http://www.rexresearch.com/besler/beslerst.htm
Two brothers, William J and George Besler recently installed a reciprocating
steam engine in a conventional Travelair biplane, and a number of successful
flights have been made at the Oakland, CA airport. The power plant is
illustrated in these columns by photographs and a diagram. As the engine was
really an old automobile engine, the airplane came out 300 lbs overweight, but
it is expected that savings in weight will be readily made later.
90-degree V engine, with a cut off at about 50 percent of the stroke. The high
pressure cylinder has a bore of 4-1/4 inches and a stroke of 3 inches. The low
pressure cylinder has the same stroke, but a 5 inch bore. The ordinary working
pressure is 950 psi, and the temperature of the steam is 750 degrees F. The
engine not only drives the propeller but also drives a blower through an
over-running clutch. The blower (an electric motor used when starting) supplies
air to a Venturi in which the fuel lines terminate. The Venturi leads the
mixture to a fire box, where an ignition plug sets the mixture aflame. Once
ignition has been started, the process of combustion is continuous.
In the tests the rapidity with which the boiler got up steam was remarkable. In
5 minutes the plane was ready to take the air. In the air, the absence of noise
was remarkable. On landing a very interesting possibility of the steam engine
was in evidence. As soon as the pilot landed he reversed the engine (reversing
the engine is a simple matter on a reciprocating steam engine). With the
propeller driven in the opposite direction, a powerful braking effect was
obtained. Perfect control and smoothness of operation was noted throughout the
test flights.
Over the Oakland, CA Airport, a few days ago, a silent planet slanted across the
sky trailing a thin ribbon of white vapor. Spectators heard the pilot shout a
greeting from the air. They saw him flash past, skimming the ground at 100 miles
an hour. They watched him bank into a turn, slide to a landing, and, with the
propeller spinning backward, roll to a stop in less than 100 feet. They had
seen, for the first time in history, a man fly on wings powered by steam!
Two brothers, George and William Besler, the former a geologist 31 years old,
and the latter a mechanical engineer, two years younger, have achieved the dream
of Maxim, Langley, and other pioneers of flight. Through their work, the
steam-driven airplane, long talked about, long planned, has become a reality.
This spectacular development in the field of aeronautics is the result of three
years of secret experiment. The inventors began their work in 1930, in a machine
shop at Emeryville CA. A few weeks ago, they brought the product of their
researches, a 180-pound engine developing 150 horsepower, to the Oakland Airport
and installed it at the nose of a conventional Travel Air biplane.
This blue machine, with William Besler at the controls, sped down the runway and
climbed into the air without a sound except the low whine of the propeller and
the hum of wind through the wires. Swinging back over the field at 200 feet, the
Conversation in the craft, the two inventors told me when I interviewed them a
few hours after their historic demonstrations, was as easy as conversation in an
open automobile.
Three times, the blue plane blazed a steam trail into the air, taking off,
landing, circling about, remaining aloft for 5 minutes at a time. The constant,
wearing vibration of the gas engine was gone; the smooth push and pull of steam
power had supplanted it. Each time, as the machine swooped down and the wheels
touched, Besler pulled back a small lever at the side of the cockpit and the
steam engine at the nose of the ship instantly raced in reverse, whirling the
propeller backward to act as a powerful brake and reduce the landing run to a
minimum.
This method of slowing down, possible only with steam power plants, applies the
braking effect above the center of gravity and thus prevents nosing over in a
quick stop. When wheel brakes are jammed on suddenly, a plane nose over or
somersaults in a ground crash. Coming in at 50 miles an hour, the Beslers told
me, the new steam plane can sit down and come to a stop in a field hardly 100
feet square.
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