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76-618: McCauley Propeller Systems is an American aircraft propeller manufacturer, founded in Dayton, Ohio in 1938 by Ernest G. McCauley . At its peak, it was reportedly the world's largest aircraft propeller manufacturer, or at least the largest manufacturer of general aviation propellers. For most of its existence, McCauley was headquartered in or near Dayton. In the 21st century, its headquarters were moved to then-parent-company Textron Aviation 's headquarters in Wichita, Kansas . Originally called

152-535: A radio -technology research organization, developing and holding numerous patents and employing such radio pioneers as Edward Weston , Lewis M. Hull and Stuart Ballantine . RFL developed technologies, but did not manufacture products. However, when it developed an aviation-radio division, in 1924, the division, ARC, soon outgrew its parent company, with the success of its aviation radios developed and manufactured in Boonton. By 1927, Aircraft Radio Corporation (ARC)

228-492: A September, 1973 letter from parent Cessna, of which the Court notes: The ARC identity issue, though—and the timing of ARC's names—is further confused by this 1978 statement in a judge's memorandum in a lawsuit over Cessna's marketing of its avionics: Other sources, including a Cessna job ad in 1981, also indicate that Cessna, at one time, referred to ARC as "Aircraft Radio and Control - Cessna's avionics division." In 1978,

304-464: A bent aluminium sheet for blades, thus creating an airfoil shape. They were heavily undercambered , and this plus the absence of lengthwise twist made them less efficient than the Wright propellers. Even so, this was perhaps the first use of aluminium in the construction of an airscrew. Originally, a rotating airfoil behind the aircraft, which pushes it, was called a propeller, while one which pulled from

380-473: A childhood fascination with the Chinese flying top, developed a model of feathers, similar to that of Launoy and Bienvenu, but powered by rubber bands. By the end of the century, he had progressed to using sheets of tin for rotor blades and springs for power. His writings on his experiments and models would become influential on future aviation pioneers. William Bland sent designs for his "Atmotic Airship" to

456-479: A considerable time thereafter." Among the company's most notable wartime programs was the development – jointly with the U.S. Army Signal Corps and U.S. Navy – of the SCR-274-N, an exceptionally useful HF voice-communication radio for aircraft, ranging up to frequencies of 20 megacycles – "the only powerful command set... available to American aviators at the beginning of the war" – particularly useful in

532-461: A craft that weighed 3.5 long tons (3.6 t), with a 110 ft (34 m) wingspan that was powered by two 360 hp (270 kW) steam engines driving two propellers. In 1894, his machine was tested with overhead rails to prevent it from rising. The test showed that it had enough lift to take off. One of Pénaud's toys, given as a gift by their father , inspired the Wright brothers to pursue

608-416: A fixed-pitch prop once airborne. The spring-loaded "two-speed" VP prop is set to fine for takeoff, and then triggered to coarse once in cruise, the propeller remaining coarse for the remainder of the flight. After World War I , automatic propellers were developed to maintain an optimum angle of attack. This was done by balancing the centripetal twisting moment on the blades and a set of counterweights against

684-467: A large number of blades. A fan therefore produces a lot of thrust for a given diameter but the closeness of the blades means that each strongly affects the flow around the others. If the flow is supersonic, this interference can be beneficial if the flow can be compressed through a series of shock waves rather than one. By placing the fan within a shaped duct , specific flow patterns can be created depending on flight speed and engine performance. As air enters

760-528: A low- drag wing and as such are poor in operation when at other than their optimum angle of attack . Therefore, most propellers use a variable pitch mechanism to alter the blades' pitch angle as engine speed and aircraft velocity are changed. A further consideration is the number and the shape of the blades used. Increasing the aspect ratio of the blades reduces drag but the amount of thrust produced depends on blade area, so using high-aspect blades can result in an excessive propeller diameter. A further balance

836-527: A new site at Dayton International Airport . By 1982, in addition to propellers, spinners and governors, the company was also producing wheels, brakes, and other accessories for aircraft. In 1986, owing to product-liability lawsuits, Cessna, McCauley's parent company and principal customer, stopped producing propeller-driven aircraft (except for the Cessna Caravan ) and McCauley's sales fell. In February, 1992, McCauley parent company, Cessna Aircraft,

