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42-570: In response to a 1945 Army request for an advanced jet fighter, Lockheed proposed a jet powered initially by a Lockheed L-1000 axial flow turbojet, and then the General Electric J35 . Further design refinements included using two Westinghouse J34 engines with afterburners. After data showed that a delta planform would not be suitable, the Lockheed Model 90 was built in 1947 as a mock-up. The final design embodied much of

84-526: A Stanley Steamer boiler. Waltham was near to the Stanley works and its factory at Watertown nearby. Abner attempted to interest the Stanley twins in his condensing boiler. However, Francis would not hire Doble because he didn't trust him. Although recognized as a steam genius, Abner was considered by some as arrogant and conceited and often told people he was a genius and therefore privileged to act so. Abner and his brother John formed their own company,

126-458: A centrifugal compressor that fed air to a combustion chamber, which in turn fed steam into a turbine before exiting through a nozzle, powering the compressor and a propeller. The engine was fitted to a test aircraft in early 1934, where it demonstrated performance on par with existing piston engines except for difficulty maintaining power at higher altitudes due to the compressor. Work on the design ended in 1936 after Doble found little interest in

168-540: A Doble Model H was installed in a Yellow Coach for General Motors. This was followed by another Model F in a Fageol bus. He went to New Zealand in March 1930 where he worked under a 3-year contract for A & G Price Limited at Thames on the development of a steam engine for buses. One was installed on an AEC chassis for the Auckland Transport Board to trial. The intention was that should

210-416: A much simpler design consisting of two sixteen-stage axial compressors with a single stage of intercooling between them. The first four stages of the frontmost compressor remained clutched to allow them to operate at optimum speed. For testing purposes the compressor blades had no airfoil shaping and were attached to the central hub on rotating mounts to allow their angles to be changed between runs. The turbine

252-953: A new high-speed design after running into various compressibility problems at high speed with the P-38 and the jet engine seemed like a natural fit in this project. During 1941 he ordered the development of a new aircraft to be powered by Price's engine, developing the engine as the L-1000 and the aircraft as the Lockheed L-133 . Later that year the Tizard Mission arrived in the US and presented many technological advances being worked on in England, including information on Frank Whittle 's jet engine designs. Rumors of similar work in Germany and

294-404: A sea level thrust of 5,100 lbf (22700 N). By November 1942 the design had been further refined, with the weight settling at 1,610 lb (735 kg) and the combustion area using chrome-steels. The Army remained uninterested and Lockheed apparently started getting cold feet. Nevertheless, on 19 May 1943 Price agreed to start a more radical redesign at the urging of Wright Field. He produced

336-437: A well-constructed, sturdy airframe. These innovations resulted in an aircraft with an empty weight more than 50% heavier than its competitors. The first XF-90 used non-afterburning J34s, but these lacked the thrust for takeoff as rocket-assisted RATO were required for most of the first flights unless it carried a very low fuel load. The second (XF-90A) had afterburners installed which had been tested on an F-80 testbed. Even so,

378-514: The B-52 Stratofortress , before that design moved to jet power. The J37 and T35 were built to the extent of a number of testbed examples but never entered production. In 1930, Nathan C. Price joined Doble Steam Motors , a manufacturer of steam engines for cars and other uses. Over the next few years he worked on a number of projects and starting in autumn 1933 began working on a steam turbine for aircraft use. The engine featured

420-553: The California Gold Rush . The company became famous manufacturing Abner Doble's water wheel turbines for mining applications. The company expanded to make drays and street cars for San Francisco, as well as being involved in operating a local railroad company. In about 1892, Doble's grandfather formed the Abner Doble Company, assigning his interests to his sons Robert and William (Abner's father) and

462-676: The General Electric J31 powering the P-59 Airacomet . On 30 March 1942, Lockheed submitted proposals for the L-133 and L-1000 to the US Army Air Force 's development division at Wilbur Wright Field . By this point the original design proved too complex and had evolved into a new design replacing the pistons with a set of three centrifugal stages, with intercooling between each of the stages. The main combustor

