic aerial torpedo, is in Salt Lake and le registered at the Hotel Utah. With Dr. Buck is F. E. Gibson, a banker of Flagler, Colo., who financed the. experiments experi-ments leading to the perfection of both devices and who says he has placed all Ids resources at the disposal of the Inventor. In-ventor. The company organized by the two men is now engaged in manufacturing manufactur-ing at ity factory in Pueblo, Colo., the first armored plane ordered by the United Statin government, according to Dr. ..Buck. "The outstanding features of this invention in-vention are," said Dr. Buck, "the fact that it is all at eel and , non in flammable; it carries an armor belt "that protects the engine, gas tanks and pilot, and it has an entirely nefw type of motor, each cylinder of which carries two pistons instead of one. This engine, which we call the 'Victory' 'Vic-tory' motor to distinguish it from the 'Diberty' motor, works on an entirely new principle. Instead of 'diving" the , crank shaft as other motors do, it 'pulls' on the shaft, while the two-piston principle makes the motor absolutely frictionl ess. In the one-piston motors a great deal of power wastes itself in the friction caused by the fact that when the charge in the cylinder explodes the immovable base of the cy Under receives the shock and causes the entire structure to vibrate. "In the Victory motor there is no immovable im-movable base. The explosion of the charge occurs between the heads of two opposing cylinders, forcing them apart 1 and thus bringing the entire weight of the charge to bear evenly and from both sides of the crank shaft. A ten-horsepower motor, of the Victory type weighs only forty-five pounds and larger motors weigh in proportion. Every part is standardized stand-ardized and every bolt and nut is so placed that it can be got at with a wrench witli ease. , "The machine is built entirely of sheet steel, the bracings being steel trusses instead in-stead of wires. We have no wires whatever what-ever in the construction. We have, by the use' of sheet steel, been able to cut the head resistance at least 25 per cent, as compared with any other type of machine. ma-chine. By a system of longitudinal fins we have, practically overcome 'sideslipping,' 'sideslip-ping,' thus adding 7-5 per cent to the safety of the pilot. "Investigation into the death of Major Raoul Dufbery, American ace. has disclosed dis-closed thM fact that the German plane which brought him down was copied after my first machine. The present model is merely an improvement on my first effort." ef-fort." Dr. Buck, accompanied by Mr. Gibson, will leave this morning for Ogden, after which they will p.-oceed to the coast. |