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912-415: A propeller efficiency of about 73.5% at cruise for a Cessna 172 . This is derived from his "Bootstrap approach" for analyzing the performance of light general aviation aircraft using fixed pitch or constant speed propellers. The efficiency of the propeller is influenced by the angle of attack (α). This is defined as α = Φ - θ, where θ is the helix angle (the angle between the resultant relative velocity and

988-453: A propeller suffers when transonic flow first appears on the tips of the blades. As the relative air speed at any section of a propeller is a vector sum of the aircraft speed and the tangential speed due to rotation, the flow over the blade tip will reach transonic speed well before the aircraft does. When the airflow over the tip of the blade reaches its critical speed , drag and torque resistance increase rapidly and shock waves form creating

1064-454: A sharp increase in noise. Aircraft with conventional propellers, therefore, do not usually fly faster than Mach 0.6. There have been propeller aircraft which attained up to the Mach 0.8 range, but the low propeller efficiency at this speed makes such applications rare. The tip of a propeller blade travels faster than the hub. Therefore, it is necessary for the blade to be twisted so as to decrease

1140-583: A small coaxial modeled after the Chinese top but powered by a wound-up spring device and demonstrated it to the Russian Academy of Sciences . It was powered by a spring, and was suggested as a method to lift meteorological instruments. In 1783, Christian de Launoy , and his mechanic , Bienvenu, used a coaxial version of the Chinese top in a model consisting of contrarotating turkey flight feathers as rotor blades, and in 1784, demonstrated it to

1216-417: A spring and the aerodynamic forces on the blade. Automatic props had the advantage of being simple, lightweight, and requiring no external control, but a particular propeller's performance was difficult to match with that of the aircraft's power plant. The most common variable pitch propeller is the constant-speed propeller . This is controlled by a hydraulic constant speed unit (CSU). It automatically adjusts

1292-1143: Is based in Kirkland and Everett , Washington ( Seattle area). However, Aviation Maintenance Magazine lists the company as being based at a street address in Miami Springs, Florida , and the Aircraft Electronics Association also lists it (as a member "since 2001") in Miami Springs, at the same phone number, but as "Aircraft Radio & Avionics LLC," at a post office box. That company says it primarily works in commercial and military aircraft technical services. with capabilities for test, repair, overhaul and calibration of navigation, communications and avionics instruments, as well as "hydraulic, mechanical, electro-mechanical" accessories and components for "commercial... military, corporate and general aviation, [both] fixed and rotary wing aircraft." Its press releases and reports, published in major industry magazines and news sites, indicate

1368-455: Is hydraulic, with engine oil serving as the hydraulic fluid. However, electrically controlled propellers were developed during World War II and saw extensive use on military aircraft, and have recently seen a revival in use on home-built aircraft. Another design is the V-Prop , which is self-powering and self-governing. On most variable-pitch propellers, the blades can be rotated parallel to

1444-479: Is suitable for airliners, but the noise generated is tremendous (see the Antonov An-70 and Tupolev Tu-95 for examples of such a design). Forces acting on the blades of an aircraft propeller include the following. Some of these forces can be arranged to counteract each other, reducing the overall mechanical stresses imposed. The purpose of varying pitch angle is to maintain an optimal angle of attack for

1520-409: Is that using a smaller number of blades reduces interference effects between the blades, but to have sufficient blade area to transmit the available power within a set diameter means a compromise is needed. Increasing the number of blades also decreases the amount of work each blade is required to perform, limiting the local Mach number – a significant performance limit on propellers. The performance of

1596-489: Is used to help slow the aircraft after landing and is particularly advantageous when landing on a wet runway as wheel braking suffers reduced effectiveness. In some cases reverse pitch allows the aircraft to taxi in reverse – this is particularly useful for getting floatplanes out of confined docks. Counter-rotating propellers are sometimes used on twin-engine and multi-engine aircraft with wing-mounted engines. These propellers turn in opposite directions from their counterpart on

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1672-642: The AN/ARC-5 communications radio system, which was a leading suite of Allied airborne electronics equipment during World War II . In the 1940s, ARC radios were everywhere in U.S. military aircraft. Lewis Hull served as ARC President. The 1930s-era Model GF/RU remained valuable throughout World War II. An historical document of the Naval Research Laboratory reported that "very large numbers of these equipments were obtained and utilized before and during World War II, and they were used for

