De HAVILLAND HYDROMATIC AIRSCREW PROPELLER AIRCRAFT BRITISH EDUCATIONAL FILM 75764

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This British film describes the De Havilland Hydromatic Airscrew, produced under license from Hamilton Standard. The Hydromatic propeller represented a major advance in propeller design and laid the groundwork for further advancements in propulsion over the next 50 years. The Hydromatic was designed to accommodate larger blades for increased thrust, and provide a faster rate of pitch change and a wider range of pitch control. This propeller utilized high-pressure oil, applied to both sides of the actuating piston, for pitch control as well as feathering- the act of stopping propeller rotation on a non-functioningengine to reduce drag and vibration - allowing multienginedaircraft to safely continue flight on remaining engine(s).The Hydromatic entered production in the late 1930s, just in time to meet the requirements of the high-performance military and transport aircraft of World War II. The propeller’s performance, durability and reliability made amajor contribution to the successful efforts of the U.S. and Allied air forces.
The variable-pitch aircraft propeller allows the adjustment in flight of blade pitch, making optimal use of the engine’spower under varying flight conditions. On multi-engine daircraft it also permits feathering the propeller--stopping its rotation--of a nonfunctioning engine to reduce drag andvibration.The Hydromatic propeller was designed for larger blades,faster rate of pitch change, and wider range of pitch control than earlier types of controllable-pitch propellers. The Hydromatic played a distinguished role in allied combataircraft in World War II. Its continuing development hasincorporated many features used on later aircraft, including today’s turboprop planes.
By the end of the war in 1945, Hamilton Standard and its licensees had supplied more than 500,000 propellers, more than half of them Hydromatics, to U.S. and Allied military forces.The development of the feathering feature led tounexpected gains in another Hydromatic subsystem -deicing. Various methods of removing ice from propellersto reduce vibration and maintain blade efficiency were employed beginning in 1935. One early method commonly used among airlines involved spraying a combination ofalcohol and glycerine through nozzles to the propeller’sblades. Aided by centrifugal force, the loosened ice would then be ejected.
Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. We collect, scan and preserve 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have films you'd like to have scanned or donate to Periscope Film, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the link below.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFi...

[@jimotoole3273]

Thanks!

[@PeriscopeFilm]

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[@toastrecon]

700ft-lb using a special calibrated torque wrench consisting of a special spanner, a cheater bar and a lad of a known weight doing chin ups on the end. What an awesome video!

[@oldmech619]

David Clawson Wow. That was the first thing that I thought of as well. Of course, out in the field was another thing. I have lived on both worlds.

[@51WCDodge]

Yes corrrect torque , 10 foot bar , 16 stone man swinging on end, hit with hammer. Must have worked though. Not a Torque gauge in sight, by feel and experience.

[@OldGeezer55]

At 12:40. Seriously, I laughed a bit. It's actually the way I do it!

[@curtislowe4577]

Earlier in the video the regulator assembly was tightened evenly and firmly. Firmly? If that is a light smearing of antisieze compound on the shaft splines then heavy smearing would be the entire can?

[@figaro501]

@@51WCDodge In the 'Black Country' of the Midlands it's called 'Whack it with a lead 'Ommer' lol. Obviously worked though. All praise to those engineers.

[@stephenhowlett6345]

Who on earth worked all that out, it’s so complicated and ingenious and this film is decades old so those designers were pure geniuses.

[@poruatokin]

@HiWetcam Guess you are a septic then. It was DeHavilland's engineers, UK.

[@DataWaveTaGo]

You start with a concept, sketch it out, refine the working dependencies, get machinists to make a working mock up, try it on a bench, then you have the lubricant specialists tell you about all the oil feeds, seals & pressures needed to make it viable, so you go back to your drawings & refine again, and round it goes a few more times. Then you finally get some serious specs on the airscrew blades and realize you have to dance through it again. At some point the metallurgy chaps chime in and you recalibrate everything yet again. Or you simply license a patented design that's been in service for a while. Quite a few designs, or sub assemblies were licensed in the 1930s.

