Aviation Week, but automobile related!

[trimacar]

I'm looking for someone who subscribes to Aviation Week to do me a favor.

 

I'm writing an article about an early car, and there's an article in a 1920's issue of Aviation Week that would help me.

 

Problem is one needs to subscribe to AW to view article.

 

Anyone?  Thanks David C.

[capngrog]

David;

 

Let me know the date of the issue that you need, and I'll do what I can to help.  Off and on, I've been a subscriber to Aviation Week since I was 12 years old (1956).

 

Cheers,

Grog

[capngrog]

I was able to find the information that David wanted, but we corresponded via P.M. and email; consequently, the information, which I found to be very interesting, was not shared on this Forum.  I found the requested article in the Aviation Week on line archives, but I had difficulty copying it in any usable form and finally ended up just transcribing the first few paragraphs of the article.  In addition to text,  the article itself contained several photographs and drawings of the workings of the Claudel carburetor.

 

Below is what I've transcribed from the introduction to the article on the Claudel Carburetor, published in the May 15, 1920 edition of "Aviation and Aeronautical Engineering" - now "Aviation Week and Space Technology".   I find it interesting that we are approaching the centennial of the article, which will be next Friday.

 

 

"The Claudel Carburetor"

 

"The Claudel carburetor, widely used in Europe for twenty years, is now made in America by the Claudel Carburetor Co., Long Island City, N.Y.  This highly-perfected, plain-tube mixing device was designed by Charles Henri Claudel, the pioneer in the development of the plain-tube type of carburetor, who is recognized as the foremost European authority on carburetion. 

 

Records made by the Claudel carburetor in European racing before the war were both numerous and comprehensive, ninety-three first prizes being captured in 1913, in addition to the Indianapolis race and the breaking of all world's records on the Brooklands track in England.  As a result, Claudel carburetors were employed extensively on the foremost Allied aviation engines from the beginning of the war in 1914 until the end.  Among these were the Rolls-Royce, Sunbeam, Peugeot, Salmson, Hispano-Suiza and Renault.

 

Claudel carburetors made the first round trip across the Atlantic from England to America on the Sunbeam engines of the British dirigible, R-34.  They were also used on the Rolls-Royce engines of the Vickers-Vimy airplane which was the first plane to make a non stop flight across the Atlantic.  The fact that this craft completed its long flight with one-third of its fuel unused is a striking commentary on the fuel-saving ability of the Claudel.

 

Another record held by the Claudel carburetor is that for power and speed established by Sadi Lecointe, the famous French aviator who set a new world's speed record of 232 miles per hour.

 

Americanized in Design

 

The engineers of the Claudel Carburetor Co. have Americanized the European model of the Claudel to meet the particular requirements of engineering needs in this country.  They have added several features demanded by the American motorist, such as a quick starting device and rapid acceleration with a cold engine.

 

The Claudel Carburetor

 

Early carbureting devices employed a spring-controlled air valve in an effort to secure the proper mixture balance throughout a wide range of engine speeds.  In 1903 Charles Henri Claudel, of Paris, France, patented the first tube automatic compensating carburetor without the use of moving parts.   His early principal of breaking up the gasoline by a swift current of air, making an emulsion inside the jet itself before delivery to the carburetor proper was original with him and has since been widely copied.  The modern Claudel retains the same principal, refined and improved to vaporize the heavy fuel of today."

Cheers,

Grog

[trimacar]

A great help, gotta love this forum!  Thanks dc

[carbking]

Claudel carburetors were specified by Noma in 1921 and 1922 on Continental engines.

 

Only reference I have to the Claudel being used on American production vehicles.

 

Jon.

[trimacar]

Thanks, good info!  Dc