1748-582: The Cessna 172 when defects in McCauley propellers were discovered during production. Though McCauley production continued, Cessna replaced McCauley's general manager and quality manager the next month. Founder Ernest G. McCauley , "a foremost pioneer in the aircraft propeller industry," according to the National Air and Space Museum , held numerous patents on controllable propellers, and was rewarded for

1824-545: The French Academy of Sciences . A dirigible airship was described by Jean Baptiste Marie Meusnier presented in 1783. The drawings depict a 260-foot-long (79 m) streamlined envelope with internal ballonets that could be used for regulating lift. The airship was designed to be driven by three propellers. In 1784 Jean-Pierre Blanchard fitted a hand-powered propeller to a balloon, the first recorded means of propulsion carried aloft. Sir George Cayley , influenced by

1900-578: The McDonnell XF-88B experimental propeller-equipped aircraft. Supersonic tip-speeds are used in some aircraft like the Tupolev Tu-95 , which can reach 575 mph (925 km/h). The earliest references for vertical flight came from China. Since around 400 BC, Chinese children have played with bamboo flying toys . This bamboo-copter is spun by rolling a stick attached to a rotor between one's hands. The spinning creates lift, and

1976-531: The Pacific Theater , and valued at over US$ 2,400 at the time. ARC had delivered 2,700 of an ordered 2800 by December 1941, but the sudden wartime demand for tens of thousands of them forced the government to turn to a major manufacturer – Westinghouse Corporation – for the rest. The military avionics market evaporated after World War II, and ARC found itself outmaneuvered in commercial airline radios by Bendix Corp. and Collins . The postwar collapse of

2052-537: The Rockefeller family buying a controlling interest in ARC, and to their tampering with its independent status. Litton Industries got involved. Stock values fluctuated, burning some. In 1959, ARC was acquired by one of its principal customers, Cessna Aircraft Company , the world's highest-volume airplane manufacturer. Cessna, while retaining the name and quasi-independent status of Aircraft Radio Corporation, rebranded

2128-403: The Tupolev Tu-95 propel it at a speed exceeding the maximum once considered possible for a propeller-driven aircraft using an exceptionally coarse pitch. Early pitch control settings were pilot operated, either with a small number of preset positions or continuously variable. The simplest mechanism is the ground-adjustable propeller , which may be adjusted on the ground, but is effectively

2204-677: The 105,000 sq ft (9,800 m) McCauley factory with one twice the size. Initial hopes were to move the factory from West Dayton (citing thefts and staff harassment), to the Dayton International Airport — or, alternatively, to the Wichita, Kansas area (Cessna's home and prior hometown of McCauley chief Dussault). Dayton city leaders, trying to retain this key employer, struggled to overcome two Kansas advantages: its anti-union " right-to-work laws ", and its legal options for local governments to grant tax breaks to employers. However, McCauley ultimately settled into

2280-463: The ARC had an employee flying club at the company's private airfield adjacent to the factory. At its peak, ARC employed around 3,500 workers. Among the senior personnel during the Cessna years, Floyd Piper served as chief engineer and chief systems engineer. He was followed in the mid 1970s by Paul Gralnick as Chief Engineer with Richard Foster assuming the helm as General Manager. In 1979 Gralnick

2356-462: The Flying Field drew many people from the electronic instruments industry to celebrate the new ARC facility's opening and dedication, including a laboratory in Boonton, and a hangar at the Flying Field. Pioneer aviator Jimmy Doolittle kept his plane at the ARC hangar, and teamed with ARC to accomplish the world's first "blind" landing – landing an airplane solely by reference to instruments,

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2432-535: The Great Exhibition held in London in 1851, where a model was displayed. This was an elongated balloon with a steam engine driving twin propellers suspended underneath. Alphonse Pénaud developed coaxial rotor model helicopter toys in 1870, also powered by rubber bands. In 1872 Dupuy de Lome launched a large navigable balloon, which was driven by a large propeller turned by eight men. Hiram Maxim built

2508-914: The McCauley Aviation Corporation, it was promptly renamed the McCauley Steel Propeller Company when incorporated in 1939. Subsequently, it was renamed the McCauley Industrial Corporation, and, later the McCauley Industrial Division (or the McCauley Industrial Accessory Division) of Cessna Aircraft , who acquired McCauley in 1960. In 1992, Cessna was acquired by Textron Corporation, which subsequently absorbed Cessna into Textron Aviation . In September 1996, McCauley