[@sonoranrain2330]

Good point.......and to think all of this incredible engineering was designed without a computer..... simply the human brain, pencils, drafting paper and slide rulers.....

[@Itapirkanmaa2]

@@poruatokin "produced under license from Hamilton Standard." (description)

[@magnificentmuttley154]

It fascinates me how today's roller-type thrust bearings & cone-shaped roller bearings are the very same as that used in this 1930's design. This includes the high grade steel & finish used

[@marbleman52]

I agree with Stephen, below, as to the ability of the designers and engineers to come up with such a highly complicated and inter-woven assembly of gears and all the rest. Absolutely incredible..!!

[@BrassLock]

We can watch this video hundreds of times anywhere, anytime we choose, stored in our "Engineer's Memo File", on our smartphone. The poor chaps during WW2 who had to work on such complicated machinery during major maintenence during wartime conditions could only watch the 16mm film once when back at a major teaching facility on home turf. Hopefully the repair manual "Field Version" was clearly illustrated. They must've done a good job, because half a million were installed on Allied aircraft, and they kept flying!

[@areyouavinalaff]

15:10 those components are stunningly beautiful.

[@joerobinson4453]

All machinery hand manufactured by expert machinest extreme skill, extreme tolerances high production. These people make modern Craftsman look like beginners . CNC nothing slide rules and paper .

[@SquillyMon]

I've seen this video 2x before and I'm here again for the 3rd viewing...same as before I sit, mouth open, transfixed the entire time.

[@anonov1]

2:53. "Lightly smear" he said, not slopping half the stores grease stock on ! BSW spanners and swan neck ring spanners too..

[@dubsydubs5234]

Yea I laughed at that part. I was impressed with the accuracy of the torque settings to, hit it with a lead hammer.

[@edgarpryor3233]

I'd hate to see a "liberal application".

[@joebond5012]

Great video. How people design and manufacture such complex mechanisms is beyond my brains limited capacity.

[@tejastiger61]

One MiLLION thank yous ... For taking your valuable time to share this beyond fascinating history lesson ...BRAVO...! These video are priceless to anyone with ability to learn. Can anyone imagion how incerdible difficult matanince work in the North African desert or monsoon rains of the Asian Jungle.

[@dennisjones2124]

Amazing to figure all this out and make it work!!!

[@davidhuber9418]

Truly

[@willb3698]

thanks as usual Periscope! "Tommy Bar" - I remember when they were called that. Mind you - I did expect to see a Torque Spanner in there - simply because it's a plane. Skilled engineers are always a pleasure to watch.

[@Jimmyzb36]

Fantastic! There is a tool for every job! "agree within a small margin"!

[@IsaacOLEG]

I like that precise mechnism, the specific tools, that is a nice witnessing of precision work of the time

[@davidduffy9806]

This film is from a time of deadly focus, a focus that is unobtainable in today’s world. I am not lauding warfare and we should all be eternally grateful that we will never again see total war.

[@melbro62]

funny that all wars have been when DEMS are in office except Bush's "Retaliation" for the Trade Center/Pentagon Terrorism, and we have been and always will be in war against terrorism. Hope you and your family will never have to be affected.

[@gormauslander]

It's a miracle these turned over at all with all that weight and air resistance. That's some impressive engine power

[@bowl1820]

Think about all of what it took to make these parts, the complexity etc. Then the mechanics that had to fix the battle damage and wear to them out in the field. But they built them good, planes with wings, tails shot off, engines shot up, on fire etc. But they still flew.

[@donisys]

Thank you so much for these.

[@SquillyMon]

Look at all those beautiful hand machined parts... No computerized milling machines around back then I can guarantee you of that. Awesome!

[@carlosteran8114]

I already arrive to your PeriscpeFilm place...It's an AMAZING Historic Vids!!! Thanks a lot !!! Me that do love Aircarft industries and I DO love Lufzwaffe 1918-1945.