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504-697: The Nevada Test Site in 1952. The XF-90 lived on as the jet fighter aircraft flown by the popular Blackhawks Squadron in the comic book series of the same name, first published by Quality Comics and later by DC Comics . The Blackhawks flew fictional "B" and later "C" models all through the 1950s until 1964. Both were improved, single engine production variants of the original twin-engine Lockheed XF-90. General characteristics Performance Armament Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Lockheed J37 The Lockheed J37 (company designation L-1000 )

546-607: The Westinghouse J30 , of which some 260 examples were made for the earliest American military jets for the U.S. Navy, and for the first American delta-wing fighter design, the Convair XF-92 . The first engine was finally ready for operation in 1946. The Army contracted for another four examples. Around this time a turboprop version was proposed, the XT35 Typhoon . This was a fairly simple adaptation of

588-457: The 1930s Henschel & Sohn buses and trucks, powered by Doble designed steam engines, were operated. Abner Doble left England in 1936. Also during this time he acted as a consultant to Borsig Lokomotiv-Werke of Berlin. Doble was hired as the chief engineer for a new bus powerplant for a revived Stanley Steam Motors Corporation in Chicago . In the middle of the project after the powerplant

630-606: The Abner Doble Motor Vehicle Company, in 1914. Their father provided financial support for the venture. The first car was the Model A. Up to five cars were thought to be made. Four were sold and one was kept for development. The cars were of good quality and appeared to have a good market. In 1915, Doble drove his Model B, a revamped version of the Model A from Massachusetts to Detroit to seek investors. He managed to obtain $ 200,000, which he used to open

672-619: The Doble brothers went on to build a second and third prototype in the following years. In 1909 Abner graduated from high school and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . He dropped out after less than a year of studies, and with his brother, began to design his own steam car. By 1912 they had built their first car in Waltham, Massachusetts . The car was based on an American Underslung chassis, their own engine and

714-652: The General Engineering Company folded. When John Doble died of lymphatic cancer in 1921 the surviving brothers reunited in Emeryville, California . They set up a company under the name of Doble Steam Motors . In 1924 the State of California learned that Doble had helped to sell stock illegally in a desperate bid to raise money for the company, and though Doble was eventually acquitted in April 1928,

756-676: The General Engineering Company with C L Lewis. In January 1917, Doble's new car, the Doble-Detroit , caused a sensation at the National Automobile Show in New York. Over 5,000 deposits were received for the car, with deliveries scheduled to begin in early 1918. The Dobles had not entirely worked out various design and manufacturing issues, and although the car received good notices and over 10,000 orders, about 11 were built. Doble blamed his company's production failure on

798-524: The J37, adding a fifth turbine stage at the rear of the engine, containing a radial turbine that drove the pusher propeller and exited the exhaust around the outer rim of the engine. An alternate arrangement would send the exhaust through an opening in the propeller boss. In September 1947 Lockheed finally threw in the towel and sold the design to Wright Aeronautical . At the time the Army (soon to be US Air Force )

840-579: The US. With the demise of their company, Abner and Warren went on to work as consultants for other engineering companies globally. During the 1920s and 1930s engines were developed for steam buses . The first were tested in 1926 by International Harvester , using a Doble Model G engine, and the Detroit Motorbus Co, in a double decker, with a Doble Model H engine. A second Detroit bus had a Doble steam engine added in 1927 and at least one of them covered some 32,000 miles (51,000 km). In 1929

882-495: The aircraft remained underpowered. The XF-90 was the first USAF jet with an afterburner and the first Lockheed jet to fly supersonic, albeit in a dive. It also incorporated an unusual vertical stabilizer that could be moved fore and aft for horizontal stabilizer adjustment. Partly because Lockheed's design proved underpowered, it placed second to McDonnell's XF-88 Voodoo which won the production contract in September 1950, before