2584-399: The air in the propeller slipstream. Contra-rotation also increases the ability of a propeller to absorb power from a given engine, without increasing propeller diameter. However the added cost, complexity, weight and noise of the system rarely make it worthwhile and it is only used on high-performance types where ultimate performance is more important than efficiency. A fan is a propeller with

2660-428: The aircraft maintain speed and altitude with the operative engines. Feathering also prevents windmilling , the turning of engine components by the propeller rotation forced by the slipstream; windmilling can damage the engine, start a fire, or cause structural damage to the aircraft. Most feathering systems for reciprocating engines sense a drop in oil pressure and move the blades toward the feather position, and require

2736-405: The airflow to stop rotation of the propeller and reduce drag when the engine fails or is deliberately shut down. This is called feathering , a term borrowed from rowing . On single-engined aircraft, whether a powered glider or turbine-powered aircraft, the effect is to increase the gliding distance. On a multi-engine aircraft, feathering the propeller on an inoperative engine reduces drag, and helps

2812-410: The angle of attack of the blade gradually and therefore produce uniform lift from the hub to the tip. The greatest angle of incidence, or the highest pitch, is at the hub while the smallest angle of incidence or smallest pitch is at the tip. A propeller blade designed with the same angle of incidence throughout its entire length would be inefficient because as airspeed increases in flight, the portion near

2888-505: The aviation industry—including many within its current and former parent companies—have unofficially referred to ARC, by its original name, as a continuing specific entity, regardless of its official names or owners at any point in time. ARC originated in 1924 in Boonton, New Jersey —a rural setting within sight of New York City —as the aircraft radio division of Radio Frequency Laboratories (RFL) , which had started in 1922, in Boonton, as

2964-407: The blade pitch in order to maintain a constant engine speed for any given power control setting. Constant-speed propellers allow the pilot to set a rotational speed according to the need for maximum engine power or maximum efficiency, and a propeller governor acts as a closed-loop controller to vary propeller pitch angle as required to maintain the selected engine speed. In most aircraft this system

3040-440: The blade rotation direction) and Φ is the blade pitch angle. Very small pitch and helix angles give a good performance against resistance but provide little thrust, while larger angles have the opposite effect. The best helix angle is when the blade is acting as a wing producing much more lift than drag. However, 'lift-and-drag' is only one way to express the aerodynamic force on the blades. To explain aircraft and engine performance

3116-403: The blade tips approach the speed of sound. The maximum relative velocity is kept as low as possible by careful control of pitch to allow the blades to have large helix angles. A large number of blades are used to reduce work per blade and so circulation strength. Contra-rotating propellers are used. The propellers designed are more efficient than turbo-fans and their cruising speed (Mach 0.7–0.85)

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3192-552: The company invented the forged aluminum propeller. In 1947, McCauley developed the first all-metal propeller for light aircraft (such as single-engine Cessnas and Piper Cubs ) — a fixed-pitch prop using the trade name "MET-L-PROP." By 1967, in addition to propellers, the company was also producing propeller spinners and propeller governors . It was operating in a 160,000 sq ft (15,000 m) Dayton factory, employing 230 workers, with an annual sales volume of about US$ 5 million. Between 1976 and 1978, Cessna planned replacing

3268-598: The company's products as "Cessna avionics," and the enterprise began a notorious decline in product quality, resulting in high product-failure rates and a terrible reputation in the aviation industry —which ARC nevertheless survived through its key position as the in-house supplier of the "factory standard" avionics for Cessna, world leader in light aircraft. During this time, ARC's "Cessna" avionics line expanded and diversified radically to include most types of avionics for light planes, including NAV , COM , ADF , DME , and Marker beacon radios, and autopilots —mostly at

3344-467: The dream of flight. The twisted airfoil (aerofoil) shape of an aircraft propeller was pioneered by the Wright brothers. While some earlier engineers had attempted to model air propellers on marine propellers , the Wright Brothers realized that a propeller is essentially the same as a wing , and were able to use data from their earlier wind tunnel experiments on wings, introducing a twist along

3420-525: The duct needs to be shaped in a different manner than one for higher speed flight. More air is taken in and the fan therefore operates at an efficiency equivalent to a larger un-ducted propeller. Noise is also reduced by the ducting and should a blade become detached the duct would help contain the damage. However the duct adds weight, cost, complexity and (to a certain degree) drag. Aircraft Radio Corporation Aircraft Radio Corporation ( ARC ) – not to be confused with Aeronautical Radio, Inc. (ARINC) –