[@Spawn-td8bf]

Another fine gem of preserving the work of the pre-computer age, when craftsmanship meant something. My Dad taught me to use a slide rule many years ago and I still practice though there is really no practical application for it today other than keeping the art alive and the mind sharp, or at least less dull. LOL. Have aircraft restorers, or for that matter, any restorers ever contacted you for reference material? It would seem logical as you have preserved some of the most informative pieces of tech information in archival history. Keep up the great work. Thank you for posting and God Bless from Florida.

[@deeremeyer1749]

What the hell does any of this have to do with a "slide rule" and precisely what "slide rule" did your "Dad" teach you to "use". There are more types of "slide rules" than there are "engineering disciplines" and saying you were taught to use a "slide rule" says nothing at all.

[@davidduffy9806]

Spawn 1960 I have a pet theory, slide rules made for superior Engineers. The basis for my belief is that we can’t rebuild the Apollo space launch system, it is beyond us, the necessity for economy and excellent engineering was driven by the inherent limitations of the slide rule.

[@lyndonredpath7214]

Mark Kent...DEEREMEYER1 knows Sweet FA about most things

[@lyndonredpath7214]

Oh Dear, Meyer.....The basics of slide rules are common to all types, the only differences being slide rules manufactured for specialized fields such as aviation or finance typically feature additional scales that aid in calculations common to those fields., and there are only 3 types, standard linear, circular or cylindrical.

[@codprawn]

Beautiful engineering precision - and not a CNC machine in sight!

[@markward6076]

Genius, and amazing.

[@mikevonkleist6767]

This guy was crazy good. It's sad that because of his failures, others benefited. But that's how we learn. History will remember him as a great teacher that others learned from. technology.

[@thebluegreengoose]

Amazing complexity.

[@ianmosdell]

I love the special torque wrench .

[@skypilot249]

What a fantastic film showing how the HYDROMATIC propeller control works, and what it takes to get it mechanically adjusted, simply amazing !!! These engineers and mechanics deserve a big congrats for what they did, and imagine, in WW2, thousands of aircraft were built using this system.. NOW I know why at DeHavilland Canada where I worked in the 1970ies, they tested Twin Otters, Buffalos and Dash 7's many times moving the propeller pitch like here in the movie but I'm sure there are more modern ways to set the pitch angle, as these turboprop engines have Hamilton Standard constant speed propellers so the system is automatic. Of course with the prop control, anything from full speed, to ground idle, or reverse :-D

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Love our channel? Help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.

[@connectorxp]

Learning for my Module17 Propellers exam, this video is gold to understand this systems as I normally work only on turbofan engines such as the IAE V2500, and the study materials are not as explicit as a video.

[@nealk6387]

If he put antiseize on that shaft with his bare hands he is still trying to get that shit off today!

[@michaelvrooman5681]

No Nitrile gloves in this video . just wash your hands in the solvent tank

[@HistoricAeroEngines]

Thanks for uploading these two films; interesting that in the first film they were using a Spitfire as the example aeroplane to fit the hydromatic propeller when this type of propeller was only used on a very small number of Spits and never with full feathering capability.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

+David Interesting information thx

[@bobgreene2892]

The screen-based text introduction mentioned the feathering mechanism was used normally in a multi-engine aircraft.

[@keithbrunson6878]

J0

[@thephilpott2194]

An experimental Spit had a full-feathering prop for (abandoned) trials where a Spit was towed into the air (probably by a Dakota) using a Y rope-- the idea being to extend the Spitfire's range! Another one of those weird experiments. Documented by Alfred Price i think.

[@jeremytravis360]

Now I know the sort of stuff my dad might have known.

[@garrington120]

Wonderful film from 1940

[@DoRC]

Oh I definitely calling those cheese headed screws from now on. That's awesome.

[@thephilpott2194]

Glad to hear it! Brits have always called them cheese-head.