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924-622: The company failed during the ensuing legal struggle. Fewer than thirty of the Model E steam cars were produced before the company went out of business in April 1931, the F cars coming under Besler ownership. The total being reported variously as 24, 42, and 43. Doble himself owned E-24 from 1925 to 1936 as his own experimental car. He took it with him when on consulting work in New Zealand and England. He sold it in England to Mortimer Harman Lewis (editor of The Engineering and Boiler House Review ) of Hyde Park, London , just before he departed for

966-427: The company merged with arch-competitor and William stayed on. Doble apprenticed at his family's factory at the age of eight. Between 1906 and 1909, while attending high school, Ab and brothers John, Warren, and Bill built their first steam car in their parents' basement. It was composed of parts taken from a wrecked White steamer but reconfigured to be driven by an engine of their own design. Though it did not run well,

1008-427: The design from aircraft manufacturers or the Army. Price started work on his own turbojet design in 1938, although this initial design was far more complex than what eventually emerged as the J37. In an effort to keep the fuel efficiency of the engine similar to existing piston engine, Price used a combination of low-compression axial compressor stages feeding a high-compression reciprocating compressor . In 1941 he

1050-415: The experience and shared the intake and low-wing layout of the previous P-80 Shooting Star , but with 35° swept-back wings , a sharply-pointed nose, and two Westinghouse J34-WE-11 axial-flow turbojet engines, providing a total thrust of 6,200 lbf (27.6 kN), mounted side-by-side in the rear fuselage and fed by side-mounted air intakes. The wings had leading edge slats, Fowler flaps, and ailerons on

1092-643: The introduction of the swept wing , allowed the bomber to move to jet power, eventually leading to the B-52 Stratofortress . Work on the J37/T35 continued until July 1953, by which point three engines had been delivered to the USAF. The Air Force turned over the engines and all collected data to the industry as a whole. No further interest was forthcoming and the project ended after an estimated $ 4.5 million (~30 million year 2000 dollars) had been spent. Abner Doble Abner Doble (March 26, 1890 – July 16, 1961)

1134-630: The inventor of the Doble water wheel . Doble's forebears had migrated from England to the US in the mid-1700s. William's father Abner was born in Indiana . He had been a sailor, a smith, and a lumberman, who became a journeyman blacksmith and subsequently became a partner in Nelson and Doble. The company became one of the biggest manufacturers of miner's and blacksmith's tools on the US Pacific coast during

1176-563: The penetration fighter project was abandoned altogether. Upon Lockheed losing the production contract, the two prototypes were retired to other testing roles. The first aircraft ( 46-687 ) was shipped to the NACA Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio in 1953 for structural tests. It was no longer flyable, and its extremely strong airframe was tested to destruction. The other ( 46-688 ) survived three atomic blasts at Frenchman Flat within

1218-487: The steel shortages caused by World War I, but the Doble Detroit was mechanically unsatisfactory. Doble also announced at the New York show that he was working on a steam engine for aeroplanes . The Doble brothers were divided by Doble's insistence on taking credit for the company's technical achievements, and John Doble ended up suing Doble for patent infringement , whereupon Doble left Detroit for California and

1260-620: The top of the engine outside of the compressor casings. In June 1943 the Army eventually demonstrated their interest in a Lockheed jet design but contracted for the P-80 Shooting Star , to be powered by a licensed version of the centrifugal-flow Halford H.1 . They remained interested in the L-1000 as well and sent out a long-term development contract under the name XJ37-1 in July 1943 with the first delivery on 1 August 1945. However, when

1302-420: The trailing edge. The pressurized cockpit was fitted with an ejection seat and a bubble canopy. Proposed armament was six 20  mm (.79 in) cannons. The internal fuel was supplemented by wingtip-mounted tanks, bringing total fuel capacity to 1,665 gal (6,308 L). The use of 75ST aluminum rather than the then-standard 24ST aluminum alloy, along with heavy forgings and machined parts, resulted in