3496-575: The duct, its speed is reduced while its pressure and temperature increase. If the aircraft is at a high subsonic speed this creates two advantages: the air enters the fan at a lower Mach speed; and the higher temperature increases the local speed of sound. While there is a loss in efficiency as the fan is drawing on a smaller area of the free stream and so using less air, this is balanced by the ducted fan retaining efficiency at higher speeds where conventional propeller efficiency would be poor. A ducted fan or propeller also has certain benefits at lower speeds but

3572-520: The electronics world: The GF/RU (Army designation SCR-183), a derivative of the civilian Model B, was chosen as America's standard military aircraft radio of the early 1930s. By 1933, ARC-designed radios were being installed in the 1st fighter (aircraft) squadrons of the U.S. Army Air Corps and U.S. Navy . By 1934, the company had its own airfield and airplane (a Berliner parasol monoplane, for experimentation. The ARC-designed Navy ATA/ARA and SCR-274N communications radios were soon followed by

3648-431: The feathering process or the feathering process may be automatic. Accidental feathering is dangerous and can result in an aerodynamic stall ; as seen for example with Yeti Airlines Flight 691 which crashed during approach due to accidental feathering. The propellers on some aircraft can operate with a negative blade pitch angle, and thus reverse the thrust from the propeller. This is known as Beta Pitch. Reverse thrust

3724-458: The first milestone in developing today's all-weather instrument flight . ARC developed the radio-beam and onboard radio receiver navigation equipment essential to the flight, the first radio instrument landing system . The system they developed led to the creation of their "Model B"—an early radio navigation system for the airlines. A history of U.S. Navy radio research and development describes how little ARC beat out competitors far larger in

3800-463: The front was a tractor . Later the term 'pusher' became adopted for the rear-mounted device in contrast to the tractor configuration and both became referred to as 'propellers' or 'airscrews'. The understanding of low speed propeller aerodynamics was fairly complete by the 1920s, but later requirements to handle more power in a smaller diameter have made the problem more complex. Propeller research for National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)

3876-574: The fuselage – clockwise on the left engine and counterclockwise on the right – however, there are exceptions (especially during World War II ) such as the P-38 Lightning which turned "outwards" (counterclockwise on the left engine and clockwise on the right) away from the fuselage from the WW II years, and the Airbus A400 whose inboard and outboard engines turn in opposite directions even on

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3952-414: The hub would have a negative AOA while the blade tip would be stalled. There have been efforts to develop propellers and propfans for aircraft at high subsonic speeds. The 'fix' is similar to that of transonic wing design. Thin blade sections are used and the blades are swept back in a scimitar shape ( scimitar propeller ) in a manner similar to wing sweepback, so as to delay the onset of shockwaves as

4028-400: The length of the blades. This was necessary to maintain a more uniform angle of attack of the blade along its length. Their original propeller blades had an efficiency of about 82%, compared to 90% for a modern (2010) small general aviation propeller, the 3-blade McCauley used on a Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft. Roper quotes 90% for a propeller for a human-powered aircraft. Mahogany was

4104-409: The light plane industry took their last market, and for the first time, ARC was losing money. The Korean War changed that—driving up demand for their military radios, but, again, when the war ended, ARC struggled. The situation was exacerbated by key engineers leaving to start their own enterprises. An engagement with Laurence and David Rockefeller to work on a secret military radar system led to

4180-465: The low end of the quality spectrum. In the mid-1970s, during a period of exceptionally high productivity for Cessna, ARC was entangled in a legal battle with its employee's union, which resulted in a 1975 judgement favoring ARC. During the proceedings, the following findings emerged as public record in the published decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit: (* Note that

4256-418: The original (1972) title of the case named ARC as "Aircraft Radio Corporation – implying a legally distinct entity, while the appeals court decision (1975), under that original case name, repeatedly refers to ARC in the body of the ruling as "Aircraft Radio Company, " implying an identity less certainly distinct from its parent company, Cessna—a fact that changed during the litigation, apparently sometime after