[@yakacm]

Set the torque wrench to snug, and then set your large torque wrench for 11 stone 8 lbs

[@curtislowe4577]

The tach was produced by Kollsman Instrument Company of Bronx, New York. That strikes me as unexpected that it wouldn't be a British firm.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Anyone out there know what aircraft that is, shown at the very end of the film? I thought it might be a Bristol but the high wing does not jib with anything I know about.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

***** Thanks for this. Apparently the British de Havilland DH.95 Flamingo was a high-wing, twin-engined monoplane passenger airliner of the Second World Warperiod, also used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a troop-carrier and for general communications duties. I'd never heard of it before.

[@norfolkman1]

I think that is a De Havilland DH95 Flamingo....en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Flamingo

[@453421abcdefg12345]

Peter Bromage : You are correct !

[@garytarr8216]

DH 95 Flamingo

[@damiandelapp5490]

So what no lube on the dome seal?

[@curtislowe4577]

Interesting. British aeroplane. The boost gage mfg in London whereas the tach mfg in Brooklyn, New York.

[@stevetaylor8698]

I would have thought that the engine speed rpm would have increased when the propellor is feathered as it would not be required to work as hard.

[@xenuno]

Feathered relative to the planes direction .. blade surfaces parallel to the propeller shaft. A propeller is feathered in flight to cut aero drag from a dead engine. Fully feathered would be the maximum load for a running engine on the ground.

[@TorrentUK]

Hmm..I can't find where on my Ford Fiesta I fit this

[@autophyte]

It's interesting how they didn't safety wire the nuts securing the constant speed unit. And the nuts shown didn't look to be the self locking kind.

[@Josh-hr5mc]

Those nuts definitely weren't self locking from what I saw

[@jackandblaze5956]

They could have been "squeeze" type lock nuts. They were the predecessor to the modern nylon type lock nuts.

[@jackandblaze5956]

Yes if you look closely they appear to have the squeeze lock dimples on every other hex face.

[@PDZ1122]

Also, if the bolt wasn't expected to be removed in normal service, they would peen over the end to lock the nuts.

[@dkoz8321]

When DeHaviland designed this gear rig in 1939, did they use SolidWorks or CATIA? What were results of running a FEM analysis for metal fatigue failure? What was the FEM simulator? When the engineers performed random QA on random 5th part part, did they use Interferometry UV laser or IR diode laser?

[@blackpowder4016]

De Havilland didn't design it. They licensed it from Hamilton Standard (USA) in 1934. Curtiss-Wright also had a variable-pitch propeller but it was electric instead of hydraulic.

[@FayazAhmad-yl6spFZ]

They were so advance in mechanical technology and metallurgy in 30s and 40s.

[@jamesbaker7112]

Hard to imagine the narrator turning a wrench.

[@stevetaylor8698]

I need a lead hammer

[@xnato-uq1tn]

I may be wrong but doesn't the "experimental" airframe look a lot like a Bf 109. That narrow track undercarriage is a dead give away. Did Hamilton Standard use British designs or are theirs an original design? Something I'll be looking up.

[@wilburfinnigan2142]

762X51nato Hamilton Standard designed and built his props all by himself and it was revolutionary, why DeHaviland licensed it as they had nothing close. Also why a P51 mustang using the "similiar" engine as a MkIX (9) shitfire was 40 MPH faster, using a Hamilton prop and 2,000# heavier, than the Shitfire using the Rotol (british) prop !!!! The Hamilton was much more efficient!!! Notice also when a picture of a Mustang is besides a shitfire, both with the merlin engine the Hamilton props blades are much wider, getting a better bite in the air !!!!

[@thephilpott2194]

I see no '109's, only a Spit and a Whitley (Can't identify the in-flight a/c shown feathering it's stbd. engine. Possibly a Bristol or Vickers product..)

[@travisjohnson6676]

All of this was designed on paper using slide rules

[@scottrammjett9518]

Notice how you almost never see an obese person in the old WWII era films?