Lockheed XF-90 - Misplaced Pages Continue

1344-772: The trial be successful more would be constructed. By 1932 the first had covered more than 20,000 miles (32,000 km) and a second was ordered by a private company, White and Sons, for their Auckland to Thames Service. In January 1932 Doble left New Zealand and went via San Francisco to England. There he was loaned by Prices as a consultant to the Sentinel Waggon Works of Shrewsbury , working on steam lorries and locomotives. Several shunting locomotives (switchers) and an undetermined number of railcars were fitted with Doble/Sentinel machinery for sale to customers in Britain, France, Peru , and Paraguay . In Germany, during

1386-535: The war ended the first example was only about two thirds complete. Some of the work had been contracted out to Menasco Motors Company and at the end of the year the entire mechanical side of the project was turned over to them. The XJ37 was being worked on at the same time as competing Westinghouse axial-flow designs undergoing development, the 19A and 19B , were being test-run through the 1943-45 period, resulting in America's first production axial-flow turbojet engine,

1428-582: The well-publicized flights in Italy suggested that practically everyone but the US was working on jets and getting a design of their own suddenly took on the utmost importance. Vannevar Bush , Tizard's counterpart in the US, decided the best course of action was to simply license the British designs. A committee under the direction of William F. Durand was set up to put the British designs into production and build an aircraft to test them. These projects emerged as

1470-401: Was a "canular" type with twelve flame cans in an annular container, feeding their exhaust to a five-stage axial turbine. For additional thrust, fuel could be sprayed between the turbine stages. To fine-tune performance at different altitudes, the compressor and turbine stages were coupled using a variable-speed hydraulic clutch . The design called for a weight of 1,700 lb (775 kg) and

1512-580: Was actually built, Doble left to some annoyance. Doble then did engine designs for Cleaver-Brooks, Nordberg (1946-1948), and Greyhound . After this he retired to Santa Rosa, California , where he sold Electrolux vacuum cleaners to pay his living expenses. Doble's consultancy also included in the development of the Paxton Phoenix car, for the Paxton Engineering Division of McCulloch Motors Corporation, Los Angeles. The project

1554-473: Was an American mechanical engineer who built and sold steam-powered automobiles as Doble Steam Cars . His steam engine design was used in various automobiles from the early 1900s, including a 1969 General Motors prototype and the first successful steam-powered aeroplane. Doble was born on March 26, 1890, in San Francisco , one of four brothers. His father was William Ashton Doble , son of

1596-551: Was for a low-weight car built around a unique "torque box" chassis similar to an aeronautical wing section. The project was eventually dropped in 1954. He did work on a design for a steam car for Alex Moulton of England, but it was never built. He was a consultant on the Keen steam car in 1957 and a monotube boiler for Charles W Tadlock of St Louis in 1957. For the remainder of his life, he maintained that steam-powered automobiles were at least equal to gasoline cars, if not superior. He

1638-469: Was hired by Lockheed to evaluate the General Electric superchargers being fit to the experimental XP-49 , a high-altitude version of their famous P-38 . By this time Price had the basic design of his jet completed and was able to attract the interest of Lockheed's Chief Research Engineer, Kelly Johnson , who would later found the company's famous Skunk Works . Johnson had been thinking about

1680-460: Was in the process of developing a new truly intercontinental bomber. Given engine and airframe technology at that time it appeared that the only way to build such an aircraft would be to use turboprops and Wright was interested in capturing that market. In June 1946 Boeing proposed their Model 462 to fill the requirement, featuring six T35 engines, later reduced to four in a series of redesigns. However, by 1948 advances in airframe design, particularly

1722-591: Was one of the first turbojet engines designed in the United States . It was not considered very important when its development was first begun in the 1930s, and it was allowed to languish. By the time it was developed enough for production use, other engines, some British-derived, had surpassed it in performance. The design was later converted to a turboprop , the T35 and still later sold to Wright Aeronautical , where it saw some interest for use on what would become

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1764-400: Was reduced to four stages. The low-pressure compressor was encased in a two-part cylindrical casing with stiffening ribs, which gave it an odd appearance similar to the bottom of an egg carton . The shorter high-pressure compressor was similarly encased but with ribs running front-to-back only. Power was taken off between the two compressor stages to power accessories, with the gearbox placed on

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