4332-432: The other wing to balance out the torque and p-factor effects. They are sometimes referred to as "handed" propellers since there are left hand and right hand versions of each prop. Generally, the propellers on both engines of most conventional twin-engined aircraft spin clockwise (as viewed from the rear of the aircraft). To eliminate the critical engine problem, counter-rotating propellers usually turn "inwards" towards

4408-804: The outstanding service which he provided to the United States government from 1918 to 1950. However, by the mid-1940s, a large board of directors, recruited by McCauley, voted him out of power. McCauley died in 1969. In 1954, shop superintendent Vernon W. Deinzer was promoted to vice president for manufacturing, and three years later became vice president and general manager. When Cessna acquired McCauley in 1960, Deinzer remained as general manager of Cessna's "McCauley Industrial division." In March, 1967, Cessna re-assigned Deinzer, to vice president and general manager of Cessna's Aircraft Radio division at Boonton, New Jersey , replacing him at McCauley with engineer and executive trainee John C. Dussault, (previously

4484-417: The pilot to pull the propeller control back to disengage the high-pitch stop pins before the engine reaches idle RPM . Turboprop control systems usually use a negative torque sensor in the reduction gearbox, which moves the blades toward feather when the engine is no longer providing power to the propeller. Depending on design, the pilot may have to push a button to override the high-pitch stops and complete

4560-561: The propeller blades, giving maximum efficiency throughout the flight regime. This reduces fuel usage. Only by maximising propeller efficiency at high speeds can the highest possible speed be achieved. Effective angle of attack decreases as airspeed increases, so a coarser pitch is required at high airspeeds. The requirement for pitch variation is shown by the propeller performance during the Schneider Trophy competition in 1931. The Fairey Aviation Company fixed-pitch propeller used

4636-411: The same force is expressed slightly differently in terms of thrust and torque since the required output of the propeller is thrust. Thrust and torque are the basis of the definition for the efficiency of the propeller as shown below. The advance ratio of a propeller is similar to the angle of attack of a wing. A propeller's efficiency is determined by Propellers are similar in aerofoil section to

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4712-410: The same wing. A contra-rotating propeller or contra-prop places two counter-rotating propellers on concentric drive shafts so that one sits immediately 'downstream' of the other propeller. This provides the benefits of counter-rotating propellers for a single powerplant. The forward propeller provides the majority of the thrust, while the rear propeller also recovers energy lost in the swirling motion of

4788-603: The technical services manager for commercial aircraft engineering at Cessna's Wichita, Kansas headquarters). In December, 1982, during the early 1980s recession , Dussault was among seven top McCauley division officials who accepted an early retirement offer from Cessna. He was replaced by McCauley chief engineer Walter Voisard, a mechanical engineer and licensed pilot, who, prior to Cessna's 1960 acquisition of McCauley, had been vice president and chief engineer of McCauley Industrial Corp. for nine years. In January 2000, McCauley vice president and general manager, James W. Simiister,

4864-530: The toy flies when released. The 4th-century AD Daoist book Baopuzi by Ge Hong (抱朴子 "Master who Embraces Simplicity") reportedly describes some of the ideas inherent to rotary wing aircraft. Designs similar to the Chinese helicopter toy appeared in Renaissance paintings and other works. It was not until the early 1480s, when Leonardo da Vinci created a design for a machine that could be described as an "aerial screw" , that any recorded advancement

4940-445: The wood preferred for propellers through World War I , but wartime shortages encouraged use of walnut , oak , cherry and ash . Alberto Santos Dumont was another early pioneer, having designed propellers before the Wright Brothers for his airships . He applied the knowledge he gained from experiences with airships to make a propeller with a steel shaft and aluminium blades for his 14 bis biplane in 1906. Some of his designs used

5016-785: Was Manager of Advanced Development. By 1982, the 110-acre Boonton plant was employing 900, with an estimated US$ 20 million in sales of aircraft and mobile communications systems, and navigation and guidance equipment. In late 1983, Cessna finally sold its avionics subsidiary onto rival avionics maker (and industrial conglomerate) Sperry , who, in turn was acquired by Unisys , then Honeywell, Inc. Sperry decided to relocate ARC to Sperry's Phoenix, Arizona facility, ending 57 years of ARC's avionics development and production in Boonton. The ARC relationship didn't last long. On September 1, 1987, Honeywell handed ARC off to Sigma Tek, Inc. On September 1, 1987, Sigma Tek, Inc. bought Aircraft Radio Corporation (ARC) from Honeywell, Inc. (When general aviation

