Word: controllable
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Sonic control has many possibilities besides smoothing the pressure curve of burning fuel. It may develop into a way to program the complete flight of a solid-propellant missile. Shifting sound levels could vary the thrust to give the rocket better maneuvering capabilities; fuel might also be compounded that does not burn at all unless the rocket's cavity is filled with powerful sound, thus accomplishing total cutoff with the whistle. The big spaceships that NASA plans to toss into space will use clusters of rocket engines. If they are solid fueled and equipped with whistles, they could...
When U.S. rocket engineers talk about the bright possibilities of solid-fuel rockets, they always have to pause over one big requirement: how to control the fuel's burning rate. A current system is to shape the charge, measure the ingredients-and hope. This week Acoustica Associates, Inc. of Plainview, N.Y. announced an initial $85,188 contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to explore a radical new control that is as exciting as it is simple. The company thinks that it can handle solid fuels by filling the rocket with sound-plain, ordinary noise...
...thin layer on its surface. Part of the heat generated strikes back to the fuel, gasifies more of it, and so keeps the flame burning. When this characteristic was discovered by Dr. Martin Summerfield of Princeton, the next step was to look for something that would control the gas mixture. A faster mixing would increase the burning rate, while slower mixing would decrease it. If the control were precise enough, scientists would then have what amounts to a throttle for solid fuels...
Acoustica's idea is to control the fuel by blowing high-pressure gas through a heat-resistant whistle at the forward end of the cylinder's cavity. While the cavity is still small, the whistle will screech at full power, increasing the burning rate of the fuel. As the cavity grows bigger, a valve will reduce the amount of gas passing through the whistle. The volume of sound will decrease, and so will the fuel's burning rate. If the valve is manipulated efficiently by some pressure-sensing instrument, it will keep the hot gas inside...
...Tingler's tingles are produced by small electric motors (one under each seat) bought from war-surplus stores for $3 apiece. They will be distributed to theaters along with a control panel, so that a man in the projection booth can turn them on and off in waves as the tingler crawls across the screen. Says Bill Castle: "I want to tap the entire potential audience-teen-agers, children, all devotees of adventure and horror...