[@Josh-hr5mc]

People who were considered normal size than are considered skinny now. Myself for example. At 6 foot 1 the medical chart shows I'm dead on perfect weight and body fat percentage but I've always been considered skinny or lanky

[@slipersox]

Because they were on rations hahaha

[@bobbypaluga4346]

The average size of a US Marine, Army Private or Army Air Force Cadet after basic training was 5’ 7” and a 155 pounds. Keep in mind that luxury items we call junk foods weren’t as popular then because they weren’t advertised as they are today. More than 50% were from rural farming areas, they either grew their own food or bought food from neighbors. Wages were pretty lousy, despite there being no income taxes, for most workers before and during the 1930’s Great Depression they rented apartments or houses. Either they couldn’t get a loan to allow them to buy and foreclosure was a big fear ,most had. Many jobs that allowed a guy to support his family and save for a car or home are now minimum wage jobs. Women didn’t work until during the war so the supply of workers was low, the demand high coming out of the depression, a gas meter reader, gas station attendant, milk man, etc paid a living wage. It’s hard to avoid losing weight when your diet consists of vegetables and fruit, with limited servings of beef, chicken or ham. Popular Junk food was probably popcorn or candy bars. Today it’s hard to find a 5’. 7” 155 pound guy. We are so fat

[@wilburfinnigan2142]

@@bobbypaluga4346 There was no "Junk Food" then laden with fillers, flavor enhancers and perservities, they had real food, most any would contain was salt or some sugar !!!!

[@wilburfinnigan2142]

@Kevin Counihan ALSO the food then was pure food, not processed food lased with all the preservitives, flavor enhansers, and other stuff that the names you cannot pronounce to addict you to the modern processed food !!! Plus people worked harder and had less choice of food and NO junk food !!!! They ate healthier, wholesome food !!!!

[@mikeray1544]

Thats not a coupler, adapter, its a "quill shaft"..

[@poruatokin]

No pansies wearing gloves in this proper engineering film!!

[@rikmoyle3610]

Hydromatic and 'constant speed". Is this propeller hydraulically driven by the engine? Also to Historic Aero Engines...I suspect a single engine aircraft has no need to fully feather it's propeller as if engine stops you are going down anyways!

[@mikeklaene4359]

While it is true that you are going down when the engine quits in a single engine aircraft, you would get a better gliding range with the propeller feathered.

[@233kosta]

Hydraulically operated pitch change, aerodynamically limited speed. The governor adjusts propeller pitch to maintain a predetermined speed adjustable by the pilot by means of a cockpit lever. At idle, propeller speed reduces significantly and the governor maintains fine pitch unless the pilot selects the "feather" position on the propeller control. Once full speed is reached, propeller pitch is increased, but engine speed remains the same.

[@ivanmr359]

how much work needed for a that part it is horible,my regards for a crew,well done!

[@nunosantiago2273]

And that was just the airscrew......

[@zefkosta]

Hamilton Standard design.

[@wilburfinnigan2142]

@HiWetcam Shitfires use a British ROTOL prop with much narrower blades !! Very obvious when seen together !!!! DUUUUH!!!!!!

[@PenzancePete]

@HiWetcam He's not getting confused. He's just doing his usual anti-British rant routine. He's just a troll and really should be ignored.

[@das250250]

First thing comes to mind is man hours to make this machine ..

[@tombig4011]

Lightly apply antisieze on splines. Man proceeds to apply a whole tube of grease to splines.

[@wilburfinnigan2142]

Tom they did NOT have tubes of grease then.....BUCKETS !!!! DUUUUUHHH!!!!!!!!

[@tombig4011]

Supposed to be tub. I need to proof read.

[@wilburfinnigan2142]

@@tombig4011 Darn computer writes things you don't want !!!!!!!

[@robertboykin6939]

Turn sound up. Can not hear it.