5092-422: Was a principal pioneer and major manufacturer of avionics for military and commercial aircraft, and later general aviation (light) aircraft, from the 1920s to the 1950s—subsequently acquired and rebranded by a succession of other companies, each of whom changed the official name, of the enterprise, while initially continuing ARC's primary function, staffing, facilities and product focus. Consequently, many in

5168-445: Was a wholly owned subsidiary of Radio Frequency Laboratories, and was spun off as a separate company, producing navigation and communications radios for military, commercial and general aviation. ARC radios were considered mainstream, basic radios in their market segment, and were widely used. An airport was developed to accommodate the needs of the booming enterprise, on 116 acres near town. In early 1929, an engineering conference at

5244-644: Was at its most prosperous in the 1970s, ARC had been, by far, Sigma Tek's largest customer.) Through ARC, Sigma Tek now services and supports nearly all of the avionics and flight control systems for Cessna Aircraft. ARC Avionics Corporation claims to be "successor to Aircraft Radio Corporation." Apparent press releases published in Aerospace and Defense Technology and in Avionics magazine describes it as "a wholly-owned business unit" owned by AirSpeed Engineering (ASE). The ARC Avionics Corp. website indicates it

5320-616: Was directed by William F. Durand from 1916. Parameters measured included propeller efficiency, thrust developed, and power absorbed. While a propeller may be tested in a wind tunnel , its performance in free-flight might differ. At the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory , E. P. Leslie used Vought VE-7s with Wright E-4 engines for data on free-flight, while Durand used reduced size, with similar shape, for wind tunnel data. Their results were published in 1926 as NACA report #220. Lowry quotes

5396-506: Was made towards vertical flight. His notes suggested that he built small flying models, but there were no indications for any provision to stop the rotor from making the craft rotate. As scientific knowledge increased and became more accepted, man continued to pursue the idea of vertical flight. Many of these later models and machines would more closely resemble the ancient bamboo flying top with spinning wings, rather than Leonardo's screw. In July 1754, Russian Mikhail Lomonosov had developed

5472-447: Was partially stalled on take-off and up to 160 mph (260 km/h) on its way up to a top speed of 407.5 mph (655.8 km/h). The very wide speed range was achieved because some of the usual requirements for aircraft performance did not apply. There was no compromise on top-speed efficiency, the take-off distance was not restricted to available runway length and there was no climb requirement. The variable pitch blades used on

5548-473: Was renamed "McCauley Propeller Systems." The company began in 1928 in a small shop on Howell Street, in West Dayton, Ohio, with about 18 workers. During the 1930s and 1940s, McCauley produced wooden propellers. The company is noted for having invented the ground-adjustable, solid-steel propeller in 1941. During World War II , McCauley manufactured 20,000 ground-adjustable solid-steel propellers. In 1946,

5624-442: Was replaced by Virgil Davis as Chief Engineer. By 1980, a rejuvenated Quality Control organization led by Paul Weeks and new engineering Managers were hard at work enhancing the tarnished quality image that ARC had prior to that time. Engineering Departments were led in 1980 by Kermit Beseke - Radios, Bob Fuller - Navigation Products, Alan Metzger - Autopilots, and Ed Burt - Elecrtromechanical Displays. In November, 1981, John Ferrara

5700-631: Was replaced, along with McCauley's quality manager, when defects were discovered in McCauley propellers received at the Cessna aircraft factory. Cessna's director of operations administration, Keith Kerschen, took control of McCauley, pending a permanent replacement. Propeller (aeronautics) The propeller attaches to the power source's driveshaft either directly or through reduction gearing . Propellers can be made from wood, metal or composite materials . Propellers are most suitable for use at subsonic airspeeds generally below about 480 mph (770 km/h), although supersonic speeds were achieved in

5776-802: Was sold by its parent company, General Dynamics , to Textron, Inc. In August, 1993, Textron, Cessna's new parent company, announced plans to sell the McCauley Accessory division. However, ultimately, the company remained within the Cessna/Textron family. In 1996, after Congress passed, and President Clinton signed, the General Aviation Revitalization Act , which limited aircraft manufacturers' product liability, Cessna resumed production of propeller-driven aircraft, using McCauley propellers, boosting McCauley sales. In December 1999, Cessna halted production of

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