杏吧原创

First 鈥渧ertical take-off airliner鈥�

It is not clear how long the British government will continue to finance the development of the Fairey Rotodyne, which made its first flight last week. It is a hybrid machine with the rotor of a helicopter and the wings and engines of an aeroplane. Although most directories list it as a helicopter, its manufacturers describe it as 鈥渢he world鈥檚 first vertical take-off airliner鈥�.

The helicopter rotor is used only to raise the machine off the ground and to land it. Lift and forward propulsion come from its wings and a pair of turbo-prop engines, and in forward motion the aircraft flies as if it were a conventional plane. Interestingly, the same pair of engines drive both rotor and propellers.

The Rotodyne can carry four-and-a-half tons, or 48 passengers, and though this is not the biggest load ever lifted by a helicopter, it scores because while a rotor is an expensive means of propulsion, it is used only for vertical flight. However, the future of the aircraft lies in the attitude of the airlines. When government funding runs out it will have had to prove itself mechanically reliable before operators will pay any interest.

Accidental superglue

A new bonding agent has recently gone on sale in the US. The manufacturers maintain that the clear liquid adhesive sets without the use of pressure, heat or evaporation and can bond in seconds via polymerisation of a cyanoacrylate monomer. It can bind glass, ceramics, metals and other materials, and was discovered almost by accident.

When the polymer was first made in the laboratory it was regarded as merely a new compound, so a sample was squeezed between two prisms to determine its refractive index. Its extraordinarily strong adhesive property was revealed after the test, when the prisms refused to separate.

From The New 杏吧原创, 14 November 1957