[@BrassLock]

+ robert boykin : I watched the whole film without any sound. It's got captions, even for smartphones.

[@blxtothis]

All done by Robots!

[@tubthump]

4:43

[@rocknral]

If you think this is ingeniously complicated, you want to see how the Germans did it!

[@chriswalford4161]

The narrator sounds like Roy Plumley

[@davidwratten7728]

Real plummey voice, not quite Sloan Ranger type though!!!!

[@scottrammjett9518]

Landing gear sure looks like a German Bf109...strange

[@paulabraham2550]

It was a Spitfire.

[@deeremeyer1749]

Modern neoprene rubber lip seals complete with modern dry "sealant" pre-applied on the seal "cup" all the way "back then", huh? Yeah. Nice "vintage" video made closer to the "Falklands War" than "World War II". That you would "delete" the "feathering feature" on a "single-engine aircraft" is evidence of just how "smart" whatever "engineer" made this modern "recreation" of a non-existent "vintage" video really is. Along with the installation of 3-bladed prop on a "V-12" engine without "timing" the prop to make sure its "out of phase" with the engine and its "firing pulses". The "one size fits all" b.s. about that "De Havilland Hydromatic Airscrew" fitting almost "any" aircraft/engine like all "aero engines" are "standard" when it comes to "airscrew installation" is even more hilarious. And by the way, that's not an "oil seal" type of "lip seal". Its a "grease seal" and has no "lip" and "garter spring" assembly to use oil pressure to "load" the seal lip and keep it "sealed". A grease seal like that is DESIGNED to "leak" excess grease OUT and prevent dirt, moisture etc from "leaking" IN. Being installed BEHIND the "airscrew nut" means its probably going to get destroyed when the nut contacts and "cuts" it. The purpose of the "washer" BEHIND it is even more "mysterious". Typically a "back-up ring" like that is used with a simple "o-ring" or "split-ring" seal to prevent the seal from being "deformed" when exposed to pressure. Solid rubber/plastic lip seals like its installed with generally don't need a "backup ring". Kind of like the complete lack of torque specs during that entire "installation" performed "by the book". Overlapping "stepped" sealing rings are also made that way so it won't/doesn't matter if the non-existent "ring gaps" end up aligned or not. Because steel sealing rings in an application like that where parts rotate relative to each other WILL INVARIABLY end up "aligning" their gaps eventually. Its a "balance" thing. The other glaring omission is a more detailed and precise description of proper blade "timing". Overall this looks like an "instructional video" some "engineer(s)" created without the actual manufacturer's instructions and manuals for whatever American make and model of "airscrew" that REALLY IS because "De Havilland" no more made "airscrews" than they made anything else "aeronautical" besides "airframes". They may have "license built" an American make/model of "airscrew" made for the "Packard Merlin" but that's not the same as "manufacturing" from "scratch" a "constant speed" propeller. The "creator" of this modern-day "recreation" of a non-existent "instructional video" wasn't even "engineer" let alone "mechanic" enough to know how to "safety-wire" that "grub screw" properly. Safety wire always prevents entirely the wired screw(s) from "loosening" PERIOD much less "unscrewing".

[@billtr96sn]

Penis

[@nolhrt]

What's hilarious is that you think this is fake. I suppose they mocked up a Hurricane specially for the video and later rolled out one of the many Whitleys that survived the war for the second fake video. You should really keep taking you medication.

[@owningobamacare4792]

"Flatulent rectum".

[@LazySeabear]

Well.. Trying to answer this is so for I guess is a job without an end. But anyhow Neoprene is a pre war product. As ti says on the wikipeda page (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoprene#History) "Neoprene was invented by DuPont scientists on April 17, 1930 after Dr Elmer K. Bolton of DuPont attended a lecture by Fr Julius Arthur Nieuwland, a professor of chemistry at the University of Notre Dame. "

[@quested5202]

@@billtr96sn Please don't call him a Penis. A penis has a purpose in life and its existence is enjoyed by many people :)