REVIEW OF BOOKS ON SUBJECTS OF PROFESSIONAL INTEREST
"Naval Machinery." Third Edition. By H. C. Dinger, Commander, U. S. Navy. Price, $3.00. (New York: D. Van Nostrand Company.)
This is the third edition of the "Handbook for the Care and Operation of Naval Machinery," the first edition being published in 1908. This handbook was written "to fill a demand for a concise and simple description of the care and operation of naval machinery on many points not largely touched upon in the standard treatises on Marine Engineering."
In this latest edition new chapters have been added covering burning of fuel oil, warming up of turbines, tolerances, cylinder and piston bore clearances, lubrication, Bureau of Steam Engineering, Mange Tables, and electric steering gears. The chapters on inspections, clothing and lagging, feed heating, evaporators, piping, valves, cleaning and painting, work shop machinery, tools and spare parts, and tests of machinery and piping have been revised to bring them in accordance with the latest practice.
The description of each piece of naval machinery is concise and more thorough than that given in standard text books.
The special value of this handbook lies in what may be called "Wrinkles of operation and management." These "Wrinkles" cover concise and minute details of the care and operation and repair of naval machinery, details which are not found in ordinary text books. These details have been gleaned from all sources and cover latest practice. The subject of feed water heating is covered thoroughly, as are many other subjects, such as operation of evaporators, etc. Tables showing tolerances for boring bearings, standard valves and flanges are valuable additions to the first edition of this handbook. F. W. M.
?
"Signaling in the U. S. Navy and Merchant Marine." Price, 25 cents. (Boston: Army and Navy Signal Publishers.)
A small, handy pamphlet, in which the various methods of signaling afloat are treated in a concise and easily understood manner. The text first takes up International Flag Signals and illustrates the method of making various hoists in this code. International fog signals, distress signals, and flag waving signals are treated in the same section. The second part takes up U. S. Navy Signal Methods and covers about the same ground as the signaling instructions in the Deck and Boat Book. Sketches are freely used to illustrate the various flag hoists, and the accompanying explanations are clearly worded, though perhaps not so precise as the official instructions on the subject. In the section devoted to call flags the publishers have been unable to describe the most recent practices on account of their supposedly confidential nature. Wig-wag, blinker and semaphore are treated, as well as a "U. S. Navy Bugle Code," which, the publishers state, has been accepted by the U. S. Government, but appears to be of doubtful utility.
The booklet is accompanied by a revolving signal chart, which should be of considerable use to a beginner in enabling him to fix the various flags and characters in his mind. The card carries two concealed discs by which the alphabet flags, call flags, call pennants and characters of the semaphore code may be displayed in windows in the card proper. These flags and characters are repeated on the fixed part of the card, thus enabling a student to identify any one which he is unable to recognize on sight. It is somewhat to be regretted that the special flags used with the navy code were not incorporated with the alphabet flags, also that the characters of the dot and dash code were not included on the margin of one of the discs. With these improvements the card would cover all the signaling methods in general use.
Notwithstanding these omissions, candidates for the signal bridge, and in fact all who are interested in signaling, but who have not the opportunity for daily practice at actually reading all classes of signals, will find this card and the accompanying instructions a valuable aid. W. C. J. S.
?
"The A-B-C of Aviation." By Victor W. Page. Price, $2.50 net. (Published by The Norman W. Henley Publishing Co., New York.)
The following quotation from the title page of this book gives a general idea of its scope: "A complete, practical treatise, outlining clearly the elements of aeronautical engineering with special reference to simplified explanations of the theory of flight, aerodynamics and basic principles underlying the action of balloons and airplanes of all types. A nontechnical manual for all students of aircraft. This book includes instructions for lining up and inspecting typical airplanes before flight, and also gives easily understood rules for flying."
In my opinion the book is all that is claimed for it, and should prove most valuable to pilots and mechanics. It is couched in the simplest possible language and yet is far from elementary; indeed, some of the subject matter is covered in a more thorough manner than in any similar work I have read.
The book consists of twelve chapters. The first three are very general: Chapter I dealing with elementary principles of aeronautics, Chapter II describing Lighter-Than-Air Craft, and Chapter III giving a historical sketch of the advance of the art of flying from Henson (1843) to the Wrights (1903). The design of wings is discussed in the succeeding chapter and typical aerofoil sections are illustrated.
Chapter V is devoted to the arrangement, construction and bracing of wings. The effect of gap is treated and the point is made that in the customary biplane arrangement where the gap/chord ratio is about the efficiency is but 80 per cent of a monoplane of the same wing area and aerofoil section. Stagger has very slight effect on efficiency.
In regard to wing plan it is stated that the most efficient type is the raked form in which the trailing edge has greater span than the leading edge. Lest the reader may wonder that this type (first used on the famous Morane-Saulnier monoplane) is not adopted as standard, it should be stated that the rear outboard portions of the wings are subject to serious stresses.
Chapter VI deals with the design and construction of the fuselage and landing gear and also gives lists, descriptions and strength-tables of all the principal woods and metals used in aeroplanes. This is one of the most interesting and valuable portions of the book.
In the following chapter is a very incomplete discussion of aeroplane power plants. This subject has been well covered in the author's "Aviation Engines," recently published.
In contrast to the incompleteness of the subject-matter on engines is the chapter on the design and construction of the airscrew. Special stress is laid upon the mathematical consideration of propeller pitch. The various processes of propeller manufacture, not omitting the balancing and checking for pitch, are very fully explained.
Chapter IX deals with the factors regulating equilibrium and stability and describes the two systems of control—the Deperdussin and the stick— now in use. Some very suggestive notes on piloting are included in this chapter.
Chapter X is practically a reprint of the assembly instructions issued by the Curtiss Company for the JN-4 training machines. For some obscure reason a description of the Sopwith triplane is appended.
In Chapter XI are given some valuable notes on inspecting the parts of an aeroplane before flight. Stress is laid upon the great importance of the pilot verifying the good condition of all vital parts himself and not trusting anybody's opinion on this. Inspection of these parts should always be made in a certain sequence so that none will be omitted.
The final chapter consists of a vocabulary copied from that issued by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. In this list a number of words originally borrowed from the French, but sanctioned by long usage are replaced by substitutes. Thus, "longeron" is discarded for "longitudinal," "fuselage" and "nacelle" for "body," and "empennage" for "tail." Strange to say, however, "balancing flap" is not preferred to "aileron." Personally, I believe there is good reason for retaining most of the French terms in use, as they are generally more descriptive than our would-be equivalents.
Other changes that I should suggest are the substitution of "span" for "spread" (the maximum distance from tip to tip of the wing), and the division of "seaplane" into "float seaplane" and "boat seaplane." This last has been adopted by the British authorities and the more usual "seaplanes and flying boats" discarded. Some change in the vocabulary is necessary, as there is now no definition of an aeroplane with a hull as opposed to floats for alighting on water. J. J. I.
?